Luis Armando Albino was just six years old when he was kidnapped while playing at a park in West Oakland, CA, in 1951. He was with his brother Roger at the time.
According to the Associated Press, Luis and his brother were playing when a woman wearing a red bandana promised to buy him candy to lure him to go with her. The woman spoke to him in Spanish. Luis is from Puerto Rico decent. The woman then flew him to the East Coast, and he was reportedly adopted by another family who raised him.
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Luis’ Mother Never Gave Up Hope
According to newspaper articles from that time, police, soldiers, the Coast Guard, and other city employees searched for the boy. Waterways were also searched, and his brother Roger Albino was interrogated several times. Luis’ mother never gave up hope that he was still alive, although sadly passed away in 2005.
No one was able to find him until Luis Armando Albino’s niece, Alida Alequin, took a DNA test back in 2020, just for fun. When she got the results, they told her she had a 22% match for a man as her uncle. In 2020, she looked into the man but could not find any answers.
However, in February of this year, Alida and her daughters started searching again. She visited the Oakland Public Library, looked through old Oakland Tribune articles, and found photos. “My daughter found a lot of pictures of this man, and we started comparing,” Alida said. “The resemblance was so strong; how much he looked like my other uncles. And then another picture where he looked so much like my grandmother, that one gave me chills, and I said ‘there's something here.”
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She Went To The Police To Open Up a Missing Person’s Case
This prompted her to go to the police about opening a missing person’s case. By June, the Oakland police had found her uncle on the East Coast. “In my heart I knew it was him, and when I got the confirmation, I let out a big ‘YES!," Alida said. Luis Armando Albino is a retired firefighter, Marine Corps veteran, and grandfather.
Just days after Luis was found, he went to Oakland, where he met his niece in person. She took him to see his brother Roger, and the two were reunited after 73 years. “They hugged…It was a very emotional hug. Then they sat down, and they talked about that day that he was taken,” Alida says. “Roger obviously said what he went through, what he saw, what he heard. You know, describing the woman. And then Luis also said, you know, what he went through, what he remembered.”
Sadly, Roger did pass away in August. It was a blessing that Luis could see his brother again before his death. After visiting in June, Luis Armando Albino returned in July for three weeks. While the woman who took Luis has long since passed away, the Oakland police have said that the case is still under investigation.
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Luis currently lives under a different name on the East Coast and wants to maintain his privacy.
WATCH: Luis Armando Albino is Found and Reunited With His Family
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, said the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” -Jeremiah 29:11
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h/t: PEOPLE
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