Search continues for missing 5-year-old after father arrested in his disappearance

The search for a 5-year-old boy who vanished from a South Pasadena park continued Monday after police announced his father had been arrested in connection with his disappearance.

Officers from the South Pasadena, San Marino and Los Angeles police departments, along with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, searched Arroyo Park and neighboring areas Sunday for the boy, Aramazd Andressian Jr., but found no signs of him. Meanwhile, authorities have called on the public for help in finding the boy.

“There’s got to be someone out there that knows the whereabouts of Aramazd Andressian,” South Pasadena Police Chief Art Miller told reporters Sunday. “There’s got to be someone out there that knows where he is at. I am asking as a law enforcement official and as a parent if you know anything, please contact us.”

The boy was last seen about 8 a.m. on April 15, when his mother had handed him off to his father in Baldwin Park. The mother told detectives she last saw her son Tuesday during a Skype video conversation. The couple are in the process of getting a divorce, but share custody of their child, Miller said.

She reported her son missing about 8:30 a.m. Saturday after the child’s father never showed up to drop off their son in San Marino, the chief said.

The woman gave officers a description of her estranged husband’s vehicle, a 2004 gray BMW. Police discovered the car had been impounded earlier that morning in South Pasadena.

The boy’s father, Aramazd Andressian Sr., 35, had been found alone and unconscious about 6:30 a.m. outside his car in Arroyo Park. He was hospitalized.

The boy was nowhere to be found.

“We [don’t] know if he crawled out of the car himself, if he walked away, if he was abducted — we have no idea,” the chief said.

Police interviewed the father, but “his story was all over the place,” the chief told reporters. Miller told reporters that investigators don’t know why the boy’s father was unconscious, but he said there’s no evidence suggesting the man was attacked.

“We don’t really know what he truly knows,” Miller said.

South Pasadena police said Andressian was arrested late Saturday on suspicion of child endangerment and child abduction. Andressian’s bail was set at $10 million, far higher than the $100,000 originally planned due to the seriousness of the case.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Chris Bergner said Andressian had given “convoluted and not consistent” statements.

“We are working to get to the truth,” he said.

Investigators said that Andressian’s BMW had previously been seen early Friday morning in Orange County. They urged anyone with any information about the car to contact police.

San Marino Police Chief John Incontro said the boy’s mother was concerned and upset, but “she didn’t express directly to us that she felt the father was going to do the child any harm.”

Police said Aramazd is 3 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 55 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes, as well as a small mole on his right shoulder, authorities said. Aramazd was last seen wearing a turquoise shirt and plaid shorts.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

[email protected]

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA