The curse of Pitt Town Bottoms: Tragic backstory of abandoned farm where kidnapped granddad Chris Baghsarian’s body was found
The site where the remains of frail grandfather Chris Baghsarian were found had a terribly tragic past even before the grim discovery.
The disused turf farm at Pitt Town Bottoms, near Sydney’s Hawkesbury River, was previously owned by Mario ‘Muz’ Fenech – who tragically took his own life aged 55 on December 20, 2022, after repeatedly losing his crop to catastrophic rainfall.
Neighbouring turf operators confirmed to the Daily Mail that Mr Fenech had tragically died by suicide.
Indeed, the property itself – where Mr Baghsarian’s body was found next to a gravel track bordering the Lynwood Golf and Country Club – was only sold on Monday, one day prior to the corpse being discovered.
Detectives believe the body was disposed of at the site around February 14, when the bungling kidnappers allegedly realised they had the wrong target.
Daniel Stevens, 24, and Gerard Andrews, 29, have been charged with Mr Baghsarian’s kidnapping and murder.
NSW Police believe Mr Baghsarian was the victim of mistaken identity, with the intended target being relatives of Alameddine associate, Dimitri Stepanyan, the founder of Proper Streetwear clothing, a brand often worn by underworld figures.
His parents, Karo and Vanush Stepanyan, lived three houses away at Dimitri’s $3.5million childhood home.
Mario ‘Muz’ Fenech owned the disused turf farm at Pitt Town Bottoms where kidnapped Chris Baghsarian’s body was dumped after the grandfather was mistakenly abducted from his home. Mr Fenech took his own life in December 2022
A blue police tent shields Chris Baghsarian’s body which was found dumped on the 7.5ha property which had only been transferred to its new owners the day before the discovery
Police are seen marching through the field to the crime scene where Baghsarian’s body was found
Pitt Town Bottoms, 58km from Sydney’s CBD, is a hub for the turf industry and market gardens, with the dumping site located between a vegetable farm and the golf club.
Mr Baghsarian’s remains were found in long grass and weeds close to the main road nearby and the tee of the neighbouring golf club’s second hole.
The farm’s selling agents told the Daily Mail they last walked the property with the new buyer just days before the tragic February 13 kidnapping.
Recurrent flood levels at the property prevent any construction of new houses, but after Mr Fenech’s death, the abandoned turf became overgrown and is shoulder-high in some places.
The late Mr Fenech – who is no relation to his famous former footballer namesake – had owned the property via a family company.
After his death, he left the land at 82 Pitt Town Bottoms Road to his widow who engaged Vella Iverson Real Estate to sell it this month.
Mr Fenech also owned an 11ha property with a house, office and outbuildings across the road from the dump site.
Both went underwater during the Hawkesbury River’s catastrophic flooding in March 2021.
Chris Baghsarian, 85, and Dimitri Stepanyan were once neighbours in the street from which the pensioner was kidnapped
Mario Fenech’s property is seen in the background after the Hawkesbury River broke its banks. Heavy rain which turned Mr Fenech’s farm into a lake
Mr Fenech featured in a Nine newspapers’ video shot from a boat atop the floodwaters that had turned his million-dollar farm and adjoining property into a lake.
‘It’s actually incredible to fathom that much water,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald at the time.
‘It’s heartbreaking, man. We’ve got to rebuild that office, rebuild that shed.’
He said he hoped the water drained quickly, and that the sun dried out the grass because otherwise a three-month recovery could stretch into a year.
‘It’ll basically drown the grass and roots, then we’d have to start all over again,’ he said.
His neighbour Steve Innes said he felt for ‘Muz … my best mate for 35 years. He’d give you the shirt off his back’.
Mr Fenech said at the time that ‘the community comes together to help each other’.
He added: ‘That’s what I love about being down there. We all pitch in and help each other.
The family of Dimitri Stepanyan, 37, who live three doors up from the kidnap house was allegedly the intended target
Intended target: The $3.5million home where convicted criminal Dimitri Stepanyan grew up and where his parents Karo and Vanush were still living at the time of the kidnapping
The wrong house: Early on February 13, kidnappers smashed in the front window of Chris Baghsarian’s house at 21 Northcott Avenue, North Ryde
‘Having friends and family there to support you when you’re in need – that’s living.’
A year later, Pitt Town Bottoms was again inundated, under 8.5m of water.
After Mr Fenech took his life in December 2022, friends posted tributes to their ‘mate Muz’ on Facebook.
Detectives and forensic officers spent a second day gathering evidence at the Pitt Town Bottoms Road property on Wednesday.
A forensic van contracted to the NSW Coroner retrieved Mr Baghsarian’s body from the site late on Tuesday afternoon and took it for a post-mortem examination to the Forensic Medicine & Coroners Court Complex at Lidcombe.
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