Hannah Kobayashi has been found after disappearing for a month, her family said
Missing Hawaii woman Hannah Kobayashi has been “found safe” a month after surveillance footage captured her crossing into Mexico carrying a suitcase in a disappearance that made national headlines.
Kobayashi’s mother Brandi Yee and sister Sydni Kobayashi said they were “incredibly relieved and thankful that Hannah was found safe” in a statement released by their attorney, Sara Azari, on Wednesday.
“This past month has been unimaginably difficult for our family, and we ask for privacy as we take time to heal and process everything we’ve been through,” the family said.
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Kobayashi sent cryptic texts to friends and family before losing contact completely, writing that he was “tricked into giving everything away. [her] funds.” (Larie Pidgeon)
“We want to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us in this difficult time,” the statement continued. “Your kindness and concern mean the world to us.”
In a statement sent to Bantu, Azari did not comment on the circumstances of when, where or how Kobayashi’s family contacted him, saying that there will be no further statements at this time. Azari could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said surveillance footage and other evidence showed Kobayashi entering Mexico on foot, alone and with luggage, at the San Ysidro port of entry on November 12. There was no evidence that he was “smuggling or [was] victim of foul play,” McDonnell said.
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Hannah Kobayashi’s mother filed a missing persons report after her daughter appeared to be missing. (Hannah Kobayashi via Instagram)
Larie Pidgeon, Kobayashi’s aunt, who has been the family’s spokesperson during the search, said at the time she was “concerned about Hana.” [had] not reduced.”
“Hannah has never mentioned any plans to go to Mexico, and no one in her life knew that she intended to go there,” he previously told Fox News Digital. “What scares me the most is that he’s completely cut off from his phone, social media and his world – he’s not this person.”
Before Kobayashi was found, Pidgeon told Fox News Digital that he was “estranged” from the rest of the family, saying he was “only focused on him.[ed] on finding Hannah” and that he intended to go to Mexico to “make sure he does what he wants and is really safe.”
HANNAH KOBAYASHI MISSED LOS ANGELES ON PURPOSE, POLICE SAID; THE EVIDENCE OF THE FAMILY’S CLAIMS SHOWS OTHERWISE
Pidgeon later told NewsNation that he didn’t see why the money raised was being used for a lawyer instead of a private investigator.
Kobayashi flew from Hawaii to Los Angeles and was scheduled to take a connecting flight to New York on November 8, with 42 minutes at 11 am, but he did not board the plane despite a detailed itinerary and a hotel room booked in New. York City.
Earlier, Pidgeon told Fox News Digital that friends and family found out a bunch of weird messages from Kobayashi after missing his scheduled flight. She wrote to her friend that she was “tricked out of all my money” and that she had been tricked by “someone I thought I loved.”
HAWAII WOMAN’S TEXT MESSAGES REMAIN CONCERNED AFTER DISAPPEARANCE.
Kobayashi, 30, was heading to New York City to visit his family. (Hannah Kobayashi via Instagram)
“He [wrote she] he had a spiritual awakening, that he was concerned about the matrix. It was just really weird messages,” Pidgeon said previously. “And it went from, ‘Hey, I can’t wait to see you guys. I love you. Everything is very good.’
Ryan Kobayashi, the 30-year-old boy’s father, was found dead on November 24 in an apparent suicide after jumping from a parking lot in Los Angeles, while he and his family were searching for a missing woman.
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Los Angeles Magazine reported that Kobayashi was a victim of the immigration system before going missing. Kobayashi’s mother reportedly found documents at her daughter’s home in Hawaii with a list of immigration attorneys, according to the outlet, and passed that information on to law enforcement.
But the family’s lawyer Azari wrote in the X post that the family “has not confirmed the authenticity of the photos or the accuracy of the information provided about the possible secret marriage… this information.”
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