Ryan Kobayashi, who flew to Los Angeles from Hawaii in search of his missing daughter, has been found dead near the Los Angeles international airport. Ryan Kobayashi had been searching for his 31-year-old daughter, Hannah Kobayashi, who was last seen at the airport on 8 November en route to New York City.
“After tirelessly searching throughout Los Angeles for 13 days, Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, tragically took his own life,” the family wrote in a statement shared by the Rad Movement, a missing persons non-profit. “This loss has compounded the family’s suffering immeasurably.”
According to the Los Angeles county medical examiner, Ryan Kobayashi’s body was discovered in a parking lot on Sunday. Los Angeles police responded to reports of an apparent suicide there at 4am. He was 58.
The Kobayashi family has urged the public to “maintain focus” on the search for Hannah.
“Hannah IS still actively missing and is believed to be in imminent danger. It is crucial for everyone to remain vigilant in their efforts to locate Hannah,” the family’s statement read.
Hannah Kobayashi boarded a flight from Maui on 8 November, intending to visit her aunt in upstate New York. She landed in Los Angeles that day, but left the airport and missed her connecting flight.
In Los Angeles, Hannah Kobayashi visited the Grove shopping mall, where she spent time at Taschen bookstore and attended the LeBron XXII Trial Experience, an event held at the Nike store, on 10 November. The next day, Hannah Kobayashi’s mother texted to see if she’d made it to New York. Hannah Kobayashi responded no. The same day, she messaged a friend saying that someone was trying to steal her identity.
“Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f**k since Friday,” she wrote to a friend. “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds” for “someone I thought I loved”.
The text messages appeared suspicious to Hannah Kobayashi’s family. “It just didn’t seem right because it’s not how she normally texts,” Sydni Kobayashi, Hannah’s sister, told the Los Angeles Times.
That was the last day that anyone heard from Hannah Kobayashi – and the same day Ryan Kobayashi decided to fly to Los Angles in search of her. The following day her family filed a missing persons report.
On 15 November, the Los Angeles police department released a missing persons poster of Hannah Kobayashi. In a statement released that day, the family said it had obtained surveillance video showing Hannah Kobayashi in downtown Los Angeles near Crypto.com Arena. In the footage, the family wrote: “It is evident that Hannah does not appear to be in good condition and she is not alone.”
Two days later, Syndi Kobayashi wrote on Facebook: “LAPD has not been of much help and are not taking this as seriously as we would hope because my sister is considered an adult who can make her own choices.” On 21 November, her family held a vigil for Hannah at the Crypto Arena where she was last seen, where her aunt, Laire Pidgeon, told NBC News that the family was trying to make the police “take us seriously because it’s been 11 days”.
