We have gotten so used to the availability of DNA technology that modern people forget how miraculous it really is. The family members of a little boy who was kidnapped from a park in 1951 have found him after 73 years thanks to an application of DNA technology called “genetic genealogy.”
The niece of the man managed to track down the uncle she had never met after years of sleuthing. Alida Alequin pored over old newspaper clippings, microfilm, and public records for years before finding her target recently. Her uncle, Luis Armando Albino, was that little boy who was taken by a stranger in 1951. He’s now a 76-year-old grandfather living on the east coast of the United States. The family reunited in California this past June.
Albino was only five years old when an unidentified woman baited him with candy in a park in California. She kidnapped the boy who was raised by an unrelated couple as if he were their child. It is known what connection the kidnapping woman may have to the couple who raised Albino, nor has he said anything publicly about his experience. Albino is a veteran of the Marine Corps and retired from a career as a fireman.
Albino has been missing to his family for more than 70 years. His mother, who died in 2005, always held out hope that he was still alive somewhere. At the time of his disappearance the Coast Guard, local police, and even soldiers from a base near Oakland helped in a massive search for the boy that proved fruitless.
Police in Oakland say Alida Alequin’s work to find her uncle “played an integral role” in locating the missing man. The FBI also assisted.
The key to finally solving the mystery was in the family DNA. Alequin said she took a DNA test in 2020 “just for fun.” When she turned it in to the genealogical company she got it from, the test showed a 22 percent match for a man who turned out to be Albino, her missing uncle. Alequin took her results to police in Oakland, who reopened the investigation and this led to the reunification.
While Albino has been found, cops are still investigating the actual kidnapping.
