Editor’s be aware: This article is about suicide. If you or somebody you already know is struggling or in disaster, assist is on the market. Call or ship a message 988 or chat on 988lifeline.org.
Three weeks after a Hawaiian girl disappeared in Los Angeles, her household vows to proceed their seek for the enigmatic disappearance amid disturbing textual content messages.
Hannah Kobayashi30, she was final heard from Nov. 11 after lacking a connecting flight from Maui to New York City at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 8, her household stated.
On Nov. 24, her father, who was looking for his daughter, was discovered lifeless close to Los Angeles Airport in an obvious suicide, police stated.
Surveillance video confirmed her at a mall and a practice station in Los Angeles, and since then unusual messages and on-line funds have solely added to the thriller behind her disappearance.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell stated police decided that Kobayashi deliberately missed his flight.
“Our hearts exit to the Kobayashi household throughout this unimaginable time of grief,” McDonnell stated at a gathering of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. “We stay totally dedicated to finding Hannah and supporting the household as they deal with this tragedy.”
The LAPD didn’t reply to USA TODAY’s request for additional updates on the investigation Friday. USA TODAY additionally reached out to a corporation representing the household.
Here’s what we all know:
Hannah Kobayashi is captured by a safety digicam at Los Angeles International Airport on November 8, 2024.
Who is Hannah Kobayashi?
Kobayashi is described as 5 toes 10 inches tall, weighing about 140 kilos, in accordance with an LAPD description. He has brown hair, hazel eyes and freckles on his face and usually wears glasses. He has a tattoo of a coronary heart with a knife on his proper forearm.
Friends described her as artistic and resourceful and as an aspiring photographer, CNN reported it. He deliberate to go to New York to go to an aunt, and was additionally going to take pictures at a live performance in Brooklyn in mid-November, his household advised the information outlet.
Kobayashi was on the identical flight to New York as her ex-boyfriend. They saved the tickets as a result of they could not get a refund and had deliberate to go their separate methods after touchdown in New York, Kobayashi’s sister advised the Los Angeles Times.
CNN reported that the ex-boyfriend took the connecting flight, however she didn’t.
What did Kobayashi do after lacking his flight?
The day after lacking her flight, the LA Times reported that Kobayashi went to a bookstore in The Grove procuring heart within the Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles. His aunt advised the newspaper that she had despatched a photograph of a e-book to a relative. Using the photograph information, the household then went to that bookstore and confirmed that she had been there and had crammed out a type for the e-newsletter.
He additionally despatched two funds on Venmo to 2 individuals his household didn’t acknowledge, CNN reported. Police stated she remained lively on Instagram.
On November 10, she was recognized in a promotional video for a LeBron James Nike occasion on the Grove. She additionally posted a photograph of her from the occasion Instagramhis final public put up, through which he tagged the LA Times.
Regarding the textual content messages earlier than the disappearance
The household started receiving troubling textual content messages after Kobayashi missed his flight, the household and police stated. The messages have been out of character for Kobayashi, his aunt, Larie Pidgeon, advised USA TODAY. These included unusual phrases and a scarcity of emojis.
In the messages, Kobayashi stated he felt unsafe, CNN reported. She wrote that somebody tried to steal her cash and identification. In one other message, CNN reported that she wrote that she had been “tricked” into donating all of her funds. “For somebody I assumed I beloved,” a later message stated.
CBS reported that one in all her messages stated she had completed a “very intense religious awakening” and stated she would return to the airport however “might need assistance getting there.”
The final day her household contacted her was November 11. In screenshots of textual content messages shared with USA TODAY, Kobayashi stated he was on his approach to the airport.
“I’ve secure passage” and “I’ll preserve you up to date,” he stated, later including “Matrix model.”
In subsequent messages, he stated, “I’m secure,” “I like you,” “Don’t fear,” “For everybody’s sake,” I’ll preserve you posted,” “Promise,” and “I’ll name you. Soon.”
On Nov. 11, surveillance cameras confirmed Kobayashi at LAX however she by no means boarded a flight. Sometime after 4:30 p.m., he spoke to an American Airlines agent, Pidgeon stated.
His cellphone was final turned on at LAX round that point.
Where was Kobayshi final seen?
That night time, CCTV footage captured Kobayashi in downtown Los Angeles. He was on the Pico mild rail station, close to the Crypto.com Arena, with an unidentified particular person.
On November 12, Kobayashi’s household stated they filed a lacking particular person’s report. The LAPD introduced her as a person missing on November 15th.
Kobayashi’s analysis has garnered widespread consideration on-line and in Los Angeles, and volunteers organized groups to search for her on the streets.
Days later, police discovered his father, Ryan Kobayashi, lifeless in a parking zone close to LAX on Nov. 24. Ryan had been trying to find his daughter for almost two weeks round Los Angeles.
The household confirmed that he had dedicated suicide. McDonnell, the police chief, stated preliminary findings point out it was a suicide.
Pidgeon advised USA TODAY that the previous few weeks had already been tough earlier than studying of his brother-in-law’s sudden dying.
“He simply died of a damaged coronary heart,” Pidgeon stated. “Being on the streets and seeing what prospects he might have discovered his daughter. Not sleeping. The speculative rumors going round. It price him rather a lot.”
Anyone with data on Kobayashi’s whereabouts is requested to name the LAPD at 1-877-527-3247 or The Rad movement at 619-904-0840.
Contributors: Anthony Robledo and James Powel
(This story has been up to date so as to add new data.)
This article initially appeared on USA TODAY: The search for Hannah Kobayashi continues three weeks after she missed her LAX flight
