Man’s identity revealed after arrest over alleged kidnapping, murder of Sydney grandfather

A man has been arrested over the kidnapping and murder of Sydney grandfather Chris Baghsarian, who was allegedly snatched from his home before being tortured and killed in a case of mistaken identity.

Deklin James Donnelly, 23, and his girlfriend, Jenessa Thurston, also aged 23, were arrested during a raid on the couple’s public housing home at Seven Hills about 6.30am on Wednesday.

Police will allege Donnelly played a significant role in Baghsarian’s alleged abduction and murder, and is expected to be charged on Wednesday. Thurston has been charged with breaching an apprehended domestic violence order. She is not accused of any involvement in Baghsarian’s death.

Donnelly updated the profile picture on his Facebook account on February 16 – two days after police believe Baghsarian’s body was dumped on the outskirts of a golf club at Pitt Town in Sydney’s north-west and while detectives were hunting the widower’s killers.

Neighbours in the street said Donnelly and Thurston had only recently moved into the western Sydney home and that they were shocked by the raid on Wednesday morning.

“They’ve only been there for, I don’t know, three weeks or four weeks or something,” one neighbour said.

“Really haven’t seen them, just a couple times wandering in and out … just very quiet,” they said.

Last month, detectives charged Daniel Stevens, 24, and Gerard Andrews, 29, with Baghsarian’s murder days after the widower’s body was found near a golf course at Pitt Town on Sydney’s north-western fringe.

Baghsarian’s alleged abduction and murder of the elderly widower marked the latest sign of the Sydney underworld’s shifting boundaries and landscape.

The alleged kidnappers were looking for the father of convicted armed robber Dimitri Stepanyan, who lives on the same North Ryde street as Baghsarian. Demands of a $50 million ransom were made to Stepanyan, who told kidnappers they had abducted the wrong man.

Stepanyan, 37, who is linked to the Alameddine crime family, is not accused of any involvement in Baghsarian’s death.

CCTV footage of three people was released in an appeal for information last week, showing the trio walking towards a property on Wildthorn Avenue, Dural.

A blue Hyundai sedan with a hubcap missing on its left side is seen arriving and then leaving the same home just after noon on the following day, February 14.

Police say Baghsarian was held hostage and tortured at the abandoned and derelict property, where they believe he was eventually killed.

Detectives believe the local ringleader of Baghsarian’s botched kidnapping fled overseas shortly after he was killed.

Baghsarian has been remembered as a gentle and cheerful man. “The kindest person we know – someone who would never hurt a fly,” his family said in a statement.

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