Luis Armando Albino was six years old when he was kidnapped while playing in a park in Oakland, California, in 1951. Now, more than 70 years later, he has been discovered thanks to online ancestry tests, old photos, and newspaper clippings.
The Bay Area News Group reported Friday that Albino’s niece, who lives in Oakland, has worked with police, the FBI and the Department of Justice to locate her uncle, who lives on the East Coast.
Albino’s niece, Alida Alekhine, 63, said her father and grandfather, a former firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who served in the Vietnam War, found him and reunited him with his family in California in June.
On February 21, 1951, a woman lured a 6-year-old albino boy out of a West Oakland park where he was playing with his older brother, promising the Puerto Rican-born boy some candy, speaking in Spanish.
Instead, the woman kidnapped the child and flew him to the East Coast, where he was given to the couple to raise as if he were her own son, the news group reported. Officials and family members would not say where on the East Coast the child lives.
Though he had been missing for more than 70 years, Albino remained in the family’s hearts and his photographs hung in relatives’ homes, his niece said. Albino’s mother died in 2005 but never gave up hope that her son was still alive.
Oakland police acknowledged Alekhine’s efforts “played a vital role in finding my uncle,” and that “the outcome in this case is what we strive for,” the Mercury News reported.
In an interview with the news group, she said her uncle “gave me a hug and said, ‘Thank you for finding me,’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”
Police, soldiers from the local Army base, the Coast Guard, and other city officials joined a massive search for the missing boy, according to an Oakland Tribune article from the time. San Francisco Bay and other waterways were also searched, the article said. His brother, Roger Albino, was questioned multiple times by investigators but stuck to his story that a woman with a bandana around her head had taken his brother.
Alekhin said he first thought his uncle might still be alive when he took an online DNA test in 2020 “just for fun.” The test showed a 22% match with the man who eventually turned out to be his uncle. He said he searched further after that but didn’t get any answers, and he never heard back from him.
In early 2024, she and her daughters began searching again. A visit to the Oakland Public Library and a microfilm of the Tribune article, including photos of Lewis and Roger, convinced her she was on the right track. She visited the Oakland Police Department that same day.
Investigators eventually determined the new leads were significant, and a new missing persons case was investigated. Oakland police announced last week that the missing persons case had been closed, but police and the FBI believe the kidnapping case remains an active investigation.
Lewis lives on the East Coast and provided a DNA sample, as did his sister, Alekhine’s mother.
Alekhine said investigators went to her mother’s house on June 20 and told them that her uncle had been found.
“I knew in my heart it was him, and when I got confirmation I said a loud ‘Yes!'” she told the Mercury News.
“We didn’t cry until the investigators left,” Alekhine said. “I held my mother’s hand and said, ‘We found him.’ I was overjoyed.”
On June 24, with the assistance of the FBI, Lewis and his family traveled to Oakland to meet with Alekhine, her mother, and other relatives. The next day, Alekhine drove her mother and her newfound uncle to Roger’s home in Stanislaus County, California.
“They grabbed each other and held each other really tight and for a long time, and then they sat down and just talked,” she said, recounting the day they were kidnapped, their military service and more.
Lewis returned to the East Coast but returned again in July for a three-week stay, which was the last time he saw Roger, who died in August.
“I think he died happy,” she said, according to the Mercury News. “He died peacefully, knowing that his brother had been found. I was so happy to be able to do this for him and give him some closure and peace of mind.”
Alekhine said his uncle was reluctant to speak to the media, and although he remembered being kidnapped and taken across the United States, the adults around him never explained what had happened, The Mercury News reported.
“I was always determined to find him, and maybe my story will help other families in the same situation,” Alekhine said. “I want to tell them not to give up.”
