The family of Hannah Kobayashi, the Maui woman who sparked a broad search after going missing from Los Angeles, is looking for answers after law enforcement authorities announced yesterday that she voluntarily crossed the border into Mexico.
“It makes us more alarmed,” Kobayashi’s aunt Larie Pidgeon told the Long Beach Post. “What’s the real story?”
At Monday’s press conference, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said surveillance footage captured by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Nov. 12 showed Kobayashi walking across the border into Tijuana alone and with her luggage.
“At this time Kobayashi’s case has been classified as a voluntary missing person,” said McDonnell. “The investigation has not uncovered any evidence that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play.”
But Pidgeon said that Kobayashi “never mentioned any plans to travel to Mexico,” even though the missing 30-year-old is close with her family.
“What alarms me even more is her complete disconnection from her phone, her social media, and her world,” said Pidgeon. “This is not who she is.”
Pidgeon, 45, and her husband lead a nomadic life, traveling around the country in a motor home.
When interviewed by the Long Beach Post, Pidgeon was in Palm Springs and contemplating whether to travel to Mexico in her quest to find Kobayashi, whose cell phone stopped pinging on Nov. 11.
Kobayashi’s missed connection at LAX
On the evening of Nov. 8, Kobayashi arrived at LAX on a flight from Maui.
She had only 42 minutes to make her connecting flight to New York, where she had already booked a hotel room. But Kobayashi never got on the plane.
Authorities say Kobayashi “intentionally” missed her connecting flight, but her family disputes this.
Three days of strange behavior
During the three days following Kobayashi’s missed connection, she was seen on video at different locations in SoCal.
Twice she visited The Grove, an upscale shopping area. She visited a bookstore. She sent someone a Venmo payment for a tarot reading.
Kobayashi also sent family and friends a series of peculiar text messages. The messages left Pidgeon feeling “scared” for the safety of her niece.
“Hi loves, I just finished a very intense spiritual awakening,” read one of the messages. “I’m charging my phone and heading back to the airport to get to NYC. I might need some help getting there, it’s a long story.”
Another message read: “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds. For someone I thought I loved.”
Around 4 p.m. on Nov. 11, Kobayashi’s phone stopped pinging while she was back at LAX. Afterward, video footage showed her traveling on the Metro light rail system.
McDonnell said yesterday that Kobayashi ended up at Union Station where she used “cash and a passport” to buy a bus ticket to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The tragic death of Kobayashi’s father
Meanwhile, Kobayashi’s family, not knowing that she was bound for Mexico, filed a missing person report and notified the FBI.
News of the case ignited a firestorm of media attention. Kobayashi’s family, including her 58-year-old father Ryan Kobayashi, began posting flyers and searching for her.
In a tragic turn of events, on Nov. 24, the body of her father was found at a parking structure near LAX. Authorities and Kobayashi’s family say he died by suicide.
‘She doesn’t know anybody in Mexico’
Although authorities have now stopped searching for Kobayashi, Pidgeon vows to continue the hunt.
“She doesn’t know anybody in Mexico,” Pidgeon told the Long Beach Post. “She doesn’t speak Spanish.”
Even though Pidgeon said searching for Kobayashi is like “finding a needle in a haystack,” she’s praying that her missing niece will turn up unharmed.
“I will not stop until I can confirm that she is safe and making these decisions of her own accord,” says Pidgeon.
Contact Doug Kari at [email protected].