More than a week after Hannah Kobayashi vanished after missing a connecting flight at LAX, her family now fears that the 30-year-old Hawaiian woman may have been abducted.
This comes after a series of suspicious text messages were sent from her phone and then Kobayashi went silent. She was last seen in surveillance footage with an unknown person on Nov. 11, her family said.
“We try not to think the worst. We’re trying to keep hope alive, but it has now been basically a week and a day since November 11, when she was last spotted with this unknown person and didn’t seem to be OK,” her family told ABC 7 Eyewitness News.
“So, our mind is now going to, you know, abduction and, I hate to say the word, but, you know, trafficked,” Larie Pidgeon, Kobayashi’s aunt, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Tuesday. “We’re doing the best that we can, but the family at this point is having to come to the reality that those things could be a possibility.”
The FBI is assisting LAPD in their search and investigation of the disappearance, according to a statement sent by to CNN by the Los Angeles FBI field office.
At the time of her disappearance, Kobayashi had been traveling from her home in Mahi to New York and had a connecting flight from Los Angeles International Airport, her sister, Sydni Kobayashi, told CNN by phone Monday. She had reportedly planned the trip with her then-boyfriend but the two had broken up before the trip but had planned to part ways at JFK Airport in New York since they could not get a refund for the trip.
Her sister told CNN that she was going to spend time with her aunt in upstate New York, but Nov. 11 was the last time anyone had heard from her.
Text messages sent from her phone the day of the disappearance used words like “hun,” “love” and “babe,” according to her sister. She said that she didn’t believe her sister had sent those texts as she doesn’t use words like that normally.
“I personally don’t think that was my sister,” Sydni Kobayashi said. “She doesn’t use the word ‘hun.’ ‘Love’ and ‘babe,’ but never ‘hun.’ Even her close friends have said the same.”
“Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f**k since Friday,” one message to a friend said.
Another message said, “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds,” followed by one saying, “For someone I thought I loved.”
On November 8, Hannah, 31, left Maui, Hawaii, and was seen on surveillance footage at Los Angeles airport. She missed her overnight flight to JFK Airport in New York, scheduled to land on November 9. She was originally spotted at a LeBron James event in Los Angeles.
According to the latest location pinned by her phone, Kobayashi was at LAX on Monday. On Monday, she also posted something on her Instagram account that appeared to be a sign from the Nike pop-up event. Her family says she hasn’t used her phone since then. Hannahs family filed a missing persons report on November 13, pleading for information.
According to a missing person poster distributed by Kobayashi’s family in November. On November 10, she sent texts expressing fear that someone was trying to steal her identity and money. Kobayashi, a frequent traveler, was thrilled about the trip, which involved a photography job and a performance.
Her aunt told Eyewitness News that she has messaged her niece and anyone out there who may have information on her disappearance.
“Hannah, we love you. We are all here. Your mom’s here, your sister’s here, your father’s here. The entire world is looking for you,” she said. “If someone has Hannah, I want you to know that she is the kindest, most beautiful soul in the entire world. And please don’t hurt her.”
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