A 70-year-long search by a California family for their kidnapped relative finally ended in June, thanks to an online DNA test that led them across the country.
Luis Armando Albino, a retired firefighter and Vietnam War veteran living on the East Coast, was abducted in 1951 at the age of six from a park in Oakland, California. A woman speaking Spanish and wearing a bandana lured him away with the promise of candy.
His family, including his mother who passed away in 2005, never saw him again, but they kept his memory alive with photos in their homes, hoping to one day find him.
After the kidnapping, Luis was taken across the country and raised by an East Coast couple.
The authorities are still investigating his abduction, and his current location remains undisclosed.
In 2020, Luis’s niece, Alida Alequin, 63, took a DNA test for fun, which revealed a 22% match with a stranger who turned out to be Albino.
After struggling to make contact, Alequin resumed the search in early 2024 by reviewing microfilm archives of the Oakland Tribune. Articles from 1951 chronicled search efforts, and her older brother Roger’s witness account of seeing a woman take Luis. Armed with these findings, Alequin got law enforcement to reopen the missing person case.
Oakland police praised Alequin’s determination, noting she was essential in locating her uncle.
Another DNA test confirmed Luis’s identity, and the family was informed on June 20.
Luis reunited with Alequin, her mother, and other relatives on June 24, and later met with his older brother Roger. The two shared an emotional reunion, reminiscing about their childhood and the day of the kidnapping.
Now a father and grandfather on the East Coast, Luis returned to California for a visit in July, just before Roger passed away in August.
Luis has declined media interviews, but Alequin shared her hope that their story could inspire others to keep searching for missing loved ones. “I was always determined to find him,” she said. “Don’t give up.”
