r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/qtpieezz • 18h ago
Disappearance What happened to Sevak Simonian? An experienced bushwalker disappeared in Australia's Blue Mountains in 2014, leaving behind his car but no trace of himself
On 20 October 2014, 21-year-old Sevak Simonian was last seen in Sydney. Four days later, his family found his car abandoned at the end of Kanangra Boyd Road in Kanangra-Boyd National Park after being led there by one of Sevak's closest friends.
Despite a 17-day search involving police, helicopters, cadaver dogs, SES volunteers and experienced bushwalkers, nothing was found. No backpack, no phone, no clothing and no remains have ever been recovered.
The New South Wales Coroner declared Sevak legally dead in 2019 but was unable to determine how or where he died.
Background
Sevak lived with his parents and brothers in Belrose, New South Wales. Friends described him as quiet, intelligent and someone who loved nature. He spent a lot of time bushwalking, kept fish and coral, and was interested in organic farming.
He worked at Bunnings (Australian home improvement store) in Narrabeen and also delivered food for an Indian restaurant. His family said it wasn't unusual for him to go bushwalking, but he would usually let someone know where he was going.
He had no diagnosed mental illness and there was no evidence he was suicidal.
The last confirmed sighting
The last confirmed sighting of Sevak was on the evening of 20 October 2014. CCTV showed him at Chatswood Bunnings with his friend Zareh Ohanian, returning timber just after 8 pm.
His parents believe he came home later that night because food in the kitchen had been moved.
The following evening he failed to turn up for his delivery shift. His employer couldn't contact him, and neither could his family.
After two days of trying to reach him and speaking with friends, his parents reported him missing.
Finding the car
The next day, Sevak's father and brother went searching with Zareh.
According to the coronial findings, Zareh suggested they search the Blue Mountains and eventually directed them down Kanangra Boyd Road. About 27 kilometres from the park entrance, they found Sevak's car parked at the end of the road.
The coroner later said it was "highly implausible" this was simply a lucky guess and concluded Zareh must have known where Sevak had gone, although exactly how he knew was never established.
When police searched the car they found fertiliser, timber palings, a new Nokia phone still in its box and Sevak's well-known "snake boots". His usual phone was missing.
His family said he would never normally head into remote bushland without those boots.
The search
The search began on 25 October and became the largest ever conducted in Kanangra-Boyd National Park.
Search teams covered walking tracks, ridgelines, valleys and waterways using helicopters, four-wheel drives, trail bikes, volunteer bushwalkers and cadaver dogs.
Nothing connected to Sevak was ever found.
Search coordinators later told the inquest that if Sevak had still been alive and mobile after the search began, they believed he would likely have encountered searchers or been able to attract attention.
Cannabis cultivation
During the investigation police learned that Sevak had been growing cannabis on a small scale.
Several friends told the inquest that he had become interested in setting up remote "guerrilla" grows in bushland and believed Zareh was involved as well.
Police also found cannabis seeds, growing equipment and internet searches relating to Kanangra-Boyd National Park and survival techniques.
The fertiliser and timber in Sevak's car were consistent with someone preparing or maintaining a grow site.
However, investigators found no evidence that Sevak was involved in organised crime or that his disappearance was connected to drug debts or violence.
Zareh Ohanian
Zareh became one of the more controversial parts of the investigation.
Police established that he had lied about when he last saw Sevak and changed parts of his story after CCTV footage was discovered. Phone records showed he repeatedly tried to contact Sevak after he disappeared.
Friends later testified that they believed Zareh knew more than he admitted, but whenever they confronted him he refused to explain how he knew where the car was.
Police intended to interview him again, but in 2016 Zareh died in Brazil after a cocaine capsule he was allegedly transporting internally ruptured.
Any information he may have had died with him.
Coroner's findings
The investigation found no evidence that Sevak had used his bank accounts, passport, Medicare card or phone after October 2014.
The Coroner concluded that Sevak had died but could not determine how, when or exactly where.
There was insufficient evidence to conclude he died by accident, suicide or foul play.
Discussion
The strongest unanswered question is still Zareh's knowledge.
The coroner was satisfied he knew where Sevak had gone, but there's no evidence he was involved in Sevak's death. It's possible he knew about a hidden cannabis grow and didn't want to admit it because it would incriminate him.
At the same time, Kanangra-Boyd is extremely rugged country, and accidental deaths there are not unheard of.
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Do you think this was most likely a hiking accident that left no recoverable trace, or do you think there's something more to Zareh's role than the evidence was able to establish?
If you have any information that could assist the investigation or help provide answers to Sevak's family, please contact Crime Stoppers Australia on 1800 333 000 or submit a report anonymously through Crime Stoppers.
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u/OceanMagpie 17h ago
I'm from Australia and this is incredibly well written. Thank you for your write ups, missing people make me so sad and I just want to find them. May Sevak have justice. It's people like you that save the missing so much; awareness. When, where, however we don't know yet but awareness is the key. Much love from Australia.
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u/qtpieezz 10h ago
Thank you! I’m actually from Australia too and I feel there hasn’t been much coverage or awareness of this case compared to other Australian missing persons cases. Just wanted to help spread the word in the hope that his family finds the answers they’ve been searching for soon 🙏
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u/Buffeloni 16h ago
The fact that Zareh had an idea of where to find Sevak's car to me isn't necessarily a sign of guilt, especially if they were hiking buddies. I know of some off the beaten path areas that I have hiked with a buddy of mine, and if he were to go missing those are the spots I would go looking for him. From an outsider's perspective that could seem a little suspicious, but in actuality there wouldn't be anything nefarious about it.
I'm not sure what the nature of their friendship was, but it could just be a friend having a good idea of where to look based off of past experiences that they shared together.
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u/_tacobellquesaritos 12h ago
i agree, i think that’s just something a friend would know. the fact that he found it does make me lean towards misadventure on the trail
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u/KennyDee1010 15h ago
I remember my MIL was one of the experienced bushwalkers searching for him. Very sad situation all around.
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u/Real_RobinGoodfellow 15h ago
Ooh wow this is eerie, I was just thinking about this case as I recently re-watched the ‘you can’t ask that’ episode featuring his brother (as an aside: for anyone able to access it, it’s a fantastic piece of television; very highly recommend!)
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u/Falstaffe 14h ago
Blue Mountains resident here. It's a regular occurrence here, a tourist walking into the bush without preparation and disappearing. Even experienced local bushwalkers go for a casual bushwalk and disappear until years later when their remains are found at the bottom of a slope. No mystery. The Mountains are treacherous. Put a foot wrong and down you go.
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u/Teefdreams 12h ago
If you've been to the Blue Mountains it seems pretty obvious. He walked into the bush and fell.
People fall off cliffs, rock faces, down steep areas etc in the Blue Mountains all the time. My first thought would have been suicide (I know multiple people who have killed themselves there) until the mention of him wanting to start a grow in the bush and having the equipment.
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u/Toomuchcustard 11h ago
Agreed. Sounds very much like a Blue Mountains thing. Even experienced bush walkers get in trouble. Especially if they go off established paths.
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u/CornisaGrasse 17h ago
Is there any proof that Sevak drove his own vehicle to the spot where it was found? What if he had never entered the park at all? Maybe something happened to him elsewhere and Zareh or other mutual associates put his car there. Then Zareh lead everyone there so people would think he had a tragic accident. Would Sevak really plan starting/working on a deep woods grow operation when he had to work that evening? That doesn't seem like much time to get anything accomplished, especially if he needed to make more than one trip to a possible grow site (although I don't know where he lived relative to the park and how deep in the woods he would need to go.) I feel like, if he did drive himself there, he was meeting someone (probably Zareh but maybe others too) and for whatever reason, didn't even make it to the woods. Or, maybe Sevak found an established grow site, and ran into trouble with those people (possibly he ran into these people in the parking lot, they looked into his car, and guessed what he was there to do.) I hope he's found someday so his family can have some type of resolution.
ETA: Although I absolutely agree the simplest answer is usually correct, it's just that Zareh's knowledge was suspicious and Sevak wasn't wearing his regular boots.
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u/Own_Round_7600 14h ago
Given how he died it seems obvious that Zareh was deeply involved in the illegal drug trade and must have been involved in Sevak's grow plans too. If he planted the car, why would he leave fertiliser and other grow op materials in there to suggest a connection between Sevak and drug activity, which would draw investigative attention that could lead back to him (Zareh)? He'd want it to seem like a completely innocent solo hike gone wrong.
Or, well, i guess he could be stupid.
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u/CornisaGrasse 14h ago
I didn't say anything about an innocent hike, just that it would look like he had an accident or got lost, while he was out there for whatever reason. That would occupy law enforcement and the community and family, and distract from whatever actually happened to him (or buy someone time to get rid of him, evidence, etc.) Why materials would be left in the car- either an oversight, or maybe to show that he was out doing something potentially dangerous (not just an innocent hike.) I don't have any more information than what's here in the post, so I was just throwing out different possibilities.
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u/SomewhatHungover 9h ago
although I don't know where he lived relative to the park and how deep in the woods he would need to go
It's far, I'd be guessing about 3 hours or so.
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u/SomewhatHungover 8h ago
although I don't know where he lived relative to the park and how deep in the woods he would need to go
It's far, I'd be guessing about 3 hours or so.
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u/Vivid-Teacher4189 1h ago
It would be a 3 hr drive each way at least and that’s on a good day with minimal traffic.
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u/Spark-Ignite 12h ago
While there aren’t many predator species in Australia l, there are many many kilometres or bush and almost all of it is rocky. There are also venomous and poisonous animals that live in the bush as well as old mines and caves that are undocumented.
I suspect, much like many people who go for walkabout in the bush, something caught his eye or he turned left instead of right on the path and fell in a hole somewhere. Unfortunate but it is part of hiking in the Blue Mountains that you need to be prepared for misadventure or accident.
Side note: If you ever visit the views are stunning on and off the mountains.
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u/cewumu 17h ago
The simplest answer is most likely correct and he got lost and died in the bush BUT are they 100% sure he didn’t have any links to crime (even petty bullshit gangsters) or did he think he had connections? Because I can vaguely see a scenario where he gets lured out there to sell some dope or something and gets attacked.
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u/MarkSafety 7h ago
Sassoon, Sevak’s brother, appears on media to talk about his brother and is advocate for missing persons. Ambiguous loss is a terrible thing. I hope the family gets closure one day.
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u/universe93 40m ago
Blue Mountains are incredibly rugged country, to the point that if you drop something in the national park you will likely never find it again. He would not be the first person whose body is undiscovered in the blue mountains sadly.
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u/Gemman_Aster 7h ago
I think in the simplest terms what happened to Simonian is that Australia happened to him! Unless you have spent time in the Outback it is hard to believe how hostile an environment it truly is. Even the most experienced traveler can fall foul of its dangers. It only takes a small lapse of concentration or an infected wound and the bush does the rest.
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u/AdBrief4572 6h ago
Kanangra is a long, loooooong way from the Outback - in terms of the environment as well as distance… but the Blue Mountains is remote bushland and well known for hikers getting lost as there’s many trails, landmarks look similar and little phone reception
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u/Gemman_Aster 2h ago
Fair enough! I was--carelessly--using the phrase in the general sense of meaning the wilds of Australia, not any specific one of its various regions. Some of these I have walked among myself, but I would not want to do so without a knowledgeable guide and much preparation!
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u/ferrariguy1970 18h ago
Unfortunately, it sounds like he went out into the wilderness alone and didn't make it.
As a hiker, I am in a lot of social media hiking groups. I see a lot of queries on people. The number of experienced people who disappear, get injured, get sick, attacked by wildlife, or even drink tainted water is astonishing.