On Feb. 21, 1951, Luis Armando Albino was abducted while he was playing in a park in Oakland, California. He was six years old.
According to multiple outlets, Albino was lured from the park by a woman who spoke to him in Spanish and promised to buy him candy. The woman took Albino away from his family, never to be seen again.
That is, until old photos, newspaper clippings, and online ancestry records helped Albino’s niece track him down.
After a 72-year search, Albino has been located. He is alive and living on the East Coast.
The woman who abducted Albino took him to the East Coast and raised him there, family members reportedly told the East Bay Times. She has since passed away.
In an interview on Friday with California-based outlet KTVU, Albino’s niece, Alida Alequin, 63, shared that her uncle remained missing despite the efforts of the Oakland Police Department and the FBI to locate him.
As years went by, the family never gave up on their search.
In 2020, Alequin took a DNA test online “just for fun.” That’s when she discovered that her DNA 22 percent matched a man on the East Coast. He turned out to be her missing uncle.
"My daughter found a lot of pictures of this man, and we started comparing," Alequin said. "The resemblance was so strong; how much he looked like my other uncles. And then another picture where he looked so much like my grandmother, that one gave me chills, and I said ‘there’s something here."
Reportedly, Albino’s mother searched for her son up to her death in 2005.
“The way everything worked out, it's unbelievable,” Alequin said (via KTVU):
Albino was located on the East Coast and provided a DNA sample, as did his sister, Alequin’s mom. After they found Albino, they compared his DNA to Alequin's mother and her uncle Roger, and confirmed it was Luis, the family told KTVU.
Alequin was convinced she had a lead and took that information to OPD, who then took it to the FBI.
Oakland police acknowledged that Alequin’s efforts "played an integral role in finding her uncle" and that "the outcome of this story is what we strive for.
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Decades ago, when Albino went missing, police, soldiers from the local Army base and the Coast Guard joined an immense search party for the boy. Waterways all over the area were searched, as well. No leads were found.
While Albino’s missing persons case is closed, the kidnapping is a still-open investigation.
Over the years, Roger Albino, Luis Albino’s older brother who was present when the kidnapping took place, stood by his story that a woman with a bandana around her head lured his brother.
On June 24, with help from the FBI, Luis Albino came to Oakland with members of his family and met Alequin, her mother, and other relatives.
"We didn’t start crying until after the investigators left," Alequin said. "I grabbed my mom’s hands and said, ‘We found him.’ I was ecstatic."
The following day, Luis was reunited with Roger.
"They grabbed each other and had a really tight, long hug. They sat down and just talked," she told KTVU. She added that the brothers discussed the day of the kidnapping, their military service and more. Luis Albino is a retired firefighter and a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam.
Luis came back to Oakland again in July for a three-week visit. It was the last time he saw his brother, who passed away a month later.
"I was always determined to find him, and who knows, with my story out there, it could help other families going through the same thing," Alequin said. "I would say, don’t give up."
#LuisArmandoAlbino is alive.
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) September 23, 2024
70 years ago, at only 6YO old, Luis was lured with the promise of candy by a woman who abducted him.
A couple ended up raising him as their own.
He became a marine and a firefighter.
After all these decades, Luis was reunited with his brother.
I… pic.twitter.com/sSkQtTjnB9
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