Jesse Baird and Luke Davies’s bodies sent for postmortem as NSW police continue search for evidence

New South Wales police will continue searching a remote property at Bungonia, potentially for weeks, where human remains were discovered on Tuesday that are believed to be alleged murder victims Luke Davies and Jesse Baird.

The discovery came four days after serving police officer Beau Lamarre, 28, was charged with the murders of Davies and Baird. Baird was a former Channel Ten presenter and Davies, his partner, was a Qantas flight attendant.

Police remained on-site at a crime scene in Bungonia, near Goulburn in the state’s southern tablelands, on Wednesday morning to continue their search for evidence.

The crime scene had been established on Tuesday afternoon, the second to be established in Bungonia during the investigation. Later that day, two bodies were found at the remote property in surfboard bags.

NSW police assistant commissioner Michael Fitzgerald alleged on Wednesday that Lamarre moved the bodies to a second location after his “inability to dispose of them” at a previous site.

On Tuesday Lamarre had told police where to find the bodies, Fitzgerald said.

“The accused drew a bit of a map, or at least a bit of a visual, to describe where to go,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB on Wednesday.

The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, told ABC radio on Wednesday there would be ongoing investigations at Bungonia “for many many days and maybe even weeks”.

“Police are still on the ground conducting a forensic examination of that whole scene, as well as officers that are doing a line search looking for other evidence,” she said.

Webb suggested investigations were continuing at the other crime scene in Bungonia, as well as around the wider Sydney area.

“Police will be interviewing other witnesses that are still coming forward or who have come forward, and responding to Crime Stoppers information that has been coming through.”

Webb said the remains were moved to a morgue at Lidcombe overnight, where there would be a postmortem examination.

Luke Davies and Jesse Baird. Composite: NSW Police/Network 10

“We strongly believe they are the remains of Jesse and Luke,” she said. “It won’t be until [after the postmortem] that we’re able to determine time and manner of death.”

The police commissioner said one victim’s family had travelled to the Bungonia area “to understand where their loved one was”.

Police will allege Lamarre killed the two men on 19 February at Baird’s Paddington home using his force-issued handgun, before hiring a white van to dispose of the bodies.

Det Supt Danny Doherty said police would allege there was “some type of relationship at some stage” between Lamarre and Baird that “did not end well”.

The alleged use of a police handgun will be the subject of an internal NSW police review with oversight from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) as well as Victoria police.

Webb told ABC TV she called the review because “clearly there’s a problem” with how Lamarre was able to access his police firearm in the way police allege. However, she alleged he was “manipulative” in gaining access to it.

“We do have policies and processes in place and what we’ll allege is that the accused has been manipulative in the way he’s reported that to get access to the firearm,” she said.

“What I have asked for in the review is the review of our whole policies and processes around this to understand how we can tighten this. We need to tighten it, we cannot have this happen again.”

The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, told Sunrise the alleged murders had sent “a shiver right throughout the whole of the NSW police force”.

“They don’t expect one of their own to commit an alleged murder,” she said. “But at the end of the day they do their job and they demonstrated that by being so dedicated to this search and finding the bodies.”

Catley said police will be continuing their conversations with the Mardi Gras board on Wednesday after it voted to un-invite police from marching in Saturday’s parade.

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

“The board have asked that those conversations remain confidential and I will honour that,” Catley said. “But we will continue to talk today and as soon as we find out we will hopefully both together, the board and the police, be able to let you know where we land on that.”

The assistant police commissioner defended Webb against criticism over her public statements on the case.

“I’m grateful that we’ve removed some heartache from the family,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m very surprised with the criticism the commissioner’s got – she’d been nothing but supportive and she’s given us every resource.”

– with Australian Associated Press