A series of troubling text messages has heightened concerns for a Hawaii woman who vanished while on her way to a “bucket list” vacation in New York City.
Hannah Kobayashi, 31, was supposedly en route to see her aunt in the Big Apple when she texted a friend that she “got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds,” her worried family told HawaiiNewsNow.
In a second message, Kobayashi told the friend that she was supposedly hoodwinked “for someone I thought I loved.”
She claimed that “deep hackers” had stolen her identity and her money, then suggested that she might go to a homeless shelter, or catch a bus “to the redwoods” while apologizing for the “craziness” and “weird s–t.”
Kobayashi, of Haiku, flew from Maui to Los Angeles on Nov. 8, and was meant to make a connecting flight to New York.
Surveillance footage shows her arriving in LA, but she missed her connecting flight 42 minutes later.
“I didn’t hear from her,” said Kobayashi’s mother, Brandi Yee.
“I texted her, ‘Hey, are you in New York City yet?’ She just texted me, ‘Not yet.’”
Kobayashi was looking forward to the New York trip with her aunt, and even made a handwritten itinerary with the note, “bucket list dreams become a reality,” her mom said.
A short video, however, seemed to indicate that Kobayashi was still in Los Angeles on Saturday – when she was spotted at an event, HawaiiNewsNow noted.
Her phone has been off since Monday, when her last pinned location put her back at LAX.
“She texted [the friend] that she was scared and that she couldn’t come back home or something. It was just really weird texts,” Yee said. The friend she texted was not identified.
Both Kobayashi’s mom and her sister also said the texts did not sound like her, and wondered if she actually sent them.
After Kobayashi missed her flight, “everything started getting fuzzy” in her contact with family, said her aunt Larie Pidgeon, who was supposed to meet her niece in New York.
In one message sent early Monday, Kobayashi told Pidgeon she got sidetracked on her journey due to a “very intense spiritual awakening,” the concerned relative told KITV.
In another message, she apologizes for “craziness” and said she was “definitely intercepted.”
The family filed a police report with the LAPD and LAX authorities, as well as the FBI, Pidgeon said.
“This is so unlike Hannah, she’s very responsible. I mean, she was looking forward to the event so much. She had a hotel room booked that was a couple thousand dollars, the tickets for the event was a couple of hundred dollars,” she lamented.
“We just wanted to get the word out as soon as possible, because the more time that passes, the less we know what happens,” said Yee.
“Anything could happen.”
As of Friday morning, the family had not been able to locate Kobayashi’s phone. All their calls go directly to voicemail, they said.
When asked if she had a message for Kobayashi, her aunt became emotional, KITV said.
“We will not stop until we find you, you have so many family, you have so many friends who love you so, so, so much … If you’re feeling scared or if you feel alone, you are not. We are with you,” she told the outlet.
Hannah Kobayashi is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall and about 140 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes, and is fair-skinned with freckles.
