Hannah Kobayashi’s family told GoFundMe donors that they would issue refunds after she was found safe and well.
The 31-year-old Hawaii woman contacted family members on Wednesday to say she was fine after disappearing from Los Angeles International Airport in November.
In an attempt to help in their search efforts, his family had launched an online fundraiser that raised more than $47,000.
Since then, a post made to the fundraiser said the family would cancel the donations and would honor any claims submitted for a refund.
They said: “We are canceling donations and any donor who wants a refund can submit a claim before December 18 and it will be accepted.”
In a statement, her family said Wednesday they were “incredibly relieved and grateful that Hannah had been found safe.”
She had disappeared at LAX on November 8 while traveling from her home in Hawaii to New York City.
Her father ended up traveling to Los Angeles shortly after she disappeared to help in the search and ended up committing suicide over her disappearance.
DailyMail.com revealed that she had been on the flight with her new green card-holding husband, Argentinian Alan Cacace, in an attempt to fool immigration officials into believing their marriage was genuine.
The Hawaiian woman, 31, contacted her relatives on Wednesday to say she was fine after disappearing from Los Angeles International Airport in November.
Since then, a post made to the fundraiser said the family would cancel the donations and would honor any claims submitted for a refund.
Hannah Kobayashi’s family, including her late father Ryan, are pictured here in November in downtown Los Angeles after she disappeared.
Her ex-boyfriend, Amun Miranda, joined them on the same flight with his own green card-carrying wife, Marianne, who turned out to be Cacace’s girlfriend.
The love square was only possible after Cacace allegedly gave her $15,000 with the promise of another lump sum after the appropriate immigration documents were issued.
Kobayashi and her ex-boyfriend Miranda spotted at a 2023 Christmas party
Their fake marriage ruse was already underway after they tied the knot in October.
Cacace believed that photos of him and Kobayashi sightseeing in the Big Apple would be enough to persuade officials that their marriage was real.
Photos of the ceremony were shown to Kobayashi’s colleagues at Up ‘N Smoke, the Maui smoke shop where he worked.
“There was no secret,” Desiree, a co-worker, told DailyMail.com. “She told us her plans.”
“The Argentinian couple wanted to embark on the trip at the last minute because it presented the opportunity to take photos of their ‘romantic vacation,'” Desiree explained.
Kobayashi’s colleagues said she had mixed feelings about taking the trip: both excited to check off a place on her bucket list where she could see her relatives, but also frustrated at having to share her flight with her ex-boyfriend Miranda.
His co-workers also divulged that his sources of income in the form of Cacace and his girlfriend were also a point of contention for the previously missing woman, who did not want either of them to come on this trip.
Kobayashi was caught on camera at LAX airport three days before her family reported her missing when they received cryptic text messages.
Kobayashi allegedly told them that he did not want to waste time taking photographs but would reluctantly sacrifice a day of his planned weekly vacation to accommodate their wishes.
And then there was Marianne, who Kobayashi had a recent fight with over her jealousy over marrying her boyfriend Cacace.
“I remember Hannah saying her girlfriend had a problem with her,” Desiree said.
‘And Hannah said, girl, I’m not trying to steal your man. This is an agreement we all talked about beforehand.’
When Kobayashi’s family reported her missing after receiving cryptic text messages, her coworkers decided to investigate since they knew the backstory of what was happening on the trip to New York City.
Desiree, who had known Miranda since high school, texted her that they were actively looking for her ex, going so far as to ask her the Argentinian couple’s name and if they made it to New York.
“Everything seems very suspicious and you should have told his family he didn’t make the flight,” he texted Miranda. “Not really, you should have gotten off that flight when you realized she wasn’t on it… Explain yourself.”
Miranda responded to the co-worker who was questioning him by telling him that it was not his job to take care of her. “She’s an adult and I had heard she possibly had plans in Cali too,” he texted.
Ryan Kobayashi holds a photo of his missing daughter Hannah outside the Crypto.com Arena with his aunt Larie Pidgeon.
Kobayashi’s ex-boyfriend also vehemently defended her green card husband, Cacace.
Miranda is a carpenter who lived with Kobayashi until their separation in a small house along a dirt road that rested on a lush hill that sloped towards the ocean.
they started planning a trip to New York early this yearbuying tickets for what was initially planned as a vacation just for the two of them.
But that plan would expand to include his Green Card scam: connecting with the couple from Argentina who had arrived on Maui’s north shore in search of a beach lifestyle and higher-paying jobs.
DailyMail.com was unable to contact the Argentine couple, while Miranda did not respond to messages left at her mother’s property.
Locals say he is back in town but is laying low to avoid attracting attention after the disappearance.
Before her reappearance, Kobayashi was captured on surveillance footage crossing the border into Tijuana on foot on Nov. 12 or 13, police said.
Investigators later stated that Kobayashi “knowingly left” the airport and changed her status to “voluntarily missing,” effectively closing the book on their investigation.
Before her reappearance, Kobayashi was captured on surveillance footage crossing the border into Tijuana on foot on Nov. 12 or 13, police said.
Her family challenged this decision, sharing their concern that Hannah might be in danger, claiming that they had received a series of strange text messages from Kobayashi.
One seemed to allude to the scam, and Kobayashi texted a friend early on saying, “I was tricked into giving away all my funds.” From someone I thought I loved.
As of this week, signs were still hanging at the entrance to Up ‘N Smoke, with Kobayashi’s photo declaring him missing.
“I’ve been working my brain all day, every day for the last month,” Desiree told DailyMail.com just days before Kobayashi approached the family and declared she was safe.
‘Something scared her so much that she abandoned her trip and went to damn Mexico. I can’t understand why you would miss out on your bucket list trip.
She and the Kobayashi family now hope to get those answers from Kobayashi in person.