Mystery of Missing 5-Year-Old Has New Twist

Father Aramazd Andressian Sr. has been released from jail
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 26, 2017 3:02 AM CDT
Father of Missing 5-Year-Old Released From Jail
This photo provided by the South Pasadena Police Department shows Aramazd Andressian Sr.   (South Pasadena Police Department)

The father of a missing 5-year-old boy has been released from jail in an unexpected twist that only deepens the mystery behind the boy's disappearance. Investigators on Tuesday decided against presenting the case to prosecutors and moving forward with charges against Aramazd Andressian Sr., who was found unconscious Saturday at a South Pasadena park with his son, Aramazd Andressian Jr., nowhere to be found. The father, who's in a custody fight with the boy's mother, was vague and evasive in his answers to detectives' questions. He was arrested later Saturday on suspicion of child endangerment and abduction and was being held on $10 million bail before his release, the AP reports.

"Aramazd, his family, and counsel are fully cooperating with the police in their efforts to locate little Ara," the father's attorney said. Four days of intensive searching for the boy have yielded very little. On Tuesday, authorities searched Cachuma Lake in Santa Barbara County, where Andressian's car had been seen before his arrest, but they later found surveillance video that showed the father had been there without his son. Investigators have said the boy was last seen on April 18 during a video chat with his mother, but they've been unable to identify precisely when he went missing. Investigators don't know why Andressian Sr. was unconscious at the park, but they've said there's no evidence he was attacked. (More missing child stories.)

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