LOS ANGELES — Homicide detectives have found the body of a missing 5-year-old boy whose father is charged with his murder, authorities announced Saturday.
Based on additional 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.
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 arrested June 23.
His attorney, Ambrosio Rodriguez, said he met with Andressian for the first time on Saturday in jail. “My client is heartbroken, like anybody else,” he said.
Andressian has adamantly denied harming the boy.
Contending there has been “a rush to judgment,” the attorney said he will appear in court Monday and ask to have the case continued for 30 days in order to prepare a defense.
Investigators have been searching for the boy since his father was found passed out in a park in South Pasadena on April 22. Andressian had taken prescription pills and was found in a car doused in gasoline in an apparent suicide attempt, sheriff’s officials said.
Andressian told authorities that he drove that day about 145 miles to Lake Cachuma. Authorities had twice searched the lake unsuccessfully.
Although initially arrested, Andressian was released but later charged with murder. Prosecutors contend that he killed the boy to get back at his estranged wife.
