Beautiful student died after falling from balcony...now dad has shared images of mystery man she was seen with

Daily Mail​

01-05-2025

A college freshman died after falling from a balcony on campus, but her father has now shared images of the mystery man she was last seen with as he seeks answers about her death.
Liz Hamel, 18, was last seen alive on Valentine's Day as she and her friends at the University of California Santa Barbara celebrated at dinner together.
Hamel left the restaurant with a young man her friends had never met before, as reported by KIRO 7. That man has also not been seen since.
Less than 30 minutes later, she plunged several feet from a three-story breezeway on the UCSB campus.
After a student called 911, first responders found Hamel in cardiac arrest. She died six days later.
Hamel's father Alain Hamel held a press conference this week to release the images of the mystery men with his daughter, which police never did, he told KIRO.
'He is the last person that we know of that had contact with Liz,' the heartbroken father told the outlet.
'And just if he has information with respect to her last moments, that could be useful.'
There's no suggestion the man whose images were shared was with Hamel when she died, or that he did anything wrong.
Alain Hamel is asking the Santa Barbara and UC community for help finding information into what led to the tragic balcony fall.
The college freshman had reportedly spent 'a large part of' the evening of her death with the mystery man.
She left the restaurant with him sometime after 10.06pm and was found unconscious on campus 21 minutes later.
The mystery man is described as white, 'approximately 6-feet tall' with 'dark blond hair.'
He was wearing a light blue Carhartt jeans, a gray Patagonia sweater and 'a carabiner with keys on his right hip.'
The grieving father slammed authorities for not releasing the images to the public as part of their probe.
'I shouldn't be standing here. I should be at home, grieving my daughter and trusting in the institutions that are responsible for this investigation,' Alain Hamel said, as reported by UCSB's student paper, Daily Nexus.
The 18-year-old was only in her second semester at the University of California Santa Barbara when she mysteriously died
'But the academic quarter is coming to an end. Students are graduating or leaving campus. People's memories fade.
The Hamel family has said they have never met the man before.
Attorney Tyrone Maho of the law firm Maho Prentice, who was with Alain Hamel at the press conference, emphasized they are not 'accusing anyone of wrongdoing.'
'If you are this young man, or you know who he is, we are pleading with you to come forward. If you have any information about that evening, we are pleading with you to come forward,' Maho said.
'If you were on campus that night, or in Isla Vista, or you heard someone talk about this who may know something, please come forward. You may hold important information that can help bring peace to a family that is suffering greatly.'
Anyone with information is asked to contact 805-335-3851.