Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Did dad kill son after Disneyland trip in divorce revenge plot?

Episode Date: July 3, 2017

Los Angeles investigators accuse Aramazd Andressian, 35, of murdering his 5-year-old son Picqui in revenge against his ex-wife because of their divorce battle. The child's body was found at a California lake two months after he went missing following a week with his father, which ended with a Disneyland visit. In this episode, Nancy Grace and Alan Duke look at the latest in the case. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Arnaz Sr. and his wife Anna had split up and had a custody battle going when Junior disappeared while in his dad's custody. They say the murder was a planned event, a way for him to get back at her. The father was found passed out at Arroyo Park next to his car. The child was nowhere to be found. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Investigators told us that Aramast Andresian had been hanging out here in Las Vegas for about the past month and a half. He was taking part in activities and displaying mannerisms that were not consistent with a

grieving parent. When it looked like he was getting ready to possibly flee the country, they moved in and made the arrest. He has significantly attempted to change his appearance by shaving his beard and dyeing his hair. The body of Armas Andresi Jr. has been found. Unbelievable. There are no words to describe how devastated and heartbroken I am. The body of a missing five-year-old little boy has just been found near a Santa Barbara lake. This is the day after his father is caught on camera mugging and joking, cracking jokes, when discussing the disappearance of his son, his five-year-old little boy? Could it be that after taking his little boy, his namesake,

Peaky, Aaron Androsian Jr., taking him to a fun-filled trip to Disney, he kills his own child? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories, and I want justice. How dare he joke and laugh and mug for the cameras in the courtroom when his son is lying dead cold, his five-year-old boy, his namesake. Alan, what happened? It's unbelievable. The kid, Peaky, the cutest five-year-old, had a week with dad. This is the summer visitation in their child custody agreement. They were still in a... Oh, whoa, whoa, wait. Oh, just yesterday, yesterday, a friend called me crying in tears because her husband, her estranged husband, is throwing yet another fit over custody.

I mean, he's the one that up and left. And now, fighting with a mom about custody, another contiguous custody thing. I don't know how I missed that fact, Alan Duke. So he has a visit with dad. Yes. It's his first week-long visit. Oh, my stomach is just hurting. That had some weekends here and there.

But this was the first big one. So the father's family, really, you can tell, loves this kid. They went along with the dad to Disneyland. They spent all day saturday at disneyland we've got video that the grandmother took of these this kid having such a great time at what's called the happiest place on earth they oh wait a minute alan alan i remember when i was out in california for dancing with the stars see i still am like a Disney freak. I love Disney. You know, it ain't cheap.

No. I would get the children. It was like a dream come true to me because I had never spent time at Disney. It's awesome. Yes. And we would spend, we would get there in the morning, and it would be dark at night in time for the fireworks show before we left, and we'd be bone tired.

We could hardly even walk anymore, and we wouldn't want to leave. That's the way Disney is. So he takes the five-year-old boy to Disney. I think, let's see, the twins were, I can't remember anymore, I think they were four when we were out doing Dancing with the Stars. Oh, my stars. Just thinking about the day at Disney and then,

okay, I'm sorry. Back to you, Alan, go ahead. This child apparently didn't want to leave because they finally left Disneyland in Anaheim at 1 o'clock in the morning. Uh-huh. And the boy... They stayed for the parade and the fireworks.

I would always drive the children to the car and take them home, and they'd be all like, I want to do the fireworks! They didn't even know what they were saying. They're like two little worms. I could just hear them right now. And I'd be thinking, oh, my stars, how long will it take me to drive them back?

And, of course, with all the bags of the cups, you know, they give you big, you buy big memory cups. And they'll get a Slurpee or something in it. And they want to take them home to drink their milk out of. We walk out with bags of stuff, dragged to the car. And they're having a little fit the whole time because they want to stay. Well, obviously, Peaky got to stay for the fireworks and the parade. So it's 1 a.m. Okay, then what happens? 1 a.m., the dad drives his son about three hours to the northwest to Santa Barbara County early in the morning at Kachuma Lake.

Now, this is in Santa Barbara County and not far from Neverland, Michael Jackson's Neverland. That's how far away it is. From Anaheim, it's 130, 140 miles. Dang. Early in the morning after a long day at Disneyland. Why did he do that? Why did he drive? Well, he's got a home he could go to.

Oh, okay. He could spend the night and then go. No, he doesn't have a home up there. That's a camping area. Well, you're asking why, and so are the investigators. He's seen up there. He says he took the kid up there, and then after that, he took the kid back to the Los Angeles area to South Pasadena,

and that's where it gets weird. But nobody saw. Well, it's already weird. Okay, let's put that out there. Nobody saw. I don't understand why he drove from Anaheim three hours away. What, did he spend the night at home? No, no.

It's pretty clear. He drove up to Kachuma Lake, and people, witnesses did tell cops, investigators, that they saw him there. And he acknowledged that he had driven the boy up there, but he didn't say anything about leaving him there. Did the witnesses see the boy? No. Nobody saw the boy. So then the next— This must have been like 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning.

Yes. Well, sunrises— What witnesses walking around at 4 o'clock in the morning yes well sunrise is what witnesses is walk what witnesses walking around at four o'clock in the morning well first of all uh they got there about four we don't know how long they were there but that morning after sunrise he must have planned to hide the body there you think so they see him but they don't see the kid. He is next seen the next morning on the 21st of April at a park in South Pasadena. And you know, it's a lovely area. He's out in the park. His BMW was there. He's unconscious next to the car. The car is soaked with gasoline inside and outside. They find a gas-soaked rag there.

They see matches, but the car was never burned. But the father is unconscious. He's rushed to a hospital. They don't even know anything about the kid at the time. But Peaky, as his family calls him, was not to be found. And immediately, they started a missing person search. Well, did the mother at this point know anything was amiss or was it still the visitation that night was when peaky was supposed to go back to

his mom back yes and of course never showed up she got all alarmed she started making calls we actually have a little bit of her statement. Hey, let's listen to Preaky's mom. My name is Ana Estevez, and Aramaz Andresian II is my son. In this time of despair and heartbreak, I want to begin by expressing how deeply grateful and indebted I am to many individuals who want to bring Adam as home as much as I do I'd like to begin by thanking the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement

agencies for their ongoing efforts in trying to locate my son my son Adam must also known to many as beaky I think the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for acknowledging this tragedy and approving the twenty thousand dollar reward for information leading to the apprehension and or conviction of the individuals who are concealing my son. Through the support of family and friends,

a GoFundMe account under Finding Atomast has been created with the purpose of supplementing the reward. I also want to thank the news media for their patience, for the respect they have shown, for giving me the opportunity to share information with the public, and to send a message to my son. Last but not least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family and my friends, my employer, and the many volunteers for their unyielding support, kindness, love, generosity, and prayers, and most important their time to those that I have met while distributing flyers who stopped what they were doing to say a

prayer for my son who gave me a reassuring hug or a smile who immediately took a photograph of the missing child bulletin and posted on social media, or who simply asked, how can I help? I am eternally grateful and sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart. My son's disappearance is my worst nightmare. It has been 32 days, almost three hours, since I last hugged my son, kissed him, or told him how much I love him. There are no words to describe how devastated and heartbroken I am. Although I do not know his whereabouts, I do believe that Beaky is alive, misses his family message is for you, my love. Be brave, honey.

Know that Mama and a lot of people are working very hard to bring you home. On April 12th you asked me if the happiest day of my life was when you were born. My answer to you was it was the happiest day ever. I want you to know, that the second happiest day of my life will be when you come back home. You are missed more than words can say. Don't ever forget that Mama loves you to the moon and the stars. I am counting the days until I see you again, honey. And I will never stop looking for you oh my stars just hearing the mom's voice you left a little something out alan isn't it true that when they find the father he has

shaved his beard lightened his hair that comes a little bit later. Let's go to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Joe Mendoza. This is what he said about finding the father in the park in South Pasadena. We know that at the scene on Saturday morning, he was found unconscious. We also know that he admitted to taking some prescription drugs that did not belong to him. We also recovered a prescription bottle from inside the car. And you're speaking up to the condition of the car. There was gasoline in the interior and doused all over the exterior. There was matches in there.

And there was a gas container. As to how those items play into what occurred, he has not been cooperative, so we don't know. Okay. So what happens next, Alan? Well, they didn't know where this boy was. The father's saying, well, I became unconscious. I don't know where he went. I became unconscious, and I don't know where he went. I became unconscious and I don't know where he went.

Basically, that's it. I became unconscious. He says, where's my son? So there's this search that goes on for several days. I wish I could have been there when he woke up and said, where's my son? Right. Well, that's a little finger necklace would be in order. Yeah.

He has no idea, he said, where his son was. But it doesn't sound right. And they arrest the father several days later for child neglect and child endangerment because you were supposed to watch him. And it's all very suspicious because of the gasoline in the car. They don't have enough evidence. They release him from jail and the father disappears. He is later found to be in Las Vegas, Nevada. And as you said, he had shaved his beard.

He had shaved his hair and he had turned it blonde. Where have we seen that before right scott peterson uh tad cummins you know get rid of the grape whatever so the day after he's supposed to hand the boy back to mom to the mommy he's supposed to be handed off pursuant to their custody agreement. The dad is found unconscious in a South Pasadena park. His gray BMW beside him drenched in gasoline. Okay. Then he goes to the hospital. He says he, quote, was unconscious, went unconscious,

and doesn't know what happened to his son. Then a few days later, he turns up near Vegas with bleached blonde hair and no beard. Okay, now what? They're thinking, and probably rightly, that this man is planning an escape. Andresian is in Vegas partying and staying away, not searching for his son. I mean, nobody knows where the son is apparently, but him allegedly. But he's out in Vegas. Where have we seen that before when a missing child is still missing and the parent goes out partying? Do you have any comparisons? Have you ever seen anything like that before, Nancy? Oh, yeah.

So explain to me, this was what? A revenge killing over their tumultuous estrangement? So this is the ultimate get back at mommy to kill the baby? That's the allegation that this 35-year-old man, Aramaz Andresian, was so set to get revenge against his ex-wife that he killed the five-year-old son. Revenge over what? A divorce? We don't know.

They're not saying yet because they're keeping it close in the investigation what kind of threats there had been. There are only hints that it was getting very very bitter with the child custody and those things can get doing no cause of death well first of all where exactly was that was so he's body found just this weekend finally uh the body is found they're not telling us much about the condition it was found in, but Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonald announced Saturday that this child's body was found, in fact, at that lake, Kachuma,

which is a two-hour drive away from the park in South Pasadena. So, yes, that is where the child never left the lake, never made it to the park in South Pasadena as the dad had said and they've they found it they're doing the autopsy today most likely so they really don't know the cause of death the la county coroner is going to be using dental records and x-rays to positively identify this tiny body, this five-year-old boy's body. He spent his last hours of life laughing and playing with family at Disney in Anaheim before a brutal death. We will find out, I'm sure, whether there is any trauma to the child's body and the cause

of death. Could you tell me what the father was doing? He's in court in Vegas, I assume at an extradition hearing to take him back to California, which is like a three-question process. Are you this person? It's really, it's not about guilt or innocence. It's simply identifying, are you this person? Because if you are, you're going back to your home jurisdiction. Why is he laughing and making jokes and crying? You and I have seen a lot of defendants in front of a judge, and very few times do we see people charged with killing kids.

They're laughing, but he was joking the judge was saying okay uh they're probably he waived his extradition he says yes california authorities can come and pick me up and the judge was telling him they probably won't wait very long because this is a high priority case and he was laughing about it and saying yeah i i'm sure that they will it wasn't funny but he was laughing and that is not a good sign but he didn't have his lawyer there with him by the way his lawyer is a well he's his the main lawyer ambrosio rodriguez is a very prominent experienced lawyer actually kind of reminds me of this guy who did a case in Florida that you followed, Jose Baez. They kind of remind me of each other in a way.

And we're going to, I'm sure we're going to get him, and we're going to talk to him and say, well, right now, this is what I know. This Pasadena boy's dad, joking and laughing in court, you know, in the hours around the discovery of his little boy's dead body, is set to plead not guilty to murder. The lawyer says he has met with the dad, now charged with murder, the remains of his child found near that lake, Kachuma, according to the L.A. County Sheriff. What I'm wondering is, will witnesses come forward to place him there around the time that the son would have been buried?

Alan, the tip line for potential witnesses, what is it? Nancy, the Crime Stoppers number for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is 1-800-222-TIPS, 1-800-222-8477. I'm Nancy Grace. This is the latest in the death and disappearance of little Peaky, Aaron Andresian Jr. Our prayers with his mom today. Nancy Grace Crime Stories signing off. Goodbye, friends.

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