Featured

Missing Boy, Kidnapped At The Age Of 6, Reunites With Family After 73 Years

By
OB Bureau

New York: A six-year-old boy who was abducted while playing at a park in Oakland, California in 1951, has been reunited with his family after 73 years.

That’s the miracle experienced by Luis Armando Albino, thanks to an online ancestry test, old photos and newspaper clippings. Reported AP.

Albino’s niece in Oakland located her uncle living on the East Coast, with assistance from police, the FBI and Justice Department.

According to Albino’s niece, 63-year-old Alida Alequin, her uncle — a father and grandfather — is a retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam.

After finding Albino, Alida reunited him with his family in California.

It was on February 21, 1951 that a woman lured 6-year-old Albino from West Oakland park where he had been playing with his older brother and promised the Puerto Rico-born boy in Spanish that she would buy him candy.

She went on to kidnap the child and took him to the East Coast. Albino ended up with a couple who raised him like their own son, the Bay Area News Group reported.

For over seven decades, Albino remained missing, but was always in the hearts of his family with his photo hung at relatives’ houses, his niece said.

Till the day of her death in 2005, Albino’s mother didn’t give up hope that he was alive.

Alida said in an interview with Bay Area News Group that her uncle “hugged me and said, ‘Thank you for finding me’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”

According to old Oakland Tribune articles, police, soldiers from a local army base, the Coast Guard and city employees had launched a massive search for the missing boy decades ago.

His brother Roger Albino, who was interrogated several times by investigators, stood by his story that a woman with a bandana around her head took his brother.

The first hint that Albino could still be alive came in 2020 when Alida took an online DNA test “just for fun.”

It showed a 22 per cent match with a man who eventually turned out to be her uncle. A further search at the time yielded no answers or any response from him, she said.

Then, earlier this year, Alida and her daughters began searching again.

On a visit to the Oakland Public Library, she looked at microfilm of Tribune articles — including one that had a picture of Albino brothers Luis and Roger — which convinced her that she was on the right track. She went to the Oakland police the same day.

Convinced that the new lead was meaningful, a new missing persons case was opened.

Albino, located on the East Coast, provided a DNA sample, as did his sister, Alida’s mother.

On June 20, investigators went to her mother’s home and told them that her uncle had been found.

Last week, Oakland police said that the missing persons case has been closed, but the incident of kidnapping remains a still-open investigation.

OB Bureau

Recent Posts

Jaundice Scare: BMC Orders Closure Of Food Stalls Outside OUAT Campus In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: In the wake of detection of several jaundice cases in OUAT in Bhubaneswar, the…

November 14, 2024

‘Nehru Archive’ To Be Launched Next Year; Check Details

New Delhi: On Jawaharlal Nehru’s 135th birth anniversary, the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF) announced…

November 14, 2024

Mercury To Fall By 2-4°C In Odisha From Saturday As Winter Approaches

Bhubaneswar: With temperature gradually starting to fall in some parts of Odisha, cold wave conditions…

November 14, 2024

Vivo India Case: Chinese Man Gets Bail; Court Says ‘Duty-Bound To Protect Rights Of Foreigners Too’’

New Delhi: A Chinese man has been granted bail by a Delhi court 13 months…

November 14, 2024

BSE Releases Schedule Of Matric Examinations For 2025 In Odisha; Details Here

Bhubaneswar: The Board of Secondary Education at Cuttack in Odisha on Thursday announced the schedule…

November 14, 2024

Central University Of Odisha To Study Indigenous Varieties Of Crops For Conservation

Koraput: The Central University of Odisha (CUO) has opened a germplasm plot at its Landiguda…

November 14, 2024

Union Minister Flags Off Battery-Run Vehicles At Puri Jagannath Temple In Odisha

Puri: Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi flagged-off ten battery-operated vehicles for…

November 14, 2024

Odisha CM Announces Hostel Fee Waiver For School Students

Bhubaneswar: Affirming his government’s resolve to ensure a bright future for children by imparting quality…

November 14, 2024