By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-10 12:43:13 | Updated at 2024-12-25 17:12:54
2 weeks ago
Missing Hannah Kobayashi’s ex-boyfriend was “jealous” of her alleged fake husband, a source close to her told The Post.
Kobayashi was traveling to New York with her ex, Amun Muniz-Miranda, and the Argentine national she had secretly married, Alan Cacace, sources confirmed to The Post.
However, the FBI is now looking at the case as a potential green card visa scheme gone wrong, after Kobayashi didn’t tell her family she was married. She later claimed she “got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds” and hoodwinked by “someone I thought I loved,” before disappearing to Mexico.
A source who worked with Kobayashi in Haiku, Hawaii, told The Post: “My other co-worker knew but she kept it on the down-low — that’s what Hannah wanted — but now it’s out there for everyone.
“Maybe [Muniz-Miranda] got jealous of Hannah and Alan.”
Another close friend of Hannah’s also confirmed to The Post she had married Cacace, but said they didn’t feel the two were romantically involved.
Los Angeles magazine reported Kobayashi’s mother discovered she had been in touch with an immigration lawyer after she disappeared and handed over documents to the police and FBI. The magazine also reported suspicions Muniz-Miranda was involved in setting up the marriage scheme.
Marriage fraud is a federal crime that can land people in prison for up to five years.
Little is known about Muniz-Miranda beyond the fact he was arrested for falsifying his identity to cops in an arrest in Texas in 2021, and he had been arrested in Haiku for a DUI in 2020.
The Post can reveal a mugshot of him taken in 2021, and sources close to Kobayashi said they had been previously been suspicious of his actions.
“He [Muniz-Miranda] was the guy to introduce Hannah to this other lifestyle – finding other sources of income,” such as get-rich-quick schemes, the co-worker said.
Sara Azari, a lawyer representing the Kobayashi family, pointed out no concrete proof of the alleged marriage between her and Cacace has emerged.
“We do not have legal, factual corroboration. We don’t have any confirmation. She had never told her family that she was married,” Azari told The Post.
However, Kobayashi did voluntarily disembark the plane, appeared to freak out and sent a worrying text to her family, prompting them to raise the alarm.
On Nov. 12, Kobayashi then bought a ticket at a Los Angeles bus station and headed for the Mexican border.
She crossed into Tijuana at around noon via the San Ysidro point of entry tunnel and has not been seen or heard from since.
She was considered a voluntary missing person on December, 2 after footage of her crossing into Mexico alone surfaced, according to authorities.
The source told The Post it was unlike Hannah to miss work or disappear.
“It doesn’t really sound like Hannah [to be involved in a green card scam] it’s very out of her character. She’d let me know before if she was going to be 10 to 15 minutes late to work. She was supposed to come back Nov. 20,” the source added.
In May 2021, Muniz-Miranda was arrested in Waxahachie, Texas, for failure to identify by giving false information to an officer by providing a fake name, a misdemeanor punishable by up to nearly six months.
A clerk at Ellis County Court in Texas told The Post that Muniz-Miranda’s case for lying about his identity is still active and he had never shown up for an arraignment in 2021.
Sources in Hawaii also confirmed to The Post there is a sizeable Argentinian community in Haiku and Cacace is believed to have been on the island for a few years.
He is rumored to already have a new girlfriend.
It is unclear if authorities have been able to locate or speak with Cacace. Previous reports claimed Muniz-Miranda was cooperating with authorities. The Post has been unable to make contact with either.
Kobayashi was excited about her trip to New York and had a “normal week” at work before leaving for the city, where she was due to visit an aunt, the source told The Post.
“Something had to have happened on the flight – that doesn’t seem like Hannah at all. She plans everything,” the co-worker said.
“Hannah is the last person I thought something like this would happen to. She has a good head on her shoulders.
The search for Kobayashi has put a strain on their family. Kobayashi’s sister, Sydni last week lashed out at her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, who became a point person for updates on Hannah’s search, saying that Pidgeon does not represent the family.
“It’s really unfortunate when you have to question family,” Sydni told News Nation, saying her aunt has “gone rogue.”
Pidgeon later told the Post that Sydni is “throwing her under the bus.”
The tension follows the suicide of Kobayashi’s father, who police confirmed jumped off a parking garage at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving in the city to look for his daughter.
