Harry & Paula Nazarian

Harry and Paula Nazarian left Czechoslovakia to come to America in the fall of 1950. With them they had their two young children, a son named Paolo who was …and another son named Adronik who was…. Their family had already lived through a lot of strife. As a young girl, Paula and her parents had survived the Nazi takeover during World War II. She later married Harry who was an Armenian refugee. Together with their sons, they fled the communist takeover after World War II.

     Initially landing in New York they would eventually call Sacramento and then Los Angeles, California home but it was Portland, Oregon where they would finally begin to grow roots. Harry and Paula borrowed money from friends and opened a small diner on McLoughlin Blvd in Portland. Paula cherished education and was determined to see her children not just survive as she had done as a young girl but thrive as new Americans taking full advantage of the public schools and all they had to offer. 

     Everything appeared to be going well for the family, but sometimes appearances can be deceiving. In the evening of May 16th, 1955 Paula and the boys would leave the home they shared in the back of the diner to attend a movie at the Sellwood theater. They would never return home.

     Harry would eventually arrive at the police station appearing frantic, claiming he had been searching for his family, driving around Portland and surrounding areas, but all inquiries led to nothing. Strangely, this man who by all accounts seemed desperate to find his family, would take two days to report their absence. 

     Police wasted no more time. They swiftly began searching for the young mother and the two little boys but quickly a picture would emerge that would blur the image of this happy family. Interviews with friends and employees would yield clues that led officers to believe that they didn’t have far to look to find out what happened. They just needed to look at the only witness to their disappearance, Harry.

     They talked of unexplained bruises on Paula, of Harry’s flirtatious nature and of his desire to live above their means. They claimed that Harry worked Paula like a slave forcing her to work 16 hour shifts 7 days a week to keep the diner running while he spent lavishly on clothes and other women. But the worst was yet to come. Friends of Paula’s had claimed she feared that Harry would try to kill her. Another had told them this was more than just a missing persons case. 

     A search of the apartment they shared at the diner would bring the most damning evidence of foul play of all. Her purse was found in the apartment. Then, in the basement, pushed to the very back of a closet, as if it had been hidden there, were suitcases filled with Paula and the boy’s clothes. But most telling of all was all three passports. Without these, they had no identification. This meant Paula had no way of registering the boys for school, something everyone said was of the utmost importance to Paula. Harry was shooting to the top of the suspect list. 

     As if on cue, Harry would come to the already suspicious officers with a story that seemed…well, odd. He claimed that he had received a phone call. No, not from his family, but from their kidnappers. Paula and the children had been missing for nine days at this time. According to Harry, the caller had instructed him to meet at the corner of NE 82nd and Sandy at 2am that night if he ever wanted to see his children alive again. That was it. No request for ransom, just to meet. 

     Police were skeptical but they took no chances. The area was staked out by officers and Harry was sent for the meeting. And wouldn’t you know it. Nobody showed up. All the evidence was starting to come together and it did not look good for Harry.

     The newspapers ran stories daily of the pretty young mother and her two little boys. The public wanted answers. The FBI and immigration services were called in to help. The fire was being turned up under Harry. He must have been feeling the heat of suspension.  How else can you explain what happened next?

     Police received a call from an angry car salesman. Harry had written a check for a used car and left the lot. Only then did the man realize the check was no good. But it was too late. Harry was long gone. Authorities issued a fugitive warrant. They could not prove he was a murderer but now he was definitely a thief.

     While police continued to look for Harry’s family they also continued to look for him. Both efforts were fruitless. A cistern behind the diner was emptied but to no avail. They weren’t there. Rumors began to swirl that Harry had encased them in the cement of a newly constructed building. But it turned out that’s all it was, a rumor, made up by a community desperate for an explanation to what happened to Paula and the boys. The case was transferred from missing persons to homicide.

     Where was Harry at this time? It wouldn’t be until January of the next year, 1956, until we would get the answer to that question. After fleeing Portland, Harry made it as far as Waskom, Texas, a tiny town close to the Louisiana border, before his stolen ride had given out. With no money and desperate for help, he approached a man named R.A. Graves for a job. Graves had no job to offer, but feeling sympathy for the plight of the stranded man he offered him a place to stay in the home he shared with his wife, Edna May and their 22 year old son.

     Harry explained to his hosts that he had had a good life with a big, fancy house and a lucrative job. Happiness had not been lacking for him until he lost his family. This, according to him, had just recently happened and he was still trying to piece his life back together. 

     Do you think he told them the truth and confessed to where his family was? If yes, you’d be wrong. No, Harry spun a story about a plane crash in Germany. His wife and kids had been on board. His wife and youngest son had died instantly but it was the death of his oldest son that haunted him the most. He had lived for two days before succumbing to his injuries. To prove his story, he produced a picture of a crashed plane from his wallet. This, of course, was all a lie. And a heartless one at that but when investigators found out about this, it must have made them wonder. Was there any truth in his story?

     The lies he told would be the least of the family’s problems though. For the kindness and generosity they showed to take a stranger into their home Harry repaid them with selfishness. One morning Mr. Graves and his son awoke to find Edna and Harry were gone. Had she gone willingly? Harry could be a charming flirt or had he taken her against her will. They would have to find her to find out.

     Don’t worry, I won’t drag this part out too much. The pair showed up in Carthage, Texas three months after they disappeared. Apparently, Harry had taken her to Florida originally where he got a job working as a mechanic. She claims, while there, he held her hostage with fear telling her he would kill her if she tried to escape him. 

     She also told police that he had admitted to killing people in the past. She was able to trick him into returning her to Texas with what she said was a lie. She would divorce her husband but they must be in Texas to do it. I don’t think that is the law now but it may have been in the late 1950’s. Regardless, Harry was never charged because police didn’t believe Edna had been kidnapped.

     Harry was returned to Portland to face charges for stealing the car. With no new leads as to what exactly happened to his family, Harry was only charged with theft. He was given five years probation. 

     You might think Harry would want to lay low and stay out of trouble. After all, he was the main suspect in what police fully believed to be a triple murder. But no, less than a year later he was back in trouble again. He stole a check and used it to buy another car and head East. Now he was not only in trouble for theft but violating his probation by leaving the state.

     Along the way he met and married a woman in Illinois. That’s bigamy if his wife is still alive. But I don’t think anybody at that time thought that was the case.

     Years passed before there would be anything new to report, but officers never gave up trying to find Paula, Paola and Andronik. The public and reporters never forgot about the missing family either. There would be articles written from time to time but there wasn’t much new to add. Then finally, in 1962, seven long years after they disappeared, the officer's hard work paid off. They were found.

     But it would be in a way no one had expected. Because no one expected to find them alive! 

     You see, Paola got married and for the first time since he, his mother and brother had fled that night he registered with the government, as they all should have been doing yearly all along. It was this that caught the attention of authorities. And they weren’t hiding, at least as far as the boys knew. He had no idea anybody was looking for them until Portland PD showed up at his apartment. 

     He put authorities in touch with his mother who lived in Santa Ana with Andronik. She picked up the story. They had been fighting that night and they did actually attend the movies as Harry had said but after the movie Paula refused to go home. So, they boarded a streetcar to Oregon City then took a bus to Eugene and then on to Los Angeles. They had been living in Santa Ana ever since.

     And although the boys had no idea they were hiding, Paula did. She was terrified of what Harry would do if he found out where they were. Little did she know that at that time, Harry had already moved on to another marriage. And since his first family was still alive, it was indeed, a bigamist one.