A female detective sergeant is seen as the hero cop who solved the case of the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
An exhausted-looking Detective Sergeant Sasha Pinazza broke down in tears as she addressed the media on Tuesday after NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said: “I attribute a large part of the case to her.”
Commissioner Webb thanked “all the detectives who worked tirelessly around the clock on this investigation,” but singled out the detectives and Pinazza, the officer in charge.
Det Sergeant Pinazza admitted at the conference that when police called off the search at nightfall in Bungonia, in the NSW Southern Highlands, at nightfall on Monday without finding the remains of Mr Baird and Mr Davies, they were dejected .
Detectives felt “deflated” when they failed to find the bodies yesterday, but she said she was proud of the police’s efforts on Tuesday.
“We came together again this morning and achieved a wonderful outcome for the families,” she said.
Det Sergeant Sasha Pinazza (pictured at a press conference on Tuesday) is seen as the hero cop who helped solve the case of the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies
The remains of the two men have been found 20 minutes away from the original search location in Bungonia, after their accused killer Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly revealed the location
When she answered a reporter’s question and was momentarily nervous when she got the journalist’s name wrong, Detective Pinazza apologized and added, “I’m exhausted, I’ve barely eaten or slept.”
It is believed that Detective Pinazza and another officer, Chief Inspector Glenn Brown, were the police who visited accused murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon at Silverwater Prison at around 11am on Tuesday morning.
It was during this meeting that Lamarre-Condon, a former celebrity blogger who became a senior officer in the NSW Police, reportedly told them where the bodies were located..
He had previously refused to help police find the remains of the two men, but changed his tune after hiring a lawyer.
Police found the remains three hours later, around 1pm, and within minutes they had notified the families of Baird and Davies.
Homicide Commander Danny Doherty would not reveal the condition the bodies were in when they were discovered on Tuesday, but he did say “they were covered in debris.”
The bodies were said to have been transported in sports bags to a location on Jerrara Road, Bungonia, 20 minutes away from the original search location.
Det Supt Doherty said Lamarre-Condon acted alone.
“We will allege that he acted alone and that he is the only person responsible for storing Luke and Jesse’s bodies at their current location,” he said.