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Dad of missing Hannah Kobayashi found dead in LA

Getty Images Flyers mentioning missing Maui woman Hannah Kobayashi hang on a lamppost near the metro station where she was last seen in Los AngelesGetty Images
Hannah Kobayashi went missing after boarding a flight to Los Angeles on 8 November

A father of a missing Hawaii woman was found dead on Sunday in the US state of California after he travelled to search for her.

Ryan Kobayashi had recently journeyed to Los Angeles to help search for his daughter, Hannah Kobayashi, 30. She went missing earlier this month after a stopover at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on her way to New York City.

Officials in LA confirmed that Mr Kobayashi, who was 58, has since been found dead in a car park near the airport.

Both police and the coroner’s office have not publicly given a suspected cause of death.

The BBC has reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for comment.

Ms Kobayashi, who lived in Maui, Hawaii, went missing shortly after landing in LAX on 8 November. It remains unclear what has happened to her, and the LAPD has launched a search.

She was set to visit her aunt Geordan Montalvo in New York to attend a concert, in what was described as a "bucket list" trip.

Since her disappearance, family and friends have said that they received odd text messages from her mobile phone, in which she said she had been "tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds" to "someone I thought I loved".

She has been spotted a few times, they said - once at a Los Angeles mall on 10 November, and again the following day in surveillance video around a downtown metro train station with an unknown person.

Ms Kobayashi's aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told a local TV station that her niece did not look well. "She is not safe, and she is not alone," she said.

Ms Kobayashi's family later held a rally outside the metro station where she was last seen, and handed out flyers with her picture on them in a bid to find her.

Speaking to the media at the rally before his death, Mr Kobayashi said: "We’re just trying to get us as much information as we can."

He added that he had been worried and confused since his daughter's disappearance. "Everything is just a blur it seems, because I haven’t slept well since I’ve heard the news," he said.