25,000 strangers banded together to find a missing photographer after cryptic texts and a missed flight – now police say she has decided to disappear

Hannah Kobayashi, 30, appeared to be uninjured as she walked alone into a tunnel at the San Ysidro Crossing about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles around noon on November 12, a day after her family reported her missing Angeles left, LA police said Monday. Authorities made the discovery after reviewing surveillance videos from U.S. Customs and Border Protection late Sunday.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said there was no evidence that Kobayashi was a victim of human trafficking or was otherwise the victim of a crime. Her disappearance is now classified as a “voluntary missing person.”

“We basically did everything we could do at that point. She has now left the country and is living in another country,” he said, adding that law enforcement will be notified when she returns to the United States.

McDonnell said she has a right to her privacy but urged her to contact her family or law enforcement.

“A simple message could reassure those who care,” McDonnell said. He explained that the missing person case will continue until their safety is confirmed by law enforcement.

Kobayashi went missing after the aspiring photographer from Maui failed to catch a connecting flight to New York on November 8 to start a new job and visit relatives. She told her family that she would sleep at Los Angeles International Airport that night.

According to her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, family members assumed she was ready for another flight. The next day, Kobayashi texted them telling them she was sightseeing in Los Angeles and planned to visit The Grove mall and downtown L.A., Pidgeon said.

On November 11, the family received “strange and cryptic, just alarming” text messages from her phone indicating that she had been “intercepted” while boarding a subway train and was afraid that someone was her Identity could be stolen, her aunt said.

Her father, Ryan Kobayashi, who had been on the search party along with volunteers, was found dead of an apparent suicide in a parking lot near LA International Airport on Sunday, Nov. 24, police and her family said.

McDonnell said during a Police Commission meeting last Tuesday that investigators determined Hannah Kobayashi intentionally missed her connecting flight. Kobayashi’s sister Sydni Kobayashi disputed his statement in a social media post.

Police said Monday that Hannah Kobayashi requested that her New York checked luggage be returned to LAX after she was seen at various locations in LA. She then returned to the airport to pick it up on November 11 and, according to police, did not have her phone with her when she left.

Investigators found that she had “expressed a desire to move away from modern connectivity.”

Police also identified and questioned a man Kobayashi was seen with on the subway. He was “cooperative” and said he met her at LAX, police said.

Sydni Kobayashi did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Members of the public of the “Help Us Find Hannah” Facebook group, which attracted interest from more than 25,000 participants, shared a post from the group on Monday that said the family was leaving the group after “threats against her “Life” close and the lives of their young children.”

The post also said Sydni Kobayashi and her mother do not respond to messages.

During the press conference, McDonnell reflected on everything the family has been through over the past few weeks.

“I ask anyone who is thinking about doing this to think about the people you leave behind, your loved ones who will be very worried about you,” he said.

___

The story has been updated to correct San Ysidro’s location southeast of Los Angeles rather than southwest.

___

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the U.S. National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling 988 or texting. There is also online chat at 988lifeline.org.