Hunt for unknown man begins after student, 18, plunges three storeys from balcony to her death
College freshman Liz Hamel died in February after falling three storeys from a balcony on campus, and her distraught father has shared images of the mystery man she was last seen with as he seeks answers for his daughter's death.
The 18-year-old was last seen alive on Valentine's Day after she went for a celebratory dinner with her University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) colleagues.
Hamel left the restaurant with a stranger her friends had never met before, according to KIRO 7, and the man's also not been seen since.
Less than 30 minutes after leaving, Hamel plunged several feet from a three-storey breezeway on the UCSB campus.
When 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 man with his daughter, something the police never actually did, he told KIRO.
Alain told the outlet: 'He is the last person that we know of that had contact with Liz.
'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's requested help from the Santa Barbara and UC community to find further information as to what led to his daughter's balcony fall.
Hamel reportedly spent 'a large part' of the evening of her death with the mystery man and left the restaurant with him sometime after 10pm. She was found unconscious on campus just 21 minutes later.
The stranger's described as white, 'approximately 6ft tall' with 'dark blond hair'.
He was wearing light blue Carhartt jeans, a gray Patagonia sweater, and 'a carabiner with keys on his right hip'.
Alain slammed authorities for not releasing the images to the public as part of their probe into the case.
UCSB's student paper Daily Nexus reported that Alain said: '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.'
The Hamel family has said they've never met the man before.
Attorney Tyrone Maho, who was with Alain at the press conference, emphasized they are not 'accusing anyone of wrongdoing'.
Maho said: '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.
'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.'
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