In South Pasadena, Grim Search for Missing 5-Year-Old Boy Continues, Father Arrested

Law enforcement, search and rescue teams and volunteers and even helicopters continue this morning to search for a five-year-old boy who has been not been heard from since a video call to his mother last Tuesday. His father has been arrested in connection with the boy’s disappearance.

The South Pasadena Police Department announced Saturday that 35-year-old Aramazd Andressian had been arrested on suspicion of child abduction and child endangerment.

The father was found unconscious outside a vehicle in the Arroyo Seco Park at around 6 a.m. Saturday and taken to a hospital.

About two hours after that incident, a woman called San Marino police and said Andressian was supposed to drop their son – Aramazd Jr. – off at an agreed location but the father never showed show up.

When questioned, Andressian was uncertain where the boy was, police said. He was interviewed for several hours before he was arrested.

“The father … was not very forthcoming with information, was not very specific on his timeline on where he was with the child, where he was when the child was lost,” South Pasadena Police Chief Art Miller said at a late Saturday press conference. “He doesn’t really have a full memory of actually being with the boy.”

Andressian’s statements have been “convoluted and contradictory,” according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Chris Bergner.

According to the Daily Mail, Andressian’s bail was initially set at $100,000, but detectives later went back to a judge to explain the boy is still missing and provide additional information about the circumstances. The judge then upped Andressian’s bail to $10 million, the newspaper reported.

Police said they didn’t know why Andressian was unconscious and that they found no evidence of a struggle at the scene where he was found passed out. They did not say if the child may have been harmed by his father.

“To become unconscious when you’re supposed to be in the care of a child, that’s where our main concerns are,” Miller said.

The boy’s mother, from San Marino, told police they are separated but share custody of their son. San Marino police Chief John Incontro also said at a weekend press conference that the mother “didn’t express directly to us that she felt the father was going to do the child any harm.”

The South Pasadena, San Marino and Los Angeles police departments, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are cooperating in the search for Aramazd, last seen wearing a turquoise shirt and plaid shorts.

Police said Aramazd is about 3 feet and 5 inches tall and weighs about 55 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes, and has a small mole on his right shoulder.

Anyone who sees the little boy or has more information is urged to call 911 or the South Pasadena Police Department at (626) 403-7270.