The sister of missing Hawaii woman Hannah Kobayashi is demanding police release surveillance footage that shows Kobayashi voluntarily walking across the U.S.-Mexico border last month after getting off a plane in Los Angeles.
Kobayashi, 30, has since been declared a “voluntary missing person” by the Los Angeles Police Department, meaning authorities now believe she left of her own free will. But Kobayashi’s sister says their family is not satisfied with that determination and isn’t ending its search.
“We haven’t been shown that there was footage at all for us to confirm as her family that that was, in fact, her,” Sydni Kobayashi told NBC News. “We kind of just feel left in the dark, and we’re just confused and frustrated more than anything right now.”
In a separate interview with Hawaii News Now, Sydni Kobayashi said she feels like the LAPD has given up.
“Now that she’s there, it feels like they’re kind of washing their hands clean of the situation,” she said of the LAPD’s investigation, which police said remains active but faces limits since Kobayashi is apparently no longer in the U.S.
A LAPD spokesperson did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on the video’s release.
At a press conference on Monday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said there’s no evidence that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play. She’s also not a suspect in any criminal activity.
She “expressed a desire to step away from modern connectivity” before departing Hawaii on Nov. 8, McDonnell said.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, where Kobayashi was due to catch a connecting flight to New York City, she requested the removal of her luggage, intentionally missed her connecting flight and left the airport, according to police, who say that she also got rid of her phone at some point.
Kobayashi’s sister says it doesn’t add up.
She “never mentioned going to Mexico” and she would have responded to news of their father’s suicide roughly two weeks after she went missing, Sydni Kobayashi told Hawaii News Now.
“If she had seen what happened with my father and his passing, she would have definitely reached out by now,” she said. “There’s no way that she wouldn’t have reached out, knowing the person that she is.”
Hannah Kobayashi stayed in the Los Angeles area for a few days, based on Nov. 11 surveillance footage showing her near a downtown Metro train station with a man police said they have questioned and cleared.
The man, whom police did not identify, said he met Hannah at the airport. No further details about their interaction were released, though police said he has been cooperative and that his story checks out.
The following day, at 12:13 p.m., police said Kobayashi was seen walking through a tunnel that leads to Mexico while carrying her luggage.
“She appeared fine. She was with nobody else,” LAPD Lt. Douglas Oldfield said at Monday’s press conference.
Kobayashi used her passport and cash to purchase a public transit ticket that was used to reach the border, he said.
“She has a right to her privacy, and we respect her choices,” McDonnell said, “but we also understand the concern that her loved ones feel for her. A simple message could reassure those who care about her.”
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McDonnell stressed that when people voluntarily go missing, they take public resources away from other people who need help.
The LAPD said it will not continue its investigation into Mexico, but that law enforcement will be notified if Kobayashi returns to the U.S.