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Hannah Kobayashi still isn’t quite ready to talk about what happened. In November 2024, the 30-year-old was reported missing when she wasn’t on her scheduled connecting flight from LAX to New York City, where she was meeting a family friend. When she was found in December, having traveled down to Mexico in what was reclassified as a voluntary missing person case, she learned her father had died by suicide just weeks prior. Kobayashi hasn’t spoken much since, but recently returned to social media to begin parsing through her emotions.
Per SFGate, Kobayashi shared an Instagram Story over the weekend that addressed the nationwide search that followed her apparent disappearance. She thanked “every single person who dedicated time and energy into looking for me,” a search she previously said she was unaware of as it was happening. Kobayashi also loosely detailed the more harrowing remnants of the experience. “Every day is such a gift, especially after such loss and pain and suffering,” she said. “We should all learn to be kind to one another.”
Kobayashi’s first Instagram post since the incident was shared on May 3. She shared a grayscale image of trees in a forest along with a long, poetic caption. “For all that i have yet to say, the love in my heart remains the same, for every being that exists and those to come…,” she wrote. “To go deep within and bear witness to your unwaivering resilience is a true remembrance. More powerful than you could ever imagine. Rise up against tyranny, rise up against hate. Overcome fear~and nothing will ever stop you from becoming that in which you are destined.”
The comments on Kobayashi’s posts are still publicly accessible, though some social media users have turned them into something more closely resembling an interrogation room. One commenter demanded answers as to why Kobayashi didn’t attend her father’s funeral, while others urged her to “seek help,” while emphasizing the pain and suffering they blame her for causing her family. Some comments were more sympathetic, including one user who shared the grief of their own experience losing their father.
“You don’t know the whole story,” Kobayashi responded to the user who asked about the funeral. “My intention in this post is to acknowledge that I am going to speak about my experience — and to stand up against all the hate that was cast upon me. I hope that in your darkest hours, you are shown compassion and love versus hate and judgment.”
