70-Year Mystery Solved: Kidnapped California Boy Found Alive Across the Country

Decades-Long Search Ends

The fam­i­ly of Luis Arman­do Albi­no, a Cal­i­for­nia boy kid­napped in 1951 at age 6, had been search­ing for him for over 70 years.

Their deter­mined efforts final­ly paid off when DNA evi­dence led them to Albi­no, now a retired fire­fight­er and Viet­nam War vet­er­an, liv­ing on the East Coast.

Childhood Abduction Detailed

Albi­no was play­ing with his old­er broth­er in an Oak­land park when a woman approached, spoke to him in Span­ish, and lured him away with promis­es of candy. 

This was the last time his fam­i­ly saw him for decades, as the woman had flown him across the coun­try to be raised by anoth­er couple.

Niece’s DNA Test Breakthrough

In 2020, Albi­no’s niece, Ali­da Ale­quin, took a DNA test “just for fun” which showed a 22% match to a stranger. Ale­quin and her daugh­ters then launched a renewed search, uncov­er­ing decades-old news arti­cles about the case.

Reunion with Older Brother

With the evi­dence Ale­quin gath­ered, author­i­ties were able to con­firm Albi­no’s iden­ti­ty through DNA test­ing. In June 2024, Albi­no was final­ly reunit­ed with his old­er broth­er Roger, whom he had not seen since the day of the abduction.

Bittersweet Homecoming

Albi­no returned to Cal­i­for­nia in July 2024 to vis­it with his new­ly dis­cov­ered fam­i­ly mem­bers, includ­ing Ale­quin and her moth­er. Trag­i­cal­ly, his old­er broth­er Roger passed away just a month after their emo­tion­al reunion.

Inspiring Others to Never Give Up

Ale­quin hopes that by shar­ing her uncle’s sto­ry, it will inspire oth­er fam­i­lies with miss­ing loved ones to con­tin­ue search­ing, even decades lat­er. She empha­sized the impor­tance of nev­er los­ing hope in recov­er­ing kid­napped or abduct­ed individuals.