Hawaii woman disappears after missed flight at LAX: Family receives cryptic texts

Hannah Kobayashi's last confirmed location was Los Angeles, where she was spotted at a Nike pop-up event on Nov 9.

The disappearance of 31-year-old traveler Hannah Kobayashi has left her family and authorities scrambling for answers after a series of chilling texts and a mysterious timeline of events. 

Hannah, who left Maui, Hawaii, on November 8 for a planned trip to New York, has not been seen since surveillance footage captured her at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). She never boarded her connecting flight to JFK.  

Her mother, Brandi Yee, received a brief and unsettling text from Hannah's phone when she inquired about her arrival in New York. 

The response simply read, “Not yet.” Another text claimed Hannah had been “tricked” out of her money, while a third cryptic message said, “For someone I thought I loved.”  

Adding to the mystery, Hannah’s sister, Sydni, described receiving “really weird texts” from her. These messages alleged that Hannah was homeless, hacked, and unable to fly due to her identity being “stripped.” 

One message said, “Some weird s**t, babe,” in response to questions about her journey from Maui to Los Angeles.  

Hannah’s itinerary revealed a well-thought-out plan for her time in New York, with activities including the Brooklyn Folk Festival and visiting her aunt. 

Yet, her last confirmed location was Los Angeles, where she was spotted at a Nike pop-up event at The Grove on November 9. A YouTube video and an Instagram post appeared to place her at the event.  

Family members filed a missing persons report on November 13, and calls to Hannah’s phone now go straight to voicemail. 

On November 11, she reportedly messaged her aunt about undergoing a “very intense spiritual awakening,” adding, “I’m charging my phone and heading back to the airport to get to NYC. I might need some help getting there; it’s a long story.”  

Yee likened the ordeal to a nightmare, saying, “We did everything that we could do. I woke up last night crying. This is like the sister, mother, anyone’s worst nightmare of losing your child.”  

The timeline of Hannah’s disappearance reveals troubling gaps. While she left Maui on November 8 and was due in New York on November 9, she was last definitively seen in Los Angeles. 

Authorities are urgently searching for her, while her family continues to plead for answers.