Family of missing woman Hannah Kobayashi growing desperate for answers
The family of the missing Hawaii woman who vanished in Los Angeles this month is growing desperate after viewing alarming footage of her from more than a week ago – and are calling on authorities to ramp up their search efforts.
Loved ones of Hannah Kobayashi, 31, initially became worried after she sent a series of troubling texts to family and friends before she disappeared en route to New York for a “bucket list” trip.
A missing persons report was filed with the Los Angeles Police Department on Nov. 10, but a new video has set off a heightened sense of concern for relatives, a family rep said Wednesday.
The family recently viewed surveillance footage of Kobayashi in downtown Los Angeles that shows she was with an unidentified individual near the Pico Metro station on Nov. 11, Kobayashi’s aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told The Post.
She said she could not provide more information about the video because the investigation into her niece’s disappearance is ongoing, but it has caused “major alarm and kind of solidified the family’s suspicion that something has been awry.”
“It has made us extremely worried,” Pidgeon added.
The family hopes the new footage leads the LAPD to do more to find Kobayashi.
Pidgeon said the department has told them the probe into the case is ongoing.
“The family is kind of doing their own investigation on the ground,” Pidgeon said, adding they want to
“put a little bit more pressure on (police) to do as much as the family’s doing” in light of the new footage.
Hannah’s sister Sydni Kobayashi wrote online this week the LAPD has not been much help. She said police “are not taking this as seriously as we would hope because my sister is considered an adult who can make her own choices.”
A Daily Mail report on Wednesday claimed the sister said the family was reaching out to celebrity medium Tyler Henry for help, but Pidgeon denied that was not the case.
Hannah Kobayashi, of Haiku, flew from Maui to Los Angeles on Nov. 8 where she was supposed to hop on a connecting flight to the Empire State to visit her aunt. She missed that flight even though surveillance footage indicates she landed at LAX.
She also sent odd texts to her family and friends before she vanished, including messaging a friend that she “got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds.”
In another message, she claimed she was supposedly fooled “for someone I thought I loved.”
“Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f–k since Friday,” another message read.
Family previously said the texts from Kobayashi are not like her.
Other footage showed Kobayashi at The Grove shopping center in the Fairfax District of LA on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, as well as video of her returning to LAX, but not getting on a flight on Nov. 11 before she was seen near the metro station, USA Today reported.
Her phone has been off since Nov. 11, the family previously said.
Family members that trekked to LA to help in the search, as well as friends and volunteers, are holding a rally on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. near the Crypto.com Arena before the Los Angeles Lakers play at the venue that evening.
Hannah Kobayashi is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall and about 140 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes, and is fair-skinned with freckles.
