Hannah Kobayashi’s family insists their ‘search is not over’ despite police saying she is a voluntary missing person

By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN

(CNN) — The family of Hannah Kobayashi, the Hawaii woman who went missing in early November after arriving in Los Angeles on a flight from Maui, insists their search for Hannah is not over despite police saying she is a voluntary missing person.

“My heart is still broken, and my worry for Hannah has not lessened,” Kobayashi’s aunt Larie Pidgeon said in a statement Tuesday. “It has been 21 days since I last heard from her—21 days of silence, of fear, and of questioning what could have led to this.”

Police say the 30-year-old was spotted on video surveillance from US Customs and Border Protection “crossing the United States border on foot into Mexico” on November 12.

“She was alone, with her luggage, and appeared unharmed,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Monday in a news conference.

Kobayashi had arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Maui on November 8, but did not board her connecting flight to New York, her sister previously told CNN. The family last heard from her on November 11 and police created a missing person poster for her on November 15. Video and photos show Kobayashi at various locations around Los Angeles between November 8 and 11, police said.

“To date, the investigation has not uncovered any evidence that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play. She is also not a suspect in any criminal activity,” McDonnell said. “She has a right to her privacy, and we respect her choices but we also understand the concern her loved ones feel for her.”

Tragedy struck the family during their search for Hannah when her father Ryan Kobayashi, who had traveled from Hawaii to Los Angeles to help look for her, was found dead Sunday near the airport, having taken his own life, the family and authorities say. Pidgeon told CNN that he “died of a broken heart.”

Hannah’s family is raising red flags on what they say is aberrant behavior leading to the Hawaiian native’s decision to travel to Mexico.

“They say that they’ve 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,” Hannah’s sister Sydni Kobayashi told CNN affiliate HawaiiNewsNow on Tuesday.

“Now that she’s there (Mexico), it feels like they’re kind of washing their hands clean of the situation,” Kobayashi said.

When asked, the LAPD said they had no further comment or information to provide on Hannah’s case.

Hannah’s aunt expressed the family’s appreciation for the Los Angeles Police Department who “worked tirelessly” to track down her niece saying, “Their efforts have brought us to this new piece of the puzzle.” However, Pidgeon noted that her usually communicative niece “never mentioned any plans to travel to Mexico, and no one in her life knew she intended to go there.”

Attorney Sara Azani tells CNN the family is shocked and frustrated because Hannah is still in the missing person’s database and now the family has to take the investigation into their own hands.

“They’re very concerned because Mexico is not a safe place, at least not near the border,” Azani says. “Even if Hannah was safe as of November 12, there’s no telling that she’s safe today.”

“What alarms me even more is her complete disconnection from her phone, her social media, and her world—this is not who she is,” Pidgeon said.

Azani said her team and members of the Kobayashi family are hoping to engage the US State Department and plan on traveling to Mexico soon where they feel like they will have to start all over with the campaign to find Hannah.

“Everything I’ve done, every plea I’ve made, every step I’ve taken—it’s all been out of love,” Pidgeon said. “I will not stop until I can confirm, face-to-face, that she is safe and making these decisions of her own accord.”

CNN’s Michelle Watson, Caroll Alvarado, Amanda Jackson and Chimaine Pouteau contributed to this report.

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