Boy abducted from Oakland park in 1951 reportedly found 70 years later living on East Coast

A man who was abducted as a boy more than 70 years ago from a California park recently reunited with his family, who worked with investigators to discover him living on the East Coast.

Luis Armando Albino was 6 years old in 1951 when a woman lured him with candy to kidnap him from a park in West Oakland where he was playing with his older brother. The Mercury News, based in San Jose, was the first to report on Saturday that, thanks in large part to Albino's niece, the long-lost man has finally been found.

Working on a hunch from an online ancestry test, Alida Alequin, 63, scoured the internet and old newspaper archives for signs of her uncle before taking her tip to law enforcement, she told multiple outlets. After Albino was found living on the East Coast – officials didn't say where – the retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam flew to California to reunite with his brother and other family members, the Mercury News reported.

“I’m so happy that I was able to do this for my mom and (uncle)," Alequin told the outlet. "It was a very happy ending."

Albino abducted from park in 1951

Albino's mother had brought him and five of his siblings from Puerto Rico to Oakland the summer before his abduction.

On Feb. 21, 1951, a woman lured Albino, then only 6 years old, from Jefferson Square Park, by speaking Spanish to tell the child, who did not yet speak English, that she would buy him candy, according to coverage by the Oakland Tribune at the time. Instead, she abducted Albino and flew him to the East Coast, where officials now have learned that he ended up with a couple who raised him as if he were their own son.

His mother, Antonia Albino never gave up hope that he was alive until she died at age 92 in 2005, the Mercury News reported. A photo of Albino hung in her living room, and he kept a newspaper clipping of an article about his kidnapping in her wallet, Alequin told the LA Times.

"She had hope she would see him," Alequin told the Mercury News." "She never gave up that hope.”

Niece starts search after DNA match

Alequin, who lives in Oakland, took an online ancestry test in 2020 requiring a DNA sample that gave a 22% match to a man who eventually turned out to be her uncle, according to reports. However, she didn’t make the connection that it could be him.

Then, in February, she and her daughters began searching the internet and reading through old newspaper clippings to determine if the man could be her long-lost uncle.

Convinced she was on the right track, she took her hunch to the Oakland police, who agreed to look into the lead. With the help of law enforcement – including the FBI and state Department of Justice – Alequin persisted in her search until investigators tracked her uncle to the East Coast.

Oakland police acknowledged to the Mercury News that Alequin’s efforts “played an integral role in finding her uncle” and that “the outcome of this story is what we strive for.”

USA TODAY left a message Monday morning for Oakland police that was not immediately returned.

Albino reunited with family in California

The kidnapped child, now a father and grandfather, provided a DNA sample to law enforcement that confirmed his identity, according to reports.

Alequin learned of the happy news in June when investigators visited her mother's house to share the discovery, she told multiple outlets.

That same month, Albino came to Oakland for a joyful visit with his family and to meet Alequin.

Alequin told the Mercury News that her uncle “hugged me and said, ‘Thank you for finding me’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”

“All this time the family kept thinking of him,” Alequin told the outlet. “I always knew I had an uncle. We spoke of him a lot."

During his trip to California, Albino also traveled to Stanislaus County in the San Joaquin Valley to visit his older brother Roger, who was with him on that fateful day in 1951.

The brothers bonded over their military service and their childhood, Alequin told the Mercury News. Alequin said that her uncle, who did not wish to speak with media, had some vague memories of the abduction and his trip to the East Coast.

Albino soon returned to the East Coast before another visit in July. But it was the last time he saw Roger, who died in August.

“I think he died happily,” Alequin told the Mercury News. “He was at peace with himself, knowing that his brother was found."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com