A Hawaii man found dead in Los Angeles during a weekslong search for his missing daughter died by suicide, authorities confirmed Monday, prompting one family member to blame online conspiracy theories for his death.
Ryan Kobayashi, 58, was found dead in a parking garage early Sunday at the Los Angeles International Airport. He died from multiple blunt-force traumatic injuries, the Los Angeles County medical examiner concluded.
Kobayashi had flown into Los Angeles to help participate in the search for his daughter, 30-year-old Hannah Kobayashi, who vanished in the city after missing a connecting flight to New York on Nov. 8.
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In an interview with The New York Post, Hannah’s aunt, Larie Pidgeon, blamed “bulls**t” online conspiracies about her disappearance — including suggestions of sex trafficking and cults — for him taking his own life.
“If Ryan is looking at all this s**t, imagine that weighing on him?” she told the outlet. “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.”
In a statement, the Kobayashi family expressed heartbreak over his death but asked the public to remain “vigilant in their efforts to locate Hannah.”
“What the family needs most in this difficult time is for all communities to rally around them with support, compassion, and prayers. Please be considerate with your comments and posts. The trauma they are enduring is profound, and they now face the additional burden of grieving the loss of their family’s pillar and navigating next steps,” read the statement shared with search and rescue organization The Rad Movement.