Missing Person Found Alive 73 Years After Being Abducted

A missing person who was abducted at the age of six from a California playground has been found 73 years later alive and living on the East Coast, The Associated Press reported.

Luis Armando Albino disappeared from a playground in Oakland on February 21, 1951 as he played alongside his brother, Roger. A woman wearing a bandana apparently lured Albino away with the promise of purchasing him some candy. Instead, she took him to the East Coast where and gave him to a couple who raised the young boy as if he were their biological son.

Seven decades after he disappeared without a trace, Albino’s biological niece, 63-year-old Lydia Alequin, tracked her uncle down with the help of old photographs, newspaper articles, and ancestry tests. The search began in 2020, when on a whim Alequin decided to take a genealogy test “just for fun.” It showed a 22 percent match with Albino, but he didn’t respond to inquiries at the time.

Earlier this year, Alequin and her daughters resumed the search. They were able to convince investigators to reopen the case. On June 20, they received a knock on their door from two officials who informed them that Albino was indeed their uncle. By June 24, Alequin, her mother, and other relatives took Albino to his brother’s home for a long-awaited reunion. Sadly, Albino’s mother died in 2005, but she always held out hope that he was alive.

“They grabbed each other and had a really tight, long hug,” Alequin said of the brothers. “They sat down and just talked,” she said, discussing the day of the kidnapping, their military service, and more.”

Albino left a few days later, but returned to California in July for a three-week stay. It was the last time he would see Roger, who died in August shortly after his brother went back home.

The Oakland police acknowledged that Alequin’s detective work “played an integral role in finding her uncle.” “The outcome of this story is what we strive for,” the department added. Alequin reported that when she and Albino first met, he “hugged me and said, ‘Thank you for finding me,’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”

Though her uncle has no desire to speak with the media or reveal his exact location on the East Coast, Alequin felt compelled to share her family’s story if it might give hope to others in a similar situation. “I was always determined to find him,” she said, “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.”