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Hannah Kobayashi disappeared on November 11, 2024, but her whereabouts remain a mystery. As the case continues to go unsolved, her family is desperate to find answers and the public wants to know more details surrounding Hannah’s disappearance.
Who Is Hannah Kobayashi?
Hannah is a 30-year-old Hawaiian photographer who went missing after she left Maui to head to New York. The details around her disappearance have confused her family, law enforcement and more, and as of December 7, 2024, she still has not been located.
Details About Hannah Kobayashi’s Disappearance
On November 8, 2024, Hannah and her ex-boyfriend headed to New York from Maui, and they had a layover in Los Angeles. While her ex boarded the flight heading to New York, Hannah told her family that she missed her connection. With time to spare in L.A., she let her family know the following day that she was going sightseeing and visited downtown, as well as the Grove shopping mall.
Hannah was spotted in footage at a Nike event held at the Grove on November 10, 2024, and she later uploaded her own pictures from the event to her Instagram account. The next day, Hannah told her aunt Larie Pidgeon that she was heading back to LAX to catch another flight to New York, but she never boarded that flight either.
“If she decided to deter [sic] her trip she would’ve let us know,” Larie told CBS News in an article published on December 2, 2024. “We haven’t heard from her. We haven’t, so we know something is wrong.”
Larie continued, “Things started to get nefarious and scary on [November 11, 2024,] when it went from ‘I can’t see you. I’m so excited,’ to texts about people stealing her identity. That she was scared. That she felt unsafe. That people were going to steal her funds and that doesn’t make sense. Using pet names she’s never used before.”
The outlet shared one of the texts sent from Hannah’s phone that read, “I just finished a very intense spiritual awakening. I’m heading back to the airport to get to NYC. I might need some help getting there.”
November 11, 2024, was the last day Hannah’s family communicated with her, and the next day they filed a missing persons report in California. The same day the report was filed, Hannah’s dad, Ryan Kobayashi flew to L.A. to look for his daughter. Ten days later, a group of volunteers, including Ryan, posted missing flyers around the city.
Ryan Kobayashi Was Found Dead
Another tragedy befell the Kobayashi family on November 24, 2024, when Ryan was found dead in a parking lot near LAX. The county coroner’s report revealed Ryan’s cause of death as “multiple blunt force traumatic injuries” and that he died by suicide, per ABC7 Eyewitness News.
A GoFundMe was set up to help the Kobayashi family, and one of Ryan’s nieces wrote, “He has been living his absolute worst nightmare, since Hannah’s disappearance, and now, with his passing, our family is grappling with unimaginable grief. Ryan’s love for his family was boundless, and he would do anything to protect and care for his daughters.”
LAPD Declared Hannah Kobayashi as a ‘Voluntary Missing Person’
On December 2, 2024, law enforcement officials revealed they had footage of Hannah from November 12, 2024, that showed her crossing into Mexico by foot.
“On Nov. 12, at 12:13 p.m., she walked through the tunnel that leads to Mexico,” chief of detectives Alan Hamilton said during a press conference. “She walked through the San Ysidro port of entry, and she walked through the tunnel that leads to Mexico.”
Special enforcement officer Douglas Oldfield added that Hannah used public transit to reach the Mexican border.
“She traveled through the MTA,” Oldfield said. “She then made it to Union Station [in Los Angeles]. At Union Station, she used her passport and cash to purchase a ticket to get to the border, and she then crossed the border.”
Hannah Kobayashi May Have Been Part of a Green Card Scam
On December 4, 2024, Los Angeles Magazine reported that Hannah’s family was allegedly looking into the possibility that Hannah was a victim of a potential green card marriage scam. The outlet claimed that sources told them that she was possibly “scammed out of the proceeds of the purported immigration scheme.”
Insiders claimed that the possible scam was uncovered by Hannah’s mother after she discovered immigration documents in Hannah’s home. The documents also listed an immigration attorney.
“That attorney was not cooperative with the mom,” the insider told Los Angeles Magazine.
However, the Kobayashi family’s attorney, Sara Azari, stressed that nothing regarding a green card scam had been confirmed yet.
“We want to stress that the family has not publicly announced any information regarding an alleged marriage because we did not have the facts or the necessary documents to verify the legitimacy of this information,” Sara wrote via X on December 4, 2024. “The family has not confirmed the authenticity of the images or the accuracy of the information provided about a possible secret marriage. This is one of many leads we are actively investigating with the help of our attorney and investigative team. We would also like to confirm that we turned over the alleged information to law enforcement immediately upon receipt.”
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