Hannah Kobayashi case: Latest updates on the missing Hawaii woman after her father is found dead amid ongoing search

The father of a Hawaii woman who went missing two weeks ago was found dead in Los Angeles on Sunday, the local police department reported. Ryan Kobayashi, 58, had traveled to the city to try to help find his missing daughter Hannah, who reportedly disappeared after missing a flight out of Los Angeles International Airport earlier this month.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner reported that Kobayashi’s body was found in a parking lot early Sunday morning. The Kobayashi family said in a statement that Kobayashi “tragically took his own life” after “tirelessly searching throughout Los Angeles for 13 days.”

“The family of Hannah Kobayashi is urgently pleading with the public to maintain focus on the search for her,” the statement continued. “Hannah IS still actively missing and is believed to be in imminent danger.”

The county coroner's office confirmed Monday that Ryan Kobayashi died by suicide.

Hannah Kobayashi, 31, was reported missing after she was last seen at the Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 11. She was traveling from her home in Hawaii to New York in early November to visit an aunt and allegedly missed two connecting flights out of Los Angeles on Nov. 8 and Nov. 11. She has not been in contact with her family since then.

What happened to Hannah Kobayashi?

Hannah first missed a connecting flight from Maui to New York City at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 8, Kobayashi family members told USA Today. Her sister Sydni explained to CNN that Hannah and her boyfriend had planned to visit an aunt in upstate New York, but they broke up after booking the flights. They agreed to go ahead with the trip separately, and the ex-boyfriend successfully boarded the Nov. 8 connecting flight to New York.

The family said they had seen security footage of Hannah leaving the airport on Nov. 8 and then again at The Grove shopping center on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, which is about 12 miles north of LAX. On Nov. 11, Hannah posted on her public Instagram account about attending a Nike event at the Grove and was even spotted on a stranger’s YouTube video about the event that was filmed on Nov. 10.

Hannah then returned to LAX on Nov. 11 but did not board a flight. Larie Pidgeon, one of Hannah’s aunts, told USA Today that on Nov. 11, the family “started getting texts” from Hannah’s number that said she “didn’t feel safe, that someone was trying to steal her funds, that someone was trying to take her identity.”

Pidgeon said the messages sent to family and friends included “weird things, calling us babe, things that weren’t quite the normal way that she speaks.”

"She texted [a friend] that she was scared and that she couldn’t come back home or something," Sydni told HawaiiNewsNow. "It was just really weird texts. … It doesn’t sound like her — like there’s just something off about it. So I wasn’t too sure. I don’t know if it’s her or if someone else was texting.”

That was the last communication anyone has received from Hannah’s cellphone number. The family also told HawaiiNewsNow that Hannah’s ex-boyfriend, who arrived in New York on Nov. 8, has been “extremely responsive and cooperative with the investigation.”

On Nov. 15, the LAPD missing persons unit made a poster describing Hannah and stating that she was last seen at LAX on Nov. 11. The family also filed a report with the FBI.

A group of people gathered in Los Angeles after the missing person report was filed, in order to search nearby areas to see if they could find Hannah. Her father, Ryan, was one of them.

“There’s a lot of people looking for you Hannah,” Ryan told the NBC affiliate KHNL of Honolulu. “So, if you get this, if you see anything, just go to the police, go to anybody. There’s a lot of people out there that care and love you, Hannah.”