Police appeal to public for help finding missing 5-year-old; father arrested

Aramazd Andressian Sr. was arrested on child endangerment and abduction charges.

ByABC News
April 24, 2017, 12:45 AM

— -- Police in California appealed to the public for help finding a 5-year-old boy who has been missing since Saturday and whose father has been arrested after police found him unconscious in a park.

Police said they found Aramazd Andressian Sr., 35, passed out near a car in Arroyo Park in South Pasadena, California, on Saturday and arrested him after an investigation about the whereabouts of his son, Aramazd Andressian Jr., ABC affiliate KABC reported Sunday.

Police were still searching for the boy as of late Sunday and urged anyone with information to come forward.

Andressian was arrested on charges of child endangerment and child abduction, police said.

The child’s mother reported the boy missing on Saturday after Andressian, her estranged husband, failed to drop him off at a scheduled meeting place, authorities said. The couple is in the process of divorce and a custody battle, according to police.

The boy currently spends one week with each parent and speaks with the other through a video call twice a week, according to the boy's mother. She said she spoke with the boy via Skype on Tuesday, but a second call scheduled for Thursday never happened.

Police in South Pasadena said they searched the park for signs of the boy to no avail, the report said. It was still unclear how and why the father passed out.

Police described the father’s statements as "convoluted and not consistent" as well as "contradictory."

"When we found out the boy was missing we don't know if he crawled out of the car himself, if he walked away, if he was abducted - we have no idea," South Pasadena Police Chief Art Miller said Saturday during a press conference. "To become unconscious when you're supposed to be in the care of a child, that's where our main concerns are."

A judge increased Andressian's bail to $10 million from $100,000 after detectives provided additional information about the circumstances of the case.

In a Facebook post late Sunday, the South Pasadena Police Department said it was still "pursuing leads" and had requested assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.