A former FBI agent has raised serious concerns about the investigation into Hannah Kobayashi, the missing woman whose mysterious disappearance and claims of being "trafficked" have gripped the nation as the search stretches into its third week.
"There are over 10K people who were reported missing in 2023 in Los Angeles County. So many," retired FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer posted on X Wednesday.
"Hannah Kobayashi is not on the LAPD's missing list", she went on, "Why?".
"I don't believe she was found, and I understand that they can't put everyone on the list, but why wouldn't you put her on it post haste. Their most recent missing should be posted ASAP for awareness. Is the lack of attention paid to their missing list an indication of their lack of attention to their missing? Bothersome that their list does not list many that need to be found."
There are over 10K people who were reported missing in 2023 in Los Angeles County. So many.
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) November 29, 2024
Hannah Kobayashi is not on the LAPD's missing list. (Link below)
Why?
I don't believe she was found, and I understand that they can't put everyone on the list, but why wouldn't… pic.twitter.com/HXjJt8BMD3
Hannah Kobayashi has not been seen by her family since she started sending increasingly alarming text messages after missing a connecting flight from Maui to New York City at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 8.
Kobayashi, a 31-year-old Hawaii native, told her family she was staying in Los Angeles until she rebooked her flight to New York City, but things began unraveling soon after.
"On (Nov. 11), we started getting texts saying that she didn't feel safe, that someone was trying to steal her funds, that someone was trying to take her identity," Larie Pidegon, Kobayashi's aunt, told USA Today. "Weird things, calling us babe, things that weren't quite the normal way that she speaks."
Kobayashi also told a friend that she "got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds" and was deceived by "someone I thought I loved," according to reporting by FOX 11 Los Angeles.
"I got hacked, stripped of my identity, I can't fly," a message sent to loved ones from Kobayashi's phone three days later Nov. 11 read, Pidgeon told NewsNation.
"I got tricked pretty much into giving away my funds for someone I thought I loved," a follow-up text stated, before her phone was shut off. "I've been on the streets."
Between the time she landed to when family received the suspicious messages, downtown LA surveillance footage reportedly captured Kobayashi appearing unwell, with an unidentified person, according to Pidgeon.
She was also spotted on-camera at popular shopping spot The Grove.
"Time is of the essence, and it's dwindling, so we are terrified," Pidgeon told the network. "We're thinking of things like, was she abducted? I hate to say it, but the word 'trafficked.'"
