Police believe the body of missing 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian could have been dumped on Sydney’s outskirts just 40 hours after he was kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity.
New South Wales police said they had found human remains near a golf club in Pitt Town at about 8am on Tuesday.
Baghsarian, a widowed grandfather, was kidnapped from his North Ryde home just after 5am on Friday 13 February.
Early inquiries established that he was not the intended target and had been taken in a case of mistaken identity.
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Police on Monday said forensic evidence linked to Baghsarian had been found in a burnt-out car in Westmead, with officers subsequently searching bushland at Glenorie.
Investigators found the human remains off Pitt Town Bottoms Road on Tuesday morning, Det Acting Supt Andrew Marks said.
The car involved, a grey Toyota Corolla, was seen in Glenorie on the night of Saturday 14 February and then in Pitt Town Bottoms Road at 9.05pm.
“The grey Toyota was in that vicinity at 9.05pm on Saturday … two weekends ago,” Marks said on Tuesday.
“It’s very close to the Lynwood golf course. We’d ask that anybody in that area, around that time, who may have seen that car or anybody acting suspiciously in that area, contact police.
“We’re all outraged this could happen to an innocent man.”
The Corolla was set alight in Westmead late on Monday 16 February. Marks urged the public to share any footage they may have of the Toyota.
Marks said this week that officers had discovered evidence inside the car that had also been linked to an abandoned and derelict property in Dural, where it was believed Baghsarian was held.
Police raided the Dural property on Thursday evening, later saying it had been used as “a makeshift stronghold by the kidnappers”.
Baghsarian’s family last week said they were “living through a nightmare” and the 85-year-old’s abduction “feels surreal”.
“Our family is living through a nightmare we never thought possible,” his relatives said last Tuesday. “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.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the intended target may have been a relative of a man linked to a well-known Sydney crime family.
Marks said he could not comment further on the investigation into the alleged perpetrators.
“I am confident in the ability of the investigators. If there’s evidence available to identify those who are responsible … we will identify them and bring them before the courts.
“We are outraged that this has happened and at the recklessness of these people.”
