A Bay Area woman mourned her father’s death for three years until she discovered he was still alive, despite the official confirmation of his passing.
Kylie Robinson long believed her father, James, died of a drug overdose at the Dahlia Hotel in the Tenderloin on May 9, 2021, after the San Francisco coroner confirmed his death to her.
After hearing the heartbreaking news, Kylie planned a funeral and had him cremated — some of his ashes were scattered in Hawaii and made into jewelry — and got a tattoo honoring her beloved father’s life.
She even got married without her father walking her down the aisle, knowing she would never see him again.
But her world was turned upside down two months ago when she received the unexpected news that he was not dead.
James Robinson held his granddaughter when his family found him after three years of thinking he was dead
Kylie Robinson and her family created a memorial for her father outside the Dahlia Hotel
Kylie’s family friend was visiting San Francisco and saw James walking down the street. The friend quickly called his mother to share the shocking encounter and passed the phone to James.
The San Francisco Chronicle According to the woman, she 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 looked into the situation by calling the coroner’s office and asking for photos of the dead man who was said to be her father. When she saw the photos, she knew for sure that her father was still alive.
The coroner confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle that an error had been made.
Angela Yip, a spokeswoman for the office, told the newspaper: “This does not reflect the high standards of our office, nor the level of service that San Francisco residents expect and deserve.
Kylie grew up with her father as her primary parent, living with him while her sisters were with their mothers or grandparents
Kylie took the ashes she thought were her father’s and put them in jewelry
“We continue to implement measures that ensure the integrity of our work.”
The office officially apologized to Kylie on August 7. She filed a claim with the city and will be taking legal action.
Meanwhile, the coroner is still trying to identify the dead man, who they mistakenly thought was James.
After closer examination of the autopsy report, many details of the protagonist – height, weight, injuries and tattoos – did not even match James’s.
Kylie and her family went looking for James on July 10th and were finally reunited. They searched for over 12 hours and walked eight miles to find her father.
But the damage done over the past three years is irreversible.
Because he was “dead,” he lost his $900 monthly Social Security check—his main source of income—and became homeless.
Because he was believed dead, Kylie’s little sister — who is under 18 — had been collecting survivor benefits. But now the Social Security Administration wants the money back.
After Kylie’s father was wrongfully killed, he became severely addicted to fentanyl.
Kylie told the San Francisco Chronicle, “My dad didn’t have that serious of an addiction before he made this mistake,”
“His health has deteriorated significantly over the past three years.”
James was sadly reunited with his family for only three days before disappearing again, after promising to go to rehab.
The coroner’s office admitted they mistook a dead man for James. Kylie is considering legal action
His daughter found out he was on the streets in 2022 and was arrested. But when the police took his fingerprints, he turned out to be dead and they released him without further investigation into the situation.
And now Kylie is without her father again, this time after he disappeared after promising to go to rehab.
Three days before he disappeared this summer, Kylie took him to a hotel room because he needed a few days to process everything before he went to rehab. But when she came to get him on July 13, he wasn’t there.
Kylie and her family searched for him three or four more times after that, but without success.
Her relationship with her father is incredibly meaningful 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 parent that took care of me. The only one I trusted.”
James, who Kylie said suffered from depression, was shot in the chest in 2017 and spent a month in hospital.
He lost his home and spent two years with friends and acquaintances.
In 2019, he moved to San Francisco, where he lived on the streets. But he and Kylie never lost touch.
She said they had lunch together every few weeks, but he always refused when Kylie and her sisters asked him to go home with them.
When he “died,” Kylie, who was 21 at the time, had to come up with $4,000 to have her father cremated. She managed to raise nearly half of that money through GoFundMe.
Kylie has set up a GoFundMe to raise money to support her father as she plans to find him for the second time
Kylie had to cough up $4,000 at the age of 21 to pay for her ‘father’s’ cremation
The family made a small altar in his memory.
The determined daughter does not give up. She plans to return to San Francisco to intensify her search by putting up flyers and offering a small reward.
She also started a GoFundMe to support him.
They raised $1,450 toward their goal of $5,000.