LOS ANGELES — The family of a woman from Hawaii who vanished after landing in Los Angeles three weeks ago expressed frustration with investigators and said they haven’t seen the surveillance footage that shows her walking across the border into Mexico.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said this week that the video shows Hannah Kobayashi, 30, walking with her luggage alone into a covered walkway at San Diego’s San Ysidro crossing on Nov. 12, the day after relatives reported her missing.
McDonnell said there is no evidence Kobayashi was being trafficked or was otherwise a victim of a crime. Her disappearance is now classified as a “voluntary missing person,” he said.
Her sister, Sydni Kobayashi, told Hawaii News Now that the family didn’t learn until Monday that her sister walked from San Diego into Mexico three weeks ago.
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“For them to tell us that they have been keeping us informed throughout the entire time, that’s absolutely inaccurate,” Sydni Kobayashi said Tuesday. “We feel like we’re left in the dark and that was kind of like a huge slap in the face for us.”
Family members, friends and local volunteers searched for Hannah in Los Angeles.
Investigators spotted Kobayashi on video while reviewing surveillance footage from U.S. Customs and Border Protection late Sunday, McDonnell said. Sydni Kobayashi said authorities have not shown any surveillance video to the family.
The family has hired a private investigator and attorney because they still feel Hannah is in danger, Hawaii News Now reported.
“They say that they seen her alone, but that doesn’t discount the fact that someone could be watching her from afar, knowing how big this case has gotten and kind of like maybe controlling her or like telling her what to do,” the sister said.
According to McDonnell, Kobayashi disappeared voluntarily as she sought to “step away from modern connectivity.”
“We’ve basically done everything we can do at this point. She’s left the country and in another nation now,” he said, adding that if she returns to the U.S., law enforcement will be notified. He declined to comment further Wednesday.
McDonnell said she has a right to her privacy, but urged her to reach out to her family or law enforcement. He explained that the missing person case will remain active until her safety is confirmed by authorities.
The budding photographer from Maui went missing after she didn’t make a connecting flight to New York on Nov. 8 to travel for a new job and to visit relatives.
