A man who was abducted 70 years ago as a six-year-old whilst playing in a California park has been found thanks to an online DNA test.
Luis Armando Albino was lured away by a woman on February 21, 1951, who spoke to him in Spanish and promised him candy if he came with her.
He was then flown from Oakland, California, all the way across the country to the East Coast, where he was given to a New York City couple who raised him as if he was their own.
For over 70 years, Albino, born in Puerto-Rico, remained missing, however his family never forgot about him, keeping his photo hanging up at their house.
Luis Armando Albino (right) and his brother RogerAlida AlequinHis mother sadly passed away in 2005 aged 92, never learning about what had happened to her beloved missing son.
However, earlier this year, a breakthrough came in the case when his niece, 63-year-old Alida Alequin, managed to locate her uncle.
The 63-year-old, who remained in Oakland, never gave up hope of tracking down her long-lost relative and together with help from local police, FBI and Department of Justice, she was able to piece the clues together and locate Albino, now 79 years old.
Oakland police acknowledged that Alequin’s efforts “played an integral role in finding her uncle” and that “the outcome of this story is what we strive for”.
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Back in 2020, she took a DNA test “just for fun”, though was shocked when the results showed a 22 per cent match with a complete stranger.
This stranger – who would turn out to be Albino – failed to reply to any of her messages so she gave up.
However, a couple of years later in 2024, her own daughter began investigating the case again and looked up Albino’s name online.
They started digging through the microfilm archives of the Oakland Public Library, in which she found a photo of Albino and his brother Roger, who was the last member of the family to see the missing boy alive.
This discovery convinced her that she was on the right track and she went to speak with officers that very same day.
He vanished when he was six years old
NBC Bay Area
A new missing person’s case was opened after investigators agreed that the fresh lead was promising.
He was then located on the East Coast, where he and his sister both gave a DNA sample.
Investigators went around to Alequin’s mother’s home to confirm that Albino had finally been found. “In my heart I knew it was him and when I got the confirmation, I let out a big ‘YES!’”, Alequin 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.”
The 79-year-old and his family went to visit California to reunite with his biological relatives.
Alequin told local news that her uncle “hugged me and said, ‘Thank you for finding me’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”
“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,” Alequin said. “I would say, don’t give up.”