Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - CLAIM: HAWAIIAN BEAUTY “MISSING AT LAX” GREEN CARD SCAM? MEXICAN CONDO HIDEOUT?

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Hawaiian beauty missing at LAX caught up in a green card marriage scam. What? Is Hannah Kobayashi now hiding out in a Mexican condo hidey hole? Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Born in Oahu, Hawaii and creative from an early age, Hannah Kobayashi draws pictures with crayons before she can talk. Kobayashi's aunt, Laurie Pigeon, says Hannah has the spark you wish you had. But things take a turn for the worst when Hannah misses her connecting flight to New York City and seemingly disappears. According to the L.A. magazine, Kobayashi was apparently scammed out of the proceeds of a purported immigration scheme,

Starting point is 00:01:03 possibly concocted by her, quote, former partner, an ex-boyfriend. She did not miss her flight. She somehow masterminded rerouting her bags, which were already on the way to JFK in the bowels of LAX, the LA airport, got it redirected to her and took off, found a place to take a shower and blow dry her hair. Last seen crossing into Mexico. Now we learn this. After the LAPD proves Hannah Kobayashi crosses the border into Mexico on foot and lists her as voluntarily missing, many people wondered why the family hires a lawyer, Sarah Azari,

Starting point is 00:01:46 to represent Hannah Kobayashi and the family. L.A. Magazine is reporting that Hannah Kobayashi might be caught up in a green card marriage scam with an Argentinian national before she vanished. Holy moly. How much money has been spent trying to find this woman locations, looking for her and thinking he has failed, killed himself. Is this true? Miss Thing is part of a green card marriage scam? Alexis Torres-Chuck, we had an inkling about these doings when we went to air last on this story, but could not confirm anything, so couldn't report it.

Starting point is 00:02:53 Alexis Torres-Chuck, joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What? It appears that Hannah's family found documents that said that she was married to an Argentinian man and that this was a scam for a green card. She's an American citizen. She was born here in the United States. She married this man and then he would get a green card. And often the way this works is that he will give her money or the person who wants the green card will give the person they're marrying lots of money, thousands and thousands of dollars so that they can become a United States citizen. And it has been revealed that this man, her husband, was on the plane with her from Hawaii to Los Angeles.

Starting point is 00:03:32 So I think I know why she and her boyfriend broke up. Take a listen to this. Hannah Kobayashi's mother, Brandi Yee, allegedly discovers immigration documents at her daughter's home in Hawaii that show she's working with or in contact with an immigration attorney. When Yi reaches out to the attorney for information about her daughter, the attorney will not cooperate with her. So she turns the documents over to the LAPD and the FBI. LA Magazine is reporting that the scam marriage might have led to Kobayashi getting scammed out of her money, something she mentions in one of her cryptic text messages saying she, quote, got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds, unquote. She then adds she was tricked for someone I thought I loved. You know, I'm not quite ready to go to high profile lawyer Gregory Morris, who's going to make me eat a dirt sandwich for sure.

Starting point is 00:04:21 I know that. I know it's going to happen. First, straight out to Steve Fisher, joining us along with Alexis Tereszczuk, missing persons private investigator, search and rescue specialist, owner of Search Investigations at searchinvestigations.org. Steve, you told me this. I didn't want to hear it. I couldn't confirm it. Tell me the whole thing. So when the family first made a public plea, I simply showed up as a volunteer. And after about a day and a half of searching, I realized that this was a voluntary missing case. And I announced on Twitter that I was dropping out of it because of that. And that's when I started getting calls from people, some people in Hawaii and some other people close to the situation. It was from there that I reached out

Starting point is 00:05:13 to some people because her bucket list, handwritten bucket list didn't make much sense. I found out that photography job was not a real photography job. And also. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Back it up. So the bucket list we heard about since day one was not a bucket list. It was a BS list.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Yes. Yes. In fact, if you look on it, it says. It was on the bucket list. I'm just curious. Well, supposedly her dream job as a photographer, but she was shooting a gig in New York, but we were able to find out pretty easily that all she did was request a press pass for a music event, and she was granted one, but not a paid job.

Starting point is 00:05:57 And also on that list, if you look at that list in handwritten, it says photos with Alan at the Museum of Modern Art and photos with Alan at Central Park. So I think that what they were doing is they were setting up these, you know, this thing that looked more like a marriage. So when they go in front of immigration, you know, they can prove it up. The LA airport, LAX, is over five acres big. The entire place was scoured, scoured, trying to find her. But this, when I heard this from Chief Jim McDonald, is when I realized this girl had not been kidnapped

Starting point is 00:06:37 and was not being mind-controlled. While she did check her bag through to New York, she requested her bag be sent to her at LAX, where we have surveillance footage of her retrieving it from the baggage carousel on November 11th. LAPD Missing Persons Unit has conducted extensive witness interviews, reviewed video surveillance, and collaborated with local and federal law enforcement agencies on this case. That from our friends at KITV. If she could maneuver retrieving her bag that was

Starting point is 00:07:07 already in the LAX air system, getting it back from JFK to LAX, finding it. Have you ever tried to find a lost bag? I have. It's not easy. Irv Brandt joined me, former senior inspector, U.S. Marshal Service, International Investigations Branch. He's the author of a series of Jack Solo mysteries online. Gee, I wonder who that's patterned after. All the Jack Solos on Amazon. But catch this. Country attaché with the U.S. Embassy in multiple spots, he's traveled the world tracking down criminals. Irv Brandt, what can you tell me about the green card marriage scam? Nancy, it's very common around the world. I worked extensively with the State Department, the Diplomatic Security Service,

Starting point is 00:07:56 who have primary jurisdiction over visa fraud. And when someone is perpetrating a visa fraud outside of the country that's who investigates it and it's very common for US citizens to get involved with people in other countries trying to obtain it's a k1 visa it's a k1 is for the fiancee visa that that person would be able to travel into the United States. And sometimes people are duped, scammed into doing this. Men and women unknowingly, they think it's real. They think it's love.

Starting point is 00:08:41 And really what what they're doing is they're being duped so these people can get into the United States and often tricked into sending money and people lose their life savings. I've been at embassies where women have showed up claiming that their husband or their fiance is missing. And the State Department told them, no, your fiance isn't real. You've been tricked. This person has been under investigation for visa scams for years and has been doing this to multiple women inside the United States. And it appears that Ms. Kobayashi has been involved in a scam. So I'm confused right now. Either she is part of the scam. She has to know that the guy she's marrying, and I'm looking at the photo right now they're wearing hawaiian

Starting point is 00:09:46 lays they're on top of a hilltop she doesn't know him she has a boyfriend they just broke up she has to know she's taking part in a scam i i agree nancy i agree uh how are you suggesting she's a victim no i'm not suggesting that she's a victim. I'm saying that people have become victims of this and have been drawn in unknowingly. I'm not saying that Ms. Kobayashi is one of those. I was just saying it in a broader sense. Now, having said that, it appears that she's a willing participant, but I find it hard to believe that she's the mastermind of such a complex scam. I believe that she was drunk. Oh, because what? Because she's a woman?

Starting point is 00:10:32 Well, she can't be a mastermind? No, Nancy, I don't think the flower or ranger from Hawaii is an evil genius. To Steve Fisher joining us, let me remind everybody, green card marriage scams is still a crime. It's an immigration crime. There is imprisonment, five years imprisonment, a quarter of a million dollar fine and or both. That's still a crime. So Steve Fisher, I find it really hard to believe that she had no idea what she was doing. Now, she did refer in one of her crazy sounding texts that she was cleaned out of her money by someone she thought she loved. OK, she is possibly in love with this Argentinian who has a girlfriend on the plane. So I guess she's talking about her boyfriend.

Starting point is 00:11:26 But if she's committing a crime, if she's committing a crime, I am not crying for her that her ill-gotten gains were stolen by another criminal. No honor among thieves, right? Listen, I think she was fully aware. She was fully aware. And, you know, Hawaii is the perfect place to do this because it's the only state I know of that marriage records are not a public record. I'm not subject to public record. So this is why it took a long time to actually confirm this is because you can't get the marriage certificates there. When I think of her father, desolate, searching for his daughter to the point he commits suicide near LAX, flinging himself off the top floor of a parking deck. thousands of man hours and tens of thousands of dollars our government and law enforcement

Starting point is 00:12:26 have dedicated into finding the so-called Hawaiian beauty? I mean, listen from our friends at KITV. We understand that there are concerns on behalf of family and friends. We've been very transparent with the family to this point. We have had daily communication and contact with family members, and we've given all the information that we can provide in terms of what our investigation has entailed, what the efforts have been on behalf of the LAPD and other partner law enforcement agencies. We've put a lot of resources into this investigation. From our friends at KITV. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Starting point is 00:13:17 Out to Steve Fisher, who actually helped try to fine Hannah Kobayashi at searchinvestigations.org. Who put out that false narrative about the bucket list and the photography gig? I think it's important to remember that there were people closer to her that were fully aware of what was going on. But they kept the search going. They called for searchers to come volunteer. They raised $50,000 and still have a GoFundMe open.

Starting point is 00:13:50 So in my mind, in my opinion, this extends beyond just the initial green card scam. Now the public is still donating funds and supporting this. And it's just not fair, in my opinion. You mean they're still getting money for the GoFundMe? Well, now they're, they said that now they will have legal fees. And in fact, yesterday, even though they've raised $50,000 and they haven't paid or reimbursed any of the volunteers for their expenses, now they're saying, well, now we're going to have international

Starting point is 00:14:24 private investigators and lawyers involved. They need even more money. Joining me now, high profile lawyer, joining us out of Palm Beach, partner at King Morse and author of The Untested on Amazon, Gregory Morse joining us. Gregory, you and I argued vehemently when we covered this last because you say that Hannah Kobayashi, the so-called Hawaiian beauty, should be prosecuted. And I said, no way that she had a right to leave on her own. And that unlike several other high profile scammers, she had not lied. Well, guess what? I'm eating a dirt sandwich. You're right.

Starting point is 00:15:08 And I was wrong. I believed that she was in a fragile mental state. I was actually worried about her. And that's unfortunate because of the great work you do, Nancy. You try to find these folks and you've been duped and every volunteer has been duped. And you know, these marriage scams, as Irv pointed out, are very common. There's an outgrowth to these scams though, also that happen. It's usually when the woman is the immigrant that marries an American man,

Starting point is 00:15:38 you have to be married for two years under immigration law for that process to take hold. And then if there's a divorce or something happens, at King Morris, we've represented many, many male immigrants who are then accused of domestic violence or sexual assault because they want to get divorced within two years. It's called a U visa under our system. I have successfully represented many people. And that is an outgrowth of this marriage scam that is both common in America, especially in South Florida. But this is getting worse and worse for this lady. She's a lady. She's 30 years old.

Starting point is 00:16:14 It looks like she doesn't work. So she's floundering in life and she's setting a domino in motion that led to her father's death. Yes, I think that she can be prosecuted because if that marriage is a scam, that is a lie. You have to write on your marriage certificate certain information. You have to write on green card applications certain information. The wife, the fake wife or husband, is part of that process. So much like a police report, when you give a police officer information and it goes into a police report, that's actually sworn. That is, in a sense, perjury. It's definitely a false statement to police. But you're talking

Starting point is 00:17:01 about the Michelle Carter case in which a very young and sensitive boyfriend of hers, Conrad Roy, committed suicide. This does not begin to approach that as it relates to Anna Kobayashi's father's suicide. No, it doesn't. Because in that case, Michelle Carter and I personally investigated the Michelle Carter case and advocated strongly for her prosecution. I have read hundreds of her texts to Conrad Roy. She advised him to commit suicide. She told him how to commit suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide. She told him how to restart the generator to make the carbon monoxide continue to seep into his car. He tried to back out. She made him get back in there and commit suicide. It was devastating. It was sickening to even read her text. We don't have any information like that here.

Starting point is 00:18:01 As a matter of fact, correct me if I'm wrong, Steve Fisher, that Hannah Kobayashi was already at her Mexican condo hidey hole when her father committed suicide. She had eschewed, gotten rid of, abandoned her cell phone that we know of, and was not in touch with anyone, much less her estranged father. Yeah, I think she's there for, she got there on the 12th, so I think it was 10 days or more that she had already been there. But, you know, to go back to your point about that, the sworn statement on a police report and stuff, you know, keep in mind her mom and her sister filed this missing persons report. So the family is allowing the search to continue.

Starting point is 00:18:42 We think, we don't have the timeline down totally yet. Police have not confirmed this is a scam yet. But you're telling me certain relatives knew of the green card marriage scam allegations and allowed the search to go on, allowed volunteers and police to search for Hannah even though they knew about the scam? Yes. And this is why at the very beginning, three or four days before her father took his life, when I was involved in the search, I publicly announced I was dropping out of it because this was clearly not an abduction, which we were told by the family it was an abduction. She was being drugged by this African-American male and was being manipulated.

Starting point is 00:19:30 And she was. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Blame the black man. Did you, who blamed the African-American male? Who did that? What Susan Smith, she got out and did it again. What? Right. And, and that's really upset me, and that is why I dropped out. And now there are, you know, I put out yesterday that they had an organization they were working with that was advising them in the search or whatever. Hmm. All of these are allegations as of right now. But if they are true, the criminality is growing

Starting point is 00:20:08 exponentially. Remember how we were all so worried and the family thought that she was under quote mind control because of her unusual texts? Hannah Kobayashi's family is concerned about odd text messages from Hannah because the messages don't sound like her. The messages use terms like hun and babe. The messages also don't include any emojis, something everyone knows to expect from a text message coming from Hannah Kobayashi. Kobayashi sends messages to a friend saying she doesn't feel safe and someone's trying to steal her identity and money. Deep hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, and had me on a mind F since Friday.

Starting point is 00:20:48 I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds, followed by, for someone I thought I loved. Hannah Kobayashi is not replying to messages from family and friends. The family of Hannah Kobayashi reports her missing. On November 15th, our missing persons unit assumed investigative responsibility. Detectives have been diligently reviewing video surveillance and employing various investigative techniques to locate Hannah, while her family has continued their personal search efforts. Tragically, on November 24th, during the search for his daughter,

Starting point is 00:21:22 Hannah's father, Ryan Kobayashi, was found deceased. Preliminary findings indicate his death was by suicide. Our hearts go out to the Kobayashi family during this unimaginable time of grief. We remain fully committed to locating Hannah and supporting the family as they navigate their way through this tragedy. Her father is dead.

Starting point is 00:21:43 Her father, after an exhaustive search for his daughter, took his own life. To Steve Fisher joining us from searchinvestigations.org, we just heard Chief Jim McDonald speaking, and he says that the family is, quote, continuing their personal search efforts. What search efforts did the family execute? Well, they were very controlled search efforts, the ones that were under them. You know, they did not like the fact that I dropped out and was doing my own search and investigation was going on. And also when this statement came out from the chief of police at LAPD, they absolutely trashed him because he got her age wrong. And also when this statement came out from the chief of police at LAPD, they absolutely trashed him because he got her age wrong. And they said that LAPD wasn't doing anything.

Starting point is 00:22:31 They weren't doing enough. And they demanded all these answers. And at the same time, we're asking for more money from the public to ramp up their private search efforts. The whole thing, it was just like feeding on itself. And who took that photo of the wedding? I don't know, but the photo came from her sister, Sydney, who's been the point person for the media. It came from her and was sent into a group text of some of their core PR people, you know, in this situation. Okay. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

Starting point is 00:23:11 Karen Stark joining me, renowned TV radio trauma expert, psychologist at karenstark.com. It's Karen with a C if you're looking for her online. Karen, what a mess. It's like a bunch of wet cats in a barrel. It's so hard to make sense of it, Nancy, and I'm sure I am not the only one, but the entire public is thinking, what's going on and feeling manipulated? Something, of course, you know, is terribly wrong here. If the family was complicit in all of this, then it's an even larger scam

Starting point is 00:23:47 because they're wanting additional money, not just the money that she got for the green card. What's hard to understand is were they really worried about her after she did this scam and her money was taken from her? Were they concerned that she was involved in something bigger than it seemed like she was? Or was this whole thing something that they thought they could get away with and pull the wool out of the public's eye? It's so difficult to understand and terribly deceptive, horrible, just horrible. Voluntarily dropping off the map is not a crime. False, fake, green cards, marriage scams is a crime. Leading police and volunteers on a wild goose chase for days and days and days. Joining me now, founding member of the FBI

Starting point is 00:24:47 cellular analysis team, Scott Eicher. 22 years with the FBI. Scott, if the state wants to prove this case, if they want her back, and we do have a treaty with Mexico, if we want her back, if we want restitution, what kind of trail has she left behind? There is no way this woman, she may have gotten rid of her old cell phone, but that's easily remedied. Well, I think there's other ways you can track people. We do have good relations with a lot of the Mexican authorities. We don't have in the FBI authority to do much in Mexico, but we have good relations with them to an extent that we have gotten fugitives back from Mexico on numerous occasions, especially on serious crimes. You can track that information. You can track them down. She was, you know, going out of her

Starting point is 00:25:46 apartment down in Mexico and getting a lunch or something like that. So we know where she is and getting her back shouldn't be too hard. According to the L.A. magazine, Kobayashi was apparently scammed out of the proceeds of a purported immigration scheme, possibly concocted by her, quote, former partner, an ex-boyfriend, the one she was on the first leg of her trip with right before she disappeared. So it's not just her that's part of this scam, according to reports. Hannah Kobayashi's family is concerned about odd text messages from Hannah because the messages don't sound like her. The messages use terms like hun and babe. The messages also don't include any emojis, something everyone knows to expect from a text message coming from Hannah

Starting point is 00:26:36 Kobayashi. Kobayashi sends messages to a friend saying she doesn't feel safe and someone's trying to steal her identity and money. Deep hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, and had me on a mind F since Friday. I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds, followed by, for someone I thought I loved. To Alexis Tereschuk joining us, investigative reporter, CrimeOnline.com, what else have you learned? I'm almost afraid to ask. We have been led on quite the wild goose chase. So we learned that when she went to Mexico was November 12th, the, her family has been, has not said a word about this for almost an entire month now. So we have learned

Starting point is 00:27:19 that she has, she's apparently married and that her ex-boyfriend who has spoken to police, they have said that they have spoken to this ex-boyfriend. He's not involved in anything with her. That is what they said from the very beginning. And the family has said, he has nothing to do with this. That was the story in the beginning. But the thing that's important is when she says, this is, I've been tricked, this is some Matrix-style stuff, she left the plane. She didn't stay with the new husband. She didn't stay with the boyfriend. She didn't stay with the boyfriend's wife.

Starting point is 00:27:51 She left that plane and left immediately. And then she went to very fancy places, as we've talked about. The Grove is a really nice mall. It's probably the nicest one in town. She went to downtown, and then she managed to have enough cash. She said, all my funds were taken she managed to have enough cash. She said, you know, all my funds were taken, but she had enough cash to go to the bus station, buy the bus ticket and spend the money through her Venmo of using tariff cards. And you know what else? Speaking of her Venmo, people are now sending complete strangers are sending her money on their Venmo on her Venmo and are saying,

Starting point is 00:28:22 hey, have a good time in Mexico. Have a margarita on us. I hope you're enjoying your life. Totally supporting her through all of this. Complete stranger. Then Steve Fisher and to Karen Stark. First to Steve, then to Karen. What about all the fake texts about deep hackers have stolen my identity and all my money? Those are lies. Yeah. They're so out there that actually that's kind of what makes you start digging in and going, what's really going on here? You know, because the story, her story was lining up. The families couldn't keep their stories lined up. And then, of course, when the father took his life, that is when I decided to get back involved because I knew there was something really wrong here.

Starting point is 00:29:04 Did Hanako Miyoshi secretly marry just for money? to get back involved because I knew there was something really wrong here. Did Hannah Kobayashi secretly marry just for money? This after her mom allegedly finds documents connected to her daughter's marriage to an Argentinian national just before, coincidentally, her bizarre disappearance within LAX. Her family reportedly now cooperating with investigators. But hey, where's all that money sent through GoFundMe to Karen Stark, joining me, renowned psychologist joining us out of Manhattan? What about the fake texts? I mean, why bother to go to that extreme to send fake texts about deep hackers stealing your identity and all your money. I mean, that was clearly intended to mislead.

Starting point is 00:29:52 All of us feel have been taken advantage of by this. It's just terrible. She is capable of anything. Look, she's in Mexico. I don't even know if she knows that her father is dead, but he was not really part of the family, according to the things that I read. She didn't have a relationship with him. And now I'm thinking maybe he got ahold of this.

Starting point is 00:30:14 Maybe he was aware in the end of what happened and he couldn't live with the knowledge that this whole scam was going on while he was out there searching for his daughter. The whole thing is so horrible. And think about it. We're all like perplexed. What could have happened? Well, to Steve Eicher, former FBI founding member of the FBI cellular analysis survey team, the FBI has now been pulled into this once the alleged green card marriage scam has been revealed.

Starting point is 00:30:49 Why is the FBI part of it, Scott Eicher? And what does that mean? I can guarantee you this. The last thing you want is the FBI searching through your emails and texts. I totally agree. I mean, we often help local law enforcement in many different ways. I was part of a Safe Streets Task Force. I even had cases where, you know, I was out tracking phones of a kidnapped victim that turned out to be riding a bus by herself and faking the kidnapping. So I understand this type of situation, and the FBI can get into these as long as it's requested by the host agency, the local law enforcement, or there's a federal crime. And obviously, we have run into the federal crime part with the visa fraud and stuff like that. So good luck to this family that were hiding the information and her, because I think things are coming down on all of them.

Starting point is 00:31:44 You know, if it was just the local authorities, they may not want to spend their money tracking her down, but the feds are not going to take this lightly. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Straight out to Steve Fisher, who took part in the search for Hannah Kobayashi. So where do you think she is in Mexico? I know that you know, okay, whether you'll answer and tell me the truth. I don't know that.

Starting point is 00:32:15 Where do you think she is? Rosarito Beach area. In a certain area down there that's popular with expats. And, no, they might have moved her. She might have moved in the last couple days you know for sure um but that's where she was one thing i just wanted to say uh about the family part of it about them revealing this to um authorities and through what i've investigated and i'm pretty sure i'm right but only the fbi and lapd can we'll be able to confirm this

Starting point is 00:32:43 this is not something that they gave up a while ago when she went missing. What happened was when I first discovered that she got on that Greyhound bus and I announced it, she's down in Mexico, they hired that attorney. And then I found out about the green card thing. From what I understand, they just went to the FBI and authorities like yesterday or day before yesterday. So it was once it was out there, then they said, oh, look what we found. This isn't something that they told LAPD about during the original part of the missing persons investigation. It was only once that it came out publicly. Back to you, Scott Eicher, joining us, former FBI, and then I'll circle back to Irv Brandt. The local authorities at LAPD, they may not want to spend the funds to get Hannah Kobayashi back and prosecute her on

Starting point is 00:33:32 lies, alleged lies, for a fake green card marriage. They probably don't care. They got their hands in pockets full of crime to prosecute. But what about the Fed, Scott? Isn't this just like spitting in their eye? It is. It is definitely. And I think they will take the time and spend the money to prosecute her and bring her back from Mexico. There's a lot of red tape bringing someone back from Mexico. But the fact that she's a U.S. citizen there is a lot different

Starting point is 00:34:05 than a Mexican citizen that we're trying to bring back or extradite from another country. So I think it's been such a media blitz. It's been so much money and time for the volunteers, for the police, where they could be working other cases. And I'm sure the LAPD would love to have the FBI kind of take over, at least on this aspect of it, and take it out of the hands. They've got better things to do. Have you seen Rosarito Beach? It's beautiful. I didn't really know what it was.

Starting point is 00:34:38 I'm looking at it right now. Horseback riding, Rosarito beaches and Puerto Nuevo lobster. What? Seafood roasts, sunset, beautiful bistro, charming restaurants, ATV horse riding on the beach. What? Steve Fisher. What the hay? Do you know how many people, my staff, all of us here at Crime Online and Crime Stories, how many people we could have helped in the last, what, 72 plus hours we've devoted ourselves trying to find her?

Starting point is 00:35:15 How many people LAPD could have helped? How many people the FBI could have helped? But no, we're trying to find Hannah kobayashi and her father commits suicide it just and here she is at rosarito beach and you know when i was at the uh call for volunteers there were so many volunteers out there and these are people that took off work to do this and they showed up day after day they paid their own printing costs they the family made them pay their own printing costs for flyers and whatnot. You had Maui Police Department, LAPD, then you had LAXPD involved, the FBI, NYPD. It just,

Starting point is 00:35:58 it goes on and on. So many resources in this. And a lot of people, you know, knew. And this went on for weeks. You know, this started, you know, back on the 12th. I was so worried that she was stranded somewhere and couldn't speak the language. Imagining her like Dorothy with her little suitcase leaving Kansas. B.S. This is totally Anglo. Burger King, Carl's Jr., Home Depot, Walmart, Smart and Final, Domino's, Subway, McDonald's, Applebee's. I am beside myself. Gregory Morse, what are the potential crimes? You have a situation here where this seems like a really a conspiracy of two things. You have the immigration side offenses and the marriage that's

Starting point is 00:36:46 false. You then have, and I disagree with you again, we've seen this come up over the last several years, people doing this falsely to dupe people. So they may have a fraud charge. They may definitely have civil theft charges at the very least, which could cause them a lot of money. We have a lot of lying, false, if they made any sworn statements and anything could come back on perjury. But I don't think there were any official proceedings yet going on in any of this stuff. So we have the whole family that it sounds like from the great folks you have on your show with all their information. So, you know, this is really a tragic because you're right. The time that was taken away from finding real people that are victims or missing and law enforcement's wasted their time

Starting point is 00:37:35 looking for someone who wasn't missing. You know what, Greg Morse? You know what? Every day, every night, me and everybody working at Crime Stories and Crime Online, we have so many missing people and so many crime victims, we can't publicize all of them. It's like drinking from the fire hydrant. And we tried to help this family find her. Now that's just us. What about the LAPD? What about all the law enforcement? You know how you dig into a case and you spend morning, noon, and night, you think about it.

Starting point is 00:38:12 I even dreamed about this case. I literally, I didn't just dream that at just a few moments ago. I actually dreamt about this woman there in Mexico walking away with nothing but a suitcase. And I'm like, what is going to happen to her in crime-ridden Mexico? B.S. Fisher, she snugged up in some condo. And if she lost all her money, how is she supporting herself? Yeah, good question. I don't know. Unless she knows somebody down there and that's why she picked that area. The part that upsets me actually the most of this whole case is that day after day, we kept hearing about this black man that had her and was drugging her. And that's the part that bugs me the most. They really tried to drag this guy, and they knew that that was not true.

Starting point is 00:39:06 Well, I can tell you the last thing anybody needs is the FBI three inches up their tailpipe. Okay? Normally, I don't think that the feds would chase down this woman to Mexico. But now that it has become such a circus and so publicized, they can't really look away from it. They know about it. We're waiting as justice unfolds and not just for Hannah Kobayashi. The allegations that her family is receiving GoFundMe money or somehow part of this, we don't know that. We don't know if they were legitimately trying to find her and then discovered upon the truth.

Starting point is 00:39:50 We know the mom did cooperate and hand over the information immediately. We don't know the timeline. We don't know any of it. Did she lead her own family on a wild goose chase? We don't know that. Are they victims too? We wait as it all becomes clear and it will. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.

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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - CLAIM: HAWAIIAN BEAUTY “MISSING AT LAX” GREEN CARD SCAM? MEXICAN CONDO HIDEOUT?

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