Luis Armando Albino was 6 years old when he was kidnapped in 1951 while playing in a park in Oakland, California. More than seven decades later, Albino was located thanks to the help of an online ancestry analysis, old photographs, and newspaper clippings.
With the help of the police, the FBI, and the Department of Justice, Albino's niece in Oakland located her uncle alive on the East Coast of the United States, The Bay Area News Group reported on Friday.
Albino, who is already a father and grandfather, is a retired firefighter and veteran of the Marine Corps who was deployed during the Vietnam War, according to his 63-year-old niece, Alida Alequin. She was the one who found Albino and organized the reunion with his family in California last June.
On February 21, 1951, Albino - born in Puerto Rico - was playing in a park in West Oakland with his older brother when a woman started speaking to him in Spanish and promised to buy him sweets.
Instead, the woman kidnapped the child and they traveled together by plane to the east coast of the country, where he ended up with a couple who raised him as their own son, the news group reported. Neither the authorities nor his family specified the exact location on the east coast where he lived.
Albino remained missing for over 70 years, but his family always kept him in their thoughts and several of his relatives had a photograph of him in their homes, his niece mentioned. His mother passed away in 2005, but she never lost hope that her son was still alive.
The Oakland police acknowledged that Alequin's efforts "played a key role in locating his uncle," and that "the outcome of this story is what we always aspire to."
In an interview with the news group, Alequin said that his uncle "hugged me, told me 'thank you for finding me' and gave me a kiss on the cheek."
According to articles published by the Oakland Tribune at the time, police officers, soldiers from a local army base, the Coast Guard, and other city employees joined in a massive search to locate the child. The San Francisco Bay and other waterways were also inspected, as reported in the news of the time. Investigators questioned his brother, Roger Albino, several times, who consistently maintained his story that a woman with a red scarf around her head had taken his brother.
The first notion that her uncle could still be alive came in 2020, when Alequin underwent an online DNA analysis "just for fun". The results showed a 22% match with a man who eventually turned out to be her uncle. A more thorough search at that time yielded no answers.
In early 2024, she and her daughters embarked on a new search. During a visit to the Oakland Public Library, she reviewed microfilm of Tribune articles —including one with a photograph of Luis and Roger— which convinced her she was heading in the right direction. That same day, she paid a visit to the Oakland police.
The researchers eventually concluded that the new lead was relevant and initiated a new missing person case. The Oakland police declared last week that this case is now closed, although the FBI considers the kidnapping to still be an open investigation.
Luis was located on the east coast and provided a DNA sample, as did his sister, Alequin's mother.
On June 20th, the researchers visited his mother's house, Alequin recounted, and informed both of them that their uncle had been located.
"We didn't start crying until the investigators left," he said. "I took my mom's hands and told her, 'We found him.' I was overjoyed."
Four days later, with the assistance of the FBI, Luis traveled to Oakland accompanied by his family to meet Alequin, his mother, and other relatives. The next day, Alequin took his mother and uncle to Roger's house in Stanislaus County, California.
"They gave each other a strong and prolonged hug. They sat down and talked," he recounted. They spoke about the day of the kidnapping, their time in the armed forces, and other topics.
Luis returned to the East Coast but came back in July for a three-week visit. It was the last time he saw Roger, who passed away last month.
Alequin said that his uncle did not want to speak to the press.
“I was always determined to find him, and who knows, maybe my story can help other families going through the same thing,” she recounted. “I would tell them to never give up.”