After an enormous and prolonged seek for a 30-year-old Maui lady who disappeared in Los Angeles final month, sparking issues of human trafficking and foul play, investigators introduced Monday that she was seen crossing into Mexico, appeared unhurt and is now thought-about a “voluntary lacking individual”.
Hannah Kobayashi traveled from Maui to Los Angeles on November 8.
There, investigators mentioned he had intentionally missed his connection to New York, the place he had meant to go to an aunt.
The Maui native was noticed the following day at The Grove for a LeBron James occasion, with relations claiming to have obtained regarding messages from her.
She was then seen on the Pico metro station close to the Crypto.com Arena round 10pm on November 11 with an unknown individual.
As the weeks handed and the search intensified, with increasingly relations touring to Los Angeles to search for her, they publicly acknowledged that they believed Hannah had been harmed by one other individual.
Police, nonetheless, mentioned Kobayashi was seen on surveillance cameras at Los Angeles Airport on Nov. 11 retrieving her baggage, which had initially been checked in to New York.
Hannah Kobayashi seen in Los Angeles in surveillance picture obtained by household. (viewer picture)
“The investigation additional revealed that Kobayashi knowingly left Los Angeles Airport together with her baggage and went to Union Station,” an LAPD press launch mentioned. “While at Union Station, he used his passport to buy a bus ticket to a vacation spot close to the Mexican border.”
Detectives from the LAPD’s Missing Persons Unit went to the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 1, the place they seen surveillance footage of the 30-year-old getting into Mexico from San Ysidro on Nov. 12.
Where is Hannah Kobayashi? What we all know
While in Mexico, his analysis continued in Los Angeles. On Nov. 24, it took a tragic flip when her father, Ryan Kobayashi, was discovered useless in a car parking zone close to LAX, the place the household’s search was centered.
Los Angeles police mentioned he died by suicide.
Ryan spoke to KTLA a couple of days earlier than his dying, in hopes of reaching his daughter.
“I miss it,” he mentioned. “I simply need her to know and I simply need her to contact me – something.”
At Monday’s information convention, investigators mentioned that earlier than leaving Maui, the 30-year-old had expressed a need to maneuver away from trendy connectivity and added that it was unclear whether or not she nonetheless had her cellphone.
Furthermore, authorities mentioned that Kobayashi is just not suspected of any prison exercise and that her classification as a voluntarily lacking individual displays a stability between respecting her privateness issues and making certain that any investigative motion is carried out inside authorized and moral requirements .
“Our precedence is making certain the security and well-being of Ms. Kobayashi,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell mentioned on the information convention. “We urge Ms. Kobayashi to contact her household, legislation enforcement, or U.S. Embassy personnel to tell us she is protected. You have the appropriate to privateness and we respect your alternative, however we additionally perceive the priority your family members really feel. A easy message may reassure those that care about her.”
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