The father of missing Maui woman Hannah Kobayashi has been found dead in Los Angeles near LAX, police said.
Ryan Kobayashi traveled to LA to help search for his 30-year-old daughter, who has been missing since stopping over at Los Angeles International Airport on her way to New York City from Hawaii on November 8.
Her father, 58, died in an apparent suicide and was found in the early hours of Sunday in a parking lot near the airport, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, NBC Los Angeles reports.
Just a few days ago, he was handing out missing persons flyers to people on the street and said he would do everything in his power until his daughter was found.
“She’s a wonderful person who brings joy to so many people,” he said.
The 30-year-old went missing after she missed her connecting flight at LAX earlier this month on her way to New York City, which was a bucket list trip.
Hannah Kobayashi, 30, vanished last week while traveling from Hawaii to New York City (Sydni Kobayashi/Facebook)
The following day on November 9, she was spotted at a bookstore at The Grove, a popular outdoor mall in LA. A day later, she was seen at a Lebron James event.
On November 11, surveillance video showed her at a downtown Los Angeles Metro stop with a person not known to her family. Larie Pidgeon, Hannah’s aunt told KTLA 5 her niece did not look well. “She is not safe, and she is not alone,” she said.
Her family previously told the Daily Mail police waited 10 days after Kobayashi went missing to contact them.
Before she disappeared, Hannah sent cryptic texts to a friend saying she had been “tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds” to “someone I thought I loved.”
Her sister, Sydni Kobayashi, described the texts as “really weird.” Hannah added that she was scared and couldn’t come back home.
Then the texts suddenly stopped.
Hannah is 5ft 10ins and weighs about 140 pounds. She has brown hair and eyes, and fair skin with freckles.
She was set to meet one of her aunts, Geordan Montalvo and her husband Bob, in New York. All of them had tickets for a concert on November 12.
The search for Hannah continues.
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
