Chris Baghsarian: Body found in search for kidnapped grandfather in Sydney bushland

Chris Baghsarian was taken from his home 11 days ago.

Police have vowed to find those responsible after human remains believed to be those of mistakenly kidnapped 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian were found.

Officers located the remains near a golf club on Pitt Town Bottoms Rd in Pitt Town, northwest Sydney, about 8am on Tuesday.

About two dozen officers and a police tent were spotted at a secluded section of the golf club near a pile of rubble.

“We suspect those remains to be Mr Baghsarian,” Detective Acting Superintendent Andrew Marks said.

“There will be a formal process to try and identify those remains, there will be forensic examination of the remains.”

Marks refused to go into detail about the condition of the remains, saying only that the crime scene was close to the road and that investigators had confirmed they were human.

He said Baghsarian’s family were “deeply upset” and had requested privacy.

The discovery comes 11 days after he was taken from his North Ryde home on February 13, in what police are “confidently” calling a case of mistaken identity.

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Police pleaded with his captors to release him over fears for his health, only for disturbing footage of him tied up and beaten to be circulated through underworld circles online.

Pitt Town is about 30 minutes by road from Dural, where investigators on Friday (February 20) located the kidnappers’ makeshift stronghold in a vacant, derelict house located back from the street.

Marks said images and videos circulating online helped police identify the house where Baghsarian was allegedly held hostage and tortured.

Police scoured the home over the weekend and were seen carrying out bags of evidence.

Detectives later linked two car fires on Good Street in Westmead on the night of February 16 to the kidnapping.

One of the vehicles — a 2022 Toyota Corolla bearing Victorian registration 1UZ2BU — had been stolen from Victoria on January 13.

Officers allegedly found blood-stained carpet believed to have come from the Dural property in the boot of the car.

Marks said the car is believed to have travelled through Sydney with cloned Victorian registration plates DVT077.

It was sighted in Glenorie about 9.05pm on February 14 — a day after Baghsarian was kidnapped — prompting a large-scale search of dense bushland the following day.

Marks said police received further information during canvassing earlier on Tuesday, which led officers to the human remains.

Detectives are also investigating whether a vehicle found torched on Coburg Road in nearby Wilberforce about 11.20am on Tuesday is linked to the case.

Authorities had earlier said they fear Baghsarian’s life may be at risk without his daily medication, with Marks previously admitting that “hope was fading”.

“We have grave concerns for his safety, but we won’t give up trying to find him alive,” he said.

In a statement released on February 17, Baghsarian’s family said the devastating crime should have had “nothing to do with us”.

“Our family is living through a nightmare we never thought possible,” they said.

“Chris’s kidnapping feels surreal, and we are struggling to make sense of the fact that he has been taken and that our family has been caught up in something that has nothing to do with us.

“Chris is a devoted father, brother, uncle, and grandfather. He is deeply loved, gentle, and the kindest person we know — someone who would never hurt a fly.”

Marks said both police and members of the public were furious that “this would happen to an innocent man”.

“We’re outraged that this is happening and the recklessness of these people,” he said.

“We will endeavour and use every resource that we have to identify those responsible and bring them before the courts.”

Investigations into the kidnapping remain ongoing and anyone with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

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