Missing boy’s body found — dad charged with murder

LOS ANGELES — Homicide detectives have found the body of a missing 5-year-old boy whose father is charged with murder, authorities announced Saturday.

Based on new leads, detectives returned Friday to an area near Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County and found the remains of Aramazd Andressian Jr., according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department.

No other details were released. An autopsy is planned to determine the cause of death.

The boy was found on the same day that his father, Aramazd Andressian Sr., 35, of South Pasadena, was returned to Southern California from Las Vegas, where he was recently arrested. He has denied harming the boy.

Investigators have been searching for the boy since his father was found passed out in a large park in South Pasadena on April 22. Sheriff ’s officials said Andressian had taken prescription pills and was found in a car doused in gasoline in an apparent suicide attempt.

Andressian told authorities that he drove that day about 145 miles to Lake Cachuma. Authorities had twice searched the lake unsuccessfully in the past few months, using dogs and a dive team.

Although initially arrested, Andressian was released but later charged with murder. Prosecutors contend that Andressian killed the boy to get back at his estranged wife. He and the boy’s mother, Ana Estevez, were sharing custody as they went through a divorce.

He was arrested in Las Vegas on June 23 because authorities believed he might try to flee the country.

Andressian had shaved his beard, lightened his hair and had been living in a Las Vegas hotel — conduct characterized as inconsistent with that of a grieving parent, sheriff ’s officials said.