Family searches for relative after she missed her flight from LAX to New York City

Larie Pidgeon says it's been a nightmare ever since her niece Hannah Kobayashi missed her connecting flight to New York City at LAX.

"If she decided to deter her trip she would've let us know," Pidgeon said. "We haven't heard from her. We haven't, so we know something is wrong."

Pidgeon says Kobayashi went sightseeing at the Grove on Nov. 9 while she waited for stand-by flights. While that seemed normal to Pidgeon, this was the moment things started to change. 

"Things started to get nefarious and scary on Monday when it went from 'I can't see you. I'm so excited,' to texts about people stealing her identity," the concerned aunt said. "That she was scared. That she felt unsafe. That people were going to steal her funds and that doesn't make sense. Using pet names she's never used before."

One of the texts sent from Kobayashi's phone read "I just finished a very intense spiritual awakening. I'm heading back to the airport to get to NYC. I might need some help getting there."

Pidgeon says Kobayashi's phone was last pinged at LAX Nov. 11 and then she went dark. Her uncle Robert Montalvo flew to Los Angeles from New York to help with the search. He says she was headed to the city for work. He was excited to spend time with her. 

"She was a photographer and she had her first big gig in New York," Montalvo said. "It was like exciting things."

Montalvo said he had been communicating with her until Nov. 11, too. Since then, Kobayashi's family has mobilized in LA, passing out fliers and posting them around the areas they she was last seen. 

"It has been confirmed that she did leave the airport on 11/11 in the evening and that she boarded the Metro," said Pidgeon. "She was not alone. She was with an unidentified person. That causes us extreme alarm because that correlates with the timeline of her going missing. So, our focus now is on the Pico Metro station."

Kobayashi's family says she is a kind person who is full of life. They started an online fundraiser to help pay for their expenses. 

"We want to get her back," said Montalvo. "We want to know she's OK."

The Los Angeles Police Department's Missing Persons Unit said they are investigating the case but could not provide any more information.