Boy Kidnapped From California Park In 1951 Found More Than 70 Years Later – National
A little boy who was kidnapped A man abducted by a stranger has been found safe and sound, more than 70 years after his kidnapping.
Luis Armando Albino was only six years old when, in 1951, a woman lured him to a California park, promising to buy him candy from a nearby store. He was playing with his older brother, Roger.
An intensive search was launched for the boy, but he was never found. The trail eventually disappeared and his family had to deal with the painful consequences of his death.
However, that all changed in 2020 when her niece took an online ancestry test “just for fun” and the results revealed a 22% match to a senior living on the opposite coast.
Alida Alequin, 63, told the San Jose Mercury News that she I scoured the internet, old newspaper articles and archives for several years before turning over the DNA test results to police in June of this year. Oakland police investigators agreed it was a strong lead.
Albino was found by police and provided a new DNA sample, which was matched to Alequin’s mother (Albino’s sister).
It was a solid match and Alequin said she and her mother were relieved and overcome with emotion when they found out.
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“I took my mother’s hands and said, ‘We found it.’ I was thrilled,” she said. told the Mercury News.
Shortly after, Albino and some of his relatives were brought by the FBI to Oakland to meet his long-lost family. Although his mother died in 2005, he was able to meet his brother, the last person to see him.
During the 70 years Albino was missing, he was always in his family’s hearts and his picture hung in the homes of his relatives, his niece said. Before his death, his mother never gave up hope that her son was alive, and Alequin told the LA Times that she I kept a newspaper clipping about his kidnapping in his wallet.
Oakland Tribune articles from the time reported that police, soldiers from a local military base, the Coast Guard and other city employees joined a massive search for the missing boy. San Francisco Bay and other waterways were also searched, the articles said. His brother was repeatedly interviewed by investigators and maintained his story that a woman wearing a bandana around her head took his brother.
Albino, a father and grandfather, is a retired firefighter and a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, according to his niece. The woman who kidnapped Albino ended up raising him as her own son, after fleeing with him across the country. Authorities have not said where he was raised on the East Coast.
After the family reunion in June, Albino returned to the East Coast, but returned in July for a three-week visit. That was the last time he saw Roger, who died in August.
Alequin said his uncle did not want to speak to the media.
“I’ve always been determined to find him and who knows, if my story gets out it might help other families who are going through the same thing,” Alequin said. “I would say don’t give up.”
— with files from the Associated Press
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
