'Worlds greatest investigator' Jay J Armes who worked for Marlon Brando and Elvis Presley has died

Private investigator Jay J Armes - who shot to fame after taking on cases involving Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando - has died aged 92. In a career spanning five decades, the PI became known for taking cases authorities including the FBI failed to crack.

Now, his son has lifted the lid on life with the detective known around the globe for tackling impossible assignments - from rescuing Marlon Brando’s kidnapped son to protecting Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley’s business interests.

His infamy prompted a line of action figures in his image, and even landed him a role in the most famous TV cop show of them all - Hawaii Five-O - portraying a villain. 

Having lost his hands in an accident as a child, Armes used prosthetic hooks, and also kept pet lions, tigers, and a chimpanzee.

Following his death on September 23 his son, Jay J Armes III, paid tribute, saying: “My dad became known as the guy you called when nobody else could help. He worked on cases all over the world — kidnappings, murders, missing persons, fraud, you name it. Most investigators never leave their city or state, but my dad would go anywhere.”

Armes III worked with his father in the PI business, established over the years after starting in a small office, where the elder Jay J took on cases for local attorneys, quickly building a reputation for his relentless work ethic and refusal to quit, no matter how challenging the case.

His big break came when Marlon Brando hired him to find his son, Christian, who had been kidnapped. Brando, fresh off filming The Godfather, feared the Italian mafia had taken Christian as retribution for bringing unwanted attention to the mob. 

Thanks to Armes’ network in Hollywood and his investigative prowess, he was recommended to Brando as the man who could find his son when no one else could.

“My dad got to work immediately,” his son said. “He canvassed the neighbourhood where Christian was taken, and one neighbour remembered seeing a suspicious Volkswagen van.” 

Armes traced the van’s movements and discovered it had crossed into Mexico. Without hesitation, he rented a helicopter and flew down to Baja, California, where he spotted the van parked on a beach beside some caves. 

And, despite his prosthetics, Armes fearlessly led the mission to rescue Christian Brando.

“The Mexican police didn’t want to fly with my dad because they saw his prosthetics, but that didn’t stop him,” his son said. “He and the police eventually raided the camp and found Christian on his deathbed with double pneumonia.” 

The kidnappers, it turned out, had been hired as part of an alleged fake kidnapping amid a custody dispute, which spiralled out of control. Armes returned Christian safely to the US, and remained lifelong friends with Hollywood Walk of Famer Brando.

The case launched the PI into the spotlight and soon, other A-list celebrities were hiring him, including the likes of Michael Jackson, his beloved Elizabeth Taylor, Howard Hughes, and even Elvis Presley. 

His son said his fearlessness may have stretched back to his childhood, when the elder Armes formed an unbreakable bond with animals, raising exotic species on his private compound in El Paso. 

“When he was a boy, he entered a dog into a contest, but they wouldn’t let him compete because his dog wasn’t a purebred," Armes III said.

And as he became more successful, he built a habitat that looked like something straight out of Africa, with a menagerie including lions, tigers, and a chimpanzee that lived to be 54 years old. 

“My dad always taught me to be fearless, whether I was with a wild animal or dealing with a dangerous criminal,” Armes III added. “He said if you show fear, animals smell it, and so do bad guys.”

And he said his father’s reputation remained intact until his dying day, with a TV series about Armes’ extraordinary career currently in the works, though details have yet to be officially announced.

“To this day, I get calls from movie producers, writers, and agents wanting to do projects based on my dad’s life,” he said. “My dad was relentless. Once he locked in on a case, there was no stopping him. That was the key to his success — his determination and his faith in God.

“Back in the day, private investigators had a seedy reputation. My dad set out to change that. He wanted to make it a respectable profession.”