‘We found him’: Boy who went missing at age six discovered alive over 70 years later in US

OAKLAND (United States), Sept 23 — After more than 70 years of searching, Luis Armando Albino, who was abducted at age six in Oakland, California, has been found, thanks to the determined efforts of his niece, Alida Alequin.

AP reported that Alequin’s persistence, which included sifting through old photos and newspaper clippings, led to her uncle’s reunion with his California family in June.

“He hugged me and said, ‘Thank you for finding me,’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek,” Alequin said in an interview with the Mercury News.

“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,” she added.

Albino was kidnapped on February 21, 1951 while playing at a park, but Alequin, 63, located him living on the East Coast with help from police, the FBI and an online DNA test.

The investigation revealed that a woman who spoke Spanish lured the then six-year-old Albino from the West Oakland park with the promise of candy and flew him to the East Coast, where he was raised by another couple.

Albino, now a retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran, had been missing for decades, but his family never stopped hoping for his return.

Alequin first had an inkling that her uncle might still be alive in 2020 when a DNA test revealed a 22 per cent match with a man, though it led to no immediate answers.

In early 2024, Alequin resumed her search, reviewing old articles at the Oakland Public Library and eventually convincing police to reopen the missing persons case.

Albino was found on the East Coast and gave a DNA sample, as did his sister, Alequin’s mother.

On June 20, investigators visited Alequin’s mother’s home to inform them both that her uncle had been located.

“We didn’t start crying until after the investigators left,” Alequin recalled. “I grabbed my mom’s hands and said, ‘We found him.’ I was ecstatic.”

Oakland police confirmed Alequin’s efforts “played an integral role in finding her uncle” and that “the outcome of this story is what we strive for” as they announced the closure of the missing persons case.

However, both they and the FBI consider Albino’s kidnapping a still-open investigation.

The FBI helped bring Albino back to Oakland in June for a reunion with Alequin and other family members.

Albino later returned to the East Coast, but visited again in July, before his brother Roger passed away in August.