1 week Ago By David Propper
Hawaii photographer Hannah Kobayashi who was missing for a month before she reconnected with her family this week won’t be returning home, her sister revealed Thursday — calling the whole ordeal “absolute hell.” Sydni Kobayashi said in a long statement Thursday that she and her mother spoke with their 30-year-old relative over the phone, but still don’t know exactly where she is after she landed at LAX last month, failed to board her connecting flight and later crossed over into Mexico. “At this time, my mother and I have not physically seen Hannah.
We do not have actual proof of where she is, other than that she is somewhere in Mexico,” Sydni said in a Facebook post. “We have only spoken to her over the phone, and she was allegedly found safe with [our aunt] Larie, but at this time, she does not wish to return to us.” Larie Pidgeon, who became a de facto family spokesperson during the ordeal, has been at odds with Sydni with the two lobbing accusations at each other in the media.
Hannah’s initial disappearance sparked a furious search and nationwide attention as her family feared she was in danger. Her father Ryan Kobayashi, 58, in a tragic twist, died of an apparent suicide just days after he arrived in Los Angeles to help search for her. Hannah was reported missing on Nov.
11 after she missed a connected flight to New York. She was supposed to reach the Big Apple with a man she allegedly married in a green card scheme, her ex-boyfriend and his own alleged green card bride, a source close to the photographer previously told The Post. Hannah sent cryptic texts leading up to her disappearance, including that she “got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds” and was duped by “someone I thought I loved,” raising alarm bells with the family.
“The past 31 days have been absolute hell for us, and I feel they will continue to be for a while, even as we try to transition back to some semblance of normalcy,” Sydni said in the statement on social media. “As you can imagine, we are all extremely relieved and glad that my sister is alive and seemingly okay, but we also have mixed and overwhelming feelings of exhaustion, devastation, and betrayal,” she added. “We are kindly asking the public to respect our privacy and offer us grace for a moment as we are still grieving.
There is still so much unknown, and so much that still needs to be navigated.”.
