Fake Marriage, Jealous Ex: New Details Emerge In Missing Photographer Case

Missing photographer Hannah Kobayashi's ex-boyfriend got "jealous" of her alleged fake husband, a source close to the case revealed. Ms Kobayashi, who vanished after a trip to New York, was travelling with Amun Muniz-Miranda, her ex, and Alan Cacace, an Argentine national she was believed to have secretly married. The FBI is now investigating the case as a potential green card visa scheme gone wrong, The NY Post reported.

Sources close to the investigation suggested that Muniz-Miranda, who has a history of legal issues, may have played a role in orchestrating the suspicious marriage. "Maybe [Muniz-Miranda] got jealous of Hannah and Alan," said a colleague who worked with Kobayashi in Haiku, Hawaii. The source added that Ms Kobayashi kept the marriage a secret, and only a few close friends were aware of it.

Muniz-Miranda's legal history complicates the case. In 2021, police arrested him in Texas for false identification, and he also faced a DUI arrest in Haiku in 2020. These incidents, along with growing suspicions around the marriage, led the FBI to focus on potential marriage fraud, a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison. 

Ms Kobayashi's family was shocked to learn that she never mentioned her marriage to Cacace. The photographer, who seemed to lead a normal life before her disappearance, later claimed that she was "tricked" and swindled out of her funds by someone she thought she loved. After she vanished, authorities discovered that she was in contact with an immigration lawyer, which further gave rise to suspicions that the marriage was part of a larger scheme.

Ms Kobayashi's behaviour in the days before her disappearance raised alarms. She got off a flight to New York and sent troubling messages to her family. She was reported missing on November 8. 

On November 12, she bought a bus ticket to the Mexican border and was last seen crossing into Tijuana, Mexico, the following day. Police declared her a “voluntary missing person” earlier this month.

Friends and family insist it was unlike Ms Kobayashi to disappear without notice. Ms Kobayashi's father, who had flown to Los Angeles to search for his daughter, died by suicide after being unable to find her.