With Dad Charged With Murder, Body of Missing Boy, 5, Found

Homicide detectives have found the body of a missing 5-year-old boy whose father is charged with his murder. 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., per the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The body was flown to the Los Angeles County coroner's office Saturday, reports the AP. It will be examined to confirm the boy's identity and cause of death, coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. Dental records and X-rays may be used because "the child was up there for the past" two months. KABC-TV contacted the boy's mother, and reports that she responded "with three broken heart emojis." The boy was found the same day his father, Aramazd Andressian Sr., 35, was returned to Southern California from Las Vegas, where he was arrested last week.

He has adamantly 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. 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, 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. Andressian had shaved his beard, lightened his hair and had been socializing while living out of a Las Vegas hotel for 47 days—conduct characterized as inconsistent with that of a grieving parent, sheriff's officials said. (More child murder stories.)