Home of missing boy’s relative is searched

Detectives question 5-year-old’s paternal grandmother during probe into new leads.

Investigators looking for 5-year-old Aramazd Andressian Jr., who has been missing for more than a month, searched the Montebello home of his paternal grandmother Thursday.

During the two-hour search of the grandmother’s home, which began about 9 a.m., investigators seized “various items of evidence,” according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“We’re just searching for additional evidence to help us locate the child,” said Los Angeles Sheriff ’s Det. Louie Aguilera. He declined to say what items authorities recovered but said the search was related to “new investigative leads that we have developed.”

Detectives also took the grandmother and the boy’s aunt in for further questioning in the child’s disappearance, Aguilera said.

The boy was reported missing April 22, two days after he went to Disneyland with his father and other relatives.

Aramazd Andressian Sr., 35, has been named a person of interest in the case, and detectives said that he has given “inconsistent” and “misleading” statements. Andressian was found unconscious in a South Pasadena park at 6:30 a.m. April 22, the day he was supposed to return the boy to his estranged wife.

Andressian was briefly held on charges of child endangerment and child abduction, then released because of insufficient evidence. He has hired a lawyer and refused to speak with investigators, giving only a written statement provided by his attorney.

Aramazd was last seen alive April 21 about 1 a.m. after leaving Disneyland with his father and other relatives.

Investigators think the elder Andressian also visited the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area in Santa Barbara County with the boy before he was reported missing, but there were no confirmed sightings of the child there.

Earlier this month, authorities increased a reward for information on Aramazd’s disappearance to $20,000. The boy’s mother, Ana Estevez, made a tearful plea to the public at a news conference.

“My son’s disappearance is my worst nightmare,” she said, adding that she thinks Aramazd is still alive. She told her son to be brave and that she loves him.

The day after the news conference, deputies returned to the park where Andressian was found to conduct a large-scale search with cadaver dogs, horses and a drone. They found nothing.

On Thursday, Ulises Llamas, 41, a neighbor of the grandmother, stood outside his home and watched as TV news trucks parked along the curb. He said he has noticed law enforcement parked in his neighborhood on multiple occasions.

Llamas, who has lived on the street of one-story homes and trimmed lawns for 10 years, said the child’s mother has been by his home, passing out fliers about the missing boy.

Another neighbor, Frank Lizarraga, 49, said he saw authorities haul a computer tower from the home Thursday morning. Lizarraga said the grandmother looked “frail” as she came out of the home and walked with a cane.

Lizarraga said the people in the home usually keep to themselves but sometimes wave.

“They seem like very good people,” he said.

About two weeks ago, Lizarraga said, the boy’s mother stopped by his home and asked about a security camera he has positioned on the side of the duplex where he lives.

“That is a mother who is concerned and wanting to look for her child,” he said. “I’m just hoping that this kid’s OK.”