A woman is speaking out after she says her father, who was declared dead by the San Francisco Medical Examiner, is actually still alive.
James Robinson has been living on the streets of San Francisco for the past three years without any government benefits or help from his family. That is because the San Francisco Medical Examiner declared him dead in 2021.
Robinson’s daughter, Kylie, spoke to NBC Bay Area over the phone on Wednesday.
"I believe they have amended that and kind of reversed it," she said. "But now, we have to go about getting him a new ID, getting his social security benefits back."
Kylie Robinson shared NBC Bay Area a recent photo of her father meeting his granddaughter. It's a reunion that is nearly unbelievable for the Robinson family.
The story begins at the Dahlia Hotel in the Tenderloin neighborhood in 2021. The hotel mainly serves unhoused people.
The hotel staff called authorities for an overdose as they said Robinson had checked in with a friend. They added that they didn't see him check out of the hotel.
According to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's report, they were not able to immediately contact Robinson’s family and they took the word of the hotel staff.
The report also stated that they determined the man died from an overdose and noted that he was about 5 feet and 4 inches tall, he had multiple tattoos, a red grey beard and was missing part of his right index finger.
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That should have been the first red flag if they had consulted with the Robinson family. James Robinson is actually about 5 feet and 10 inches tall and has one tattoo on his neck.
But the medical examiner didn’t call Kylie Robinson until three weeks later to notify her that her father had died and she needed to pay for his cremation.
Earlier this year, a family friend spotted James Robinson walking around the Tenderloin. He is still alive but Kylie said he's in bad shape and he has since become addicted to fentanyl.
"I’m just trying to look around and see if there's any housing resources, if there's any rehabilitation resources for him,” she said.
NBC Bay Area reached out to the San Francisco Medical Examiner for further comment on Wednesday. They referred NBC Bay Area to the San Francisco Administrator's Office, which had not commented any further.
Kylie Robinson said that someone from the medical examiner has since collected the remains she kept for the last three years.
"My condolences go out to that family as well,” she said. “I hope they're able to find out their loved one has passed, so they can respectfully handle all of that as well."
In a statement on Tuesday, the city administrator said the medical examiner will submit DNA samples of the deceased person to a state database to try and identify them.
Local private pathologist Dr. Roman Carp said the medical examiner likely has preserved tissue samples from the 2021 autopsy.
As for James Robinson, Kylie Robinson told NBC Bay Area that he's refused to leave the streets of San Francisco and she's had trouble keeping tabs on him. Kylie hopes to visit San Francisco sometime soon to see him again and try to get him help.
