A Hawaii woman who disappeared after landing in Los Angeles three weeks ago went missing voluntarily because she wanted to “get away from modern connections” and was last seen crossing into Mexico with her luggage, police said at a news conference where they found her. invited her distraught family to contact her.
Hannah Kobayashi, 30, appeared unharmed as she entered the tunnel alone at the San Ysidro crossing about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles around noon on Nov. 12, a day after her family reported her missing, LA police said. on Monday. The authorities did discovery after reviewing U.S. Customs and Border Protection surveillance video late Sunday.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said there was no evidence Kobayashi was trafficked or otherwise the victim of a crime. Her disappearance is now classified as a “voluntarily missing person”.
“We’ve basically done everything we can at this point. She left the country and is now in another country,” he said, adding that if she returns to the US, the police will be notified.
McDonnell said she had a right to her privacy, but urged her to contact her family or the police.
“A simple message could reassure those who care about her,” McDonnell said. He explained that the missing person case will remain active until her safety is confirmed by law enforcement.
Kobayashi went missing after the aspiring photographer from Maui failed to fly to New York on Nov. 8 to travel to a new job and visit relatives. She told her family that she would be sleeping at Los Angeles International Airport that night.
Family members assumed she was on standby for another flight, according to her aunt, Larie Pidgeon. The next day, Kobayashi texted them that she was sightseeing in Los Angeles, planning to visit The Grove mall and downtown LA, Pidgeon said.
On November 11, the family received “strange and cryptic, just plain alarming” text messages from her phone saying she had been “intercepted” on her way to Metro the train and the fear that someone might steal her identity, her aunt said.
Her father, Ryan Kobayashi, who was searching with volunteers, found dead in an apparent suicide on Sunday, Nov. 24, in a parking lot near LA International Airport, police and her family said.
McDonnell said during a police commission meeting last Tuesday that detectives determined Hannah Kobayashi intentionally missed her connecting flight. Kobayashi’s sister, Sydni Kobayashi, disputed his statement in a social media post.
Police said Monday that after being seen at various locations in LA, Hannah Kobayashi requested that her luggage, which was checked in to New York, be sent back to LAX. She then returned to the airport to pick it up on Nov. 11 and didn’t have her phone when she left again, according to police.
Investigators found she “expressed a desire to move away from modern connections.”
Police also identified and questioned the man Kobayashi was seen with on the subway. He was “cooperative” and said he met her at LAX, police said.
Sydni Kobayashi did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. Members of the public who were in Help Us Find Hannah Facebook the group, which has attracted interest from more than 25,000 participants, shared a post from the group on Monday saying the family would be shutting down the group after “threats to their lives and the lives of their young children.”
The post also said that Sydni Kobayashi and her mother would not be responding to any messages.
During the press conference, McDonnell reflected on everything the family has endured these past few weeks.
“I would ask anyone who is thinking about this to think about the people you are leaving behind, your loved ones who will be worried about you,” he said.
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The story has been updated to correct the San Ysidro location to be southeast of Los Angeles, not southwest.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the US National Suicide and Crisis Line is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
