A Bay Area woman spent three years grieving the death of her father, until she discovered that despite his death being officially verified, he was still alive.
Kylie Robinson long believed her father, James, died on May 9, 2021, of a drug overdose at the Dahlia Hotel in the Tenderloin, after the San Francisco medical examiner confirmed his death at the time.
After learning the heartbreaking news, Kylie planned a funeral, cremated him (she scattered some of his ashes in Hawaii and put them in jewelry), and got a tattoo to honor her beloved father’s life.
She even got married without her father being present to walk her down the aisle, knowing she would never see him again.
But her world was completely shaken by the unexpected news that he was not dead, which she received two months ago.
James Robinson held his granddaughter as his family found him after three years of thinking he was dead
Kylie Robinson and her family held a memorial for her father outside the Dahlia Hotel
A friend of Kylie’s family was visiting San Francisco and saw James walking down the street. The friend quickly called her mother to tell her about the shocking encounter and put her on the phone with James.
He Chronicle of San Francisco She reported that the woman told James: ‘Oh my God, Jimbo, your family thinks you’re dead.’
When Kylie found out, she and her sisters wondered, “Are we delusional?”
She investigated the situation by calling the medical examiner’s office and asked for photographs of the dead man who was supposedly her father. Once she saw the photos, she was sure that her father was still alive.
The medical examiner’s office confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle that they made a mistake.
Angela Yip, a spokeswoman for the office, told the outlet: ‘This does not reflect the high standards of our office, nor the level of service that the people of San Francisco expect and deserve.
Kylie grew up with her father as her primary parent. She lived with him while her sisters were with their mother or grandparents.
Kylie took the ashes she thought were her father’s and put them in a jewelry store.
“We are committed to continuing to implement measures that guarantee the integrity of our work.”
The office formally apologized to Kylie on August 7. She filed a complaint with the city and will be taking legal action.
Meanwhile, the medical examiner’s office is still trying to identify the dead man they mistook for James.
Upon closer look at the autopsy report, many of the key details – height, weight, injuries and tattoos – did not even match James’s.
Kylie and her family went looking for James on July 10 and were eventually reunited. They searched for more than 12 hours and walked eight miles to find their father.
But the damage caused in the last three years is irreversible.
Because he was “dead,” he lost his $900-a-month Social Security checks (his main source of income) and became homeless.
Since he was believed dead, Kylie’s younger sister, who is under 18, had been collecting survivor payments. But now the Social Security Administration wants her money back.
Following her falsely reported death, Kylie’s father developed a severe addiction to fentanyl.
Kylie told the San Francisco Chronicle: “My father didn’t have that much of an addiction before this mistake.”
‘There has been a significant deterioration in his health over the past three years.’
Sadly, James was only reunited with his family for three days before disappearing again after promising to go to rehab.
The coroner’s office admitted that a dead man was mistaken for James. Kylie is considering legal action
His daughter learned that while he was on the street in 2022, he was arrested. But when the police took his fingerprints, it turned out that he was dead and they released him without further investigation into the situation.
And now Kylie is left without her father once again. This time, he disappeared after promising to go to rehab.
Three days before he disappeared this summer, Kylie took him to a hotel room because she wanted a few days to process everything before rehab. But when she went to look for him on July 13, he wasn’t there.
Kylie and her family went back to look for him three or four times after that, but were unsuccessful.
Her relationship with her father is very important to her. He was her primary guardian until she was 12 years old.
While her two sisters lived with their grandparents and mother, Kylie stayed with James in Antioch.
Kylie told the San Francisco Chronicle: “He was the only father who cared for me. The only one I trusted.”
James, who Kylie said suffered from depression, was shot in the chest in 2017 and was hospitalized for a month.
He lost his home and spent two years living with friends and acquaintances.
He moved to San Francisco, where he lived on the streets, in 2019. But he and Kylie never lost touch.
She said they would have lunch together every few weeks, but he always refused when Kylie and her sisters asked him to come home with them.
When he “died,” Kylie, who was 21 at the time, had to raise $4,000 to cremate her father. She managed to raise almost half of that money through GoFundMe.
Kylie has created a GoFundMe account to raise money to support her father as she plans to meet him for a second time.
Kylie had to raise $4,000 when she was 21 to pay for her “father’s” cremation
The family made a shrine to remember him.
The daughter, determined, does not give up. She plans to return to San Francisco to intensify her search efforts by posting flyers and offering a small reward.
She also started a GoFundMe to help keep you going.
They have raised $1,450 of their $5,000 goal.
