Father of Missing Hannah Kobayashi Found Dead After Flying to LA to Help Find Her
The 58-year-old father of missing photographer Hannah Kobayashi has tragically died suddenly after he flew to Los Angeles to help find his daughter.
In a horrific double-tragedy for the family, Ryan Kobayashi was found dead at the bottom of a parking structure in LAX airport at around 4 am on Sunday, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Hannah Kobayashi disappeared after missing her connecting flight in Los Angeles on November 8.
She was flying to New York from Maui, Hawaii.
However, when the flight made a stop in Los Angeles, Hannah disappeared.
She flew from Hawaii to LAX on the same flight as her ex-boyfriend, who had booked tickets for the two of them before they split up.
He continued to New York and is “cooperating with police,” according to reports.
Hannah went missing after a mystery final text was sent from her phone.
The text was talking about her having a “spiritual awakening.”
Her stricken father flew in to help authorities search for her.
However, he was found dead shortly after arriving in Los Angeles.
A coroner has confirmed Ryan’s death.
However, the coroner has not yet released an official cause of death.
Ryan had been searching for his daughter for 13 days.
He was seen as recently as Friday when he was handing out flyers to passers-by in Los Angeles, pleading for information that could help find his daughter.
In a statement, the Kobayashi family, from Hawaii, revealed that Ryan had committed suicide after being unable to locate his daughter.
“The Kobayashi family endured a devastating tragedy today,” the statement said.
“After tirelessly searching throughout Los Angeles for 13 days, Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, tragically took his own life.
“This loss has compounded the family’s suffering immeasurably.
“What the family needs most in this difficult time is for all communities to rally around them with support, compassion, and prayers.
“Please be considerate with your comments and posts.
“The trauma they are enduring is profound, and they now face the additional burden of grieving the loss of their family’s pillar and navigating next steps.”
Ryan’s death comes as the search for Hannah continues.
She sent a series of eerie texts to her loved ones, claiming she had recently undergone a “spiritual awakening” after she was due to meet family in New York.
The young traveler was captured by a security camera disembarking the plane just before 10 pm on November 8.
Kobayashi, an aspiring photographer, was seen wearing a black hoodie and colorful sweatpants as she walked through LAX.
She was due to take a connecting flight at 11 pm.
However, she never made her flight.
Kobayashi was spotted at The Grove shopping mall between midday and 3 pm the following day, on November 9.
She spent a considerable amount of time at Taschen Books, where she stopped to charge her phone.
At 2:43 she snapped a picture and sent it to her aunt.
She then returned to the airport where she is believed to have spent the night.
From there, she once again called her family to say she was still trying to get to New York
In a separate YouTube video outside of an event in Los Angeles on November 10, Hannah can be seen wearing the same clothing.
She was spotted at a Nike event featuring LeBron James in LA at around 3:30 pm.
Hannah was wearing the same dark hoodie and headphones she wore at the airport.
Kobayashi also shared a post on her Instagram from the event with an eye emoji as the caption.
She was next spotted talking to a ticketing agent at LAX at around 5 pm.
That same day, a missing persons report was filed by her family the same day amid what they described as uncharacteristic correspondence from Kobayashi.
One of her text messages read: “Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f**k since Friday.”
Kobayashi’s mother, Brandi Yee, also sent her a text message asking if she made it to New York.
She responded simply: “Not yet.”
Another early-morning text mentioned how she was in the middle of a “spiritual awakening.”
On a missing-persons poster sent out immediately after, police wrote:
“Prior to going missing, [Kobayashi] sent a message on November 10, mentioning feeling scared, and that someone might be trying to steal her money and identity.
“She hasn’t been heard from since.”
The next day, November 11, Kobayashi was spotted boarding an LAX Metro C line at Aviation/Century Station.
She got on board at 9:02 pm, before transferring to a different train at the Rosa Parks Station.
Kobayashi was finally seen leaving the Metro Pico Station with the unidentified person at 10:03 pm
While mother Brandi Yee and sister Sydni Kobayashi think Hannah left the airport and attended an event, a friend believes otherwise.
The anonymous concerned companion said she received strange texts from Kobayashi’s phone indicating that she may be in trouble.
“I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds,” the messages read.
“For someone I thought I loved.”
The family also noted that the young artist’s phone has been off since November 11 and her last pinned location was at the Los Angeles Airport.
“She heard from Hannah. She was at LAX, and she said that she was scared,” Yee said.
Sydni further added: “She texted her that she was scared and that she couldn’t come back home or something.
“It was just really weird texts.”
Both Hannah’s mother and sister also believe that the messages “did not sound like her” and wonder if it was Hannah who sent them.
Yee remarked, “Yeah, we share location” to which Sydni added:
“And we know her phone’s off because it goes straight to voicemail.
“We’ve been trying to call and call and call, text.
“None of the texts are getting delivered. We can’t locate her phone.”
It remains unclear why she left LA’s LAX airport and ventured out into the city 15 miles away.
Her family has also revealed that Hannah’s ex-boyfriend was also traveling on the same flight from Maui to LAX.
But the duo did not sit together or speak on the flight after the former pair bought tickets before they broke up.
Her father, Ryan Kobayashi, said prior to his death that her former partner had boarded the connecting flight and reached New York.
He also assured that her ex-boyfriend has been extremely responsive and cooperative with the investigation.
“A lot of worrying, a lot of confusion,” he said.
“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.
“We’re just trying to get us as much information as we can.”
