Luis was stolen from a park at 6 years old. He was just found, 73 years later.

It's the extraordinary story people are marvelling at this week — the boy who went missing, only to be reunited with his family over seven decades later.

In February 1951, six-year-old Luis Armando Albino was enjoying life in Oakland, California. He and five of his siblings had just been brought to America by their mother Antonia from Puerto Rico in search of a better life.

After settling into the local area, Luis' mother agreed that two of her boys could go to Jefferson Square Park, a nearby green space from their new home.

Luis and his brother Roger, who was 10 at the time, went to the park to play.

Luis' mother Antonia would never see him again.

While at the park, Luis was lured by a random woman. She spoke in Spanish to the six-year-old, his native language, and said she would buy him candy.

Instead, Luis was abducted.

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For the Albino family, it was a time of great distress. According to the Oakland Tribune at the time, the search for the boy was extensive, and his brother Roger was interrogated "several times" by investigators.

All he could remember was seeing a woman with a bandana around her head talking to his brother. The next time he looked over, Luis and the woman were nowhere to be seen.

For Antonia, it's reported that she kept a long "vigil of hope" that her son would be found, especially when the FBI were brought onto the case. But there was no such luck.

The Oakland Tribune said that for decades she visited the police missing person bureau, praying for news that never came.

Antonia died in 2005 at the age of 92, not knowing what happened to her son.

As for what happened to Luis, he had been kidnapped by the unknown woman wearing the bandana, and he was flown to America's east coast. There he ended up being raised by a couple as if he was their own biological son. Further details aren't publicly known.

For Luis, life went on.

He became a Marine Corps veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam and he was also a firefighter in his community up until his retirement.

There was someone in his family tree though who was determined to uncover the truth — his niece, Alida Alequin.

Alida, 63, still lives in Oakland and had grown up hearing about her uncle who had been abducted.

Alida said of her grandmother, Antonia, to the Mercury News: "She always felt he was alive. She took that with her to her grave."

"All this time the family kept thinking of him. I always knew I had an uncle. We spoke of him a lot. My grandmother carried the original article in her wallet, and she always talked about him. A picture of him was always hung at the family home."

Determined to find her uncle and see if he was still alive, she signed up to an online ancestry test and used old photos and newspaper clippings to piece together the truth.

"Just for fun", Alida did the online DNA test in 2020, and it showed a 22 per cent match with a man living on the east coast.

It wasn't until 2024 with further effort and research that Alida and her children tracked down the man, who was, in fact, Luis.

She provided her findings with police, and after investigations by the Department of Justice and the FBI, they confirmed that she had in fact found her long-lost uncle.

After he was contacted by police, Luis agreed to provide another DNA, as did Alida's mother — Luis' sister.

Then came time for a reunion.

Luis, now 79, lives in a retirement village. He is also a father and grandfather.

Roger, in his early 80s, managed to see his brother too, after 73 years apart. They bonded over their shared experience of serving in the military, though they never crossed paths.

"It was a lot of long tight hugs and tears, and then we sat down and we just talked," Alida said of the reunion to the LA Times.

Alida also told the publication that her uncle Luis had recollections of what happened to him as a child, but "when he questioned adults in his life, they did not give him answers".

Shortly after the reunion between brothers, Roger passed away.

For Alida, she said she's thankful for the outcome.

"I think he died happily," she said of her uncle Roger. "He was at peace with himself, knowing that his brother was found. I was just so happy I was able to do this for him and bring him closure and peace."

"I was always determined to find him [Luis], and who knows, with my story out there, it could help other families going through the same thing. I would say, don't give up."

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Feature Image: Supplied by Alida Alequin/NBC Bay Area.