Beau Lamarre-Condon was exchanging casual messages with a childhood friend about Taylor Swift, dinner and a planned European trip while allegedly killing two people and concealing their bodies.
Lamarre-Condon, 31, is accused of fatally shooting his former boyfriend, Jesse Baird, and Baird’s new partner, Luke Davies, with his police-issued firearm inside a Paddington terrace on the morning of February 19, 2024.
He allegedly put the bodies in surfboard bags and left them beneath a tarp behind the terrace. Later that night, he is accused of moving them into a rented white Toyota HiAce van while Baird’s two housemates slept upstairs.
Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two domestic violence-related murder charges and one count of break and enter. His trial is taking place before a jury in the NSW Supreme Court.
The court heard earlier this week that Lamarre-Condon allegedly persuaded a friend, identified under the pseudonym Elizabeth Kennedy for legal reasons, to help him hide the bodies.
Ms Kennedy told the court she did not know the van contained bodies when Lamarre-Condon collected her from home around lunchtime on February 21, two days after the alleged killings. She said he simply asked whether she “wanted to go for a drive”.
Court documents released this week include messages Ms Kennedy sent to Lamarre-Condon between February 20 and 23, covering the period before and after the bodies were allegedly dumped at Bungonia, about 200km south of Sydney.
Police were unable to recover Lamarre-Condon’s replies because they were sent through the encrypted messaging app Signal. His messages had been set to disappear 24 hours after being sent.
Pictured: Beau Lamarre-Condon on a horse in a photo he sent to another female friend who has testified in court
Pictured: Beau Lamarre-Condon and Elizabeth Kennedy at Bunnings in Goulburn
Pictured: A mock-up of Signal messages Elizabeth Kennedy sent to Beau Lamarre-Condon on February 20, 2024, the day after the alleged murders
At 1.16pm on February 20, around 28 hours after the alleged double murder, Ms Kennedy messaged Lamarre-Condon: “You’re going to Taylor Swift the Saturday, right?”
She added: “I’m thinking of Taylor gating it I’m getting fomo [fear of missing out] after Melbourne haha.”
Earlier messages showed the pair had discussed buying as many tickets as possible for Taylor Swift’s Australian tour in 2023/24.
Ms Kennedy also asked whether Lamarre-Condon would listen to the concert from a nearby park because they had been unable to secure tickets.
His response was not included in the court documents, although Ms Kennedy appeared to be replying to one of his messages when she wrote: “Yeah I’m gonna do it.”
At 7.27am the next day, February 21, Ms Kennedy messaged him again: “Hey probably like 11 but I’m going to my mums for a couple of hours after why what’s up? Xx”
She followed up with: “[Oh my God] did you deactivate insta?”
The court has previously heard that Lamarre-Condon deactivated his Instagram account after the alleged murders.
Pictured: A mock-up of Signal messages Elizabeth Kennedy sent to Beau Lamarre-Condon on February 21, 2024, two days after the alleged murders
Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly murdered Luke Davies and Jesse Baird (pictured) on February 19, 2024
Lamarre-Condon’s responses aren’t available, but Ms Kennedy appeared to reply to a number of his messages.
She wrote: ‘Perfect I’m just at work now will be ready to go at lunch time keep me updated xx’
‘Love you x.’
‘[My boyfriend] is putting a lot of effort into dinner so I said I’d be there.’
‘Perfect xx.’
Ms Kennedy told the court earlier this week that Lamarre-Condon had organised to collect her from home after lunch on February 21 to book accommodation for their planned Europe trip later in 2024.
She told Lamarre-Condon that her partner was making dinner and she wanted to be home in time, and had no idea he was going to drive her to Bungonia, 200km south of Sydney, the court heard.
When he picked her up near her house, she noticed a blue tarp in the back of the van, but she couldn’t see much because the van had a mesh cage between the back and the front.
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The court previously heard that Lamarre-Condon allegedly concealed Baird and Davies’ bodies inside two surfboard bags, underneath a blue tarp.
Beau Lamarre-Condon and his friend Elizabeth Kennedy are pictured on CCTV inside Bunnings in Goulburn, before he allegedly dumped bodies in Bungonia
Ms Kennedy told the court she was freezing during the trip because the air conditioning was on the coldest setting and the windows were open throughout the trip, and he wouldn’t let her adjust any of the settings.
They went to Bunnings in Goulburn to get an angle grinder because Lamarre-Condon said he had to break into a friend’s farm to stop cattle from escaping.
Once they arrived at Cella Farm in Bungonia, she saw him cut the lock at the front gate with the angle grinder and asked her to cover the rental van number plate with a garbage bag.
Ms Kennedy said he then drove around the back of the property, where she couldn’t see him anymore, and left her at the gate for about 40 minutes.
When Ms Kennedy was alone, she started panicking.
‘I was hyperventilating and crying,’ she told the court.
‘I had a panic attack, I was squatting, I wanted to turn my phone on… He came back and told me to shush because I was panicking and he asked if I’d called anyone and I said no.’
‘He said, “I’m going to take you home right now”, and I started to calm down.’
Pictured: The Toyota HiAce rental van Beau Lamarre-Condon drove to Bungonia with Elizabeth Kennedy
Ms Kennedy said it felt as though ‘something had gone wrong’ and Lamarre-Condon wanted a peach Lipton Iced Tea because he was going to be ‘up all night’, but didn’t explain why.
She arrived home at about 12am on February 22, and was ‘annoyed’ because she’d missed dinner with her partner and Lamarre-Condon wouldn’t let her turn her phone on to let him know she’d be late.
Court documents show Ms Kennedy tried to call Lamarre-Condon about a dozen times on February 22, between 12.20pm and 6pm.
Eventually, he called her on the encrypted messaging app Signal.
She told the court: ‘I saw the news the night before that Jesse was missing and I had some questions.
‘He said he couldn’t answer them on the phone, he said he was seeing police on Friday morning because he had a meeting with them.’
During the call, the court heard Ms Kennedy said to Lamarre-Condon: ‘Have you seen the news?’
The court heard he replied: ‘Yeah, it’s crazy. I have to go to Bondi Police Station to talk to detectives tomorrow.’
Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly dumped the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies by a fence in Bungonia, inside blue surfboard bags (pictured)
She asked: ‘Do you know where Jesse is?’
He replied: ‘No, it’s just crazy.’
The pair had planned to go to Europe together later that year. On the call, Lamarre-Condon allegedly said: ‘If I can’t go to Europe with you, I’m so sorry, I love you.’
She said: ‘It felt like a final call… He sounded apologetic, a bit stressed, and then he hung up and tried to call him back after that but the phone was off.’
Crown prosecutors allege Lamarre-Condon left Ms Kennedy at the gate of the property so he could dump the bodies himself.
He allegedly tried to sink the bodies using weights and cement, before abandoning that plan and instead leaving them to decay by a fence line, underneath rocks and tree foliage.
Ms Kennedy told the court she couldn’t smell anything in the van and had no idea what Lamarre-Condon was doing when he left her alone.
The case returns to court on Monday.