The mysterious case of lacking Hawaiian photographer Hannah Kobayashi has been marred by wild conspiracy theories – together with that she was brainwashed by a cult or blackmailed by African hackers – and so they might have actually pushed her father to his dying, her aunt stated.
Cops stated Ryan Kobayashi, 53, leaped from a Los Angeles Worldwide Airport parking storage Sunday morning whereas looking for his daughter – who vanished earlier this month after lacking a connecting flight to New York for a “bucket record” journey.
The devastated father was seemingly consumed with raging on-line hypothesis about his little lady – with armchair specialists theorizing about her alleged ties to a mystic cult known as Twin Flames, a doable rift between the daddy and daughter and even a psychotic breakdown.
“It’s bulls—t! It’s such bulls—t!” her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, informed The Publish on Monday. “If Ryan is taking a look at all this s–t, think about that weighing on him?”
“He broke,” she continued. “He died of a damaged coronary heart. We had been tirelessly looking out, and Ryan was a giant, large teddy bear. He’s delicate. Think about trying in locations like Skid Row, picturing his daughter being intercourse trafficked, not getting sleep. He simply broke.”
Hannah, 30, flew from Maui to Los Angeles on Nov. 8 – and was meant to make a connecting flight to New York Metropolis for a visit to see an aunt. She and an ex-boyfriend had the identical journey plans – however agreed to go their separate methods within the Huge Apple, her sister Sydni Kobayashi informed CNN final week.
However the budding photographer by no means made that second flight and, within the coming days, weird textual content messages had been despatched from her cellphone.
“Deep Hackers wiped my identification, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a thoughts f—okay since Friday,” one textual content to a pal stated.
Others stated, “I obtained tricked just about into gifting away all my funds … For somebody I assumed I beloved.”
She had despatched the aunt in New York a textual content, “I simply completed a really intense non secular awakening,” Pidgeon stated.
Hannah was final heard from on Nov. 11 — and her case has since gone viral, with web sleuths surmising her whereabouts within the depths of Reddit and even within the feedback of her Instagram account.
She’d been brainwashed by cultists, some stated – just like the infamous love-obsessed faction Twin Flames, additionally the topic of a disturbing Netflix docuseries. Hannah’s Instagram account reveals that she adopted Twin Flames-associated accounts — however Pidgeon stated she’d by no means talked about the group.
Others claimed she was blackmailed by African hackers.
Nonetheless extra alleged Hannah was fleeing her abusive father, whereas others she was kidnapped by mobsters her dad owed cash to.
Some even claimed her father was the one who engineered the kidnapping.
“It’s individuals wanting extra out of the story than that the world is merciless and evil and a lady touring alone can get taken within the blink of a watch,” Pidgeon stated.
Pidgeon believes her niece was kidnapped whereas making an attempt to e-book a flight on the airport, and the unusual texts, which she stated sound nothing like Hannah, had been both despatched beneath duress or by the kidnapper.
The household is loving and shut, and Pidgeon, who lives in northern California, stated she spoke with Kobayashi on the cellphone a number of instances per week and he or she by no means appeared distressed or mentally unstable.
“The whole lot was regular till the eleventh. We’re the sort of household that if you happen to f–okay up, you ask for assist. She wouldn’t cover one thing,” Pidgeon stated.
There was no large strife throughout the household, she stated, and Kobayashi wasn’t concerned in cults. Her father didn’t owe cash to gangsters, and her niece undoubtedly didn’t kidnap herself.
However Ryan’s tragic dying has solely egged on the conspiracy theorists.
“Can’t think about a mum or dad actually wanting to seek out their youngster however ending all of it earlier than they knew what occurred … I don’t know, this simply appears like he would possibly’ve been concerned someway,” one commenter wrote on the r/findhannahkobayashi subreddit, which was nearly 2,000 members
“It’s much more seemingly than they’re all in a dying cult,” scribbled one other.
“I do imagine [the family] are leaving out key particulars as a result of they suppose they are going to lose public help,” wrote Steve Fischer, a self-proclaimed “lacking individuals personal investigator” with over 20,000 followers on X.
In the event you or somebody you understand is affected by any of the problems raised on this story, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or textual content Disaster Textual content Line at 741741.
