An Oakland, California woman's persistence has reportedly paid off after a decades-long investigation has led to the reunion of her uncle, who was kidnapped from a West Oakland park in 1951, with his family.
The East Bay Times first reported the story on February 21, 1951, when 6-year-old Luis Armando Albino was playing with his older brother Roger in Jefferson Square Park near Seventh Avenue.
According to the paper, a Spanish-speaking woman lured Albino out of the park that day, offering to buy him candy, then kidnapped him and took him to the East Coast, where he grew up.
The woman who kidnapped Mr. Albino FOX 2 in San FranciscoHe subsequently passed away.
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Luis Armando Albino (right) with his late brother Roger (left) Luis Armando Albino was six years old when he was kidnapped while playing in an Oakland park in 1951. Now, more than 70 years later, he has been discovered thanks to online ancestry tests, old photos and newspaper clippings. (Courtesy of Alida Alekhine)
Albino's niece, 63-year-old Alida Alekhine, spoke to FOX 2 and detailed what happened to her uncle, who remains missing even after a search was launched by Oakland police and the FBI.
Alekhine said she and her family never gave up looking for the albino.
In fact, she took an online DNA test “just for fun” in 2020 and was matched with a man on the East Coast.
When Alekhine took the test, she found a 22% match with a man who turned out to be her uncle.
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Luis grew up as a child with his father, Marcial, in Puerto Rico in the 1940s. (Courtesy of Alida Alekhine)
After finding out about the match, she tried to contact the man to find out who he was, but never heard back.
“My daughter found a bunch of photos of this guy and we started comparing,” Alekhine told the station. “There was such a resemblance, so much like my other uncles. And in another photo, he looked so much like my grandmother that it horrified me. I said, 'There's something here.'”
Albino was eventually found and provided a DNA sample, as did Alekhine's mother and uncle Roger.
Family members told the station that DNA samples had confirmed Luis Albino was their missing relative.
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DNA samples were used to confirm family ties. (iStock)
The information was provided to the Oakland Police Department, which forwarded it to the FBI. Oakland police said their investigation of Alekhine “played a critical role in finding her uncle,” adding that “an outcome in this case is what we are striving for.”
Last week, police announced that the disappearance of Luis Albino has been solved, but the kidnapping remains under investigation by the FBI and police.
Investigators reportedly questioned Albino's brother, Roger, multiple times, but he continued to say that a woman with a bandana around her head took his brother.
According to the agency's report, with the cooperation of the FBI, Albino traveled to Oakland with his family on June 24, 2024, and met with Alekhine, his mother and other relatives.
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The next day, Alekhine took her mother and uncle, a former firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, to Roger's home in Stanislaus County, California.
“We didn't cry until the investigators left,” Alekhine told FOX 2. “I held my mom's hand and said, 'We found him.' I was overjoyed.”
The reunited family members shared a long, tight embrace before sitting down to recount the events of the day of the abduction and what has happened since.
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Albino eventually returned home, this time for three weeks in July, which was his last time seeing his brother, who died in August.
Alekhine told the station that his brothers were making up for lost time and that his uncle did not want to speak to the media.
