Mon Sep 23 21:45:26 UTC 2024: ## Oakland Man Kidnapped at 6 Reunites with Family 73 Years Later
Oakland, CA – A 73-year-old mystery has been solved, bringing an end to decades of anguish for a California family. Luis Armando Albino, abducted from Jefferson Square Park in Oakland in 1951 at the age of six, has been reunited with his biological family.
Albino was lured away by an unidentified woman who promised him candy. The woman then flew him across the country to the East Coast where he was raised by a couple as their son. Despite extensive searches by authorities, including the FBI, Albino’s whereabouts remained unknown for over 70 years.
The case remained open, with Albino’s family clinging to the hope that he was alive. After his mother’s death in 2005, his niece, Alida Alequin, took the lead in the search. In 2020, she submitted her DNA to an ancestry site, leading to a 22 percent match with an unknown man on the East Coast.
This discovery prompted Alequin to reopen the case with Oakland police. Using DNA results and a photo of Albino and his brother, investigators confirmed that Albino was alive and well, living under a different name.
Albino, a retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran, has since been reunited with his brother Roger, who passed away two months later. The reunion brought closure to a family saga that spanned generations.
“We didn’t start crying until after the investigators left,” Alequin said, describing the moment she received confirmation. “I grabbed my mom’s hands and said, ‘We found him.’ I was ecstatic.”
Alequin encourages other families facing similar situations to never give up hope. “I was always determined to find him,” she said. “And who knows, with my story out there, it could help other families going through the same thing. Don’t give up.”
First Piper 