The family of a 30-year-old Hawaii resident is searching for her in Los Angeles after she missed a connecting flight, sent unusual text messages and then went silent, the relatives said.
Hannah Kobayashi arrived in L.A. on Nov. 8 en route to New York City but missed a connecting flight because a 30- to 45-minute window to get to its departure terminal may not have been enough, aunt Larie Pidgeon said in an interview.
The Maui resident stayed in Los Angeles as she awaited an opening for a last-minute flight to New York and used the time for sightseeing, family members said. She went to The Grove shopping center in the Beverly Grove neighborhood, about 12 miles north of Los Angeles International Airport, to see a Nike marketing event on Nov. 10, they said.
Kobayashi’s Instagram account, verified by NBC News, includes a photo she posted that depicts a Nike notice of filming, apparently at or near The Grove.
The next day, she sent concerning text messages to loved ones, family members said.
“Hannah’s last message to us was alarming — she mentioned feeling scared, and that someone might be trying to steal her money and identity,” Pidgeon said in a Facebook post.
“She hasn’t been heard from since, and we are gravely concerned for her safety,” the aunt wrote.
Pidgeon confirmed her Facebook account name, Larie Ingrum, by text. She was one of three relatives who recently sat for an interview about Kobayashi.
The three were part of a larger group of family members and loved ones who gathered in L.A. in recent days to launch a search effort.
Pidgeon said Kobayashi, an art fan and aspiring photographer, saved for the trip to New York City and was excited before her Nov. 8 departure from Honolulu.
She planned to visit the Museum of Modern Art and absorb Manhattan’s art scene as part of her effort to establish a career, Pidgeon said.
“She was really trying to school herself on how to become ‘it’ in New York,” she said.
Family have said they reported Kobayashi missing to the Los Angeles International Airport Police Department and the FBI, but the Los Angeles Police Department said it is the primary investigating agency on the case. Officer Tony Im, an LAPD spokesman, said Kobayashi was reported missing to the department on Friday.
Pidgeon said texts sent Nov. 11 were alarming and at times didn’t sound like they were written in Kobayashi’s voice.
Family quoted one of the texts, according to a video report from NBC affiliate KHNL of Honolulu: “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds for someone I thought I loved.”
Pidgeon said the texts describe what amounts to identity theft.
“She said that someone was stealing her identity, that she felt scared,” the aunt said.
It appeared Kobayashi was at Los Angeles International Airport at the time, she said. Another aunt, Geordan Montalvo, whom Kobayashi was to visit in New York, tried to reach her, Pidgeon said.
“Her phone pinged at LAX at 4 p.m. and then after that, Geordan kept trying to talk to her, and then it went dark, her phone went dead and her communication cut off completely,” Pidgeon said.
The Nov. 11 texts were the last family members heard from the missing woman.
On a Facebook group called Help Us Find Hanna, which includes the participation of family members, a post by the RAD Movement — a San Diego County, California, missing persons nonprofit — says security video in the area of Pico Boulevard and Hill Street in downtown L.A. shows Kobayashi with someone and has sparked concern.
Family members said they could not speak about it in detail because they do not want to hinder investigators. It’s not clear when the video was recorded, but Pidgeon said that based on the footage, there’s reason to believe Kobayashi “is not OK.”
Relatives say Kobayashi booked her trip to New York with a boyfriend with whom she has since broken up. They said the unidentified man was on the same flight to Los Angeles but didn’t have contact with Kobayashi and made the connection to New York City. They described him as very cooperative.
The group gathered in Los Angeles is focusing its own search on the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Hill Street, near the Convention Center, LA Live and Crypto Arena, family members said.
Father Ryan Kobayashi is among them.
“Everything is just a blur it seems because I haven’t slept well since I’ve heard the news, and I really don’t know … it’s just really concerning,” he told KHNL earlier.
In 2013, the story of missing Canadian tourist Elsa Lam, 21, sparked international headlines when her body was found in a water tank on the roof of a run–down hotel in downtown L.A. Security video of the woman pacing inside a hotel elevator and pressing multiple buttons before her death helped inspire conspiracy theories, but the L.A. County medical examiner determined she drowned accidentally in an event influenced by her bipolar disorder.
On Monday, citing speculation that Kobayashi needed a “break,” Pidgeon sought to assure the public that she did not suffer from mental illness.
“Hannah has never once suffered from a mental illness,” she said. “She has no record on that. She is not on medication. Hannah’s someone that we can call, and she’s going to call us back within an hour.”
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