Sunday, September 22, 2024 - The abduction of a six-year-old boy from Oakland in 1951 has been solved after 73 years.
Luis Armando Albino has been found following efforts made by
his dedicated niece who never gave up hope of tracking him down.
Luis, who was one of five siblings, had been playing at what
was formerly known as Jefferson Square Park in West Oakland.
Luis, who is now 79, had been playing alongside his older
brother, Roger, who was ten, in the park in West Oakland, when he was abducted
by a woman on February 21, 1951.
The woman lured him away by promising that she would buy him
candy.
Luis was then flown across the country to the East Coast
where he was raised by a New York City couple as if he were their own son.
Luis' mother never stopped hoping that he might one day turn up safe and well. Sadly, she passed away in 2005 aged 92 without ever learning what had happened to her son.
A breakthrough in the case only came earlier this year when
Luis' niece used DNA testing and information from newspaper clippings to search
for him.
The niece, Alida Alequin, 63, who had remained in Oakland
had been determined to find her long lost uncle and, together with help from
local police, FBI and Department of Justice, she managed to piece the clues
together.
Oakland police say her efforts “played an integral role in
finding her uncle.”
In the time since he had been taken from his family, Luis
appeared to have led quite the life having worked as a firefighter and served
in the Marine Corps, including two tours of duty in Vietnam.
He had also become a father and grandfather himself.
Alida was able to organize a reunion for the two brothers,
Luis and Roger, now 83, to meet for the first time in 73 years.
She told Mercury News how her uncle “hugged me and said,
‘Thank you for finding me’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”
The reunion was bittersweet, with Roger having recently been
diagnosed with cancer and not having much time left to live.
“They grabbed each other and had a really tight, long hug.
They sat down and just talked,” Alida said as the brothers caught up on the
past including their military service and what happened on the day of the
kidnapping.
Luis saw his brother one more time this past July before Roger died a month later in August.
“I think he died happily. He was at peace with himself,
knowing that his brother was found. I was just so happy I was able to do this
for him and bring him closure and peace,”
Alida said. As for Luis' mother and Alida's grandma, she
believes that she would have been “very happy, most definitely. She never
forgot him. She always said he was still alive. She had hoped she would see
him. She never gave up that hope.”
“I'm so happy that I was able to do this for my mom and
(uncle). It was a very happy ending,” she said.
“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. I
would say, don't give up.”
Luis has so far not spoken to the media but has some
memories of what happened during his kidnapping. The adults surrounding him in
New York refused to answer any questions as to why he was abducted, and he was
never told what was going on.
The people he believed were his parents have since
died.
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