A 30-year-old Hawaii woman at the center of a missing persons search in Los Angeles willfully crossed into Mexico, seemingly as part of her desire to “disconnect,” police said Monday.
The case involving Hannah Kobayashi, of Maui, has been reclassified as one involving a “voluntary missing person,” but it will be kept open until police are assured she’s safe, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference Monday night.
McDonnell added that there’s no evidence Kobayashi is the victim of human trafficking or foul play.
Lt. Douglas Oldfield, of the police department’s Missing Persons Unit, said at the news conference that detectives reviewed Kobayashi’s social media accounts, which led them to believe she “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,” he said.
He said that detectives can’t say they’re “100% right” about their determination but that they know she didn’t have her phone after she left Los Angeles International Airport.
The news conference was held after NBC Los Angeles reported family members were surprised when McDonnell told the Los Angeles Police Commission last week that Kobayashi intentionally missed a connecting flight to New York City after having landed in Los Angeles on Nov. 8.
On Monday, McDonnell said Kobayashi had her luggage rerouted from New York City back to Los Angeles, where she picked it up on Nov. 11.
That missed flight put her in Los Angeles, where she lost touch with family members, sparking concern and eventually prompting them to report her missing to the Los Angeles International Airport Police Department and the FBI, they have said.
Security video showing Kobayashi with an unknown man in Los Angeles sparked more fear, as did text messages in which Kobayashi said someone was trying to steal from her, family members said in interviews last month.
Police said Monday that the man seen in security video with Kobayashi in Los Angeles was found and cooperated with investigators, who concluded there was no wrongdoing.
Family members also expressed dismay because McDonnell, in his customary report to the police commission, misstated Kobayashi’s age as 23, according to NBC Los Angeles. They said he got the date she was reported missing wrong, as well, the station reported.
Aunt Larie Pidgeon declined to comment Monday.
Kobayashi landed at LAX from Honolulu at 9:53 p.m. on Nov. 8, with plans to catch an 11 p.m. connecting flight to New York City, sister Sydni Kobayashi said in a timeline posted to the private “Help Us Find Hannah” Facebook page.
Hannah Kobayashi planned to visit New York City’s Museum of Modern Art and absorb Manhattan’s art scene, as she aspired to be an artist and a photographer, family said.
But Kobayashi missed her connecting flight to New York because there wasn’t enough time for her to get from her arrival gate to the departure gate, Pidgeon said in an interview last month.
Relatives said Kobayashi used her time — during which they believed she was waiting for a suitable flight to New York — sightseeing in Los Angeles.
She went to The Grove shopping center in the Beverly Grove neighborhood, about 12 miles north of Los Angeles International Airport, the next day and the one after that, returning to LAX each time, according to the Facebook timeline.
Kobayashi posted a photo that appeared to have been taken near or at The Grove to her Instagram account, which NBC News verified as hers.
On Nov. 11, she was seen speaking with a ticketing agent at the airport before she got on a Metro train to South Los Angeles and then to downtown Los Angeles, accompanied by the unidentified man, police said.
That day, family members said, she sent messages that concerned them because of their content and a voice that didn’t seem to match hers.
“Hannah’s last message to us was alarming — she mentioned feeling scared, and that someone might be trying to steal her money and identity,” Pidgeon, Kobayashi’s aunt, said on Facebook.
The next morning, on Nov. 12, she was seen at a Greyhound bus station in downtown verified as hers without anyone accompanying her, according to the Facebook timeline.
It was the last day any family member was aware of her whereabouts, Pidgeon said.
McDonnell said Kobayashi was reported missing Nov. 13, but the LAPD took over the case on Nov. 15. An FBI spokesperson said the FBI was assisting with the investigation.
Police said Monday they reviewed U.S. Customs and Border Protection video showing Kobayashi crossing into Mexico at a land port in San Diego’s San Ysidro neighborhood at 12:13 p.m. on Nov. 12.
Kobayashi has done nothing criminal and has every right to move freely that way, said McDonnell, the police chief, but he urged her to reach out to family members because they’re worried.
“She has a right to her privacy, and we respect her choices, but we also understand the concern her loved ones feel for her,” he said. “A simple message could reassure those who care about her.”
Police said that on Nov. 24, after relatives gathered in Los Angeles to search for Kobayashi, her father died by suicide near Los Angeles International Airport.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner said Ryan Kobayashi, 58, died as a result of multiple blunt force trauma injuries.
“I’m very sorry to the family for all that they’ve been through,” McDonnell said.
