Father of missing woman kills himself during search for her in Los Angeles

Weird. Reminds me of Elisa Lam..

This is a bizarre story.

He jumped from the 7th floor of the airport parking lot.

Maybe mental illness runs in the family.

Very sad and tragic. Bizarre is the word which came to my mind too R2.

Either mental illness or guilt.

The search for a missing Hawaii woman in Los Angeles took a tragic turn on Sunday when her father was found dead near the airport that's among the last places she was seen before her mysterious disappearance.

Hannah Kobayashi, 31, missed a connecting flight from Maui to New York City on Nov. 8 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). She was later captured on surveillance video in various places in Los Angeles but was last heard from on Nov. 11. Since then, her family has experienced pure anguish and sorrow, which somehow became even more unbearable after the death of Kobayashi's father over the week.

Ryan Kobayashi, 58, was found dead around 4 a.m. on Nov. 24 at a parking lot adjacent to LAX, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The family later confirmed on Facebook he had died by suicide.

Hannah's aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told USA TODAY on Monday that the past two weeks were already horribly difficult before learning about her brother-in-law's sudden and unexpected death.

"He just died of a broken heart," Pidgeon said. "Being on the streets and seeing what the possibilities of where his daughter could be. No sleep. The speculating rumors that are going around. It just took a toll on him."

Ryan and several other family members flew to California after Hannah's disappearance, Pidgeon said. On Saturday, he rallied on the streets of LA with several volunteer groups spreading awareness.

Pidgeon, who called her brother-in-law the "most compassionate sensitive man," dismissed unfounded rumors that Ryan had been involved in any "foul play."

"This is a man who just had a mental breakdown from sleep depression," Pidgeon said. "Suicide is not something that was even spoken of. It wasn't even a concept that we would think would happen. And now we have suffered two tragedies. We're hanging on by a thread and we just need the search to continue, because there's still hope for Hannah."

Now more than ever, Pidgeon said she wants the public to show the family kindness and grace instead of fueling pain through speculation and "becoming investigators."

"Hannah is still missing and we have hope and we need to make sure that Ryan's death wasn't in vain," she said.

The LAPD continues to investigate Hannah's disappearance. She was last seen on Nov. 11, when surveillance cameras showed her at LAX but not boarding a flight, according to the family, citing airport staffers. Pidgeon said Hannah spoke to an American Airlines ticketing agent for about 40 minutes.

Surveillance footage showed her near the Pico Metro station in downtown Los Angeles hours later alongside an unidentified person, who Pidgeon said she believes "misled her."

"We believe that she just trusted the wrong person," she added.

The family also received out-of-character texts from Hannah, which Pidgeon said contained odd phrases and an uncharacteristic lack of emojis.

Hannah is described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing about 140 pounds and has brown hair and eyes, and fair skin with freckles.

"She's just incredible, she's loving, she's kind, she's compassionate, she's funny," Pidgeon said. "We just want to keep the focus on finding her, and we still believe that she's alive, and we still believe that we have hope to bring her home."

Or maybe he had something to do with her disappearance and possible death.

Was the father diddling the daughter? This is giving me Dolores Claiborne vibes.

[quote] Or maybe he had something to do with her disappearance and possible death.

Huh?

He was in Hawaii when she disappeared in Los Angeles, and he flew there to look for her.

You crazy conspiracy theorist people are so awful. This guy was clearly grieving, and people like you just make it worse.

If anything, the daughter should feel guilty, if she's still alive.

For putting her father through this.

"He just died of a broken heart," Pidgeon said. "Being on the streets and seeing what the possibilities of where his daughter could be. No sleep. The speculating rumors that are going around. It just took a toll on him."

Horrifying

The line between most people and a mental breakdown is a few nights of sleep

Surveillance video made family 'extremely alarmed'

reminds me of the movie 'Black Christmas'

^Why? Was she getting calls from inside the house?

I don't understand why she left the airport in the first place - did she miss a flight? She was supposed to fly to New York state.

Sounds like erratic behavior. So weird.

This private investigator thinks she's not missing and "may be exploring a spiritual path."

R15 - that's fucking gross - he doesn't know her at all. His family didn't hire him. And so he goes online and spews this thought bubble based on feelings?

What a dick.

Does make you wonder if there's familial mental illness. I heard about this girl on TikTok! The whole thing is a little strange. Ok, she was headed to NY but didn't have any resources for a motel room and they couldn't rebook her missed connecting flight for days? So she spends the night in LAX then goes into the city to the Grove for a Nike event the next day? I think a trafficker picked her up when she went back to the airport. But no further LAX footage? I've seen the shot where her plane first lands.

I get people are broke. Can you imagine as a 31 yr old going from Hawaii to NYC with an hour or whatever layover at LAX without some way to cover a couple hundred for an unforeseen expense? Maybe my privilege again, not sure my family would allow it.

Is the Grove journey clever and outgoing or just impulsive? She cabbed to the Grove? That's $30. It'd be a couple of buses otherwise sad to say. In an unfamiliar city? If she was lugging a suitcase or something, did that attract attention?

If she voluntarily left and her father offed himself thinking she had been harmed, that is incredibly tragic.

We're on 2 trips to the Grove. A Taschen books sighting is sad, she wanted to be a photographer. If she went to and from the Grove twice why couldn't she think about getting a room? She could have walked to a Ramada or a Holiday Inn at LAX, they're $80-105 a night. Why the hell did the airline strand her for this long?

Huh? Who said anything about an airline “stranding” her? She missed a connection from LAX to NY. Should have been able to get on another flight that day or early the next morning.

I am guessing she had mental illness, going through an episode.

She is 31, 5’10”, 140 lbs. That’s pretty large for a woman. Not saying she wasn’t abducted, but she is better off than soneone 5’2” and 100 lbs.

I would guess drugs were involved.

The dad: lack of sleep probably played into this.

[quote]She is 31, 5’10”, 140 lbs. That’s pretty large for a woman.

Unfortunately, Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway doesn't have a branch at The Grove.

Somebody's not telling the whole truth here - I don't know if they're protecting her or what, but it obviously doesn't add up at all.

Can they get access to her phone location? Her emails and texts? Social media?

[QUOTE] Somebody's not telling the whole truth here - I don't know if they're protecting her or what, but it obviously doesn't add up at all.

I agree. Something is very off about this entire story.

Why would she leave the airport at all? And what is a “Nike event”?

She is either dead or chained to a bed and getting raped in an 18-wheeler before being transported to her next duty station.

I would have offed myself on Sepulveda, or at least along Aviation🤷🏻‍♂️

R18

$30? You’re nutz

That's what google said, R26.

RE Stranded: The story sounds like the airline couldn't get her on another flight for days?

I thought she was going to NYC but if the relative lives upstate and she was flying directly there, there is less of an option.

Very very sad story.

[quote]r22 = Unfortunately, Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway doesn't have a branch at The Grove.

There is (was?) a plus-sized women's retail establishment at the Grove with plus-sized mannequins and everything.

R27 because people travel By Google 😵‍💫

She had some form of psychotic episode, she was texting family saying her mind and bank account had been taken over. My guess is she met some pimp who lured her into a situation where she was drugged and robbed and either abandoned some place or harmed. I'm very sorry for her, I missed flights when I was younger and didn't even think of leaving the airport, just stuck it out in the safety of the lounges and shops.

Totally agree r31

R31 - I don't think those texts were from her.

I think she met someone online in Hawaii - or somebody promised her something in LA.

Or the family knows she's unstable and has shown it many times before and no one is saying anything, lest people stop looking for her.

What's the consensus?

Is she still alive?

Her ex-BF was on the same flight (to LAX) and apparently made the connecting flight to NY. Appears that he / they bought the plane tickets before they broke up and took the trip, anyway. They didn’t sit next to each other on the flight to LAX.

Father had been estranged for years from this woman. Probably felt guilty.

That info comes from Daily Mail.

Now THAT is some dirt, R35.

How does the Daily Mail find this shit, when the American media cannot?

It's amazing.

R36 CNN also reported on their estrangement, straight from the dad’s mouth:

[quote]“Hannah loved to travel. She loved photography, art, music. I wasn’t too close with her … growing up. We haven’t had contact for a while,” the elder Kobayashi told CNN’s Veronica Miracle in an interview last week. “I’m just trying to make up. I’m trying to get her back. That’s my main focus.”

Was he actually Kobayashi or was that name just taken from the bottom of a coffee cup?

Another message said, “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds,” followed by one saying, “For someone I thought I loved.”

Ok - there you go. She did meet someone online in LA.

She venmo'd 2 people that nobody knew - start there for crying out loud.

Dad: "I’m trying to get her back." I mean, does this sound like an estranged dad or an ex-boyfriend? I just find his language... odd, at best.

Weird story

R8, while I agree that these conspiracy theorists are gross, I disagree that the daughter should carry the burden of guilt regarding her father’s tragic death.

She’s either dead, or possibly being held against her will, & if she’s still alive and gets to walk away from whatever situation she’s currently in, including a mental breakdown and/or an extended drug run, it’s pretty doubtful that she’ll walk away unscathed.

It’s a fucked up situation from all angles.

At first I thought the psychotic episode scenario was the mostly likely but I'm now leaning towards her being drugged/ trafficked, which seems to be the conclusion her fam has come to as well.

Based on her photos and family accounts, she doesn't seem like someone who was especially mentally 'fragile'. She was en route to a job she was very excited about. She had a wide network of friends. She does not have crazy eyes. She looks healthy, happy and approachable, in *all* her photos.

She also looks like she might score quite highly on "Openness" on the Big Five which means that she'd be more likely to engage with (and even befriend) strangers, if approached.

She's pretty and young...and possibly not a very experienced solo traveler: a prime target for traffickers.

If you're on board w/ this theory, the texts make sense because she was drugged. So does randomly wandering around sketchy parts of LA, possibly w/ her new 'handler'.

[quote] Her ex-BF was on the same flight (to LAX) and apparently made the connecting flight to NY. Appears that he / they bought the plane tickets before they broke up and took the trip, anyway. They didn’t sit next to each other on the flight to LAX.

I wonder why this ex-boyfriend isn't considered a "person of interest."

He should be suspect #1.

Traffickers? Oh, please. This isn't Taken. Traffickers rarely forcibly kidnap people

If the BF got on the plane to NY, I don't see why he would be a suspect. Yes, he should be contacted and questioned. The family does not seem to be pointing the finger at him.

[quote] Her ex-BF was on the same flight (to LAX) and apparently made the connecting flight to NY

You're right, R46.

I forgot about the connecting flight to New York, and didn't see the part about him making the connecting flight.

So maybe she was annoyed that he was on the same flight, and decided to skip the flight to New York so that she wouldn't have to see him.

That's where things seem to have gone awry. She didn't have a backup plan for getting from LAX to JFK.

She would either have to pay for a new flight, or if the airline was nice, she would have to be on standby until a new flight opened up.

Which would explain why she just decided to wander around Los Angeles for w hile..

I still want to know the motivation for going to a "Nike event", especially for someone who seemed rather "crunchy" and had no money on her.

She knew they were on the same flight and still went from Hawaii to LAX. According to the Daily Mail, they didn't interact during the flight and weren't seated next to each other. I would conjecture they could fly on the same plane from LAX to NY and not interact.

The weird thing is that the ex-BF made the connection and she missed the connection. I've missed connections in Atlanta and Dallas, so I can see how it happens. Just odd.

R48, Lebron James was at the Nike event, maybe that was exciting to her. She was into photography and maybe wanted to get some photos of him and/or some other famous people.

[Quote] And what is a “Nike event”?

Here is the greatest mystery — and the greatest tragedy.

At 31, hasn’t she aged out of being sex trafficked?

She’s damaged goods.

Did anyone watch the dad jump? Maybe he was pushed.

It could be a hoax, like Sherri Papini’s fake abduction. It’s insane that the dad killed himself over it — without knowing what really has happened.

Has anyone checked out the water tank?

They need to look in the cabins by the lake.

Or the van down by the river

I say she’s alive and this was his form of revenge. This is part of why they were estranged.

[quote]I wonder why this ex-boyfriend isn't considered a "person of interest."

They're probably keeping an eye on him and have either determined he's innocent or alternatively are giving him enough rope to hang himself.

Did the father, though?

[quote] "He just died of a broken heart," Pidgeon said.

No.

It was auto-erotic asphyxiation,

What kind of stupid surname is Pidgeon?

I know, so dumb.

A ridiculous name!

Hate it!

Tres dumb!

She met someone online and went to meet them and it was a bad person. End of story. I don't understand how SM has made people so fucking stupid. She was catfished.

More likely pushed from the seventh floor of the parking garage.

Check the water tanks!!!

It is a stupid name, R61, isn’t it?

I see water…

😅😅😅😅😅

This thread is running short on detectives

What if someone cat fished her and said they would meet her at LAX and go to NYC with her and then didn't show?

Maybe she was looking forward to making her ex-boyfriend jealous on the connecting flight?

What if when she got to LAX the catfisher told her they had a problem and they needed her to come help? So she went to help and that's when they took her money and dumped her? Didn't she say in a text she lost all her funds?

Just spit balling here...

Absent being baited to meet someone there, it would literally make no sense to leave LAX and head to The Grove as a time killer.

This post is pure speculative garbage:

One other evil possibility is that she planned a heroin vacation and he discovered where she was staying.

That’s when people find a cheap hotel, buy an eight ball and try not to OD.

Unfortunately, they frequently end up outside pinwheeling or going on the nod in front of other buildings and it becomes, “Oh, we have another nicely dressed suburbanite who is stoned. We’ll have to keep the Narcan handy.”

She was supposed to go with her ex to a concert in Brooklyn before they broke up, so even though they were not sitting together on the flight, they were still going to be attending the same event. The emotional strain of that along with traveling to the big city might have caused her to have a mental breakdown. Hopefully she’s found alive. Los Angeles is not the hive of organized crime that the media makes it out to be, but there are a lot of con artists who will gladly take your money.

She must be extremely fragile and unstable if having to attend the same event as an ex would cause a mental breakdown.

Haven't we all had to attend college classes, weddings, parties etc. with exes?

Has her family claimed or alluded to mental health problems?

Yeah, R76’s theory sounds like a reach.

R77 She seemed disturbed in her odd text messages. There’s surveillance footage of her using her phone during those times, so it probably was not an imposter texting, as her friends had suspected. As for mental health problems, the inability to cope with stressful situations seems to run in her family.

r74 "literally"

Oh, dear

R78 I should have added: she probably had existing mental health issues that contributed to her not being able to handle stress.

Did they find her yet?

[quote]Lebron James was at the Nike event, maybe that was exciting to her. She was into photography

and black men.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if they found her staying under an assumed name at the Cecil Hotel (or whatever it’s called today)?

Did she leave the airport because she missed her flight or did she miss her flight because she left the airport?

I believe she drove on the driveway and parked on the parkway - she was like that.

Is this some Leland and Laura Palmer shit?

Hannah Kobayashi's sister: 'Someone was controlling her'

I'm assuming the police can get phone records and track numbers she was calling.

Is this going to turn out to be one of those situations where she voluntarily walked away and will eventually contact the police to let them know she's okay and then a statement is issued informing the public she has been located and is safe and the family asks for privacy? She could have intentionally sent the weird texts as part of her plan.

If this is the case, I'm sure she didn't anticipate her estranged father would get involved let alone harm himself.

Stranger things have happened i.e. Sherri Papini

She's on the other side of the lake from the amusement park.

r21, that is not large at all. I'm 5'7", 120 and a size S/4-6, when I was lifting, I was 130. . She's 3 inches taller and 20 lbs heavier.

r61, you've never heard of the actor, Walter Pidgeon?

Thank you, R92!

R21 and others were acting as if 5’10” and 140 is sumo wrestler territory.

What happens when you miss a flight and it is not your fault? Do you have to buy and pay for a new ticket or does the airline give you a new ticket for free?

[quote] [R21], that is not large at all. I'm 5'7", 120 and a size S/4-6, when I was lifting, I was 130. . She's 3 inches taller and 20 lbs heavier.

Huh? You proved the point that 5'10" and 140 pounds is large ... for a WOMAN.

Why did he kill himself

R96, he jumped because he was sick of people forgetting end punctuation.

[quote] Missing woman Hannah Kobayashi intentionally skipped flight, LAPD chief says

Kobayashi is described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing about 140 pounds, according to an LAPD description. She has brown hair, hazel eyes and freckles on her face and normally wears glasses. She has a tattoo of a heart with a knife on her right forearm.

Friends described her as creative and entrepreneurial, and as an aspiring photographer, CNN reported. She was planning to go to New York to visit an aunt, and she was also going to take photos at a concert in Brooklyn in mid-November, her family told the news outlet.

Kobayashi was on the same New York-bound flight as her ex-boyfriend. They kept the tickets because they couldn’t get a refund and planned to go their separate ways after landing in New York, Kobayashi’s sister told the Los Angeles Times.

CNN reported the ex-boyfriend made the connecting flight, but she didn’t.

A day after missing her flight, the LA Times reported Kobayashi went to a bookstore at The Grove shopping mall, in Los Angeles’ Fairfax District. Her aunt told the newspaper she sent a photo of a book to a relative. Using data from the photo, family later went to that bookstore and confirmed she had been there and that she filled out a newsletter form.

She also sent two payments on Venmo to two people her family didn’t recognize, CNN reported. Police have said she remained active on Instagram.

On Nov. 10, she was identified in a promotional video for a LeBron James Nike event at The Grove. She also posted a photo of the event on her Instagram, her last public post, in which she tagged the LA Times.

The family began receiving concerning text messages after Kobayashi missed her flight, family and police said. The messages were out of character from Kobayashi, her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told USA TODAY. These included odd phrases and a lack of emojis.

In the messages, Kobayashi said she didn’t feel safe, CNN reported. She texted that someone sought to steal her money and identity. In another text, CNN reported she wrote she was “tricked” into giving away all her funds. “For someone I thought I loved,” a follow-up message said.

CBS reported one of her messages said she had finished a “very intense spiritual awakening” and said she was headed back to the airport but that she “might need some help getting there.”

The last day her family made contact with her was Nov. 11. In screenshots of text messages shared with USA TODAY, Kobayashi said she was on her way to the airport.

"I have a safe passage" and "Will keep you posted," she said, later adding "Matrix style."

In follow-up messages, she said, "I'm safe", "Love you", "Don't worry", "For the good of all", I will keep you posted", "Promise" and "Call you soon."

On Nov. 11, surveillance cameras showed Kobayashi at LAX but she never boarded a flight. Some time after 4:30 p.m., she spoke to an American Airlines agent, Pidgeon said.

Her phone was last turned on at LAX around then.

That night, CCTV footage captured Kobayashi in downtown LA. She was at the Pico Metro light-rail station, near Crypto.com Arena, with an unidentified person.

On Nov. 12, Kobayashi’s family said they filed a missing person report. The LAPD announced her as a missing person on Nov. 15.

The search for Kobayashi has garnered widespread attention online and in Los Angeles, and volunteers have organized groups to search the streets for her.

I don't understand why he would do this. There's every indication that she's alive and just being a nutty broad.

[quote] There's every indication that she's alive

I don't think she's alive. What indicates that she's alive?

IDGI, why did he kill himself?

Scientology

[quote]:Dad: "I’m trying to get her back." I mean, does this sound like an estranged dad or an ex-boyfriend?

It sounds like a weak beta male who lacked coping skills and unfortunately passed down that trait to his child. Abandoning his own children says a lot about his character as well as killing himself before his daughter was even found. If my child was missing, I'm not gonna rest until I know what happened. There's no way I'm considering suicide especially if i felt my child still needs me. It would be all the motivation I need. He didn't try hard enough. The daughter made very poor choices with men. That's also a result of having a dysfunctional/neglectful father figure.

Ouch, R103!

That was WAY harsh, Ty.

r95, I am a WOMAN. i guarentee you, she is not large.

140 pounds at 5'10 is a BMI of 20 or so. That's thin.

As a short gay; I know things. Her weight is on the toned side of healty. If there is vulnerability, it’s more psychological than physical.

I tend to think she’s some sheltered flower from Shangri-La; She’s a 30 years old US citizen.

Whatever she’s doing and whatever he has done are the focus.

Clearly the woman killed her dad. She's on her way to kill the ex-boyfriend at this very moment.

[quote]R95 Huh? You proved the point that 5'10" and 140 pounds is large ... for a WOMAN.

I think what’s throwing agreement off is using the word “large.” This implies some Large Marge fat woman.

5’10” is TALL for a woman, but 140 lbs. on that height is slender, especially if she has any kind of bustline. So calling her large doesn’t really paint the right picture.

If a male was 5’10” and 140 lbs. he’d appear borderline emaciated.

5'10" is stall TALL and unwieldly for a WOMAN if you're going to kidnap her. You can't just snatch her up off the streets as if she were three years old.

R110, that’s delusional.

I think someone either threatened her to get n a car or it was a catfishing thing gone bad. Although the police would have read all her emails by now…. Those final short messages sound written by someone else or dictated, especially when she said things were fine “for all’. Where was so going on the connecting fligh?. The is a beautiful woman in photos, which means that she probably stood out.. I don’t think she voluntarily disappeared. My sense is that she is held by someone else and possibly already dead. No taxi drivers drove her.

This is a creepy story. She writes some typical vacuous emails and suddenly the messages are all crazy. But if she were mentally ill, the police would have said so by now.

Why did the police wait three days to announce to announce her disappearance?

Regarding missing people in general who disappear under strange circumstances and are never found after a big media search, do you think that most have been murdered? What other explanation is there? Maybe there are a lot more killers out there than we think.

The ex made his connecction. Do we know if he left the airport?

[quote] The ex made his connecction. Do we know if he left the airport?

LAX? I don't think he left LAX. IIRC, the layover for the connecting flight to NY was less than an hour. I really don't think the ex-BF has done anything nefarious.

She should have just walked / gotten over to the next gate and gotten onto that same flight to NY.

Average height for women in North America is 5'3" or 5'4". 5'10" is unusually tall for a woman. While such a height might give a potential perpetrator pause, Kobayashi is young, attractive, and possibly rather naïve which makes her an appealing target. Not every offender uses physical coercion.

Maybe she hired her own hitman, but forgot to cancel it.

[quote] Pidgeon, who called her brother-in-law the "most compassionate sensitive man,"

I find this statement mind boggling. He was so compassionate and sensitive that he decided to put his family through even more torture by killing himself before he even knew whether his daughter was still alive or not.

So she left the airport but did reasonably normal things (except for leaving the airport) and then the the texts started getting weird. She did go back to the airport the next day but then left again and the last sighting was at the metro stop.

I wonder what was said to the AA agent? Rebook flight or get refund for missed flight if she lost her money?

She’s either dead, drugged up & being sold by a pimp, or has integrated into a homeless community, or does not want to be found.

If she’s dead due to nefarious circumstances, she may never be found.

Retired LAPD detective breaks down the case

We don't know what's up with the Venmo transactions. Or all the text messages she may have sent to family members. That's the least we're not privy to. Reddit now thinks she got on a bus at Union Station DTLA and went to the Redwoods!

My instincts tell me she is still alive, but police must act quickly.

You should let the LAPD know - stat! - R123. They’ll love to get your input.

god help me,[R-97]I laughed so hard when I read your post. It was the mot juste and funny as hell. And it is in the middle of tracking this nauseating situation ; a situation that is happening in real time.

So awful and odd. Or maybe not so odd.

Anyway, thanks [R-97]. It felt good to laugh.

Was it really that funny?

Yes. It was totally unexpected. And totally correct.

KTLA most recent summary

I hope the widow of the suicidal husband and mother of the missing woman stays out of Los Angeles.

Something ain't aligned for them there.

I don't think publicly trashing the LAPD is going to help the family find this woman.

How frustrating for the family it must be when the police department gets basic facts wrong, and when they release information to the public before telling them. It would probably feel like they're not trying hard enough in the investigation.

The family disagrees, but I wonder what evidence leads the police to think she missed her connecting flight on purpose.

Well, the ex-BF, who was on the same flight from Hawaii to LAX, did make the connecting flight to NY. She apparently came back to LAX (the following day, IIRC), again, then left LAX, again. Doesn't seem like she was in a rush to get to NY.

I'm guessing that there's something else going on, e.g., mental illness &/or drug addiction. And the family is not telling the police everything - out of embarrassment.

True, though, that there's no excuse for getting her age wrong.

The erratic texts sound more like a criminal trying to cover their tracks rather than mental illness or drug issues (unless she was known to have these)

Whatever is going on with this woman and however shoddy the police reporting may appear, not a good idea to piss off the police. It will not motivate them to do more or better, quite the opposite.

Arrived on Friday and missed connecting flight. Left airport, wandered around for two days, went back to airport on Sunday. Left airport again and that’s it.

Where was she for two nights?

The Farmer’s Market, Rose.

Someone upthread said she was a big woman. But isn't 140 lbs for 5'10" on the skinny side?

[quote] Whatever is going on with this woman and however shoddy the police reporting may appear, not a good idea to piss off the police. It will not motivate them to do more or better, quite the opposite.

It helped with the Riley Strain case in Tennessee.

WW R103.

That father was a piece of SHIT.

Worthless.

Per the daily mail, LAPD says security footage shows her crossing the border into Tijuana 11/12 or 11/13, the day after she went missing. They do not suspect foul play at this time.

CHECK THE CABINS AT LAKE PIRU.

Yep, took a bus to Mexico

I feel bad for Hannah’s sister, but her conflicting statements are irritating. She says Hanna is fiercely independent, but that someone is “controlling” her? She also says her dad was loving and self-sacrificing, yet he abandoned his family — twice. The denial is strong.

Wow, police are saying foul play is not suspected. Even the suicide didn’t smoke her out of her cave.

Sister shut down Facebook page, saying that family was getting death threats. They did raise $40,000+ on a GoFundMe. There may be more than one GFM.

Weird thing is that she did have a bunch of specific plans for NY and I think her suitcase actually did get on the plane to NY. Not sure if she got her suitcase back.

At least the sad was honest about them being estranged. I think she probably was estranged from other family members, as well.

Now that he’s killed himself she must feel like an asshole

r144 the press release linked at r142 says she requested her bag to be returned from NY, and security footage shows her retrieving it once it returned from NY.

Maybe the dad molested her in the past and knew it was about to be revealed.

I just ( on Daily.Mail) that she's been spotted 145 miles away from L.A . So, just wtf is wrong with her ( if true?"

Bipolar?

It would be highly unlikely that her luggage made it to JFK but she didn’t. No shows’ luggage is always offloaded before pushback for security reasons.

[Quote] Now that he’s killed himself she must feel like an asshole

Apparently not.

What a colossal cunt she is. Fuck this bitch.

R151, read the press release at r142. it said her luggage DID make it to NY, and that she requested its return. She retrieved in on Nov 11th, which I believe is when she was last seen (outside of the border footage).

This Gone Girl remake sucks

Get the Daily Mail to track her down. They're better than the FBI.

Which is why I said that it would be “highly unlikely” for that to happen, R153.

There was an aircraft bombing decades ago - Pan Am 103 where someone booked a ticket on the flight and checked a bag. The would be passenger didn’t board and the explosive hidden in the bag was detonated at cruising altitude over Scotland killing all on board and many on the ground.

This is why airlines offload luggage for no shows and why I said that it was unlikely.

I fly every couple of weekdays unfortunately and pushbacks for offloading of luggage are a regular but necessary pain in the neck.

*delays of pushbacks

She was filmed crossing into Mexico

Time for some fun in Acapulco!

Thinking a little about the luggage - if she and the ex were on the same PNR (reservation ID) and botH their bags were tagged to the ex then that could explain how her bag made it to JFK. Maybe the ex Fedexed it back.

^inspector clouseau you are wildly smart

[quote] Yep, took a bus to Mexico

WHAT.

A.

CUNT.

How can anyone with a conscience not tell her family that they're alive, when there is a massive search going on for you AND your father killed himself in grief and depression over you being missing?

You'd have to be a fucking monster.

She may be experiencing a dissociative fugue and lack awareness of who and/or where she is.

I thought one of her texts to family said she lost her money.

They said she "wanted to disconnect" or something along those lines. Maybe she really just turned off and tuned out...?

Monstrous CUNT!

R161 it’s not that challenging in this crowd.

Declared “voluntary missing person” after video captures her crossing border into Mexico.

R143 here, revising my post. It’s clear why, according to the sister, Hannah is a naive waif being controlled by an evil person/organization, and the flakey dad was really a selfless martyr: she’s idealizing them to rake in the sympathy and some GFM $$$

It's weird that the missing person photo has a photo where half of her face is covered by her hair. There's another photo where half her face is covered by a flower. Why not use photos where you can see her entire face?

Her family sounds like a bunch of hysterics.

[quote] Her family sounds like a bunch of hysterics.

Her family sounds like a bunch of GRIFTERS

Fixed it for you..

It sounds like she wanted to be gone. Are they sure her dad killed himself?

She might be in a motel room in Mexico with her dad [italic]right now.

Well she’s an Asian American woman and 5’10”. I think she’ll stand out in a crowd in Mexico.

What happens with the money raised from the GoFundMe if she has in fact voluntarily "gone missing" over the border in Mexico? Is the organiser, her sister, required to refund donations? I'd be pissed if I'd donated and the bitch was simply tootling around Tijuana eating churros.

She’s actually still on the American side and just finished her third Burrito Supreme.

This is a huge misunderstanding!

she's a selfish cunt who only thinks of herself and nobody else...

she doesn't deserve her family

The family said they wanted to use the GFM $ for the father's funeral, as well.

Family is now backpedaling and saying they're deeply grateful to LAPD. Earlier, they had complained about not hearing from the chief of police or a detective. They want LAPD to keep searching.

LAPD is saying that Hannah is now in a different nation and they've done all that they can do.

According to Daily Mail, GFM donors are demanding their money back.

No word from the mother, and the dad offed himself. The older sister is acting like the parent of the family. Maybe she was given that responsibility at a very young age. She seems overbearing.

[Quote]Time for some fun in Acapulco!

only if being murdered, robbed or kidnapped is your idea of fun

Country Summary: Violent crime – such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery – is widespread and common in Mexico. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in many areas of Mexico, as travel by U.S. government employees to certain areas is prohibited or restricted. In many states, local emergency services are limited outside the state capital or major cities.

I had a feeling this dumb cunt was alive and well.

It seems like she had some sort of manic Anne Heche-esque episode.

Sister’s eyebrows are disturbing.

She is going to be the most hated woman on the internet!

[Quote]she doesn't deserve her family

I've always said that.

This is why I tell men to get vasectomies. Then he would still be alive.

A family of grifters. Why has Hannah's mother been silent?

she's probably gonna be killed in mexico...karma

[quote]R188 This is why I tell men to get vasectomies. Then he would still be alive.

Dad flailed himself off a rooftop with waving hands in a fit of hysteria.

If it hadn’t been a missing daughter that set him off it would have been a lost dry cleaning item.

R164, dissociative fugues aren’t real.

[quote] A family of grifters. Why has Hannah's mother been silent?

Because she probably is well aware that her daughter is a nutjob, and she didn't want to show her face on tv.

The mother is probably mortified.

I wonder if Hannah's mother and father were still together?

It doesn't seem like it.

^^ fuck you! We came to in a Philadelphia hotel, miles from home!

^^ Great, now I look crazy again!

R194 was in response to:

[quote]r192 dissociative fugues aren’t real.

This just popped up on my YT feed…

Allegedly, she’s been found in MX!

Yes, we know R196. See R158.

I really thought she was dead or had been hardcore trafficked. This is a surprise.

A woman in her 30s - even her early 30s - seems a bit old to be trafficked. Younger women seem like they’d be easier to intimidate/influence.

Trafficking rarely involves 30-year-old women being forcibly kidnapped.

wow, security cameras are really everywhere and watching everyone...the have video of her buying bus ticket to Mexico

The authorities have spent a lot of $$$ tracking down this useless whore.

What makes her a whore?

[quote] Trafficking rarely involves 30-year-old women being forcibly kidnapped.

Nobody wants old snatch!

Her hole is big and wide like grand canyon, loose as fuck!

What is this “trafficking” bullshit? She went down there to work the Donkey Show circuit… willingly!

I think she met someone online.

People are trafficked for different purposes. Young women, adolescents, and children are typically trafficked into prostitution but both men and women, especially people who are developmentally delayed or learning disabled, can be trafficked into forced labor on farms, into domestic servitude, etc. My partner worked on a case in which vulnerable men with learning disabilities were abducted by force and sent to work on a farm.

r208, was this in America?

R208, okay, but when grown women go missing, trafficking is rarely the reason. Didn't we learn anything from Sherri Papini?

The story has a lot of similarities to the Chelsea Grimm case: both are female photographers in their early 30s who were supposed to commute cross-country, got side-tracked, and never made it to their destinations. Except Grimm has never been found, and is all but forgotten. Both women expressed a burning desire to “live off the grid.”

R208, no, that case was not in the US but people with disabilities in the US have been forced into involuntary servitude; more info at link.

* Sorry, I meant to address R209 above.

[quote]The words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were discovered by detectives on the shell casings found at the scene

That sounds similar to the three D’s of insurance: Delay (processing a claim), Deny (the claim), Defend (in court when the insured files suit over the denied claim.)

^^ Sorry, wrong thread

[quote] Investigators Want to Know if Hannah Kobayashi is Involved in Green Card Marriage Scam

Another major twist in the ‘disappearance’ of Hannah Kobayashi, the 30-year-old photographer from Hawaii whose father allegedly took his own life after a fruitless search for his daughter, has apparently drawn in the FBI after her mother discovered that she may have engaged in a secret marriage for money.

New information about Kobayashi's ties to a a possible immigration scam comes a day after LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell announces his investigators tracked Kobayashi to the border where she crossed into Mexico on Nov. 12, four day after her arrival at LAX.

Sources tell Los Angeles that Kobayashi was apparently scammed out of the proceeds of a purported immigration scheme possibly concocted by her former partner, who left Maui with Kobayashi on Nov. 8 and landed at LAX with plans to catch a connecting flight to New York City. Also on the plane, sources say, was Kobayashi’s new husband, Alan Cacace, an Argentinian man whose own girlfriend, Marianna, was reportedly on the flight with Kobayashi’s ex.

The possible visa scam was uncovered, sources told Los Angeles, by Kobayashi’s mother, who discovered immigration documents in her daughter's home in Hawaii that listed an immigration attorney. "That attorney was not cooperative with the mom," one source close to the investigation said. Her mother then turned the documents over to the FBI and LAPD, the source said.

On Wednesday night her family released a statement saying they have not verified the marriage, or photos of the marriage posted by her alleged groom on his social media that has since been removed. They also confirmed that what Kobayashi's mom found was "turned over the alleged information to law enforcement immediately upon receipt," in the statement through their Los Angeles attorney Sara Azari.

[quote] Statement on Behalf of #HannahKobayashi's Family Re Alleged Marriage

[quote] We want to stress that the family has not publicly announced any information regarding an alleged marriage because we did not have the facts or the necessary documents to verify the legitimacy of this…

[quote] — Sara Azari (@azarilaw) December 5, 2024

On Tuesday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell announced that Kobayashi was classified as “a voluntary missing person,” after investigators uncovered a video of her walking into Mexico alone with her luggage from a San Diego border crossing twelve days before her father, Ryan, 53, apparently leapt to his death from a parking structure near the airport.

According to McDonnell, Kobayashi wanted to “step away from modern connectivity" and the LAPD did not believe she was a victim of foul play. But Kobayashi's family continues to demand answers from his department. Following McDonnell’s press conference late Tuesday afternoon, the family requested to see video evidence of Kobayashi crossing into Mexico, as they were previously unaware that the LAPD had tracked her to the border on November 12.

^^^^^^^

MAJOR Plot Twist.

Now it makes sense.

Damn, her poor father.

WOW....I'm reading all of this with sound of Keith Morrison's voice narrating in my head.

This weird, tragic tale is going to make for a really excellent episode of DATELINE.

She’s coming to my housewarming party, y’all!

What took the family so long to search her house? I assume the ICE can get involved now that the immigration scam has been uncovered. Search her computer.

Would have been so hard for this selfish cunt to have just called her father or mother, to let them know she was okay?

Then their minds would have been put at ease and her father wouldn't have killed himself.

The selfishness of this person is just unreal.

Hopefully the GoFundMe donors will get their money back.

I want to know more about her scamming green card hubby

Is he hung?

Now I'm beginning to wonder about the EX-boyfriend, who made the connecting flight to NY. Not that I think he was intentionally hiding something.... but how long ago was the break-up? Who broke it off & why? What were the conversations around using the airline tickets they'd booked, pre-break up?

Fake break up with the boyfriend to give the appearance of legitimacy to the immigration marriage.

Immigration scam has no place in America

Sorry Hannah but you're not as interesting as the insurance CEO plugged on the streets of NYC, you will be moved to page 2.

Somehow I think this story has a few more twists and turns ahead.

Seems like the LAPD or any police department would have a community relations person that keeps the family updated, even if there’s no new news. EVERY cop show I’ve watched has a family member calling/coming to the station begging for updates which the police treat as an annoyance.

Why wouldn’t the police call the family after the border video, even if it’s just to ask if she knows anyone in Mexico?

Maybe the cops became uninterested because she was just passing through Los Angeles and she wasn't really missing. There's already quite enough crime in LA to keep them busy. Once she left the country...over and out.

Maybe grifter GFM sister wasn't being very congenial and LAPD didn't appreciate that?

[quote] We want to stress that the family has not publicly announced any information regarding an alleged marriage because we did not have the facts or the necessary documents to verify the legitimacy of this…

The sister knew that this was possibly a scam and kept on asking for GoFundMe $, LAPD resources, etc. Were they waiting for Hannah to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? Pretty sure her bedroom would have been searched (by family) a long time ago, to find clues.

LAPD was probably sick of sister's half-truths.

^Scooby doo on the case.

I condole.

Gotta do what you gotta do.

[quote] Now I'm beginning to wonder about the EX-boyfriend, who made the connecting flight to NY. Not that I think he was intentionally hiding something....

But he most likely DID have something to do with it:

[quote] Kobayashi was apparently scammed out of the proceeds of a purported immigration scheme possibly concocted by her former partner, who left Maui with Kobayashi on Nov. 8 and landed at LAX with plans to catch a connecting flight to New York City.

[quote] Also on the plane, sources say, was Kobayashi’s new husband, Alan Cacace, an Argentinian man whose own girlfriend, Marianna, was reportedly on the flight with Kobayashi’s ex.

I'm guessing that her ex-boyfriend, her new "husband," and her "husband's" girlfriend Marianna were all in on the scam.

I think they're all Argentinian and probably duped her into marrying him so he could get a green card, and then didn't pay her the money.

She seems dumb enough to fall for it.

And if she told anyone, then she would get in trouble too because it's a major crime.

Another case of GFM abuse.

[quote] twelve days before her father, Ryan, 53, apparently leapt to his death from a parking structure near the airport

Many people were speculating that he was pushed from the parking garage.

Now I'm starting to wonder if there is any truth to those rumors?

Especially when it comes to covering up a green card scam.

Well, I googled and it tells me it's a felony!!

Someone I know was gonna marry for green card too, even asked me to be witness but I refused.

R239 - the last reference I read about the father's death yesterday day referred to it as "alleged suicide."

I read that too, R239.

They changed the wording in that article.

Interesting.

Lock her up!

Lock her up!

And deny her an abortion!

It’s uppity broads like her who are dragging this great country down!

What a sociopath. Her poor dad.

Damn, dad died for nothing

The lesson: Stay out of your adult children's bidness.

is there now some speculation that the father was murdered as opposed to committing suicide?

[quote] Hannah Kobayashi’s aunt parts ways with rest of family

The aunt of missing woman Hannah Kobayashi announced she is parting ways with Kobayashi’s mother and sister in her effort to locate her niece.

Larie Pidgeon told NewsNation that she made the decision to part ways with her sister and daughter and said she saw no need to use funds raised by the family on a lawyer instead of a private investigator.

Pidgeon also said she is not associated with her sister’s GoFundMe account and never has been.

“My sole focus remains on finding Hannah and ensuring her safety and well-being. It has now been 25 days since anyone has heard from her, and I am determined to continue my search,” she said. “I am preparing to travel to Mexico personally to further the efforts to locate her and verify that she is acting of her own free will and is truly safe.”

This family is a DRAMA factory, much like the one I’m estranged from.

I'm looking forward to the Netflix dramatisation of this saga.

“Not Without My Lying, Two-Faced Whore of a Daughter,” coming to Netflix.

The father, played by Benedict Wong.

And obviously, Emma Stone has the market cornered on Hawaiian-Asian roles.

Awkwafina should be cast as the overdramatic older sister.

Olivia Munn IS Hannah

[quote] And obviously, Emma Stone has the market cornered on Hawaiian-Asian roles.

Huh? "Obviously"?

Looks pretty unambiguously Caucasian, IMO.

Never mind. I see she was cast in a movie called "Aloha" as a Hawaiian / Asian person.

I think Gal Gadot should play Hannah because she has the same far away look in her eyes — that of a free-spirited artiste who crosses boundaries.

I'd be up for Gal in the role of Hannah, if she records another version of Imagine for the soundtrack.

Dean Cain can play Hannah's father. He did a really good job as Scott Peterson, apparently.

J-Lo as Hannah. She can sing her thoughts as she treks through LA and across the border like Babs did in Yentyl.

And do her angry dance R262. The dance that is a lot of clomping around with her mouth hanging open in an effort to look fierce.

[quote] Man Who Spent Hours with Hannah Kobayashi Before Her Disappearance Reveals What They Discussed

Before she walked into Mexico and vanished — either by choice, as the police believe, or potentially as the result of something more nefarious, Hannah Kobayashi spent the night in Los Angeles with a stranger she happened to meet at the airport.

The two formed a quick bond after crossing paths and then spent about nine hours together, walking through downtown L.A. and meandering their way to Union Station, where they fell asleep.

In the morning, Kobayashi was gone.

This is according to members of the L.A. Police Department’s missing persons unit who announced Kobayashi was being classified as a voluntary disappearance.

Law enforcement says they devoted significant resources since mid-November untangling Kobayashi’s case after she arrived in the city from Hawaii.

A key discovery, police say, was in learning the truth about reports Kobayashi had been seen with an unknown person who could have put her in danger.

“It’s already in the news that she's with this male who's scary, and she's in big trouble,” Lt. Doug Oldfield said.

“For a while, he was the last person to have seen her when we didn't know where she was. So we did have to spend a few days on this to ensure that nothing bad happened."

Oldfield says investigators were able to track the man down only days after Kobayashi was first reported missing and, in the course of their work, subsequently confirmed his story about the time they spent together, including through video footage and the man’s own statements.

In an interview with Detective Omar Franco, who heads the missing persons unit, Oldfield says authorities looked into the man with an open mind in the days after Kobayashi’s case was opened.

"I would say, with this case, there were days and days where there's as many reasons that something could have gone totally wrong as there were reasons that everything was okay,” Oldfield says.

As officials learned more, their view of the man’s relationship to Kobayashi changed.

“We have this gentleman, we have them walking on video. We're looking — hey, does this person seem like she's in distress, what does she look like? We see a lot of smiling,” Oldfield says. “We see smiling from the guy.”

“There's another video where she passes by two police officers and has a chance maybe to say, ‘Help, help,’ if there's anything wrong,” the lieutenant continues. “So, from here, we're able to then get a better idea of who this guy was and we identified him.”

He and Kobayashi met at LAX’s train stop and struck up a conversation around 9 p.m. local time on Nov. 11 as she was leaving the airport.

"We haven't spoken to her, but from what we gather is that she was looking to understand how to get to Union Station and that he was going to assisting getting her there," Oldfield says.

“For the amount of time they spent together, he pretty much was an ear to listen,” Franco, the detective, says. “She just spoke and talked about her life in Maui, her personal life, her love life and so forth. And he just listened to her.”

The man described Kobayashi as a “free spirit” but said she seemed coherent and normal. She didn’t seem scared. She said she wanted to go see the redwoods and also mentioned plans to be in New York.

Once at Union Station, Kobayashi and the man spent several more hours and ate dinner. They went to sleep in a waiting area, as travelers sometimes do. Then Kobayashi got up by herself, gathered her luggage and “walked off on her own,” Franco says.

“These things, we were able to corroborate,” Oldfield says.

She bought a bus ticket at 6:10 a.m. local time on Nov. 12 and boarded shortly after, then arrived at the border about four hours after that. She walked into Tijuana around noon.

Her phone, for whatever reason, was left behind at LAX.

Because police believe Kobayashi is in Mexico by choice, their investigation has stopped, though she will remain in the system until her well-being is confirmed.

Isn’t JoLo about 30 years too old to play this chick?

You know it and I know it R265, but JLo don't know it.

[quote]Her phone, for whatever reason, was left behind at LAX.

Very strange human being, this one.

I have often thought about leaving my phone behind and walking out of my life permanently.

I did it - never looked back.

Why not just turn the phone off for a while? Many, many reasons to need it while touring a foreign country. Just ignore voicemails from worried-sick family if (you're a sociopath and) you must.

It’s inspiring to see somebody leave their life behind especially in this day and age. It’s always been a fantasy of mine but I have a healthy relationship with my family and don’t think I could put them through that. It

[quote]It’s inspiring to see somebody leave their life behind especially in this day and age.

Dad probably would have preferred a heads-up.

She'll be back to dip into the GoFundMe dollars when she's finished her Mexican Eat Pray Love Gone Girl tour.

She's an adult who can make her own choices. I hope she's safe and enjoying herself.

JLo is also a half a foot shorter than Hannah.

Sorry, but Gal Gadot IS Hannah Kobayashi.

Family attorney thinks "there will be more twists."

[quote] Hannah Kobayashi's family says she has been found

The case of Hannah Kobayashi, a 30-year-old Hawaii woman who the Los Angeles Police Department believes “voluntarily” disappeared in early November, has generated much national attention as her family and supporters have tried to figure out what happened to her.

On Dec. 11, exactly one month since Kobayashi’s family members said they last heard from her, her family issued a statement through their attorney saying they "are incredibly relieved and grateful" that she "has been found safe."

Sara Azari@azarilaw

[italic]Statement On Behalf Of The Family Of Hannah Kobayashi[/italic]

[bold]We are incredibly relieved and grateful that Hannah has been found safe. This past month has been an unimaginable ordeal for our family, and we kindly ask for privacy as we take the time to heal and process everything we have been through. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us.[/bold]

I hope they found her in a hospital suffering from amnesia. Because what she did to her family was incredibly shitty.

Absolutely, R280.

This family trashed the LAPD, scammed GoFundMe donors, and her father killed himself.

This cunt should be in jail.

Must be nice…..

Must be nice….

Now that she’s been found alive and safe, will the feds be coming after her for the sham immigration marriage thing? I believe that’s a federal felony.

NOW they want to clam up.

[Quote]We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us.

[quote] We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us.

Translation: We got our money, now leave us alone!

[quote] reportedly sent a series of troubling text messages to her family implying that someone had stolen her identity. “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds. For someone I thought I loved,” one reportedly read.

It sounds like she thought the arranged marriage was more than that. She’s a bit naive and he played her. She gave the guy money and then found out he had a girlfriend. Sat there on the flight from Hawaii to LA, ruminating and then said screw it and got off. Remember, it was two weeks or so before her family was able to get police interested and by then she was in Mexico, not watching the news. Imagine you’ve been sitting on the beach for days beating yourself up for being an idiot over a guy and then you learn there’s a manhunt for you and your estranged father has jumped off the roof and you’re gonna get blamed for that too.

She sounds stupid.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Whether she "loved" the fake husband or not, she is well into adulthood and knew she was committing a serious crime.

Her smoke shop coworker sounded like a dumb ass (from Daily Mail article). She was texting the ex-BF, demanding to know why he didn't stay with Hannah in LAX (instead of getting on the plane to NY).

The ALL actually sound average, at most, in intelligence.

Photo (in Daily Mail) of ex-BF was a mug shot.

She was known to use cocaine, whippets, and psychedelics

Me too, back in day.

I didn’t vanish into the Mexican mist, however.