The mystery over Hannah Kobayashi’s disappearance deepens as her family reveals the chilling text messages they received from her phone. The 31-year-old vanished after missing a connecting flight from Maui to New York from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on November 8.
Hannah Kobayashi’s family received chilling text messages from her phone
Kobayashi was supposed to land at New York City’s JFK airport on November 9. Instead, she was seen at an event at The Grove in Los Angeles, about an hour away from LAX. However, her phone located her back at the Los Angeles Airport on November 11, the day she was last heard from. Her family filed a missing person’s report with the Los Angeles Police Department on November 12, describing her as 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds.
When Kobayashi flew into Los Angeles, the surveillance footage showed her inside the airport. Her mother, Brandi Yee, sent her a text message asking if she had reached New York, to which she replied, “Not Yet,” as reported by Hawaii News Now. Yee revealed that her daughter was due to meet with her aunt in New York. An excited Kobayashi had even prepared a hand-written itinerary stating, “Bucket list dreams become a reality.”
“My sister, I reached out to her,” Yee continued, adding, “And I’m like, ‘Hey, have you heard from Hannah?’ She’s like, ‘No. She’s supposed to meet me at the hotel in New York City, and we’re supposed to go to a show tonight.’” As Kobayashi had just 42 minutes to make her connecting flight, Yee figured she must have missed it. A YouTube video from the Nike event at The Grove backed her belief as it placed Kobayashi in Los Angeles on Saturday.
However, a family friend received rather strange messages from Kobayashi that read, “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds… For someone I thought I loved.” “She heard from Hannah. She was at LAX, and she said that she was scared,” Yee said of the message. Meanwhile, her sister sister, Sydni Kobayashi said, “She texted her that she was scared and that she couldn’t come back home or something. It was just really weird texts.”
“It’s weird to me because it doesn’t sound like her, like there’s just something off about it. So I wasn’t too sure. I don’t know if it’s her or if someone else was texting,” Sydni added. Reflecting on their decision to file a missing person’s report, Yee said, “We just wanted to get the word out as soon as possible, because the more time that passes, the less we know what happens.”
“Please help her, if you can. If you know where she’s at, or you have the chance to just help her, please. We just want to bring her home,” Kobayashi’s mother said in a heartbreaking plea to the outlet, which added, “Anyone with information is asked to call the family at (845) 750-3006.”
