The persistence of an Oakland, California, woman paid off when, after a decades-long investigation, her family was reunited with her uncle, who was abducted from a West Oakland park in 1951, reports show.

The East Bay Times first reported the story of Luis Armando Albino, who was 6 years old when he was playing with his older brother Roger in Jefferson Square Park near Seventh Street on February 21, 1951.

That day, the publication reported, a Spanish-speaking woman offered him candy and lured Albino out of the park before kidnapping him and taking him to the East Coast, where he grew up.

According to family members who spoke to FOX 2 in San Francisco, the woman who kidnapped Albino has since died.

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Luis Armando Albino (right) with his late brother Roger (left). Luis Armando Albino was 6 years old when he was abducted while playing in an Oakland park in 1951. Now, more than seven decades later, Albino has been found thanks to an online ancestry test, old photos and newspaper clippings. (COURTESY: ALIDA ALEQUIN)

Albino’s niece, 63-year-old Alida Alequin, spoke to FOX 2 and shared details about her missing uncle’s story, even after Oakland police and the FBI had already tried to find him.

Alequin said she and her family never gave up the search for Albino.

In fact, in 2020, she took an online DNA test “just for fun” and found a man on the East Coast.

The test Alequin took showed a 22 percent match with the man who turned out to be her uncle.

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Luis as a child with his father Marcial in Puerto Rico in the 1940s. (COURTESY: ALIDA ALEQUIN)

After learning of the connection, she tried to find out who the man was and made contact, but never received a response.

“My daughter found a lot of pictures of this man and we started comparing them,” Alequin told the station. “The resemblance was so great… how much he looked like my other uncles. And then another picture where he looked so much like my grandmother, it gave me goosebumps and I thought, ‘There’s something here.'”

Albino was eventually found and provided a DNA sample. Alequin’s mother and her uncle Roger also provided a DNA sample.

The DNA samples were compared and it was confirmed that Luis Albino was her missing relative, family members told the broadcaster.

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DNA samples were used to confirm the family relationships. (iStock)

The information was provided to Oakland police, who in turn passed it on to the FBI. Oakland police said Alequin’s investigation “played a critical role in finding her uncle,” adding that “we are committed to the outcome of this story.”

Last week, police announced that the Luis Albino missing person case had been closed. However, the kidnapping is still being investigated by the FBI and police.

Investigators reportedly questioned Albino’s brother Roger several times, but his story about the woman in the headscarf who took her brother remained unchanged.

With the help of the FBI, Albino traveled to Oakland with members of his family on June 24, 2024, and met with Alequin, her mother and other relatives, the station reported.

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The next day, Alequin took her mother and her uncle – a retired firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who had served in the Vietnam War – to Roger’s house in Stanislaus County, California.

“We didn’t start crying until the investigators had already left,” Alequin told FOX 2. “I took my mother’s hands and said, ‘We found him.’ I was beside myself with joy.”

The reunited family hugged each other long and tight before sitting down and talking about the day of the kidnapping and the events since then.

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Albino eventually went home, but returned for three weeks in July. This was the last time he saw his brother, who died in August.

Alequin told the station that the two brothers wanted to make up for lost time. She also said that her uncle did not want to speak to the media.