Luke Davies, Jesse Baird: Inside the final farewell party for the ‘forgotten victim’ who was allegedly murdered along with his Channel Ten presenter boyfriend

EXCLUSIVE

Luke Davies threw a farewell party before moving to Sydney to pursue his dream of becoming an international flight attendant, three months before he was allegedly murdered along with his new boyfriend.

Mr Davies, 29, lived in Brisbane and worked as a cabin crew member on domestic Qantas flights until November, when he was offered his dream job on international flights.

He threw a party with mimosas and margaritas to say goodbye to all his friends before flying south and excitedly moving into a house in Waterloo, on the outskirts of Sydney, to start the next chapter of his life.

One of his best friends, Dean Bailey, told Daily Mail Australia it was a bittersweet goodbye because they didn’t want him to move away, but they felt better knowing they would see him again in August for his 30th birthday on Bali.

“It was for selfish reasons that we didn’t want him to go,” he said.

“But then we looked at Instagram stories of him going to Chile or Tokyo – he loved to travel and he was living that dream.

“He started a new chapter, got his dream job and moved, which was huge for him.”

Davies didn’t tell his friends about his new boyfriend Jesse Baird, 26, because he was shy about revealing new relationships, but they assumed he was seeing someone when he uploaded a photo of them together on February 5.

Just two weeks after that message, Mr Davies and Mr Baird were dead.

Luke Davies posted this photo with his new boyfriend Jesse Baird on Instagram on February 5 – just two weeks before they died

Luke Davies is pictured right with friends at his farewell party in November before moving to Sydney

Luke Davies is seen front left with his friends at his farewell party in Brisbane

Mr Baird’s former lover, Beau Lamarre-Condon, who was a NSW police officer at the time, is alleged to have used his police-issued Glock pistol to shoot them both three times on a terrace in Paddington at 9.50am on Monday, February 19 o’clock.

Police allege Lamarre-Condon did not expect Davies to be at the house when he allegedly arrived to kill Mr Baird, but quickly changed his plans.

Mr Baird had previously decided to end his brief friends-with-benefits relationship with Lamarre-Condon via text message in November, asking the ex-cop never to contact him again.

The deaths have been widely reported in the media, partly because Mr Baird was a presenter for Channel Ten and his former colleagues paid heartfelt tributes to him on national television.

But while Mr Davies’ friends believe both men deserve the tribute they are receiving, Mr Bailey said they also feel his death has been overshadowed by Mr Baird’s.

“I think the general consensus is that he doesn’t get as much media attention as Jesse – we all kind of feel that way,” he said.

Mr Bailey has now organized a vigil for Mr Davies at a Brisbane park on Saturday, partly in response to the perceived imbalance.

Luke Davies is pictured with a friend at a farewell party in Brisbane in November

Dean Bailey is pictured left with Luke Davies. Mr Bailey organized a vigil on Saturday

He is overwhelmed by the number of people who responded to the invitation, including people he went to high school with.

When Davies’ death was announced last week, Bailey said a friend asked him if he had “seen what happened to Luke?”

“I thought it would be something lighthearted,” Mr. Bailey said.

‘And I thought, “What has Luke done now?” and then he tried to explain it to me but it didn’t make sense and I started calling friends to find out.

‘He was a lovely man, kind, loving, caring, he had a cheeky side – that made us instantly bond – he loved to laugh, and it was always as if he were floating in an atmosphere of happiness.’

Another friend, Tomas Mian, told Daily Mail Australia he remembered Davies as a “super adventurous” person who was genuine and friendly.

“It’s hard to find people like him, and I knew he had quite a few friends, but I didn’t know how many he had,” Mr Mian said.

He said his heart sank when a friend sent him a link about Mr Davies’ death on February 21.

“I read it and I thought, ‘No way, that’s not possible,’ and I remember getting goosebumps because it didn’t feel real,” he said.

Lamarre-Condon has been charged with two counts of murder and will appear in court at a later date.

In light of the allegations, NSW police chiefs have now begun the process of dismissing Lamarre-Condon from the force.