The abduction of a six-year-old boy from Oakland in 1951 has been solved after 73 years.
Luis Armando Albino has been found following efforts made by his dedicated niece who never gave up hope of tracking him down.
Luis, who was one of five siblings, had been playing at what was formerly known as Jefferson Square Park in West Oakland.
Luis, who is now 79, had been playing alongside his older brother, Roger, who was ten, in the park in West Oakland, when he was abducted by a woman on February 21, 1951.
The woman lured him away by promising that she would buy him candy.
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. Sadly, she passed away in 2005 aged 92 without ever learning what had happened to her son.
A breakthrough in the case only came earlier this year when Luis’ niece used DNA testing and information from newspaper clippings to search for him.
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.”
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 brothers caught up on the past including their military service and what happened on the day of the kidnapping.
Luis saw his brother one more time this past July before Roger died a 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 hoped 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. 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.
