The cause of death of Ryan Kobayashi has been confirmed, after he tragically passed away two weeks after his daughter, Hannah Kobayashi, went missing.
Hannah Kobayashi, 31, who is from Hawaii, has been missing in Los Angeles since November 11 after failing to get on a connecting flight to New York.
She had been due to travel to New York on a “bucket list” trip, where she was set to meet up with her aunt, but never made it onto the plane.
Her last posts had been from Los Angeles, where she’d attended an event at The Grove, but her loved ones grew concerned when they received text messages which they said did not sound like Hannah.
In them, Hannah spoke of having her identity stolen and being duped by someone, and communication soon stopped from her phone.
Her father, Ryan, had joined other family members in Los Angeles to help with the search but was tragically found dead in the early hours of Sunday morning,
The L.A. County medical examiner has now confirmed that the 58-year-old died by suicide.
His cause of death was multiple blunt force traumatic injuries with his location of death listed as a parking lot near LAX airport, according to the medical examiner’s report as cited by People.
A spokesperson had previously told the outlet that law enforcement was called to the parking structure for “an apparent suicide”, with Hannah’s aunt and Ryan’s former sister-in-law Larie Pidgeon claiming he’d had a mental health emergency brought on by the stress of her disappearance.
Larie said on Monday: “We’ve been searching tirelessly. I think it just became so overwhelming for him driving the streets, going to Skid Row and seeing where his daughter could possibly have ended up.”
She added to the New York Post that she believes the conspiracy theories surrounding her disappearance had been weighing on Ryan before his death.
Larie told the outlet: “It’s bulls**t! It’s such bulls**t! If Ryan is looking at all this s**t, imagine that weighing on him?
“He broke. He died of a broken heart. We were tirelessly searching, and Ryan was a big, giant teddy bear. He’s sensitive.
“Imagine looking in places like Skid Row, picturing his daughter being sex trafficked, not getting sleep. He just broke.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for Ryan’ fiancée Li, in which his niece Emi Ko wrote: “He has been living his absolute worst nightmare, since Hannah’s disappearance, and now, with his passing, our family is grappling with unimaginable grief.”
She went on to describe him as “a truly remarkable person who lit up every room with his positivity and kind heart”, adding: “Ryan’s love for his family was boundless, and he would do anything to protect and care for his daughters.”
Hannah’s last known pinned location had been at LAX at around 4PM on November 11, with the family later getting a confirmed sighting of Hannah and an unidentified person getting on a train, but she has not been seen since reportedly exiting at Pico Station.
The family has vowed to keep searching for Hannah, with Larie telling People: “We’re still here. We’re a family doing the best we can now with two tragedies.”
Prior to her disappearance, Hannah had sent concerning messages, with a friend saying she’d text: “Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f**k since Friday.”
Another message read: “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds … For someone I thought I loved.”
She had also texted the aunt she was meant to meet in New York to say: “I just finished a very intense spiritual awakening.”
Larie also slammed the online conspiracy theorists who have alleged that the family may be involved in Hannah’s disappearance, adding: “It’s people wanting more out of the story than that the world is cruel and evil and a woman traveling alone can get taken in the blink of an eye.
“Everything was normal until the 11th. We’re the kind of family that if you f**k up, you ask for help. She wouldn’t hide something.”
