The family of Hannah Kobayashi has gathered in Los Angeles to retrace the steps of a photographer who disappeared after she missed a transfer flight to New York and then disappeared after a series of mysterious messages and a brief appearance with an unknown person on surveillance footage near Skid Row.
The 31-year-old Oahu, Hawaii resident had planned a vacation to see her aunt in New York City and flew from Maui to Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 8, her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told Fox News Digital. He was excited about the first music photography show in the city, had a travel schedule and paid for thousands of hotel rooms, Pidgeon said.
Kobayashi was scheduled to take a connecting flight to New York, with a 40-minute layover at 11 a.m., and planned to go to the show with his aunt, but he never boarded the plane. His family isn’t sure why.
Then friends and family receive strange text messages that don’t match the young woman’s usual rhythm. He sent a message to a friend that he was “scammed into giving me all his funds” and that he was scammed “for someone I love.”
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Hannah Kobayashi, 31, was last seen on surveillance footage from the Pico Metro station with an unidentified man on November 11. She never boarded the flight from LAX to JFK on November 8. (Larie Pidgeon)
“There’s not a single emoji. He’s an artist. … Instead of … a question mark, he’ll drop a crystal ball — he’s really funny — and there’s no one,” Pidgeon said Thursday. “They said someone was trying to steal funds, not cash, not money, funds. Like, who uses that word?”
“He (wrote her) had a spiritual awakening, he was concerned about the matrix. It was just the strangest text message. And then from, ‘Hi, I can’t wait to see you. Love you. Everything is fine.'”
Before sending the message, Kobayashi was seen talking to a ticket agent and trying to fly directly to New York instead of waiting on standby, Pidgeon said.
Hannah Kobayashi is pictured in surveillance footage from LAX on November 8. Her family said there is also surveillance footage from Nov. 11 showing her with an unidentified man at the Pico Metro Station in downtown Los Angeles but it has not been released to the public. (Missing People of America/Facebook)
Kobayashi’s mother reported her missing on Nov. 11, Pidgeon said, the day when communication from the woman’s phone to family and friends stopped. Through their own investigative work, the family saw surveillance footage of Kobayashi from that day with an unknown man near the Pico Metro station in downtown LA.
“Pico Station is in a very bad neighborhood, (and) it’s late at night,” Pidgeon said. “That makes us even more worried because that’s not where Hannah would go. There’s no reason that she’s going to go into a crime environment. Even if she said, ‘Hey, I need to get a hotel room because I’m tired,’ there are 18 hotels at the airport… he must have two transfer stations to get to this station.”
A 9-month pregnant mother disappeared for a month and was last seen at her boyfriend’s house, family said.
Hannah Kobayashi’s family went to Los Angeles to distribute flyers near where she was last seen. (Larie Pidgeon)
“We can’t release the footage; we would be happy to release it to the public by the LAPD,” Pidgeon said Thursday. “We’ve seen it, we know it’s out there, and we’re like, ‘Why isn’t it released?’ At this point it’s been 10 days, I think I can help a lot in the investigation.
Pidgeon said Thursday morning that the Los Angeles Police Department had not been approached since the family filed a missing persons report. A few hours later, Kobayashi’s family said a detective had spoken to them.
The LAPD said Thursday morning that it could not confirm whether it had seen the surveillance footage or contacted the family, only that Kobayashi had been reported missing and that he had circulated a flier on his social media account.
Kobayashi also filled the phone with employees at The Grove outdoor mall and had filled out an application for a book club at TASCHEN bookstore using a Hawaii address on Nov. 11, the aunt said. Witnesses there told the family that Kobayashi was “in good spirits” and said that “he had a little time to explore in LA,” Pidgeon said.
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Kobayashi sent cryptic texts to friends and family before losing contact, writing that he had been “tricked into giving away all his funds.” (Larie Pidgeon)
“Every time we see that we’ve confirmed with an individual, they’re very healthy,” Pidgeon said of the conversation with the people who last spoke to his nephew. “He’s happy, he’s kind. He doesn’t seem (to be) drunk or on any substance. … That’s why we’re here handing out leaflets and flying, because it’s not like our character.”
Kobayashi’s family held a rally on Thursday at the Crypto.com Arena to hand out pamphlets and search the area closest to them.
“We just walked,” Pidgeon said. “You know, we just go down and up and down Skid Row.”
Pidgeon was described by his nephew, described, as an outgoing person who makes people around him laugh and dabbles in the fire Spinning, DJing and charity work. (Larie Pidgeon)
“We want to do as many interviews as we can. The longer we keep her name out there, the longer she is in the news, the more chance the family has to get her back,” said Pidgeon. “I have been a press secretary, a reporter, a photographer. This is how we love him.”
Pidgeon said the 31-year-old “does everything” and dabbles in spinning, DJing and charity work.
“She was an important person in her community, she was a good person, a good daughter, she made everyone laugh,” Pidgeon said. “If I have a problem at 2 o’clock, I can call Hannah because she will pick it up.”
Hannah Kobayashi, 31, is going to New York City to visit family. (Hannah Kobayashi via Instagram)
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Friends and family have created a minute-long video sharing memories of Kobayashi to share under the hashtag “#FindHannah.” So far, Pidgeon said, about 30 people have submitted videos, a testament to “her luck.”
“I’m just grateful for all the best wishes and support from the community and Hawaii, New York, California, everywhere,” Kobayashi’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, told Fox News Digital. “You know, it’s just amazing. We miss you, Hannah. We love you.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the RAD Movement hotline at 619-904-0840.
