Detective describes finding bodies in surfboard bags at trial
Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in February 2024.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of domestic violence-related murder. (Supplied: Rocco Fazzari)
Photograph: ABC Australia (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in February 2024.
- Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela testified about finding surfboard bags containing the bodies at a Bungonia property.
- A friend of Lamarre-Condon, known as Elizabeth Kennedy, provided an induced statement to police about purchasing an angle grinder.
- Kennedy stated she drove with Lamarre-Condon in a white van to Goulburn on February 21, 2024, where they bought an angle grinder.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 7 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
60/100
Craft
70/100
Hype
20/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in February 2024. The trial heard that Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela described to a jury the discovery of the men's bodies in surfboard bags at a rural property in Bungonia. Some of Mr Baird's loved ones left the courtroom as the detective began to describe the finding.
Detective Abela testified that she took an induced statement from a friend of Lamarre-Condon, identified in proceedings as Elizabeth Kennedy. Ms Kennedy stated that on February 21, 2024, she drove with Lamarre-Condon in a white van to Goulburn. There, they purchased an angle grinder from a Bunnings store. Ms Kennedy also provided a description of a farm.
Police searched a rural property in Bungonia and found surfboard bags containing the bodies of Baird and Davies. Detective Abela described a strong smell of decomposition at the site, where the bags were found on a fence line with sticks and branches on top. Police divers had previously searched two dams on the farm and found weights, cement residue, and cable ties.
Disagreement on the van and padlock
WA Today and The Sydney Morning Herald report that Kennedy stated she had driven to the southern tablelands with Lamarre-Condon on February 21, 2024, in a white van. WA Today also reported that Kennedy said the accused had cut the padlock off the gate of a rural property after the Bunnings trip. ABC Australia reported that Detective Abela said she observed the wires to CCTV cameras at the property had been cut, but the property owner thought cockatoos were responsible.
What the coverage left out
None of the left-rated or centre-rated reports mentioned the detail that a friend of Lamarre-Condon, known as Elizabeth Kennedy, provided an induced statement to police. The reports also did not mention that Kennedy stated she drove with Lamarre-Condon in a white van to Goulburn on February 21, 2024, and they bought an angle grinder.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 7 Oct 2026, 06:15, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
4 rated outlets
- The left-rated reports led on the testimony of Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela describing the discovery of the bodies. ABC Australia's full report detailed the search for the bodies, the induced statement from Elizabeth Kennedy, and the prosecution's allegations regarding Lamarre-Condon's alleged infatuation with Baird. The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and Brisbane Times, using digests, also highlighted Kennedy's statement about the white van and angle grinder purchase.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- The centre-rated reports focused on the details of Elizabeth Kennedy's induced statement to police. WA Today's full report detailed the white van, the purchase of an angle grinder, and the search for the bodies, including the discovery of a cut padlock. IntelliNews, using a digest, noted that Lamarre-Condon did not talk about Jesse Baird to a friend in the lead-up to the alleged murders.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Detective describes finding bodies in surfboard bags at trial?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 67% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 7. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Detective describes finding bodies in surfboard bags at trial left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Detective describes finding bodies in surfboard bags at trial biased?
- Detective describes finding bodies in surfboard bags at trial is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Detective describes finding bodies in surfboard bags at trial?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Detective describes finding bodies in surfboard bags at trial?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What has Beau Lamarre-Condon pleaded to?
- Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in February 2024. The trial is ongoing, with defence lawyers indicating they will argue self-defence.
- Where were the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies found?
- The bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were found in surfboard bags at a rural property in Bungonia, New South Wales. Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela testified about the discovery during the trial.
- What role did Elizabeth Kennedy play in the investigation?
- Elizabeth Kennedy, a friend of Lamarre-Condon, provided an induced statement to police. She stated she drove with Lamarre-Condon to Goulburn on February 21, 2024, where they purchased an angle grinder.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
4- Detective describes finding bodies to Lamarre-Condon trial (opens ABC Australia in a new tab)
ABC Australia — is ABC Australia biased? Our profile of this outlet
- The white van and the angle grinder: What Lamarre-Condon’s friend told police (opens Brisbane Times in a new tab)
Brisbane Times — is Brisbane Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- The white van and the angle grinder: What Lamarre-Condon’s friend told police (opens The Age in a new tab)
- The white van and the angle grinder: What Lamarre-Condon’s friend told police (opens Sydney Morning Herald in a new tab)
Sydney Morning Herald — is Sydney Morning Herald biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
2- Beau Lamarre-Condon Didn-T Talk About Jesse Baird to Friend in Lead-up to Alleged Wallers, Short Ears (opens INTELLINEWS in a new tab)
INTELLINEWS — is INTELLINEWS biased? Our profile of this outlet
- The white van and the angle grinder: What Lamarre-Condon’s friend told police (opens WA today in a new tab)
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
1How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
