DECEMBER 11, 2024:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hannah Kobayashi, the missing Hawaii woman whose disappearance prompted a massive search and a missing persons investigation in Los Angeles, has been found safe, police said Wednesday (Dec. 11, 2024).
Kobayashi vanished last month in Los Angeles. Other details about her disappearance, as well as where and how she was found, were not immediately available Wednesday, but police previously said she was “voluntarily missing” because she had voluntarily crossed the border into Mexico.
“We are happy to learn that Hannah has been found safe,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. “Now that we have this new information, this has become a private matter and we will wrap up our investigation.”
Kobayashi’s mother and sister, in a statement through their lawyer, were the first to announce Wednesday that she had been found safe.
“We are incredibly relieved and grateful that Hannah has been found safe,” Brandi Yee and Sydni Kobayashi wrote. “This past month has been an unimaginable ordeal for our family, and we kindly ask for privacy as we take the time to heal and process everything we have been through. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us.”
Kobayashi, a budding photographer from Maui, was heading to New York City on Nov. 8 for a new job and to visit relatives when she missed a connecting flight during a stop at Los Angeles International Airport. She told her family she was sleeping at the airport that night and texted them the next day to say she was sightseeing in Los Angeles.
Her family reported her missing to law enforcement on Nov. 11 after relatives received “strange and cryptic, just alarming” text messages, according to her aunt Larie Pidgeon.
“Once the family started pressing, she went dark,” Pidgeon told The Associated Press late last month. After the texts on Nov. 11, her phone “just went dead,” Pidgeon said.
Family members, friends and local volunteers searched for Hannah in Los Angeles. Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, was among those who flew in from Hawaii to help in the search. He was found dead Nov. 24 in a parking lot near LA International Airport, according to the county medical examiner. Kobayashi’s family confirmed Ryan Kobayashi’s death in a statement the same day, saying they “endured a devastating tragedy” and that he died by suicide.
Police said Hannah Kobayashi walked into Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles on Nov. 12, the day after her family reported her missing. Authorities made the announcement after reviewing security video from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Kobayashi disappeared voluntarily as she sought to “step away from modern connectivity,” Jim McDonnell, the LA police chief, previously said.
DECEMBER 3, 2024:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Hawaii woman who vanished after landing in Los Angeles three weeks ago disappeared voluntarily as she sought to “step away from modern connectivity” and was last seen crossing into Mexico with her luggage, police said at a news conference where they urged her to contact her distraught family.
Hannah Kobayashi, 30, appeared unharmed as she walked alone into a tunnel at the San Ysidro crossing about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles around noon on Nov. 12, 2024, the day after her family reported her missing, LA police said Monday (Dec. 2, 2024). Authorities made the discovery after reviewing surveillance video from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection late Sunday.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said there is no evidence Kobayashi was being trafficked or was otherwise a victim of a crime. Her disappearance is now classified as a “voluntary missing person.”
“We’ve basically done everything we can do at this point. She’s left the country and in another nation now,” he said, adding that if she returns to the U.S., law enforcement will be notified.
McDonnell said she has a right to her privacy, but urged her to reach out to her family or law enforcement.
“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 budding photographer from Maui didn’t make a connecting flight to New York on Nov. 8 to travel for a new job and to visit relatives. She told her family she would sleep in the 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 to say she was sightseeing in Los Angeles, planning to visit The Grove shopping mall and downtown LA, Pidgeon said.
On Nov. 11, the family received “strange and cryptic, just alarming” text messages from her phone that referenced her being “intercepted” as she got on a Metro train and being scared that someone might be stealing her identity, her aunt said.
Her father, Ryan Kobayashi, who had been in the search party along with volunteers, was found dead by 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 missed her connecting flight intentionally. Kobayashi’s sister, Sydni Kobayashi, disputed his statement in a social media post.
Police said Monday that after Hannah Kobayashi was seen in various locations around LA, she requested that her luggage, which had been checked to New York, be sent back to LAX. She then returned to the airport to retrieve it on Nov. 11 and did not have her phone when she left again, according to police.
Investigators found that she had “expressed the desire to step away from modern connectivity.”
Police also identified and questioned a man that Kobayashi was seen with on the Metro. He was “cooperative” and said he met her at LAX, police said.
Sydni Kobayashi did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Members of the public who were in the “Help Us Find Hannah” Facebook group, which garnered the interest of more than 25,000 participants, shared a post from the group Monday that said the family would be shutting the group down after “threats against their lives and the lives of their small children.”
The post also said Sydni Kobayashi and her mother would not be responding to any messages.
During the news conference, McDonnell reflected on all that the family had endured these last few weeks.
“My ask would be to anybody considering doing this, think about the people you’re leaving behind, your loved ones who are going to be worried sick about you,” he said.
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