Photo from Missing People in America / Facebook
LOS ANGELES – A Hawaii woman who went missing after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 8 while en route to New York is believed to have crossed the border into Mexico, with no signs of foul play, police have determined according to reports Monday night.
The Los Angeles Police Department would not immediately comment on the report, but Chief Jim McDonnell and other department leaders and Missing Persons Unit detectives scheduled an early evening news conference to give an update on the case.
NBC4, citing unnamed police sources, reported Monday afternoon that law enforcement has obtained video showing Kobayashi crossing the US-Mexico border near Tijuana sometime between Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 and that there is no evidence of foul play. Police sources also told the Los Angeles Times that investigators believe Kobayashi is in Mexico.
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A law enforcement official told NBC4 that “she’s an adult and she can choose to be missing.”
According to her family, Hannah Kobayashi, 30, was traveling to New York City to visit family when she disappeared.
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ADVERTISEMENTShe landed at LAX on Nov. 8, but after missing her connecting flight, she apparently spent the night at LAX then traveled the next day to The Grove shopping center and returned to LAX that night.
She was spotted back at The Grove on Nov. 10 attending a Nike/LeBron James event, and likely returned to LAX again. She was seen around 5 p.m. Nov. 11 speaking to a ticketing agent at LAX, but she did not board a flight, according to the family.
The family says Kobayashi boarded an eastbound Metro C Line train at the Century/Aviation Station the night of Nov. 11, transferred to a northbound A Line train at the Rosa Parks Station, accompanied by an “unknown individual,” with whom she was seen at about 10 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Metro Pico Station near Cryto.com Arena.
ADVERTISEMENTThe family says she was spotted early the next morning, Nov. 12, at a Union Station bus terminal in downtown Los Angeles, but it was unclear if anyone was with her.
Image from Missing People in America / Facebook
The family said earlier the last communications they received from Kobayashi were in strange text messages, including one in which she said she was feeling scared, and that someone might be trying to steal her money and identity.
Los Angeles police have not commented extensively on the case, saying only that it was an open investigation. McDonnell gave an update during a city Police Commission last week, saying that investigators have determined that Kobayashi missing her connecting flight at LAX on Nov. 8 was apparently “intentional,” which the family has disputed.
The heavily publicized search effort by the family took a tragic turn on Nov. 24, when Kobayashi’s father, Ryan, 58, killed himself. He was found near an LAX parking structure from which he may have jumped.
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“After tirelessly searching throughout Los Angeles for 13 days,Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, tragically took his own life,” according to a statement from the family at the time. “This loss has compounded the family’s suffering immeasurably.” (CNS)
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