6-year-old boy abducted from California park 73 years ago found alive and well as retiree

A boy abducted from a California park more than 70 years ago has been found alive and well as a retiree and reunited with his loved ones after his niece found him across the country through her own DNA research, police said Monday.

Luis Albino was only six years old when he was “abducted by an unknown woman from Jefferson Park Playground in Oakland on February 2, 1951 and taken out of the state and eventually to the East Coast,” a police statement said.

The immediate search for Albino was unsuccessful and the case remained unsolved for seven decades.

But then, earlier this year, Albino's niece went to Oakland police again and told officers “that the results of her online DNA test matched those of a person believed to be her uncle,” police said.

FBI agents working for Oakland police interviewed Albino at his East Coast home and took a DNA sample. His genetic material matched that of two surviving siblings in California, proving Albino was the boy abducted in 1951, police said.

The FBI, California Department of Justice and Oakland Police arranged and paid for Albino's reunification with his long-lost family on June 24 of this year.

“It was an emotional moment for everyone involved and a family reunion that had been hoped for for over 70 years,” police said.

The Oakland Police Department's statement did not say who officers believe abducted Albino from the park 70 years ago or who raised him.

For the man's Californian relatives, it was a bittersweet reunion.

The albino's 92-year-old mother died in 2005 without ever learning the fate of her kidnapped son, the Bay Area News Group reported.

Albino was able to meet and spend time with his brother Roger this summer. He had been with him in the park the day of his abduction in 1951. Roger died in August.

“I think he died happy,” said 63-year-old Alida Alequin, the niece who alerted police to her 22% DNA match to Albino. “He was at peace knowing his brother had been found. I was just so happy that I could do that for him and bring him closure and peace.”