The remains of a missing 5-year-old South Pasadena boy, who authorities believe was murdered by his father in April, was located at Lake Cachuma, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Saturday.
Aramazd “Piqui” Andressian Jr. had been missing since April 21, and his father, 35-year-old Aramazd Andressian, was arrested last month in Las Vegas on murder charges.
“Based on additional leads developed in the Andressian case, homicide detectives returned to the Lake Cachuma area of Santa Barbara County on Friday … in an effort to locate additional evidence,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
“Homicide detectives have located the remains of victim, Aramazd Andressian Jr.”
No additional details were released.
Aramazd’s body was flown to Los Angeles early Saturday and turned over to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Department.
Investigators there will be confirming the identification of the remains, likely using dental records, according to Ed Winter, assistant chief coroner, who held a brief news conference Saturday.
They also will be trying to determine the cause of death, which may be more difficult due to the fact the remains were more than 2 months old.
Friday was the third time investigators had searched for the boy’s body at Lake Cachuma.
He was last seen alive leaving Disneyland with his father around 1:30 a.m. April 21.
About six hours later, authorities say, Andressian was at Lake Cachuma — 150 miles away from Anaheim.
Andressian’s presence at the lake was confirmed through surveillance video, but there was no sign that his son was with him.
“There are certain areas we want to look at up in Santa Barbara County,” Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Joe Mendoza said at a news conference last week.
Aramazd’s mother, Ana Estevez, reported him missing the morning of April 22 after Andressian failed to return him to her South Pasadena home. The couple is in the process of divorcing.
Later that morning, Andressian was found alone and unconscious near a vehicle in a South Pasadena park. He claimed to have no knowledge of his son’s whereabouts, but sheriff’s officials told Noozhawk that he was not forthcoming with investigators and gave conflicting statements.
Andressian was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and child abduction, but authorities decided not to present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office at that time due to insufficient evidence.
Mendoza cited the couple’s “tumultuous divorce” proceedings as a possible motivation for the murder of their only child.
Andressian was extradited to Los Angeles County from Las Vegas on Friday, and is expected to be arraigned next week in Los Angeles.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323.890.5500, or to provide information anonymously through the Crime Stoppers website.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
