Sister of woman who went missing from airport two weeks ago says 'someone was controlling her'

The sister of Hannah Kobayashi has claimed that the odd messages sent from her phone before her disappearance were being sent by someone else.

Hawaiian photographer Hannah landed in LAX Airport from her home state on 8 November, taking the same flight as her ex-boyfriend, who bought their tickets before the split.

She was meant to board a connecting flight to New York, but missed her flight and was spotted at a shopping mall and a Nike event over the next couple of days.

The timeline of events that followed was odd, as the 31-year-old displayed some out-of-character behaviour before disappearing, according to her family.

A number of key sightings of the American have been outlined, as the search for Hannah continues, nearly three weeks on.

Her aunt insisted that 'she wouldn't hide something' if something happened to her.

Her phone was last trackable on 11 November before going offline for good, after family and friends received a number of weird texts, including one about a 'spiritual awakening'.

Hannah's father, Ryan, flew out to LA from Hawaii to help look for her, but was sadly found dead at the bottom of a parking garage on 24 November, which Los Angeles County medical examiner determined was due to suicide.

She was last seen with an unidentified person in Los Angeles, as new evidence recently emerged revealing that Hannah sent some money to two people on Venmo on 9 November, which are under investigation.

But now, Hannah's sister has made a fresh claim about her final text messages.

Hannah's sister thinks someone else sent the peculiar texts from her phone (California Attorney General's Office)

Sydni Kobayashi believes that someone else got a hold of Hannah's phone, revealing to NewsNation that it felt 'like someone was controlling her', as rumours of the 31-year-old being kidnapped continue to circulate.

She continued: "The text messages that she last sent, in my mind someone was controlling her, they might not have even been her.

"So I want to believe law enforcement are doing their jobs."

Sydni went on, revealing: "Intuitively knowing her and being so close to her my entire life, I just know this is absolutely not like her."

She also revealed that her family remain hopeful after receiving thousands of tips, and feels that Hannah wouldn't have run away.

Describing her sister as 'an amazing and beautiful person', she added: "We ask that you just give our family some grace."

Flyers with Hannah's face have been handed out in LA, as she was last seen there on 11 November (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Sydni further clarified that the names of the people that she transferred money to were not recognised by the family.

One of them was made at 6:25pm to someone called Veronica Almendarez and was noted with the bow and arrow emoji, while another sum was paid to someone called Jonathan Taylor less than an hour later at 7:19pm, with the transaction having the reference 'Reading'.

Speaking to the US Sun, Hannah's aunt Larie Pidgeon said that the family and the police had been made aware of the Venmo transactions and it was now up to law enforcement.

She said: "We have been made aware and so have the LAPD. It's in their hands.

"We are still focused on Downtown LA. Even though it's been 15 [days] we still have hope. We are also now encouraging people from across the nation to keep an eye in case she has been taken outside of California.

"We are looking at all possibilities, hotels, metros, bus, train stations," Pidgeon highlighted.