Hannah Kobayashi, a 30-year-old Maui woman who went missing last month after touching down at LAX for a layover, has been declared a “voluntary missing person” by the LAPD.
Police revealed in a news conference on Monday that Kobayashi was spotted walking across the U.S.-Mexico border on Nov. 12, just days after she arrived in L.A.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said officers retraced Kobayashi’s steps and confirmed she had entered Mexico.
“After traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border, we reviewed video surveillance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which clearly shows Kobayashi crossing the United States border on foot into Mexico,” McDonnell told reporters. “She was alone, with her luggage, and appeared unharmed.”
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The LAPD said there’s no evidence Kobayashi was a victim of foul play or human trafficking, instead she apparently wanted to “disconnect.”
“By looking at her past social media, we then saw indications that there were some desires or posts that would be consistent in somebody who would have the desire to disconnect from their phone,” Lt. Douglas Oldfield, of the police department’s Missing Persons Unit, said during the news conference.
Oldfield noted that detectives can’t say they’re “100 percent right,” about that determination, but they do know for sure that Kobayashi didn’t have her phone with her when she left LAX.
Kobayashi touched down in Los Angeles on Nov. 8. She missed her connecting flight to New York, and was recorded on surveillance video visiting several tourist spots in L.A.
Her worried family traveled to California and pleaded for her safe return. Relatives said they last heard from Kobayashi on Nov. 11, and they were worried she was a victim of foul play.
Her family filed a missing person’s report, but later criticized the LAPD after the police chief said last week that Kobayashi “intentionally” missed her connecting flight.
During Monday’s news conference, police revealed they have video of Kobayashi retrieving her luggage from baggage claim at LAX on Nov. 11, after she requested it be returned from New York.
Police said she then traveled via the LA Metro to Union Station, where she used her passport and cash to purchase a ticket to the border.
From the U.S. Customs and Border Protection video, Kobayashi was seen crossing into Mexico at a land port in San Diego’s San Ysidro neighborhood at 12:13 p.m. on Nov. 12.
The LAPD expressed frustration that they had used department resources to search for someone who apparently didn’t want to be found.
“The LAPD has taken this report seriously from the moment we received it, and we expended a lot of resources, to include a trip this past weekend to the U.S.-Mexico border to collaborate with our partners there,” said Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton.
The department called on Kobayashi to let her family know she is okay.
“We urge Ms. Kobayashi to contact her family, law enforcement or personnel at the U.S. Embassy to let us know that you’re safe,” McDonnell said.
He continued, “She has a right to her privacy and we respect her choices, but we also understand the concern her loved ones feel for her. A simple message could reassure those who care about her.”
Police also commented on Monday, that a man seen in security video with Kobayashi in L.A. had been located and cooperated with investigators, who concluded there was no wrongdoing.
On Nov. 24, Kobayashi’s relatives gathered in downtown L.A. to search for her, though the family would face another tragedy.
Ryan Kobayashi, who flew to California to search for his daughter, died by suicide near LAX.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner said he died as a result of multiple blunt-force trauma injuries.
Below is Monday’s news conference:
