Hawaiian photographer Hannah Kobayashi returned to social media to share her vague thoughts on loss and grief six months after her father took his own life while she was presumed missing.
Kobayashi, 31, was believed to be missing in November after security footage at Los Angeles International Airport caught her bizarrely exiting the building when she was supposed to be boarding a connecting flight to visit her family in New York.
No one in her family had been able to reach her for a month until she returned from a sudden trip to Mexico, where she said she’d been traveling alone with no clue about the massive search for her underway in the United States.
Her father, 58-year-old Ryan Kobayashi, trekked to LAX to help authorities search for his daughter. Two weeks into the investigation, he jumped off a parking structure near the airport and killed himself.
When the younger Kobayashi returned to the US, she made no mention of her father’s untimely death on social media.
Now six months later, she shared a vague video about how life is “such a precious gift…especially after such loss and pain and suffering.”
“We should all learn to be kind to one another and cherish every single moment that we can because we are all connected,” Kobayashi said.
The photographer also responded to a user’s comment in a previous post drilling her for supposedly not attending her father’s funeral.
“You don’t know the whole story. My intention in this post is to acknowledge that I am going to speak about my experience and to stand up against all the hate that was cast upon me,” Kobayashi wrote.
“I hope that in your darkest hours, you are shown compassion and love versus hate and judgment.”
Kobayashi’s whirlwind misadventure from Hawaii to California to Mexico was reportedly the culmination of a green card marriage scheme gone wrong. She was originally planning to visit New York with her new husband, Argentine national Alan Cacace, to see relatives and visit popular attractions to make their sham relationship seem more believable.
They traveled in tandem with Kobayashi’s ex-boyfriend and his own green card spouse. But the drama spiraled as jealousies reportedly flared, and somewhere along the way, Kobayashi decided to break off from the group and take a bus to Mexico solo.
Before leaving, she sent a series of alarming text messages to her friends and family about her funds being stolen and being tricked by “someone [she] thought [she] loved.”
Cacace allegedly promised Kobayashi $15,000 to marry him and an additional sum if the documentation fooled officials and he was permitted to stay in the U.S.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
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