Luis Armando Albino was playing at a park with his brother in Oakland, California, way back in 1951 when he was abducted by a woman in a bandana who offered him candy to get into a van (the kidnapper's classic choice).
An unthinkable 73 years later, Luis was reunited with his family.
The Bay Area News Group reported Friday that Albino's niece in Oakland — with assistance from police, the FBI and the Justice Department — located her uncle living on the East Coast.
Albino, a father and grandfather, is a retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, according to his niece, 63-year-old Alida Alequin. She found Albino and reunited him with his California family in June.
Seven decades of a family heartbreak, and somehow Luis was still alive and well on the other side of the country.
Albino was kidnapped, taken to the East Coast, and raised by a strange couple. But he somehow ended up living a somewhat normal life.
Here's how it happened.
Albino's niece took an online ancestry test in 2020 and discovered someone with a 22% DNA match on the other side of the country. She did some digging, came up empty after reaching out, then earlier this year resumed her search (suspecting this might be her long-lost uncle).
She went to the library, researched microfilm of old newspaper stories about the abduction, and with the DNA test had enough evidence to convince the police to open a missing person's case.
Oakland police acknowledged that Alequin's efforts 'played an integral role in finding her uncle' and that 'the outcome of this story is what we strive for.'
In an interview with the news group, she said her uncle 'hugged me and said, "Thank you for finding me" and gave me a kiss on the cheek.'
Once FBI and local investigators ended up tracking him down, he came to Oakland to meet his family, including his brother Roger, the only witness to the kidnapping, who had told his story to investigators time and time again.
'They grabbed each other and had a really tight, long hug. They sat down and just talked,' she said, discussing the day of the kidnapping, their military service and more.
Sadly, Roger passed away shortly after the reunion with his brother.
But they got to share this one truly miraculous moment thanks to a divine act of providence.
Here's Luis (right) with his brother, Roger.
The FBI is still looking into the abduction, but Luis Albino has been slow to share details publicly.
Albino has not commented publicly about his remarkable life story and details about the case and the reunion remain vague. It is unclear whether Albino was given a new name, whether the woman who raised him was the same person who took him from the park, and whether he was aware he had a family who were searching for him.
Alequin said her uncle did not want to talk to the media and that although he had some memories of the kidnapping and his trip across the country, the adults in his life never answered his questions.
I'll leave you with some local news coverage of the family's reunion:
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