Jesse Baird and Luke Davies: divers leave empty-handed but police continue search of NSW property

New South Wales police say they have established a crime scene at a second property at Bungonia south-west of Sydney as detectives continue looking for the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies who were allegedly murdered by a serving police officer.

“Investigators established a crime scene at a second property at Bungonia this afternoon,” police said in a statement on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, police said they were also searching in the Royal national park closer to Sydney for evidence.

Police further established a crime scene at Grays Point Oval south of Sydney after a member of the public spotted blood – but initial inquiries suggest the blood was likely linked to deer culling in the area by national parks officers overnight.

“Today, canvassing will continue at Grays Point and an evidentiary search has commenced at the Royal national park off Sir Bertram Stevens Drive near the intersection of Bundeena Drive,” police said in a statement.

NSW police said the Royal national park search was not for bodies but rather other potential evidence related to the investigation.

On Tuesday morning, the police commissioner, Karen Webb, said divers concluded their search of dams at a property near Goulburn on Monday night but police remained on the scene on Tuesday to conduct a line search.

“We still believe there might be some evidence in that area,” Webb told Seven’s Sunrise program. “However, having said that, we still don’t know where Jesse and Luke are.”

Sen Const Beau Lamarre was charged last Friday with the murder of Baird – a former Channel Ten presenter – and Qantas flight attendant Davies, 29, Baird’s new partner.

Police allege the couple were killed last Monday by Lamarre at a home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, using his force-issued handgun. Lamarre then hired a white van to dispose of their bodies, police allege.

Police on Tuesday said a triple-zero call was made from Davies’ mobile phone, four minutes after neighbours heard gunshots at the house a week ago.

A patrol car was later sent searching for the source of the call, which was disconnected before anyone spoke.

But officers were unable to locate the user and did not attend Baird’s house at the time.

The deputy commissioner Dave Hudson told reporters on Monday that Lamarre was not cooperating with investigators in the search.

Police will allege that Lamarre made “partial admissions” about the killings last Tuesday to an acquaintance who is alleged to have accompanied Lamarre to the Bungonia property near Goulburn.

The pair allegedly bought an angle grinder and padlock and drove to the gates of a property, where the acquaintance said she waited for half an hour at the entrance while Lamarre entered the property, having cut the lock. The new lock was placed on the gates before the pair returned to Sydney, Hudson said.

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Police said the acquaintance was fully cooperating with police and they believe she was “an innocent agent”. Webb said on Tuesday the person who accompanied Lamarre to the remote property was not a former police officer.

“One [acquaintance] is a police officer, former officer, but that is not the person that he was in the area with,” Webb said.

Webb said it was a complex investigation and police “probably don’t know the extent of all those people that have been involved at this stage”. She issued a fresh appeal to the public for any information relating to the white HiAce van.

“We think the van travelled extensively in the area to Goulburn, to Newcastle and back around Sydney in those four days [between last Monday and Thursday],” she said.

The police commissioner has ordered an internal review over the claims that a police firearm was used in the alleged murders. Civil liberties advocates called for an independent review of how police weapons were used in the state.

“The actual incident as it relates to the murder, the double murder, will be subject to the homicide and the critical incident investigation,” Webb said. “So that will be investigated and that matter, because it’s a critical incident investigation involving a police firearm, will be [overseen] by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.”

Webb separately said she was “disappointed” by a decision from the Sydney Mardi Gras board to ask police not to join this year’s parade.

Sydney Mardi Gras: NSW police commissioner says it would be a ‘travesty’ if police excluded – video

“My team, my people, who participate need to be part of it in my view,” she told Sunrise. “They want to be a part of it. But they want to feel welcomed.”