Hannah Kobayashi found safe weeks after being reported missing in Los Angeles, family’s attorney says

Hannah Kobayashi, the Hawaii woman whose disappearance in Los Angeles launched a desperate search by family and friends, has been found safe about a month after being reported missing, her family’s attorney said Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Maui woman has been described by the Los Angeles Police Department as voluntarily missing. According to police, she was seen on surveillance video crossing the U.S. border into Mexico and did not appear to be the victim of foul play. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell made the announcement on Dec. 2, about three weeks after family members say they last heard from her.

Her phone last pinged at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 11, when she missed an LAX flight to New York and was later seen boarding the Metro in LA, according to her family. Several relatives flew in from states such as Hawaii and New York, handing out fliers and speaking with local news outlets in Los Angeles as they searched the city for Kobayashi.

The weekend after Thanksgiving, a little less than three weeks after she was reported missing, her father, Ryan Kobayashi, was found dead near LAX in what police have described as an apparent suicide. He had flown in to join the search for her.

On Wednesday, her family released a statement through their attorneys announcing she had been found.

“We are incredibly relieved and grateful that Hannah has been found safe,” reads the statement released by the LA-based Law Office of Sara Azari, on behalf of her family. “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.”

“We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us,” the statement continues.

When family members couldn’t reach her last month, they said Kobayashi would have indicated if she was planning to go off the grid voluntarily. Her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, said she had sent a series of cryptic texts just before she stopping communicating with her family.

“Things started to get nefarious and scary on Monday when it went from ‘I can’t see you. I’m so excited,’ to texts about people stealing her identity,” Pidgeon said last month. “That she was scared. That she felt unsafe. That people were going to steal her funds — and that doesn’t make sense. Using pet names she’s never used before.”

Pidgeon said the family later learned she did leave LAX on Nov. 11 and was seen boarding the LA Metro with someone.

“She was not alone. She was with an unidentified person. That causes us extreme alarm because that correlates with the timeline of her going missing,” Pidgeon said.