A Maui lady missed her flight—then vanished. Her household fears she’s been kidnapped after receiving chilling texts
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It’s been more than three weeks since Hannah Kobayashi missed a connecting flight in Los Angeles.
The 30-year-old from Maui, Hawaii, went missing on November 8 while traveling to New York City for what she described as a “bucket list” trip.
In the days after her disappearance, Kobayashi was seen in various places around LA and, most recently on November 12, she was spotted by Border Patrol agents on surveillance footage crossing over the Mexican border.
The Kobayashi family’s heartbreak was compounded by the death of the missing woman’s father Ryan Kobayashi on November 24 near Los Angeles International Airport. He had traveled to the city to help search for his daughter, police said.
Meanwhile, a series of suspicious texts were also sent from Kobayashi’s phone, but she has now gone silent.
On December 2, the LAPD declared Kobayashi a “voluntary missing person,” adding that no evidence has been uncovered that she is “being trafficked or is the victim of foul play”.
Here’s everything we know:
Where was she going?
Kobayashi, a photographer and aspiring DJ, departed her hometown of Maui, Hawaii, on November 8 to visit her aunt in New York City. She described the trip in her hand-written itinerary as “bucket list dreams become reality”.
She had initially planned the trip with a boyfriend who she had since broken up with. The pair due to travel on the same flight but had decided to go their separate ways once they landed at John F Kennedy International Airport, in New York.
They touched down at LAX for a 42-minute layover and while her ex-boyfriend made it to the final destination, the Hawaiian missed the connection, according to CNN.
Kobayashi’s aunt, Geordan Montalvo, was supposed to meet her niece at her hotel and go to a show that evening on November 12, the missing woman’s mother Brandi Yee said.
The ex-boyfriend has since been helping police with their inquiries to try to find Kobayashi.
Where was she last seen?
A photo of Kobayashi appeared to show her getting off the flight at the Los Angeles airport on November 8.
The next day she was spotted at a Taschen bookstore at The Grove shopping center in the Fairfax area of LA. Her family said they do not know why.
A video posted on YouTube On Sunday November 10 showed Kobayashi at the LeBron XXII Trial Experience, an event held at the Nike store, also at The Grove. A photo of the event also appeared to have been posted on her Instagram account.
A day later on November 11, surveillance video around a downtown Los Angeles Metro train station near the Crypto.com arena showed her with an unknown person. Her family said she “does not appear to be in good condition” in the footage.
“She is not safe, and she is not alone,” her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told KTLA 5.
Police said in a statement on December 2 that Kobayashi was seen collecting her luggage from a carousel at LAX on November 11.
According to surveillance footage from the US Customs and Border Protection, which was reviewed by the Los Angeles Police Department on December 1, she was alone, carrying only her belongings.
“To date, the investigation has not uncovered any evidence that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play,” the LAPD said in the statement.
“She is also not a suspect in any criminal activity.”
Suspicious payments
Police were investigating a pair of payments she made over Venmo to a man and woman on November 9.
One of the payments was sent at 6:25 p.m. to a woman named Veronica Almendarez and was labeled with a bow-and-arrow emoji, according to TheUS Sun.
Less than an hour later, at 7:19 p.m., Kobayashi made a second payment to a man named Jonathan Taylor with the subject line “reading.”
That payment was reportedly for a tarot card reading, sources familiar with the investigation told the outlet.
Pidgeon said that their search efforts are still focused on downtown LA, and that they still have hope to find Kobayashi alive.
It’s unclear exactly how much she sent in the payments she made before she was last heard from on November 11.
‘Weird’ texts
The Kobayashi family said they received a “strange and cryptic” text from her phone suggesting she was being “intercepted” while she was boarding a Metro train, and expressing fear that someone was trying to steal her identity.
“Once the family started pressing, she went dark,” Pidgeon previously told the Associated Press. She said the phone “just went dead” after November 11.
That day, her mother texted her asking whether she made it to New York, to which the daughter responded she hadn’t.
Kobayashi later texted a friend, writing: “Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f*** since Friday.”
Another message said, “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds,” followed by one saying, “For someone I thought I love”.
A third message a friend received from Kobayashi’s number said she had been “tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds” to “someone I thought I loved,” it was previously reported.
Her sister Sydni Kobayashi spoke of her family’s fears that “someone is controlling her.” She told NewsNation late last month that “strange” text messages “were absolutely not like her.”
The text messages used words like “hun,” “love” and “babe,” words that Kobayashi would not use, her sister old HawaiiNewsNow.
The LAPD launched an investigation into Kobayashi’s disappearance with assistance from the FBI, however her sister said online that the force had “not been much help”.
Tragic death of her father
In fresh heartache for the family, Kobayashi’s dad Ryan Kobayashi was found dead in Los Angeles near LAX in the early hours of November 24 police said.
The 58-year-old died in an apparent suicide in the airport parking lot after having traveled to LA to search for his daughter, according to the LAPD.
The LA County medical examiner said the man had succumbed to multiple blunt force traumatic injuries.
Just a few days before he died, he was handing out missing persons flyers in the city and said he would do everything in his power to find Kobayashi.
“We’re just trying to get us as much information as we can,” he previously told HawaiiNewsNow. “Want to get the word out… has anyone seen my daughter?”
He added: “She’s a wonderful person who brings joy to so many people.”
Sydni Kobayashi told NewsNation that her father “fought until his last breath” to find Hannah.
While Kobayashi’s aunt told People that the family believes the father was overwhelmed during the search and suffered a mental health emergency.
“He died of a broken heart,” Pigeon said. “I think it just became so overwhelming for [Ryan] driving the streets, going to Skid Row and seeing where his daughter could possibly have ended up.”
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
Source: independent.co.uk
