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Family’s fears for Hawaii woman who vanished on bucket list trip to New York after sending ‘weird’ texts

Missing Hannah Kobayashi’s sister described the final texts from her sibling as ‘very weird’

Katie Hawkinson
Saturday 16 November 2024 02:22 GMT
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Hannah Kobayashi, 30, vanished last week while traveling from Hawaii to New York City
Hannah Kobayashi, 30, vanished last week while traveling from Hawaii to New York City (Sydni Kobayashi/Facebook)

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A missing Hawaii woman’s family has revealed the “really weird” final texts she sent before vanishing en route to New York City last week.

Hannah Kobayashi, 30, was last seen on November 8 when she departed her hometown of Maui, Hawaii to visit her aunt in New York City. Kobayashi was excited about the trip, her mother Brandi Yee told HawaiiNewsNow. She even wrote in her itinerary: “Bucket list dreams become a reality.”

The 30-year-old flew into Los Angeles, where she was meant to catch another flight to the Big Apple. But no one has heard from her since she landed in California, according to HawaiiNewsNow.

Surveillance footage shows Kobayashi arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on November 8
Surveillance footage shows Kobayashi arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on November 8 (Sydni Kobayashi/Facebook)

Surveillance footage shows Kobayashi landing safely at Los Angeles International Airport. There, she began sending texts to a friend.

“I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds,” the text messages read, according to HawaiiNewsNow. “For someone I thought I loved.”

Her sister, Sydni Kobayashi, described the texts as “really weird.”

“She texted her that she was scared and that she couldn’t come back home or something,” the 30-year-old’s sister told HawaiiNewsNow. “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,” she added. “So I wasn’t too sure. I don’t know if it’s her or if someone else was texting.”

Yee told HawaiiNewsNow she first knew something was wrong when she stopped hearing from Kobayashi. When Yee reached out to Kobayashi’s aunt, she confirmed the 30-year-old never made it to the city.

“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,’” Yee said.

The family has filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Yee made a public plea to anyone who might have information about her daughter: “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.”

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