Found! After 71 years

It was February of 1951, with much of the nation in winter's stranglehold.

But in Oakland, Calif., it wasn't so bad.

In fact, on this late February day, it was downright glorious as Roger (10-years-old) and Luis (6) Albino played on the playground at the Jefferson Square Park.

As the sun began to set, Roger realized he and his brother needed to head home before it got too late. Thoughts of being chastised, even spanked, ran through his mind as he yelled to his little brother that they had to go.

Luis had little thought of punishment, only of playing in the sand and climbing the jungle gym.

Finally Roger had had enough and told Luis he was going to leave him if he didn't come right away.

Luis finally relented, following Roger slowly as he headed toward home. Roger, a bit annoyed at Luis's meandering pace, had gotten a bit ahead of his little brother.

Suddenly a car pulled up beside Luis and a woman with a red bandana on her head jumped out and began talking to the 6-year-old.

Roger, maybe 35 yards away, couldn't hear what she was saying, but could tell that she was speaking to her brother in their native Spanish language.

Before Roger could get much closer, Luis jumped in the car and the lady took off with Roger's brother inside.

She must be a family friend, Roger thought. Or maybe she was just giving Luis a ride home, although they went the wrong direction. Roger began to run home, to see if his brother would be there waiting.

But Luis was not there. When Roger walked into the house he inquired of his mother where Luis was.

Confused, his mother asked what he meant.

Luis? Your friend? The lady in the red bandana?

Still Antonia Albino was confused. She grabbed Roger by the shoulders and asked him in Spanish "Donde esta tu hermano?!" (Where is your brother?!")

In the meantime, the mysterious woman with the red bandana whisked Luis straight to the airport and sent the little boy across the country to the waiting arms of a couple seemingly with no knowledge of what had just happened. They were Luis's new parents.

Back in Oakland, Antonia burst into tears as panic set in. She called police and, with the help of the National Guard, an exhaustive search took place in the area for little Luis.

They would find nothing, of course, because Luis was already long gone.

Fast forward to the year 2020. Just "for fun" Alida Alequin took a DNA test and found that a man on the East Coast had a 22 percent match to her DNA.

Alequin had always known she had a "long lost" uncle out there somewhere. She'd heard the stories and listened as her grandmother, Antonia Albino, recounted her love for little Luis.

Could this be him?

Antonia had passed away in 2005 without knowing that her son Luis, was in fact alive and well.

Alequin alerted the FBI after other family members also took DNA tests and the matches kept coming back to the man on the East Coast.

“In my heart I knew it was him,” Ms Alequin said, “and when I got the confirmation, I let out a big ‘YES!’”

She told the Bay Area News Group that she, “didn’t start crying until after the investigators left”: “I grabbed my mom’s hands and said, ‘We found him.’ I was ecstatic.”

Luis was able to visit Roger just before the older brother passed away last month, perhaps closing a loop that was destined to forever remain open if not for a "fun" DNA test by Alida Alequin.

Luis, perhaps not understanding what had happened, or perhaps just making the best of his new life, maximized his new surroundings, becoming a decorated firefighter and Viet Nam vet.

He was seemingly unaware that he was the subject of one of the United States' longest missing person cases.

But now the case is closed and little Luis has been found.