Photo Credit (Freepik)
The 63-year-old Alida Alequin “just for fun” did an internet ancestry test a few years ago.
The 79-year-old Luis Armando Albino (right) and his 82-year-old, long-lost brother Roger
After a long absence, 79-year-old Luis Armando Albino and his 82-year-old brother Roger were reunited. Photo credit: Alida Alequin
She never could have predicted how much the outcomes would impact her life and her family’s. The test came back with a 22 percent match with a man who, she later learned, had been kidnapped from a California playground in the early 1950s. At the age of six, her uncle Luis Armando Albino was abducted and raised by a couple who claimed he was their own.
Alequin began going through old pictures and newspaper clippings after Albino went missing for over 70 years. After her inquiry, authorities opened a fresh missing persons case after discovering an old photo of Luis with his brother, Roger. Albino was located on the east coast by investigators, and with the FBI’s assistance, he was reunited with his brother and sister as well as other members of his family in California. Alequin stated, “We didn’t start crying until the investigators left.” I said, “We found him,” and I seized my mother’s hands.
Alequin hopes that this happy resolution to a depressing tale may encourage others. “With my story out there, it could help other families going through the same thing,” she remarked. “I was always determined to find him.” “I would advise you to persevere.
