Police have announced a major new development in the case of missing Maui woman Hannah Kobayashi after she was spotted on surveillance footage crossing the Mexican border alone with her belongings.
The 30-year-old vanished from Los Angeles on November 8 while traveling to New York City for what was described as a “bucket list” trip. Her disappearance raised alarm bells with her family, who headed from Hawaii to LA to search for her.
Now, more than three weeks on, the Los Angeles Police Department has declared her a “voluntary missing person” after surveillance footage captured her crossing the US’s southern border on foot.
Police said on Monday that Kobayashi was seen collecting her luggage from a carousel at Los Angeles International Airport on November 11.
The next day, she purchased a bus ticket from Union Station to San Ysidro, California – close to the Mexican border. She then crossed over into Mexico soon after, the LAPD said.
The LAPD’s missing persons unit traveled to the US-Mexico border to review the footage with the US Customs and Border Protection on Sunday.
Based on the footage, law enforcement believe Kobayashi went missing of her own accord and so the LAPD will not be continuing its investigation in Mexico.
“To date, the investigation has not uncovered any evidence that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play,” the LAPD said in the statement. “She is also not a suspect in any criminal activity.”
Police said her disappearance will continue to be treated as a missing person case until her safety is assured and that authorities will be notified if she returns to US soil.
On November 8, Kobayashi failed to board a connecting flight at LAX on her way from Hawaii to New York City.
Her ex-boyfriend, who has not been named, had the same flight itinerary as Kobayashi and reportedly made it to their end destination, CNN reported. The trip was planned before the pair split up, but as the flights were non-refundable, they kept the tickets and agreed to part ways once they arrived in New York, Kobayashi’s sister Sydni told the network.
Kobayashi had planned to meet her aunt Geordan Montalvo and her aunt’s husband Bob in New York to go to a concert together on November 12.
But she missed her connecting flight and never made it to NYC.
The Kobayashi family said they received a “strange and cryptic” text from her’s phone suggesting she was being “intercepted” while she was boarding a Metro train, and expressing fear that someone was trying to steal her identity.
“Once the family started pressing, she went dark,” Hannah’s aunt, Larie Pidgeon previously told the Associated Press. She said the phone “just went dead” after November 11.
Her sister Sydni spoke of her family’s fears that “someone is controlling her.”
Sydni told NewsNation last week that “strange” text messages friends and family members had received from Hannah’s phone “were absolutely not like her.”
One of the cryptic texts a friend received from Hannah’s number said she had been “tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds” to “someone I thought I loved,” it was previously reported.
“Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f*** since Friday,” another message said.
Sydni described the texts as “really weird.”
“This is absolutely not like her, especially with the text messages that she last sent,” she told the broadcaster. “In my mind, it feels like someone was controlling her. Or it might not have even been her.”
Police previously said they were investigating payments Hannah made over Venmo to a man and woman on November 9, shortly before her disappearance.
As well as Kobayashi’s disappearance, the family is also currently grappling with the double tragedy of the death of Hannah’s father Ryan Kobayashi, who was found dead in a parking lot near LAX on November 24 while in the city looking for his daughter.
The LA County medical examiner said he had died from multiple blunt force traumatic injuries, and has since ruled his death as a suicide.
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
