Friends of missing Hawaii woman Hannah Kobayashi believe the last line of text messages family members and friends received from the photographer’s cell phone are suspicious and “didn’t sound like her.”
“I had text messages with him and the messages on those screenshots don’t sound like him,” Ariana Ursua, 30, a Hawaii-based freelancer, told The Post. She met Kobayashi in 2017 at the Whole Foods she worked in Maui.
“There are emojis in every text I have from him. He has a very different way of sending messages,” Ursua said, adding that Kobayashi usually ends messages with heart emojis, stars, butterflies, waves, rainbows and the like.
He also said that Kobayashi, while a “genuine, independent spirit”, is not the kind of person to just disappear.
“I personally always feel like I can count on him – he really is one of the most caring people I know. If it was voluntary (that she went missing) she would have told it. She would have told him she was texting,” Ursua said, adding that she last spoke to her friend on Oct. 17.
“I don’t feel like it’s his job to make people worried. She won’t turn into a ghost out of nowhere. Usually at parties she’s the one who makes sure to say goodbye to her friend,” he adds.
“She was literally messaging me about Burning Man 2025 next year. She was literally posting about New York in October when she was visiting in November. He loved dreaming and making those dreams come true.”
Kobayashi flew from Maui to Los Angeles on November 8 and was scheduled to depart 42 minutes later on a connecting flight to New York City, where he planned to visit his aunt.
She and her ex-boyfriend were booked on the same flight, but were expected to separate once they reached New York, Kobayashi’s sister, Sydney Kobayashi, said. told CNN last week.
but kobayashi Never took another flight.
On November 9, Kobayashi was seen at a bookstore an hour from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the investigation showed that missing his connecting flight was “intentional.” The Sun has reported.
On November 10, a YouTube video surfaced showing Kobayashi at a LeBron XXII tryout event at the Nike Store at The Grove in Los Angeles. Kobayashi shared a photo of the event on his Instagram.
On November 11, Kobayashi messaged his mother that he had not arrived in New York. Text messages sent from his phone to friends and family on November 11 have also surfaced.
“Deep hackers deleted my identity, stole all my funds and have been harassing me since Friday,” one text message to a friend said.
Another said, “I was so betrayed that I gave away all my money… for someone I thought I loved.”
Another wrote, “I’m really scared if Love and the Redwoods are calling me and I know I’m meant to be there, I’m being guided there like you did before… “If it goes wrong for me, I risk my freedom.” “Hmm.”
She also sent a message to her aunt, Pidgeon, in New York, reading, “I have just completed a very profound spiritual awakening,” Pidgeon said.
The ex-boyfriend, who has not been officially named, reportedly reached New York.
Kobayashi’s former roommate, Alyssa Peterson, 29, who lived with her in Maui for three months in 2022, also told The Post she was suspicious of the text messages.
“What was most worrying was the use of the word ‘Hun’. She says such loving words, but her message seems a little cryptic,” said Peterson, who once ran a floral design business with Kobayashi and last spoke on Oct. 5.
Since Hannah was last heard from on November 11, the internet has been speculating about her whereabouts, with some alleging that she was brainwashed by a cult or blackmailed by African hackers.
Her 58-year-old father, Ryan Kobayashi, died of apparent suicide on Sunday, November 24, six days after his daughter was reported missing. Los Angeles County Medical Testers confirmed on Monday That he jumped from the LAX parking garage while searching for his missing daughter.
“It seems really strange how Hannah is not cryptic (how cryptic the messages are). At least I know Hannah,” Ursua said. “I pray he’s still alive.”
