Why Hannah Kobayashi disappeared during her dream trip to New York and went to Mexico instead

Now that Hannah Kobayashi has come forward to declare she is safe and well, the incredible story behind her disappearance can be revealed for the first time by DailyMail.com.

Kobayashi, 30, was on her way to New York from her home on the Hawaiian island of Maui, when she decided to walk out of Los Angeles International Airport and disappear.

She wasn’t on that flight by herself. She was on her way to the Big Apple, alongside her new Green Card husband Argentina-native Alan Cacace, in a bid to hoodwink immigration officials into believing their marriage was genuine, DailyMail.com can reveal.

And, on that same flight, her ex-boyfriend Amun Miranda joined them with his own Green Card wife Marianne – who just happened to be Cacace’s girlfriend.

Miranda and Kobayashi broke up in August. The pair had dated for two years before calling it quits.

This messy love square, all on one plane together, was only possible because Cacace had allegedly given Kobayashi $15,000 with the promise of a similar sum once the immigration documents that allowed him to stay in the United States were issued.

The ruse of their sham marriage was already in the works, with pictures of their wedding ceremony being shown to Kobayashi’s coworkers at the Maui smoke shop Up ‘N Smoke after the pair married in October.

But Cacace believed that pictures of him with Kobayashi perhaps in front of the Empire State Building, in Central Park or on Broadway or by the Statue of Liberty would be enough to persuade immigration officials that their marriage was for real.

‘There was no secret,’ Desiree, Kobayashi’s co-worker in a Maui smoke shop told DailyMail.com. ‘She told us about her plans.’ 

‘The Argentinian couple wanted to hop on the trip at the last minute because it presented an opportunity for photos of their “romantic vacation”,’ Desiree explained.

But the dynamics of the group quickly got complicated.

Kobayashi’s colleagues told DailyMail.com she had mixed feelings about going on the trip – feeling both excited by checking off a location on her bucket list where she could see relatives, but also frustrated she’d have to share her flight with ex-boyfriend Miranda.

Her coworkers also divulged that her cash cows in the form of Cacace and his girlfriend were also a point of contention for the formerly missing woman, who didn’t want either of them coming on this trip.

Kobayashi supposedly told them she didn’t want to waste time taking photos but would reluctantly sacrifice one day of her weekly planned vacation to satisfy their wishes.

And then there was Marianne, who Kobayashi had a recent fight with revolving around her jealousy of marrying her boyfriend Cacace.

‘I do remember Hannah saying that the girlfriend had an issue with her,’ Desiree said. ‘And Hannah was like girl, I’m not trying to steal your man. This is an arrangement we all talked about beforehand.’

When Kobayashi’s family reported her missing three days later after receiving cryptic text messages, her coworkers decided to dig since they knew the backstory of what was going down on the trip to New York City.

Desiree who had known Miranda since high school texted him telling him they were actively looking for his ex, going as far as to ask for the Argentinian couple’s name and if they made it to New York.

‘All seems very sus and you should have told her family she didn’t get on the flight,’ Desiree texted Miranda. ‘Actually no you should’ve got off that flight when you realized she wasn’t on it.. Explain.’

Miranda shot back at her questioning coworker saying it wasn’t his job to look after her.

‘She’s an adult and I’d heard she’d also possibly had plans in Cali,’ he texted.

‘I have no reason to get off a plane and miss time on my own trip for something I thought was as simple as just missing one flight and catching the next available one,’ he sniped.

‘I shouldn’t have to do anything because her and I had split up 3-4 months ago and agreed to no contact.’

Kobayashi’s ex-boyfriend also vehemently defended her Green Card husband Cacace.

‘Her husband is sweet and just a lil guy and wouldn’t hurt a fly,’ he wrote. ‘He has nothing to do with any of this.’

Miranda said his best guess was that Kobaayashi was off taking drugs, or having a mental health crisis.

‘To be honest,’ he wrote, ‘from what her friends and her mom have told me from the things she said to them leading up to this it’s very possible to be having some kind of a mental breakdown from lack of sleep, too much psychedelics, or coke. I don’t know.’

In her hometown, sources say Kobayashi was known to use psychedelics, cocaine and whippets – or nitrous oxide.

A person close to Amun Miranda’s family told DailyMail.com that Kobayashi had a ‘heavy drug problem’ and that it was a factor in her breakup with Amun.

‘Amun really didn’t like her drug habit,’ said Anita Lopez, who lives on his mother’s property. ‘He was just disgusted by it.’

Desiree acknowledged that Kobayashi ‘likes her psychedelics,’ but added that she only occasionally uses them.

‘There’s a difference between recreational use and abusing,’ she said.

The smoke shop workers described Kobayashi as hardworking and reliable, working full time and rarely taking off except to travel, as she did earlier this year to Japan, California to see the Redwood Forest and Oahu to visit family.

Hannah Kobayashi case potentially linked to green card scam

Kobayashi was described by coworkers as a ‘social butterfly’ and danced at these beachside parties – and was known for ‘fire twirling’ during the sunset

‘She’s definitely a social butterfly around here, definitely not shy, a free spirit,’ Selena, another coworker, told DailyMail.com. ‘She has great energy. That’s what makes her so likable.’

Miranda is a local carpenter who lived with Kobayashi until their split in a small home along a dirt road that rested on a lush hill sloping down to the ocean. They started planning a trip to New York early this year, purchasing tickets for what was initially planned as a vacation for just the two of them.

But that plan would expand to include their Green Card scam – connecting with the couple from Argentina who had come to Maui’s north shore for the beach lifestyle and higher-paying jobs.

Nani, another coworker from the smoke shop, said Kobayashi’s scam intrigued her and that the woman even offered to hook them up too.

‘I did ask her all these questions, like how does it work?’ Nani recalled. But the coworkers ended up declining her offer which could have netted her $30,000.

‘It’s not enough for us to get in trouble and risk going to jail,’ Desiree said. ‘We were like no, sorry, girl.’

Nani quipped, ‘If it was like $300,000, maybe.’

But Miranda and Kobayashi’s plan got messy when he discovered she had met up with an ex-boyfriend – a DJ she’d dated for years – which led to them breaking up.

Her family contested the police’s decision to close the investigation after she was seen walking across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. Sharing their concerns that Hannah may be in danger, they claimed that they’d received a string of strange text messages from Kobayashi

Kobayashi was left devastated, requesting several days off work.

‘I know the breakup hurt her,’ her coworker Selena told DailyMail.com. ‘She was down for sure. But nothing that raised red flags, at least for me.’

The former couple rarely spoke with each other after the breakup, but still decided to go forward with the New York trip, and later opted to let their new spouses join them for the photo op.

‘They’re tagging on to my trip,’ Desiree recalled Kobayashi telling her about two weeks before the departure. ‘She said she’d only give them one day of her time. She wanted to continue on with her itinerary.’

DailyMail.com was unable to reach the Argentinian couple, while Miranda did not respond to messages left at his mother’s property. Locals say he’s back in town but lying low to avoid attention in the aftermath of the disappearance.

Kobayashi had been missing for a month before her family announced on Wednesday she had been found safe and was back in touch with her family. She told her relatives she was fine, according to a statement shared with DailyMail.com.

‘We are incredibly relieved and grateful that Hannah has been found safe,’ the statement said.

‘This past month has been an unimaginable ordeal for our family, and we kindly ask for privacy as we take the time to heal and process everything we have been through.

‘We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us.’

Before her reappearance, Kobayashi was caught on surveillance footage crossing the border into Tijuana, Mexico, on foot on either November 12 or 13, police said.

But although she’s safe, tragedy did touch her family when Kobayashi’s father Ryan, who participated in the search, committed suicide by jumping from a building near the same airport his daughter had walked out of 11 days prior.

Investigators later declared that Kobayashi ‘knowingly departed’ the airport and changed her status to ‘voluntary missing’, effectively closing the book on their investigation.

Her family contested this decision, sharing their concerns that Hannah may be in danger, claiming that they’d received a string of strange text messages from Kobayashi.

One seemed to allude to the scam, with Kobayashi texting a friend early on that, ‘I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds. From someone I thought I loved.’

Sources told Los Angeles Magazine that Kobayashi may have been scammed out of proceeds by her ex.

As of this week, signs still hung at the entrance to Up ‘N Smoke, with Kobayashi’s picture declaring her missing.

‘I’ve been running my brain all day, every day for the past month,’ Desiree told DailyMail.com just days before Kobayashi reached out to family declaring she was safe.

‘Something freaked her out that she dumped her trip and went to freaking Mexico. I can’t understand why she’d miss out on her bucket list trip.’

She and the Kobayashi family are now hoping they can now get those answers from Kobayashi in person.