From Arthur Hagopian in Sydney
Feb 25, 2026
Police have arrested two men in connection with the assumed murder of aged Armenian widower, Chris Baghsarian, the 85-year-old Armenian widower, who was kidnapped from his home in suburban Sydney 12 days ago.
The move came following the discover of the remains of a body police believe belong to Baghsarian man who was taken in a botched kidnap early last Friday, near a golf course, about 50kms away from his home.
Even before the discovery, fears and doubts about his safety began surfacing, as police ramped up their investigation.
Sources familiar with the criminal mentality believed his chances were doomed right after the kidnappers realized they had the wrong man, a fact police kept hammering over the airways and through other sources that would reach the perpetrators…
Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Marks minced no words expressing his concern and urging the speedy return of the victim.
Voicing his fears, he said it was not “a great feeling we have in relation to his health and his survival, so every day for us is of important.”
He noted the elderly man’s family were “devastated.”
“This is not the world they live in, it’s taken them by shock,” he said.
But despite their gross blunder, the kidnappers had no intention of play ball.
They set up temporary camp in an abandoned homestead a distance away after burning the getaway car. They used another, burnt that also, and decamped to a rural village.
When the police finally reached the site, they stumbled upon the remains of what might be Chris Baghsarian.
Chris was born in Jaffa but spent most of his childhood and youth in the Old Armenian Quarter of the City of Jerusalem.
They were halcyon days, when he felt at home among the score of relatives and friends, the close-knit community of Armenians, survivors of the Turkish genocide or descendants of survivors.
He had six uncles, of whom two died young, four aunts and a dozen cousins, all linked together in an unbreakable bond molded in faith, love and devotion.
He attended the Armenian parish school and unlike some of his elder cousins who were given to pranks, he was quiet and modest.
His one great vice as a youth was smoking Lucky Strike or some other American cigarette which he obtained at a discount from a staffer at a UN center.
When he left school, he was apprenticed at a photographer’s, honing the skills he would find useful when he joined a movie distribution company in Sydney.
He arrived in Australia in the 60s.
Obtaining a migrant visa was a piece of cake at the time. All one had to do was head to the British Consulate in East Jerusalem.
In Sydney, he married and bought a house in North Ryde (the one broken into).
His wife passed away a few years ago.
In the garden at the back of the house, she planted parsley and mint which she allowed to grow wild: when ready, she used them in her cooking and for her tabbouleh.
The swimming pool there was mostly the domain of visiting children.
Nursing a beer, Chris would relax on a lounge and watch them gamboling, like a hawk ready to pounce at the slightest hint of trouble.
He kept in touch by mail with his family and community in the Old City, and went back to Jerusalem for a reunion with his ailing parents, relatives and friends.
In their convivial company he enjoyed a rare idyll, denied in the hectic run of life back in Australia.
And gorged with “dang-the-calories” delicacies unavailable as yet in Sydney, he came back to Sydney, saddled with undeclared (body) weight.
Pix caption: Chris soon after his arrival in Sydney, with his best friend, the late Steve
SUSPECTS IN KIDNAP-MURDER OF INNOCENT ARMENIAN ARRESTED
From Arthur Hagopian in Sydney
Feb 25, 2026
Police have arrested two men, aged 24 and 29, who they believe are involved in the kidnapping and murder of 85-year-old Armenian widower, Chris Baghsarian.
The arrest came after police identified human remains they had discovered near a golf course some 50 kms from where Baghsarian lived in a Sydney suburb, as being his.
While the announcement of the catch brings some closure to the family, friends and relatives of the innocent man, the pain and the outrage will linger.
Baghsarian was asleep when two men broke into his house at 5 am on Friday, Feb 13, gagged and bundled him before dragging him to a waiting car.
They were deaf to his pleas, and dumped him unceremoniously into a Toyota SUV and drove off.
Neighbors who heard the noise alerted police but by the time they arrived, the perpetrators had fled.
Police believe Baghsarian was not the intended victim of the snatch, but another man “related to a Sydney crime family” who lived on the same street.
It was a case of mistakenly identity, they said.
Robbery and Serious Crimes Squad Commander Andrew Marks alleged “the men participated in a joint criminal enterprise with other persons to kidnap Mr. Baghsarian, and ultimately, where he was held hostage and where he came to his death.”
He expected there would be more arrests in the coming days as police sift through a mass of material they have seized, while “still looking for more people responsible for Mr. Bagsharian’s death.”
My cousin Chris was a gentle, amiable family man.
We grew up together in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
His family lived a brisk 5-minutes’ walk from us, and there was not a day we did not exchange visits. Often, I would sleep-in at their place, sharing a mattress with his father.
No phones. No messages. Just walk in and don’t even bother to knock on the door or gate.
In the charmed and magical ambience of the Armenian Quarter, where everyone was related to someone else either closely or remotely, we lived an idyll few other cities on earth if any, match.
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