The abduction of a six year-old boy from Oakland in 1951 has been solved 73 years on – and incredibly, there’s a happy ending.
Luis Armando Albino has been found safe and well thanks to a dedicated niece who never gave up hope of tracking down her long-lost relative.
Albino, who’s now 79, was abducted by a woman on February 21, 1951 from a park in West Oakland where he had been playing alongside his older brother, Roger, who was ten.
The woman got his attention and lured him away by tricking him, promising that she would buy him candy.
Little Luis was then flown across the country to the East Coast where he was raised by a New York city couple as if he were their own son.
Luis’ mother never stopped hoping that he might one day turn up safe and well. Tragically, she passed away in 2005 aged 92 without ever learning what had happened to her much-missed son.
Luis Armando Albino was abducted by a woman on February 21, 1951 from a park in West Oakland where he had been playing alongside his older brother, Roger, who was ten
Luis Albino, 79, right, who was kidnapped from Oakland in 1951, reunited with his brother, Roger, 82, in June before his subsequent death in August
The Oakland Bay Bridge is seen connecting Oakland with downtown San Francisco
A breakthrough in the case only came earlier this year when an inquisitive and persistent niece of Luis’ used DNA testing and information from newspaper clippings in her search for the truth.
The niece, Alida Alequin, 63, who had remained in Oakland had been determined to find her long lost uncle and together with help from local police, FBI and Department of Justice, she managed to piece the clues together.
Oakland police say her efforts ‘played an integral role in finding her uncle.’
In the time since he had been taken from his family, Luis appeared to have led quite the life having worked as a firefighter and served in the Marine Corps, including two tours of duty in Vietnam. He had also become a father and grandfather himself.
Alida was able to organize a reunion for the two brothers, Luis and Roger, now 83, to meet for the first time in 73 years.
She told Mercury News how her uncle ‘hugged me and said, “Thank you for finding me” and gave me a kiss on the cheek.’
Little Luis was then flown to the to East Coast where he was raised by a couple as if he were their own son
The reunion was bittersweet with Roger having recently been diagnosed with cancer and not having much time left to live.
‘They grabbed each other and had a really tight, long hug. They sat down and just talked,’ Alida said as the pair caught up on the past including their military service and what happened on the day on the kidnapping.
Luis saw his brother one more time this past July before Roger died once month later in August.
‘I think he died happily. He was at peace with himself, knowing that his brother was found. I was just so happy I was able to do this for him and bring him closure and peace,’ Alida said.
As for Luis’ mother and Alida’s grandma, she believes that she would have been ‘very happy, most definitely. She never forgot him. She always said he was still alive. She had hope she would see him. She never gave up that hope.’
‘I’m so happy that I was able to do this for my mom and (uncle). It was a very happy ending,’ she said. ‘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. I would say, don’t give up.’
Luis has so far not spoken to the media but has some memories of what happened during his kidnapping.
Frustratingly, the adults surrounding him in New York refused to answer any questions as to why he was abducted, and he was never told what was going on.
The people he believed were his parents have since died.
Luis, who was one of five siblings, had been playing at was formerly known as Jefferson Square Park in West Oakland.
Luis was taken to live with a family on the East Coast but as a young child it was never explained to him why he had been snatched from the park that day. Pictured, Times Square is seen in the 1950
Following his abduction, police alongside army soldiers and the Coast Guard searched the area together with a search of San Francisco Bay.
Brother, Roger, was questioned several times and maintained how a woman with a bandana wrapped around her head had taken his brother.
The FBI was also brought on board to help assist but the case went cold.
Luis’ mother would regularly visit the police missing person bureau for news, at first daily, then weekly, then monthly until eventually her visits became annual – but it seemed authorities were no closer to finding out the truth.
‘She always felt he was alive. She took that with her to her grave’, Alida said.
‘All this time the family kept thinking of him,’ she continued. ‘I always knew I had an uncle. We spoke of him a lot. My grandmother carried the original article in her wallet, and she always talked about him. A picture of him was always hung at the family home.’
But it was Alida who got the ball rolling when in 2020 she took an online DNA for fun.
The results showed how she had a 22 percent match with Luis, who unbeknownst to her was her uncle. But despite reaching out, she never heard back from him.
It wasn’t until later this year that Alida’s own daughters began probing the case once again and looked up Luis’ name online.
Pictures of him found on microfilm at the Oakland Public Library only served to reassure them the man they were looking at was indeed their long lost uncle.
A new missing persons case was created and saw the FBI and state Department of Justice get involved once more.
Luis was found to be living on the East Coast and even provided a DNA sample to confirm his identity.
Investigators went around to Alida’s mother’s home (Luis and Roger’s sister) to confirm that that Luis had finally been found.
‘In my heart I knew it was him and when I got the confirmation, I let out a big “YES!”‘, Alida said.
‘We didn’t start crying until after the investigators left. I grabbed my mom’s hands and said, “We found him.” I was ecstatic.’
Although the missing persons case is now closed, the FBI say the kidnapping is still an open investigation.