A police officer friend of Beau Lamarre-Condon broke down in tears in court on Wednesday as she described the moment he allegedly arrived at her home, took a bucket and began scrubbing blood from a rented van.
The former NSW Police senior constable, who can be identified only as Fiona Rosso for legal reasons, told the court her work had contributed to chronic depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and alcoholism.
Ms Rosso said Lamarre-Condon knew about her mental health difficulties when he allegedly went to her home to “say goodbye” on February 22, 2024 — three days after the alleged murders.
She said his late-night arrival frightened her. He was crying and told her he wanted to see her because he was saying goodbye to the people he loved.
Believing he might be planning to take his own life, Ms Rosso invited him inside. She said she was then taken aback when his demeanour suddenly changed.
“He said, ‘I’ve done something bad, I don’t want to tell you, I don’t want to incriminate you’,” she told the court.
Lamarre-Condon asked whether she had been following the news. Ms Rosso said she had not, because of her work-related depression, and that he then asked her to search Jesse Baird’s name online.
The search produced several reports about the disappearance of Baird and his new partner, Luke Davies, she said.
Ms Rosso told the court Lamarre-Condon began describing an “out-of-body experience” and said he had no control over what was happening. “He kept going on about this out-of-body experience,” she said.
She followed him outside, where she saw a white van parked close to her home. The rear door was open, preventing her from seeing the registration plate, she told the court.
Ms Rosso became so distressed while giving evidence that she struggled to compose herself.
“I walked out there with my drink and sat on the gutter and he scrubbed and I sat there in the gutter,” she told the court.
She said Lamarre-Condon appeared to find blood on the other side of the van. When he could not remove it by scrubbing, she alleged, he said he would have to paint over it.
Ms Rosso also said Lamarre-Condon told her he had driven for 2.5 hours to a farm with “a girl” to dispose of the bodies.
“They tried to get rid of the bodies and sink them, he said they wouldn’t sink and [the girl] said, ‘I can’t do this, take me back’, so they drove 2.5 hours back,” she told the court.
Ms Rosso further testified that Lamarre-Condon described an incident at Baird’s home in which he showed Baird his police-issued firearm.
“Jesse accidentally let off a round, it went into the wall, they both tried to get the bullet out, or he had to go back and patch it out, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, you’re basically telling me you’ve just killed Jesse’,” she told the court.
The next morning, February 23, calls were made from Ms Rosso’s phone to Lamarre-Condon’s mother, Coleen, and his uncle, Brian.
Ms Rosso said she was unaware the two numbers had been stored in her phone and had never spoken with either relative.
The court was also shown text messages from Ms Rosso’s phone, including an exchange with Coleen Lamarre.
Ms Rosso said she did not send the texts, but that Lamarre-Condon had been using her phone because his was in flight mode.
The text read: ‘Ivy’s dad, or are you having a hot chocolate?’
Ms Lamarre replied: ‘Hot chocolate.’
There was a thumbs-up emoji, sent from Ms Rosso’s phone.
Ms Rosso told the court that Ivy was Lamarre-Condon’s dog.
‘When those messages came through, I was like, “What’s hot chocolate?” and he said there was a search warrant happening at his mum’s house in Balmain,’ she told the court.
‘It was a code word for search warrant – hot chocolate was a code.’