Pod Insights Criminology Hannah Kobayashi About this episode On November 8th, 2024, Hannah Kobayashi headed from Honolulu to Los Angeles for a very short layover en route to New York City. Hannah never made her connecting flight, and her family became worried about her. Over the next few days, she sent out a series of mysterious texts. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss Hannah Kobayashi. What started as a disappearance case turned into a web of mysteries. Hannah's location, two green card marriages, and the reasons behind what she did would soon begin to emerge. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.
0:37 Speaker 01 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 339 of the Criminology Podcast. This is Mike Ferguson.
0:43 Speaker 02 And this is Mike Morford.
0:45 Speaker 01 Mr. Morford, how you doing buddy this week?
0:48 Speaker 02 I'm doing good. Getting our last second holiday activity handled and getting stuff ready for the family and looking forward to a little downtime. How you doing?
1:00 Speaker 01 Yeah, we're kind of doing the same thing. We got all the kids back home. It's really hard to believe that next week is Christmas. I don't know why. It just seems like this last half of the year for me has flown by.
1:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think the older you get, the faster it comes, it seems to be. And you know, for me, I've been in the Christmas spirit for a little while because my wife likes to get ready for Christmas right when Thanksgiving's here. So I'm sort of used to the Christmas feel because it's been here for a while already.
1:35 Speaker 01 It's funny you say that because my wife too often puts the Christmas tree up like the day after Thanksgiving or that weekend after Thanksgiving. She really loves Christmas, so she starts pretty early.
1:49 Speaker 02 Yeah, and my wife has started a thing where she's taking it down very fast after Christmas and I like it to stay up until after New Year's, but I don't know. Just one of those things.
1:58 Speaker 01 Well, let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had Anna Maple, J D Scott Robertson jumped out at her highest level, and also Leah Levine. So a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it.
2:12 Speaker 02 Yeah, that that support means a lot to us. It really helps us out. For anyone else that would like to support the show, you can do so by heading over to patreon.com/criminology.
2:22 Speaker 01 Okay, it's time to jump into this case, and this is our last case of 2024. Before our holiday break, our next episode after this one will be on January 4, 2025. So Morph and I are taking a week off between Christmas and New Year's. And I don't know about you, buddy, but I'm looking forward to it. I need a little downtime.
2:46 Speaker 02 Absolutely.
2:47 Speaker 01 So with the holidays here, you know, it's a time when families are happy to see each other. And when there's an empty seat at the holiday table, that person is often missed very much. Maybe it's because they passed away. Maybe they live too far away to attend. But what happens when that seat is empty? Because that person is missing? How does that weigh on a family? That's the prospect one family was facing. As the holidays drew near, the result was a month long search that recently made national headlines. We're talking about the case of 30 year old Hannah Kobayashi. And although her family has received some
3:30 Speaker 01 answers, things for them may not be all that much better around the holiday table. In fact, other family members will be missing from that holiday table.
3:40 Speaker 02 Let's start off with what we know about Hannah Kobayashi. In 2024, the 30 year old lived on the Hawaii island of Maui and worked at a smoke shop called Up and Smoke. Hannah enjoyed flowers and photography, both of which would become endeavors of hers. According to CNN, Hannah and her friend Alyssa Peterson were starting a floral arrangement business. Hannah also planned to put her photography skills to work. She had a two week trip to New York City scheduled. She intended to explore the city, check off a couple items on her bucket list, visit her Aunt Jordan, and also take photographs at an event, which would be one of her first paying photography jobs. On November 8, 2024, she flew from Honolulu
4:24 Speaker 02 to Los Angeles for a very short layover. Hannah's ex-boyfriend, Amon Miranda, was on the same flight. The two had purchased non-refundable tickets together when they were still in a relationship. So despite not being together anymore, they both decided to go on the trip and just do their own things in New York City.
4:43 Speaker 01 So right off the bat, Morf, there's a couple of things that that jump out at me. First, you know, what better name for a smoke shop than Up in Smoke? It automatically makes me think of Cheech and Chong and that kind of iconic movie that they were in by the same name. And then you have, you know, this talk of kind of bucket list activities. And my wife has been talking to me about going to New York City for a couple of years now. That's on her bucket list. Neither of us have ever been to New York City.
5:19 Speaker 02 Well, that's surprising that that's a place that a lot of people wind up going one way or the other. But what I take away from this is the awkwardness of going on a flight to a city with your ex. You know, I don't know what the relationship was between them still, if it was on good terms, but you know, that could be an awkward situation. I've heard of people that were engaged, spending a fortune and breaking it off, but then not wanting to waste all the money they spent, so they still go together. But as we'll get into a little bit later, there's a little bit more to this trip.
5:58 Speaker 01 The plane landed at LAX just before 10:00 PM, 9:53 to be exact. From there, Hannah had just 42 minutes to catch her next flight from LA to New York City. She had a hotel booked in New York City, but she never checked in. According to early reports in this case, Hannah and Amon traveled completely separately and didn't speak to each other or even sit near each other during the flight. This seems impossible because they seem to be seated in the same row. But something one of Hannah's coworkers said, back this up. Hannah had voiced frustration to coworkers that Aiman would be on the same flight since they had broken up
6:42 Speaker 01 and it would be awkward to have to sit with him for the duration of the flight. She did mention to one friend that she was going to try to change her seat, but it's unclear where she actually sat. Either way, when she didn't board the plane to New York City, apparently he didn't notice. At 11:00 PM, the flight to JFK International Airport took off without Hannah. Somehow she had missed the connecting flight. She ended up having to stay the night at LAX while she waited for a standby flight. LAPD Chief Jim McDonald would later explain that missing the flight to JFK was an intentional move by Hannah.
7:26 Speaker 02 Over the next few days, Hannah would text her friends and family a series of odd messages. Hannah's sister Sydney described the text to People Magazine as being odd, saying, "I don't know if it's her or if someone else was texting. Really weird. There's just something off." One of the texts from Hannah's phone read, "I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds for someone I thought I loved." She said she did still have money left and had her ID and passport. Yet she also wrote, "I got hacked, stripped of my identity. I can't fly."
8:01 Speaker 01 So you talked more about how awkward it would be to kind of go on a flight with someone you were no longer in a relationship. And I think we're hearing that Hannah had told, you know, some of her friends that, that it was going to be awkward. And then all of a sudden, she misses the connecting flight and the authorities come out and say that they believe it was intentional. But then you have family talking about odd text messages. And this comes up in a lot of cases that we do. They're not sure if it's Hannah texting
8:43 Speaker 01 or someone who has her phone, but the texts just seem strange to them. And I'm really looking at this one in particular. "I got hacked, stripped of my identity. I can't fly."
8:57 Speaker 02 Yeah, I've never been in this kind of situation where somebody texted me and had these kinds of problems or this kind of emergency, but I think the first thing I'd be trying to do is connect with them and say, okay, do you need me to pick you up? Where do we meet? I'll send an Uber or I'll come pick you up personally. I'd want to link up with them and and get with them in person to see what I could do to help and make sure they're they're okay.
9:22 Speaker 01 You know, or at the very least, talk to that person, get a little bit more information about what they're they're saying to you. I mean, my wife sends me texts all the time that I don't fully understand, but it's because she has a way of kind of texting in what I call shorthand. She knows all the facts. She just doesn't want to spell them all out to me. She kind of assumes that I can just read between the lines and get everything.
9:52 Speaker 02 Is it that? Or is it because you really didn't read the text?
9:55 Speaker 01 It could be a little bit of both.
9:57 Speaker 02 My wife yells at me all the time for not reading her text.
9:59 Speaker 01 Yeah, it could be a little bit of both at different times. On November 9, Hannah was at The Grove, an open air mall about 12 miles north of LAX. We know she went to Taschen Books where she stayed for a while as she waited for her phone to charge. Security cameras at the bookstore captured her the whole time in tie dyed pants. At 2:43 PM, she sent a photo to her aunt. Just four hours later, Hannah sent a Venmo payment to someone named Veronica Almandarez. The memo was just the bow and arrow emoji. An hour after this, she sent a Venmo payment of $25 to someone named Jonathan Taylor.
10:44 Speaker 01 The memo for that payment said, "Reading." That same night Hannah went back to LAX, but her luggage had gone on to New York on the flight she missed. So she was wearing those tie dyed pants for a few days. It made her pretty easy to spot on surveillance footage.
11:05 Speaker 02 On the 10th Hannah went back to the Grove. At 3:40 PM, someone else accidentally captured her in their footage of a LeBron James event at the Nike store without knowing who Hannah was or that she was missing. In fact, Hannah's family filed a missing persons report with the Los Angeles Police Department on November 11th, the day after this event. So they couldn't know their footage would be helpful to an investigation. On her Instagram, Hannah posted a photo of an announcement that the LeBron James event was being filmed. The video of Hannah at the LeBron James event was from a 59 second short, composed of a bunch of different clips. She just happens to walk into the frame as the person filming
11:47 Speaker 02 is getting a shot of the sign at the event. Hannah was probably back at the Grove for the Christina Ricci event where she was promoting her new tarot deck. Hannah stayed the night at LAX again after LeBron James event and based on a screenshot of text shown on Reddit at 5:29 AM, she texted her aunt, "Hi loves, I just finished a very intense spiritual awakening. I'm charging my phone and heading back to the airport to get to New York City. I might need some help getting there. It's a long story. I'll keep you posted. I think I still have my hotel room." There are some reports that Hannah left her phone at LAX, but there's no further information about where it was found or when, or if the moment she left
12:30 Speaker 02 it there was captured on surveillance footage. It's possible that she used something to block the signal. She actually followed a company on Instagram that claims to make clothing that blocks cellular signals. Either way, Hannah's last phone ping was at LAX at 4 PM on November 11th.
12:47 Speaker 01 At 5:00 PM on the 11th, the day her family reported her missing, Hannah was seen speaking to a ticket agent at the airport. Four hours later, she got onto the Metro C line at the station on the corner of Aviation Boulevard and Century Boulevard at the Rosa Park Station about 10 miles east of LAX. She transferred onto the A line. At 10:03, she got off at the Pico Station near the Crypto.com Arena. There was a report from someone on social media that they had seen Hannah during that trip. She wasn't alone. Security footage from the Pico Boulevard Metro Station gives weight to the sighting.
13:30 Speaker 01 At 10:03, as she walked away from the station, there was someone with her.
13:36 Speaker 02 A woman recalled getting on the Metro at the Lenox Hawthorne entrance and seeing Hannah, who had her suitcase with a man. He got up and offered the woman and her young son his seat and made conversation with her. Hannah talked a bit too and mentioned that she was from Maui. She seemed tired though and didn't say much more. The man, who it didn't seem like Hannah knew very well, told her which stop they would be getting off at. And when they got off at Rosa Park Station, he said goodbye to the woman, but Hannah didn't say anything.
14:07 Speaker 01 When the public learned of the sighting, it was from Hannah's family. They told NBC4 Los Angeles, "It's evident that Hannah does not appear to be in good condition and she is not alone." Investigators somehow identified the man seen with Hannah and spoke to him. It turns out, he was helping her get to Union Station. Since she was traveling alone at night, he met her at LAX and was just a nice and helpful person who almost had his face blasted all over the news as a possible abduction suspect. The LAPD were very careful here to properly rule him out and publicly clear him of any wrongdoing.
14:52 Speaker 01 And I think more of you have to look at this as a real kind of dangerous situation. You know, there's obviously something strange happening with Hannah at this point in time. She doesn't make the flight. She's hanging out at LAX and then she's seen with this man. It would have been, I think, very easy for the media to latch on to this. And, you know, kind of put this guy on blast as a possible abduction suspect. And as we often talk about, I mean, what does that do to this person's life?
15:35 Speaker 01 You know, when it turns out that this is just a guy trying to be helpful and help Hannah get to, you know, Union Station, even if the authorities come out and say, oh, okay. This guy had nothing to do with it, just putting his picture all over the news. I think to some extent would have been pretty devastating.
16:01 Speaker 02 Yeah, once that picture's out there and especially if it's in the capacity of, you know, we want to talk to this person in relation to the missing persons case of Hannah. Then all of a sudden that might leave a stigma with, with him, even if he's cleared later on. But I think for the police, it was important for them to try and identify this guy and talk to him and see what his story was and see if he could provide any more details. And luckily they were able to find him and talk to him and rule him out properly as not being involved in her going missing. It looks like Hannah ended up back at LAX because she purchased a ticket for the 6:35 a.m.
16:44 Speaker 02 Greyhound to San Ysidro on November 12th. There's surveillance footage of her buying the ticket. She still had her suitcase and was now wearing green or gray pants. She showed her ID to the agent selling her the ticket, but she claimed not to have a phone and left that information blank. Notably, there's no one else in the frame during the purchase other than Hannah and the person selling her the ticket. Hannah appeared to be alone when she made the decision to head from Union Station to San Ysidro, which is about a three hour drive by car. The nearly 150 mile journey is a few hours longer when using public transportation.
17:21 Speaker 01 And more for, you know, telling kind of the movements of Hannah, right? Over a period of time, but we're able to do so because, you know, there are so many different sightings of her, either from eyewitnesses or from surveillance footage. I mean, this is 2024. It's pretty hard, I would think, especially in a place like Los Angeles, to go too many places without being caught somewhere on camera.
18:01 Speaker 01 This is much different than, you know, a case if we were doing it from the 1960s. They really have a lot of information about her movements. On November 14th, three days after Hannah was officially reported missing, Hannah's aunt, Laurie, posted on Facebook about the situation. According to People Magazine, she wrote, Hannah's last message to us was alarming. She mentioned feeling scared and that someone might be trying to steal her money and identity. That same day, her father, Ryan, traveled from Maui to LA to search for her.
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20:15 Speaker 02 Hannah's Aunt Laurie told NBC4 Los Angeles that on November 19th, Hannah had sent messages saying she did not feel safe and that she was worried about people stealing her money. The reason everyone was so worried, according to Laurie, it was after that, those strange messages, she went dark and completely dropped out of contact. The family held a rally outside of crypto.com arena on November 21st. The event was held before a Lakers game in hopes that someone would recognize Hannah and call on the tip that helped them find her. As Hannah's family scrambled to look for her, the unthinkable happened.
20:53 Speaker 01 A huge and devastating development in this case was announced on November 24th. Around 4 a.m. that morning, Hannah's father, Ryan Kobayashi, jumped to his death from the seventh story of a parking garage near the airport. Ryan, who was just 58 years old, died due to multiple blunt force traumatic injuries. Hannah being missing was tough on Ryan and may have played a part in him taking his own life. According to Hannah's sister Sydney, their father wasn't eating or sleeping much while he was in LA and he was focused on taking care of everyone else. Hawaii is two hours behind California.
21:37 Speaker 01 Ryan was not only dealing with a lack of sleep and proper nutrition while under incredible stress, he was also working to adjust to the time difference. He kept his struggles to himself. His death completely shocked the family. Conspiracy theories swirled about Ryan's death being a murder at the hands of whoever had abducted Hannah, but law enforcement officials brushed those theories off.
22:06 Speaker 02 We don't know why Ryan Kobayashi ended his own life. He could have felt guilt for not being there to protect his daughter or for not fixing the relationship while he had the chance. According to Ryan in the Daily Mail, he and Hannah hadn't had contact for a while, and said that even while she was growing up, they were not too close. He also could have been imagining the endless horrors that his youngest daughter could have been being forced to endure. Of course, it could have had nothing to do with Hannah's disappearance. We just don't know. But Laurie told the Independent that she thinks he died of a broken heart. She believes that eventually it just became so overwhelming for Ryan, driving the streets, going to Skid Row and seeing where his daughter could possibly have ended up.
22:50 Speaker 02 And he couldn't take it anymore. One theory online was that Ryan had actually found Hannah, and she basically told him that she didn't want him to be part of her life, or that she had no interest in ever talking to any of the family again. But this wasn't true.
23:04 Speaker 01 So more if we start off talking about one mystery, and that's the mystery of Hannah and, you know, what's going on with her? Why did she miss her flight? Why is she sending these kind of cryptic texts to people saying that she'd been hacked? Her identity is stolen. And then all of a sudden, her father, Ryan, ends his life. So you have kind of a second mystery that crops up in this case. Because we don't know why exactly he chose to do this. Now, people have speculated on it. They've speculated on a lot of things in this case.
23:49 Speaker 01 You know, could it have been that he just felt hopeless? That he thought he was, you know, never going to find Hannah? That he thought the worst had happened to her? Yeah, it absolutely could be. But we just don't know.
24:05 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's definitely tragic, whatever the reason. And I think when people see his death on top of what's going on with the search for Hannah, it's not surprising that many of them would theorize that there was something more to it, that perhaps there was, you know, something more to the story. And perhaps even if he had died in a car accident, some people may have found that suspicious too. But, you know, it's just one of these layers of the case that it just makes it extra tragic all the way around.
24:40 Speaker 01 But I do think it's pretty natural for people to speculate whether the two things had anything to do with each other. Because let's face it, it does seem strange, right? He comes to Los Angeles to look for Hannah, and it's there that he ends his life. Pretty hard not to put the two things together and for many people to theorize all kinds of different things. But like you said, it is tragic. It's just also very mysterious as it relates to the case because, you know, really, it's still unfolding at this point.
25:25 Speaker 01 They don't know exactly what's going on with Hannah. It's not like they had received some horrible news at that point that definitively said, you know, Hannah was dead or had been abducted or anything like that. November 24th, the day Hannah's original return from New York City was planned, came and went with no word from her. Back at Hannah's house, her mother went through her belongings, looking for clues. She found paperwork for an immigration attorney and documents that suggested Hannah had recently been married.
26:05 Speaker 01 This turned out to be true. She had gotten married, though it was only a legal arrangement. It turns out that she and a man named Alan Who was from Argentina and wanted to get his green card, got married in October. The marriage was a sham, meant to help him become a citizen someday. Amon Hannah's ex-boyfriend also got married in October. His wife turned out to be Alan's girlfriend, Mariana. She also wanted to gain United States citizenship. It would be easy money for both Amon and Hannah.
26:44 Speaker 02 Apparently, part of this trip to New York was supposed to help make their relationship look legitimate. Hannah planned to take photos with Alan in various places around New York City that they could later claim they took on their honeymoon trip to the Big Apple. According to Desiree, one of Hannah's coworkers at Up and Smoke in Maui, this arrangement wasn't something Hannah was happy with. She had always intended to go on this trip to New York City, first with Amon, and then after their breakup, she was looking forward to being alone in the city. She really just wanted to do her own thing and check items off her bucket list. Alan and Mariana were never part of the plan to go to New York City until the very last minute, when they decided to join.
27:26 Speaker 01 It's likely that the photography gig Hannah said she had in New York was a cover for the money she would receive for agreeing to marry Alan. Hannah's family all seemed to be under the impression that she had a big job in New York, and they were proud of her because being paid to take pictures was a longtime dream of hers. This marriage to Alan so that he could get a green card wasn't small potatoes either. From what we can tell, she was expecting at least $30,000 for the nuptial. Most reports mention a $15,000 upfront payment for the marriage and a second equal payment once the immigration paperwork had been signed.
28:11 Speaker 01 It's unclear how far along they were in this process, or what Hannah understood the agreement to be. Something could have fallen through, or soured during the flight, or during the layover. But it's also So possible that she just changed her mind. It's been verified by investigators that Hannah, her new husband Alan, her ex-boyfriend Amon and his new wife Marianna, were all originally to be seated together on the flight to New York. What's unclear is whether or not police talked to Alan, Amon and Marianna. And if so, what did they have to say?
28:51 Speaker 01 So I think this revelation about these two green card marriages kind of sends the case in a completely different direction. I mean, this goes from Hannah taking a trip to New York with her ex-boyfriend to her marrying someone, her ex-boyfriend marrying someone, and the four of them making the decision to go on a trip to New York to kind of document the legitimacy of these two marriages. I mean, at the very least, more if you'd have to say,
29:36 Speaker 01 it adds an extra layer of complexity to this whole situation.
29:43 Speaker 02 Yeah, you think police would want to talk to these people since they were supposed to be with her and find out where she's at, what they know, what details they can provide. And I'm assuming they did at some point talk to them, although we don't know what they said. And in this situation, maybe out of fear for getting in trouble over the green card thing, police may not have believed everything they said. They may have been lying about certain things, not wanting to get in trouble with the green card situation and not because anything nefarious had happened to Hannah that they were trying to cover up.
30:23 Speaker 01 Yeah, I don't know what the penalty is. For this type of green card marriage, but you're right. It could be a factor in them not wanting to say certain things that, you know, would have implicated themselves in this thing. I mean, not completely separate from what was going on with Hannah.
30:49 Speaker 02 On December 2nd, Hannah's family decided to close the Find Hannah Facebook page due to the high number of threats they were receiving from the public. By this time, the LAPD was considering Hannah's case of voluntary disappearance. And according to NBC 4 Los Angeles, believe that Hannah wished to step away from what they called modern connectivity. Their investigators had tracked down footage from the United States Customs and Border Patrol showing Hannah as she crossed the border into Mexico. She was on foot and alone and did not appear to be under any sort of duress. LAPD Chief Jim McDonald told NBC 4 Los Angeles that she appeared unharmed and still had her luggage with her.
31:33 Speaker 01 It was 12:13 PM on November 12th, when Hannah entered Mexico, just hours after she boarded the bus in Los Angeles. By this time, she had been completely out of touch with friends and family for about a day. Chief McDonald clarified of her border crossing into Mexico. To date, the investigation has not uncovered any evidence that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play. According to NBC 4 Los Angeles's investigative reporter, Eric Leonard, this wasn't the first time Hannah had dropped out of contact or had gone missing. He didn't name his source and we couldn't find this information in any other articles.
32:18 Speaker 01 So we're not able to verify this. If she did drop out of contact with people in the past, it's possible they took it a lot more seriously when she was in Los Angeles and went missing.
32:32 Speaker 02 So now it was clear that Hannah, apparently willingly, had entered Mexico. But why would she? Hannah followed many different twin flame accounts on Instagram. There was a fear by some that she had joined a cult. Many of these kinds of twin flame communities will require you to cut off contact with your family, often with no explanation. Knowing that Hannah was in Mexico was no real comfort for her family. She doesn't speak Spanish, and as far as anyone knew, she had no friends, family, or acquaintances in the country. There's also no shortage of stories of how dangerous it is for American tourists or for women to travel alone in cities like Tijuana. Hannah's Aunt Laurie told the Long Beach Post,
33:14 Speaker 02 "I will not stop until I can confirm that she is safe and making these decisions of her own accord."
33:21 Speaker 01 So Morpheus' story, you know, it just takes a number of different twists and turns. Starting off with Hannah missing her connecting flight to this revelation of two different marriages, specifically designed to, you know, get this couple of green cards, to now they have evidence that Hannah just kind of walks into Mexico. And then there's talk about, you know, a possible connection to, you know, one of these twin flame communities.
34:04 Speaker 01 And I don't know how much you know about these, Morpheus. I have watched a couple of documentaries. One was pretty scary in that, you know, this idea of having a twin flame, right? Someone out there who is kind of your soulmate, the person you're meant to be with. I think that part many people believe in. But it's the cult-like aspects that can crop up around many of these organizations, I think, that really scare people. In the one documentary, you know, I watched, there was definitely a lot of...
34:47 Speaker 01 Scammy type stuff going on. And the one thing that did stand out to me that like many cults, the leaders kind of worked very hard to control the, the lives of their members and to try to separate them from their families, to isolate them. And that's a common thing we see in, in many cult-like operations.
35:17 Speaker 02 Yeah, it seems like this trip to Mexico, was it for something like the twin flame stuff? Was it just a whim that she decided, you know, maybe I want to get away from what's going on with these, this decision I made for this green card marriage and, you know, it's not well thought out and she just fled there without any real plan? Or could there have been some element in Mexico? We don't know about some connection she did have there or something she had set up that just hasn't been uncovered. Those are all the things that you have to wonder when somebody goes, you know, just crosses the border, goes to Mexico and, and leaves their, their life behind.
36:02 Speaker 01 Yeah, you could almost make the case for Hannah kind of coming to the realization that this path she was going down was a mess and that she just wanted to get out of it. Maybe that's the reason why she doesn't make her connecting flight. Again, with cases like this, you have a lot of speculation. On December 15th, Hannah's passport was flagged at the United States Mexico border as she re-entered the country. According to TMZ, the LAPD Customs and Border Patrol observed that Hannah appeared in good health. TMZ reported that Hannah met with
36:47 Speaker 01 her lawyer at the border and they entered the United States together. Hannah's first public statement was made to her aunt Lori on December 16th. According to TMZ, the statement read, "I was unaware of everything that was happening in the media while I was away, and I'm still processing it all." The same day, the LAPD released what seems like their final update on the case, saying, "This case is now closed. Hannah Kobayashi has been removed from the missing and unidentified persons system."
37:25 Speaker 02 Many people online thought that Hannah would be interrogated about her disappearance and about the marriage scam upon her arrival to the United States. Lieutenant Doug Oldfield clarified to People Magazine that Hannah will only talk if she wants to, saying, "She's not obligated to speak to us." Hannah's sister, Sydney, has removed her as a friend on Facebook and has posted a few things about betrayal. A lot of comments have been thrown Sydney's way about being a scammer and DeLaurie's way, too. The GoFundMe the family created quickly raised nearly $50,000, and people were not happy that they had donated to someone who wasn't in any danger and didn't need any help. A lot of other people did invest many hours into trying to find Hannah.
38:09 Speaker 02 Following a potential sighting, people from around the world had their eyes glued to a livestream of a camera on Skid Row, hoping they would catch a glimpse of Hannah. Some people even went in person, searching areas near Crypto.com Arena, including MacArthur Park, which has a very dangerous reputation. Flyers were taped up and handed out around the city. It seems that the entire time she was out of sight and people were trying to find her, Hannah was safe and fine. She could have just called her family to say she needed time away and was okay, but she didn't. People were upset. The family has announced that GoFundMe donors who wanted a refund since Hannah was found safe just needed to request one by December 18th, and it would be honored.
38:53 Speaker 01 And you and I talk about people coming together in these types of disappearance cases to help out. You know, a lot of people give their time, money.
39:09 Speaker 01 Freely in situations like this because you know, they feel bad. They feel bad for the family. It feels as though the family needs help and they want to offer that help. But what happens in a situation like this where it ultimately comes to light? That the person who is thought to be missing isn't really missing at all. They've just kind of gone off the grid for a little while. Well, I think you said it more. People are going to be upset. You know, they wasted their time. They gave money that, you know, basically they didn't need to give. It wasn't needed. You could see why a lot of
39:53 Speaker 01 people would be angry about this situation.
39:58 Speaker 02 Yeah. As nice as those people were and giving and kind and generous with their, their time and resources, finding out the person they're contributing all that to isn't really in danger or isn't really missing. You could see how that would suddenly make those same people have a different view and, and get upset. So it's hard to fault them. But I also, if this was my family member was missing and I didn't have any clue that they had gone away voluntarily, I was just worried about them. I'd be scrambling too to try and do what I could to find her and raise attention, maybe raise money, whatever I could to find them. So if, if her family didn't really know she was missing, that she
40:41 Speaker 02 was really safe and they were just putting in an effort to find her, I have a hard time faulting them, you know, unless they were complicit in it and, and trying to, you know, grift people out of money or something like that.
40:54 Speaker 01 Which we have no reason to believe they were. So I'm in agreement with you. And it might be probably the, the reason why there's a rift now in, in the family. You know, you talked about Sydney removing Hannah as a friend on Facebook, posting things about a betrayal. It sounds to me like some members of the family are pretty upset with Hannah. And maybe rightfully so, right? Do they feel as though she put them in a position that now many people are looking
41:35 Speaker 01 at them as possible scammers or they're being called scammers? When, you know, at the time, they may have just been worried about their relative. It's a tough position for everybody involved. And from what we can tell, the circumstances in Hannah's disappearance were very different from cases like Carly Russell or Sherry Papini, two very well-known hoaxes in which they, the presumed victims, got the police involved in investigating their fake case. Carly called 911 to report a toddler on the highway and then abandoned her car so
42:16 Speaker 01 that when authorities arrived, her disappearance would immediately be noted. She made up a story about a fake abduction. Sherry Papini left strands of her hair wrapped around her headphones to create the appearance of a violent abduction. She even went as far as to brand herself to back up her story about her ordeal. When she was ready to come home, she made sure to be found on the side of the highway with her arms still bound. Hannah never involved the police in searching for her, and that's why she apparently won't face any criminal charges or have to pay back police for wasted resources.
43:00 Speaker 01 We all have heard it probably more times than we should. It's not a crime for an adult to go missing and willingly leave their old life behind.
43:12 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think there's a lot of cases where we've heard the police say right off the bat, hey, they're an adult, they can go missing. And many times we get frustrated when we hear that. But, you know, a case like this just proves that every once in a while, it happens. So, and this is one of those cases. So we now know that Hannah was safe, but what drove her to vanish? The LAPD gave us some of the information we needed. Hannah's social media indicated that she wanted to step back from modern connectivity. If she truly did step back from electronics and social media, she truly may have had no idea people were searching for her. Hannah had also been in Mexico since November 12th, the day after she was reported missing to the LAPD.
43:57 Speaker 02 At no time during the search was she in the areas they were looking. So it's not like she was avoiding getting spotted. She wasn't even in the country.
44:06 Speaker 01 And to me, this is an interesting part of the case. And I think in many disappearance cases, it's assumed that the person who is missing is doing everything in their power, you know, let's say to get away from their doctor or to get back to their family. But this case is very different. I mean, you said it more. She was in Mexico the day after she was reported missing, apparently not, you know, really connected to the rest of the world. She wasn't hiding out. She may not have even known that, you know,
44:51 Speaker 01 all of this stuff was going on.
44:53 Speaker 02 Now, some people might push back and say, well, how did she know to meet her attorney in Mexico and cross back over into the border? She had to have some inkling something was going on and to contact her attorney to meet her to come back over the border. So, you know, it seems like there was some information that she did have one way or another.
45:17 Speaker 01 But at what point in time? Man, I think that's a question. Yes, obviously at some point in time she knew. People were looking for her. But, you know, you know, everything's not clear in this case. It could be that she was just alerted when her passport was flagged. And that's why she ended up getting the attorney. Again, the details are a little muddy. It's possible that the magnitude of what Hannah was involved in with the Argentinian couple in Amen ended up hitting her while they were in the air or once she got to LAX.
45:56 Speaker 01 So it's possible that the spiritual awakening Hannah mentioned was really more of a realization that she did not want to go through with this plan. According to Desiree, one of Hannah's coworkers in a Daily Mail interview, she said, "There was no secret regarding the marriage or the trip. She was open with her plans, at least at work. It's possible that she felt her coworkers at a smoke shop were more open-minded than her family members, and she was selective about who she decided to share specific details with."
46:33 Speaker 02 Put yourself into Hannah's place for a second. When she finally made contact with her family, can you imagine being Hannah when she made contact with them? She has lost her father to suicide, and she may feel guilt over that. And the rest of her family has been bickering and cutting each other off. Her sister has unfriended her on Facebook, and the world knows about her green card marriage scam. It could be a lot to handle, and perhaps why she obtained an attorney. Hannah recently disclosed that she has no plans to return to her old life in Hawaii. It's not clear what she will do with her life and where she will do it.
47:07 Speaker 01 I mean, really, this is the best possible outcome for a missing persons case. Hannah is alive and well, but her life and the lives of her family may never be the same again. That family as a unit will certainly never be the same again. We mentioned the holiday table looking different, and there's no doubt that Hannah's family's dinner table is now different.
47:37 Speaker 01 So Morph, as we wrap this case up, there was a lot of mystery to this case and there still is some. It's not like all of the questions have been answered. A lot of the big ones have. You know, Hannah wasn't abducted. She wasn't taken against her will. She was involved in, in something that, you know, she shouldn't have been involved in. And at some point, it seems as though she made the decision that she wanted to get away from all of it. I think one of the questions I have is, did she not think that her family was going to be worried?
48:21 Speaker 01 That other people around her were going to be worried if she suddenly just kind of disappeared? And walked into Mexico. What did she think was going to happen? Or was she not, you know, thinking clearly about that part of it?
48:36 Speaker 02 And I think it's natural for people to want to know what she was thinking and why she did what she did. And unless she chooses to answer, we're probably not going to get those answers. You know, I can see a scenario where maybe there's a Netflix show or a book deal or some kind of big primetime sit down interview. Or maybe she answers some of those things where she may just choose to stay private and keep all that stuff to ourselves and people will just have to accept that. That's how the, the story ends.
49:12 Speaker 01 Well, she hasn't been charged with anything, right? So there's not going to be a trial where a bunch of information comes out. So I agree with you unless she makes the decision to share it in, in whatever way it may be. There's a, a chance we don't get all of the answers. But even though, you know, she's alive and well, this is still a very tragic case. You think about her father ending his life. You know, how much of that had to do with her being missing? It seems like too much of a coincidence to, to say it had nothing to do with it. I think it probably had a lot to do with it.
49:57 Speaker 01 And then the family is fractured. I don't think there's any doubt about that. I think what it does show is that, and we already know this, right? Actions have consequences and the things that Hannah chose to do resulted in some pretty devastating consequences for those around her and for her as well.
50:22 Speaker 02 Yeah, there's a real ripple effect with cases like this. And we don't know yet how far that's going to go, but undoubtedly there's going to be issues within the family that they may have to try and work out if, if they decide to do that.
50:38 Speaker 01 And I'm sure it's a case that many people will, you know, keep an eye out for more details to come. It's a very different type of case than those that we normally do, but it's, it's just as perplexing and head scratching as many unsolved cases.
51:00 Speaker 02 And it's one that a lot of people definitely paid attention to and, you know, made a lot of headlines. So you can see why so many people have been interested in Hannah's case.
51:10 Speaker 01 Yes, this is an attention type grabbing case. People are drawn to cases like this because there's a lot of mystery. But then when some of the facts start to come out, you know, some of those mysteries weren't really mysteries at all. Many of them were just a set of very strange circumstances. Now, I think people rightfully so questioned her actions. Why did she do what she did? But again, we may have to wait to see if we get any of those answers. But that's it for our episode on Hannah Kobiyashi. If you love the show, but haven't
51:52 Speaker 01 done so yet, go out, give us a five star rating, leave a review. Also, keep telling your friends. The word of mouth about the criminology podcast really goes a long way.
52:03 Speaker 02 If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at criminology pod. You can also find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com/criminologypodcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast discussion and fans.
52:18 Speaker 01 So that's it for another episode of criminology, our last one for 2024. Morph and I will be back with you in two weeks to start off a brand new year 2025. So for Mike.
52:36 Speaker 02 And Morph.
52:37 Speaker 01 We'll talk to you in two weeks.
52:39 Speaker 02 Take care, everyone, and happy holidays.
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