A California man has been reunited with his family, more than seven decades after being kidnapped as a youngster.
On February 21, 1951, Luis Armando Albino was 6 years old when he was enticed away by a woman while playing in a park with his older brother Roger in West Oakland.
According to CBS News, his niece Alida Alequin in Oakland discovered him living on the East Coast after conducting an internet genealogical test and searching through old images and newspaper articles.
Her actions “played an integral role in finding her uncle,” according to Oakland police, who assisted the FBI and Justice Department in their search for Albino, as reported by Mercury News.
“It was the best possible outcome the Oakland Police Department (OPD) could hope for, as this is what our officers are dedicated to and strive for in every Missing Persons case,” according to a statement sent to PEOPLE.
“On March 18, 2024, a woman approached OPD’s Missing Persons Unit about the likely whereabouts and identification of her uncle, Luis Albino, who had been missing for almost 70 years. The woman informed our investigators that her online DNA test results matched an individual thought to be her uncle, who was kidnapped in 1951,” the OPD stated.
After Albino vanished, local authorities began a massive search operation in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard and soldiers from a nearby army camp, according to PEOPLE.
According to The Guardian, this included a search of San Francisco Bay and other California waterways, while his brother Roger Albino was repeatedly questioned by detectives about his story of how his sibling was abducted from the park by a lady wearing a bandana.
According to KTUV, the first indication that Albino was alive came when Alequin performed an online DNA test “for fun” in 2020 and found a 22% match for a man who could be her uncle. In February, she went back and cross-referenced this with some old Oakland Tribune pieces about Albino, including an image, that she discovered at the library. She then phoned the police, and a missing person case was opened.
“The resemblance was so strong; how much he looked like my other uncles,” Alequin told KUTV. “Then another picture where he looked so much like my grandmother, that one gave me chills, and I said ‘There’s something here.'”
On June 20, Alequin was informed by authorities that Albino, a grandpa, former firefighter, and Marine Corps veteran, had been located on the East Coast.
“In my heart, I knew it was him, and when I got the confirmation, I let out a big ‘YES!'” she told the Mercury News.
“We didn’t start crying until after the investigators left,” she said. “I grabbed my mother’s hands and announced, ‘We found him.'” I was ecstatic!”
This case is still under investigation. Anyone with information is requested to call the OPD’s Missing Persons Unit at 510-238-3641.
