Updated ,first published
Two men accused of kidnapping an 85-year-old widower and murdering him while negotiating a $30,000 payment from their criminal overlords allegedly tried to cover their tracks by speaking Pig Latin and were captured after leaving a cigarette butt inside a burnt car.
New details of the alleged kidnap plot can be revealed exclusively by the Herald – including that Chris Baghsarian was held and murdered at gunpoint by thugs attempting to extract phone numbers of known criminals.
Baghsarian, a gentle man who lived alone in North Ryde, was asleep at home on Northcott Street when three men smashed a window at the front of his home and snatched him.
Sources close to the investigation say Gerard Andrews, 29, had exchanged messages with Daniel Stevens, 24, saying they “needed to go to K-Mart today, g” two days before the kidnapping.
The pair allegedly purchased three black hoodies and other clothing at Stanhope Gardens on February 11 before driving to St Marys North, which police allege was a staging point for a “joint criminal enterprise” to kidnap the father of Dimitri and Dominic Stepanyan.
The Stepanyan brothers, who are not accused of wrongdoing in the kidnapping of Baghsarian, both have criminal records. Police allege Stevens and Andrews believed they had kidnapped Karo Stepanyan when they allegedly abducted Baghsarian.
A third alleged kidnapper remains at large.
But CCTV allegedly captured the trio on Dobson Crescent at Dundas where they got into a Toyota Prado and drove to the North Ryde address where Baghsarian lived. A neighbour heard the glass break and called police, sources say.
The trio allegedly took Baghsarian to an abandoned home on Wildthorn Avenue, Dural, where he was detained and “subjected to a prolonged period of extreme violence”.
The torture sessions were photographed and filmed in an attempt to extract $50 million from the Stepanyans, police say.
In one video, a man holds a floral curtain over Baghsarian’s face and tells him to speak clearly. “What is Dimmy and Dom’s numbers?”
In another video, a hand is shown pointing a pistol at Baghsarian.
The extreme violence, the details of which this masthead will not publish, caused Baghsarian’s death at the Dural home by the following day, police allege.
His body, along with carpet from the home, was loaded into another vehicle and later disposed of near a golf club in the north-western Sydney suburb of Pitt Town.
Police allege Andrews and Stevens tried to burn the car used to transport the evidence, but failed.
Inside, police allegedly found a blood-stained carpet from the Dural address and a cigarette butt containing DNA said to match Andrews.
The net began closing, sources said, and police became aware of phone calls on February 19 involving Andrews.
Andrews allegedly told an associate he was waiting for a payout. The sum had been negotiated up, Andrews allegedly told his contact, but it was just above $30,000.
“Situation has changed,” Andrews allegedly said, in a reference to the botched abduction of an innocent man.
In the days that followed – as police searched for Baghsarian and images of his torture circulated – Andrews and Stevens allegedly spoke in Pig Latin to disguise their conversations about talking on the encrypted app Signal.
“I’ll talk to you in ignalsay,” one said.
In another exchange, one allegedly said, “C— is f—ed, bro.”
Baghsarian’s body was discovered on February 24.
Andrews allegedly threw out a Woolworths shopping bag filled with black clothing and sneakers, drenched in bleach, from his home as police watched.
Detectives are still hunting other alleged kidnappers, including a third person who was captured on CCTV during Baghsarian’s alleged abduction, as well as any potential overseas involvement.
Andrews and Stevens were arrested at their parents’ homes in Kenthurst and Castle Hill by heavily armed police on Wednesday morning and charged with Baghsarian’s alleged kidnapping – a charge of taking or detaining in company with intent to ransom, causing actual bodily harm – and murder.
The solicitor for Andrews, Paul McGirr, told reporters his client was not the ringleader.
“Certainly, from what I can gather, my client was no mastermind in respect to his involvement in this particular matter,” McGirr said.
“It’s not lost on me, the sensitive nature of this particular matter for the victim’s family – but I have a job to do, and it’s very hard for me to do that job having read the fact sheet.”
Andrews, followed by Stevens, fronted the Blacktown Local Court on Thursday morning. Neither of the accused applied for release on bail.
Stevens had initially requested his lawyer, Javid Faiz, to push for release, but he resiled after considering the “seriousness of the charges”.
“It’s a tragic incident; there’s no doubt this would have had an effect on the community,” Faiz told reporters outside the courthouse on Thursday.
“He understands the seriousness of it, he understands the nature and gravity of the allegations.”
His client had spoken only briefly in court, via video link from a police cell, where he requested generic antiviral medicine for a case of shingles.
A floral tribute was growing at Baghsarian’s front door on Thursday, left by locals grieving his death.
“Dear Chris, I am lost for words, what a cruel world we live in,” one wrote.
“You remind me of my father … [I] pray justice is served, these cowards deserve life.
“I’m sorry we let you down. I hope to meet you one day in heaven.”
A grandfather and widower, Baghsarian was born in Jerusalem, lived alone, and police have repeatedly said he and his family have no links to organised crime.
The accused will face court on April 17.
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Amber Schultz is a crime and justice reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
