Peterborough Evening Telegraph, UK
Aug 18 2004

CRIME: Murder victim’s gravestone may be changed

THE name on the gravestone of a man brutally murdered in a field
could be changed if detectives can contact his parents.

Police have released a list of pseudonyms belonging to Hovhannes
Armirian (43), from Armenia – the name attributed to him by his
Belgian wife.

However, in the asylum-seeking community of East Anglia, Mr Armirian
was more commonly known as Sarko.

And after delving into his past, detectives have uncovered a long list
of aliases, most of which are variations of Sarkis Matewosjan.

That list has been passed to newspapers in eastern Europe, in the
hope of discovering both Mr Armirian’s true identity and his parents.

If detectives are successful, the inscription on the wooden cross in
Eastfield cemetery, Eastfield Road, Peterborough, which originally
read Male Unknown, could be changed for a third time.

The bid to find the Upton murder victim’s true identity is not a part
of the murder investigation.

A 26-year-old man, previously arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr
Armirian, whose smouldering body was found shot, stabbed and set
alight in a field, in Upton near Peterborough, remains in care,
mentally unfit to be questioned.

However, Detective Inspector Bert Deane, who has led the 20-month
investigation, said: “I feel it is necessary to find out the full
background of the victim.

“That is something we have always wanted to do, even after we found
his wife in Belgium. Whenever you have a murder victim you want to
make sure all his next of kin know what has happened to him.”