The mysterious disappearance of Hawaiian photographer Hannah Kobayashi has been marred by outrageous conspiracy theories, including that she was brainwashed by a cult and blackmailed by African hackers. may have literally caused her death, her aunt said.
Police say Ryan Kobayashi, 53, jumped from a Los Angeles International Airport parking lot Sunday morning while searching for his daughter. Her daughter went missing earlier this month after missing her connecting flight to New York on a “bucket list” trip.
The devastated father was likely consumed by intense online speculation about his young daughter. Armchair experts theorized her alleged ties to a mystical cult called Twin Flames, the possibility of a rift between father and daughter, and even the possibility of psychosis.
“It’s a bull!” It’s a bull! ” her aunt, Larry Pidgeon, told the Post on Monday. “Imagine if Ryan was watching all this, that would weigh on him?”
“He's broken,” she continued. “He died of a broken heart. We were actively looking for him and Ryan was a big, giant teddy bear. He's sensitive. He looks at places like Skid Row and doesn't sleep well. Imagine your daughter being sex trafficked without him. He just broke down.”
Hannah, 30, was scheduled to fly from Maui to Los Angeles on Nov. 8, with a stopover in New York City to visit her aunt. She and her ex-boyfriend had the same travel plans, but her sister Sydney Kobayashi agreed to go their separate ways in the Big Apple. he told CNN last week.
However, the budding photographer never made the second flight, and a few days later her cell phone sent her a strange text message.
“Deep hackers erased my identity, stole all my funds, and have been making me anxious since Friday,” the email to a friend said.
“I was tricked into donating all my money… to someone I thought I loved,” said one person.
Pidgeon said she sent a text to her aunt in New York saying, “I just finished a very intense spiritual awakening.”
Hannah's voice was last heard on November 11th. Hannah's case has since gone viral, with internet sleuths speculating about her whereabouts deep on Reddit and even in the comments on her Instagram account.
Some say she was brainwashed by cultists like the infamous love-obsessed faction Twin Flames, who were also the subject of a disturbing Netflix documentary series. Hannah's Instagram account shows she follows Twin Flames-related accounts, but Pidgeon said she never mentioned the group.
Some claimed they had been blackmailed by African hackers.
Additionally, some say Hannah was running away from her abusive father, while others say she was kidnapped by a gang to which her father owed money.
Some claimed that her father had orchestrated the kidnapping.
“People want a lot more from this story than just that the world is cruel and evil and a woman traveling alone can be taken away in the blink of an eye,” Pidgeon said.
Pidgeon said her niece was kidnapped while trying to book a flight at the airport, and that the strange emails, which looked nothing like Hannah, were either blackmailed or sent by her kidnapper. I believe it.
The family is loving and close, and Pidgeon, who lives in northern California, said he spoke to Kobayashi on the phone several times a week and that she never seemed distressed or mentally unstable. .
“Everything was normal until the 11th. We are the kind of family that when something goes wrong, you ask for help. She wasn't trying to hide anything,” Pidgeon said.
There were no major conflicts within the family, and Kobayashi was not involved in any cults. Her father did not owe any money to the gang, and the niece definitely did not kidnap herself.
But Ryan's tragic death only galvanized conspiracy theorists.
“I can't imagine a parent really wanting to find their child and ending it all before they know what happened…I don't know, but this seems like he might have been involved in some way.” ,” one commenter wrote on r/findhannahkobashi. The subreddit had approximately 2,000 members
“It's much more likely that they're all in a death cult,” another person scrawled.
“I believe [the family] “They omit important details because they think they will lose public support,” writes Steve Fisher, a self-proclaimed “missing persons private investigator” with more than 20,000 followers on X. .
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or Crisis Send text to Text Line (741741).
