Ryan Kobayashi died of a “broken heart” after searching the darkest corners of downtown Los Angeles for his missing daughter Hannah, friends tell DailyMail.com.
Ryan, 58, took his own life Saturday evening in a building near LAX, one of the last places Hannah was seen.
His suicide came eleven days after his 30-year-old daughter disappeared from the same airport.
Hannah remains missing and her family is desperate to find her. Now they face the double tragedy of Ryan’s death.
“He just broke… hHe died of a broken heart. There is no foul play involved. It’s a tragedy,” Larie Pidgeon, Hannah’s 45-year-old aunt, told DailyMail.com.
‘He had been seeking very minimal sleep for eleven days – going to parts of downtown Los Angeles, visiting the sex workers and Skid Row – and we believe as the days passed, it became too much for him to bear and he took his own life.
‘None of us saw it coming. Ryan is one of the kindest, most sensitive men you’ll ever meet. He’s a teddy bear,” she said.
Ryan, 58, took his own life Saturday evening in a building near LAX, one of the last places Hannah was seen
Her father, Ryan, was tragically found dead in Los Angeles after flying out to assist in the search
Hannah Kobayashi (pictured) went missing after missing her connecting flight to New York
Hannah and her father were estranged, she said, but nothing could have stopped him from joining the search for her.
‘He was estranged from his daughter. They didn’t have the best relationship and he wasn’t there for her growing up, but (eventually) he was there for her when it mattered. He came here when it mattered.
“He would sleep 30 minutes a night, tossing and turning,” she added.
“We have experienced two tragedies, but we are doing our best to stay strong.
“There’s only so much we can take and we’re all at our breaking point and we really want to find Hannah because she’s still missing.”
“We need your help to share this story.”
Ryan Kobayashi was last seen on Saturday evening.
“We had a very productive day handing out flyers and meeting volunteers,” Pidgeon said.
‘It was a tiring day, but it was a good day.
“We think Ryan has bottled it up. He didn’t want to worry anyone else.”
Kobayashi’s other daughter, Hannah’s sister Sydni, 22, is in Los Angeles with other members of her family.
“She’s devastated, as you can imagine,” Pidgeon adds. ‘It doesn’t seem real. It feels like a very bad dream.’
Last week, Ryan DailyMail.com said: ‘We will do everything we can until we find her. We just need to get the word out about her.
“She is an amazing person who brings joy to so many people.”
Hannah has not been seen since November 11, when she was last seen boarding a train at the Pico Metro station.
Her family says they saw surveillance footage of her with another person
sent a series of terrifying text messages to her loved ones, claiming she had recently undergone a “spiritual awakening” after meeting family in New York.
Kobayashi had flown from Hawaii to LAX on the same flight as her ex-boyfriend, who had booked tickets for both of them before they broke up.
The sister of missing Hawaiian woman Hannah Kobayashi has shared details of every last known sighting as her family continues their painful search
Hannah Kobayashi (pictured) went missing after missing her connecting flight from LAX to New York on November 8
He traveled on to New York and is ‘cooperating with the police’ after a mysterious final text message was sent from Hannah’s phone, telling her she was having a ‘spiritual awakening’.
The young traveler was captured on a security camera as he stepped off the plane just before 10pm on November 8.
The aspiring photographer wore a black hoodie and colorful sweatpants as she walked through LAX wearing headphones.
She was supposed to catch a connecting flight at 11 p.m., but that didn’t work out.
Before his death, Ryan and the rest of the family lamented the LAPD’s slow pace.
They were forced to take the investigation into their own hands, they say, after being repeatedly ignored.
The family told DailyMail.com that police did not contact them for 10 days after they first reported her missing.