Boy kidnapped from California park in 1951 found alive more than 70 years later

Luis Armando Albino, then six years old, was kidnapped while playing in a Californian park in 1951. Seven decades later, he was found alive and well.

Mr. Albino’s niece in Oakland has tracked down her uncle living on the East Coast with the help of police, the FBI and the Justice Department, the Bay Area News Group reported.

The father and grandfather is a retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, according to his niece Alida Alequin.

On February 21, 1951, a woman lured the six-year-old albino from the West Oakland park where he had been playing with his older brother and promised the Puerto Rican-born boy in Spanish that she would buy him candy.

Instead, the woman kidnapped the child and flew him to the East Coast, where he ended up with a couple who raised him as their own son, the news group reported.

Albino was missing for more than 70 years, but he was always in his family’s hearts and a photo of him hung in relatives’ homes, his niece said.

Ms. Alequin, 63, found Albino and returned him to his California family in June.

His mother died in 2005, but never gave up hope that her son was alive.

Oakland police acknowledged that Ms. Alequin’s efforts “played a critical role in the search for her uncle” and that “the outcome of this story is what we strive for.”

In an interview, she said her uncle “hugged her and said, ‘Thank you for finding me,’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”

Articles in the Oakland Tribune at the time said that police, soldiers from a local military base, the Coast Guard and other city employees were involved in a large-scale search for the missing boy. The articles also said that San Francisco Bay and other waterways were searched.

His brother, Roger Albino, was questioned several times by the police, but stuck to his statement that a woman wearing a headscarf had taken his brother away.

The first suspicion that her uncle might still be alive came to her in 2020, when she took a DNA test on the Internet “just for fun,” Alequin said.

It resulted in a 22% match with a man who eventually turned out to be her uncle.

A further search at that time yielded neither answers nor a reaction from him, she said.

In early 2024, she and her daughters began searching again. During a visit to the Oakland Public Library, she viewed microfilms of Tribune articles—including one with a picture of Luis and Roger—that convinced her she was on the right track.

She went to the Oakland Police Department that same day.

The investigators ultimately agreed that the new lead was significant and a new missing person case was opened.

Oakland police said last week that the missing person case had been closed, but that both they and the FBI are still investigating the kidnapping.

Luis and his sister, Ms. Alequin’s mother, provided a DNA sample.

On June 20, investigators went to her mother’s house, Ms. Alequin said, and told them both that her uncle had been found.

“We didn’t start crying until the investigators had already left,” said Ms. Alequin. “I took my mother’s hands and said, ‘We found him.’ I was beside myself with joy.”

On June 24, with the assistance of the FBI, Luis came to Oakland with members of his family and met with Ms. Alequin, her mother and other relatives.

The next day, Mrs. Alequin drove her mother and new uncle to Roger’s house in Stanislaus County, California.

“They hugged each other and hugged each other really tightly and for a long time. They sat down and just talked,” she said.

Luis returned to the east coast, but came back for three weeks in July. It was the last time he saw Roger, who died in August.

“I was always determined to find him and who knows, maybe my story will help other families going through the same thing,” said Ms Alequin. “I would say don’t give up.”