Hannah Kobayashi had been “unaware of everything that was happening in the media” after the 30-year-old Hawaii native’s disappearance prompted her family to report her missing in November, setting off an international search, she reportedly wrote in a statement following her safe return.
“I am still processing it all,” Kobayashi said in the statement, which her aunt Larie Pidgeon distributed to media outlets including NBC News. “My focus now is on my healing, my peace and my creativity.”
Kobayashi, a budding photographer from Maui, was traveling to New York City on 8 November for a new job and to visit relatives when she missed a connecting flight during a stop at Los Angeles international airport. She indicated to her family that she would sleep at the airport that night and then go sightseeing in Los Angeles.
That was when Kobayashi’s relatives began receiving “strange, cryptic messages – things about the matrix”, Pigeon later told the Los Angeles news outlet KTLA. Kobayashi stopped responding after her “family started pressing”, as the aunt recounted to the Associated Press. Her phone finally “just went dead” on 11 November, and her family reported her missing.
A large, frenzied investigation from police ensued amid speculation that – among other possibilities – Kobayashi had maybe vanished because she participated in a marriage for money and was scammed out of the proceeds. Family members, friends and local volunteers aiding the search in and around Los Angeles, with news cameras extensively documenting their efforts . Her father, Ryan Kobayashi, was part of a group that flew in from Hawaii to look for his daughter.
Ryan Kobayashi subsequently died by suicide on 24 November near the Los Angeles airport, authorities and relatives said.
Police determined Hannah Kobayashi had walked into Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing about 125 miles south-east of Los Angeles on 12 November, a day after her family reported her missing. Investigators made that determination after reviewing security video from US Customs and Border Protection, and on 11 December they announced that Kobayashi had been found and accounted for.
The Los Angeles police chief, Jim McDonnell, added that Kobayashi had expressed on social media posts a desire “to disconnect from modern connectivity”.
A statement from Kobayashi’s mother and sister thanked the family’s supporters and expressed gratitude for her being located.
“This past month has been an unimaginable ordeal for our family, and we kindly ask for privacy as we take the time to heal and process everything we have been through,” that statement also said.
In her new statement, Hannah Kobayashi explained that she returned to the US from Mexico on Sunday morning but did not elaborate on her experience. Her attorney told Hawaii News Now that he had accompanied her as she came back to the US from Mexico and could “verify she is safe”.
“I was unaware of everything that was happening in the media,” Hannah Kobayashi’s statement also said. “I am deeply grateful to my family and everyone who has shown me compassion during this time.”
