Hannah Kobayashi, the Maui resident who was reported missing at LAX, has been found alive.
Hannah, 30, reportedly contacted her family and told them she was safe.
But the real story behind Hannah’s vanishing act may land her behind bars doing serious prison time.
According to reports, Hannah was a willing participant in an immigration scam involving her green card-seeking “husband” Alan Cacace, Hannah’s ex-boyfriend, Amun Miranda and his green card-seeking “wife” Marianne – who happened to be Alan’s girlfriend.
Alan, who is from Argentina, and Hannah, a U.S. citizen, got married in October as part of the scam to obtain green cards for himself and his girlfriend Marianne, who is also from Argentina.
The four participants in the green card scam purchased plane tickets to travel from Maui to New York City to take photos in front of the Empire State Building. They hoped the photos would convince immigration officials they were really married.
Alan reportedly paid Hannah $15,000 up front with the promise of an additional $15,000 once his and Marianne’s green cards were approved by immigration officials.
Hannah reportedly blew the $15,000 on cocaine and psychedelic drugs. Hannah, who works at a smoke shop in Maui, was known to do cocaine, psychedelics, and sniff nitrous oxide, according to DailyMail.com.
A person close to Amun’s family told DailyMail.com that Hannah had a “heavy drug problem,” and that it was a factor in Hannah and Amun’s breakup.
“Amun really didn’t like her drug problem,” said Anita Lopez. “He was disgusted by it.”
Hannah, Amun, and the Argentinan couple arrived at LAX airport on November 8, but only 3 of them boarded the connecting flight to New York. Hannah missed the flight for unknown reasons. Hannah was reported “missing” by her family three days later.
The LAPD reviewed hours of surveillance video at LAX and around Los Angeles. They spotted Hannah leaving LAX on foot after checking her bag on the flight to New York City. The next day, she contacted the airport to have her bag sent back to LAX from NYC.
Hannah was spotted on surveillance video picking up her bag from LAX on November 9.
She was later seen shopping at The Grove, an outdoor mall in L.A. Then she was spotted walking across the border into Tijuana, Mexico on November 12 or 13.
When the news broke that Hannah was “missing,” Desiree, her co-worker in Maui, texted Hannah’s ex-boyfriend, Amun. She asked him why he didn’t get off the plane when he realized Hannah didn’t board it.
Amun responded in a text message that Hannah is an adult and that it wasn’t his job to look after her. Amun and Hannah had dated for 2 years until he broke up with her when he caught her cheating with a local DJ in Maui.
The LAPD informed Hannah’s family that the missing person’s case was closed and that Hannah was “voluntarily” missing.
But her family contested the LAPD’s decision to close the investigation. They shared their concerns with police that Hannah may be in danger. They argued that the person seen walking into Mexico was not Hannah.
RELATED: Missing woman Hannah Kobayashi crossed into Mexico on foot
However, there is evidence that her family and friends knew Hannah was never missing.
One family member alluded to that in a text message to a friend early on. The family member implied that Hannah fleeced her out of money while she was voluntarily missing.
“I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds. From someone I thought I loved,” the family member texted the friend.
Coworkers say they knew all about Hannah’s green card scam.
“There was no secret,” Desiree, Hannah’s co-worker, told DailyMail.com. “She told us about her plans.”
The story had a tragic ending for one family member. Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, who traveled from Maui to search for her, committed suicide by jumping off of a parking deck near LAX airport 11 days after Hannah went missing.
It’s being reported by friends that Ryan killed himself out of shame after learning Hannah was part of an immigration scam.
People who helped search for Hannah accused the family and the local news media of knowing all along that Hannah wasn’t missing.
One DailyMail.com reader wrote in the comments: “the family (as well as the media) dragged it out and continued to waste public resources, seek and receive donations and more. This should have never been a missing person story.”
Another person wrote, “Inconsiderate daughter didn’t notify her family, resulting in the death of her father, because she was involved in a scam which her friends all knew about but neglected to tell authorities.”
“A third person wrote, “Maybe family pursued GoFundMe in spite of known facts about disappearance.”
Someone else responded, “Agreed. They wanted the $$$ for her attorney fees believing she’d be prosecuted for her sham marriage. But they knew they wouldn’t get much if they put up a request for thousands to ‘please help keep our daughter out of prison…’”
GoFundMe disabled the family’s page. Hannah’s family members were reportedly fighting over the GoFundMe donations.
