Just a little boy who was kidnapped by a stranger has been discovered protected and sound — greater than 70 years after his abduction.
Luis Armando Albino was simply six when he was lured from a California park in 1951 by a lady who promised to purchase him sweet at a close-by retailer. He had been taking part in together with his oldest brother, Roger, on the time.
An in depth search was launched for the boy, however he was by no means discovered. Ultimately, the path went chilly and his household was left to cope with the painful aftermath.
Nevertheless, that every one modified in 2020 when his niece took a web based ancestry check “only for enjoyable” and the outcomes turned up a 22 per cent match with a senior residing on the alternative coast.
Alida Alequin, 63, instructed The Mercury Information in San Jose that she scoured the internet and old newspaper clippings and archives for a number of years earlier than taking the outcomes of the DNA check to the police in June of this yr. Investigators with the Oakland police agreed it was a major lead.
Albino was tracked down by police and offered a brand new DNA pattern, which was matched to Alequin’s mom (Albino’s sister).
It was a robust match and Alequin stated she and her mom have been relieved and overwhelmed with emotion after they came upon.
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“I grabbed my mother’s fingers and stated, ‘We discovered him.’ I used to be ecstatic,” she told The Mercury News.
Shortly after, Albino and a few of his kinfolk have been introduced by the FBI to Oakland to satisfy his long-lost household. Though his mom died in 2005, he was capable of meet his brother, the final particular person to see him.
For the greater than 70 years Albino remained lacking, he was all the time within the hearts of his household and his photograph hung at kinfolk’ homes, his niece stated. Earlier than she died, his mom by no means gave up hope that her son was alive, and Alequin instructed the LA Occasions she kept a newspaper clipping about his abduction in her pockets.
Oakland Tribune articles from the time reported that police, troopers from a neighborhood military base, the coast guard and different metropolis staff joined a large seek for the lacking boy. San Francisco Bay and different waterways have been additionally searched, based on the articles. His brother was interrogated a number of instances by investigators and stood by his story a couple of girl with a bandana round her head taking his brother.
Albino, a father and grandfather, is a retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, based on his niece. The girl who kidnapped Albino ended up elevating him as if he have been her son, after she fled with him to the opposite aspect of the nation. Officers didn’t say the place on the East Coast he was raised.
After their household reunion in June, Albino returned to the East Coast however got here again once more in July for a three-week go to. It was the final time he noticed Roger, who died in August.
Alequin stated her uncle didn’t need to speak to the media.
“I used to be all the time decided to seek out him, and who is aware of, with my story on the market, it may assist different households going by the identical factor,” Alequin stated. “I might say, don’t quit.”
— with information from The Related Press
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