The sister of lacking Hawaii girl Hannah Kobayashi is demanding police launch surveillance footage that reveals Kobayashi voluntarily strolling throughout the U.S.-Mexico border final month after getting off a aircraft in Los Angeles.
Kobayashi, 30, has since been declared a “voluntary lacking particular person” by the Los Angeles Police Division, that means authorities now imagine she left of her personal free will. However Kobayashi’s sister says their household shouldn’t be glad with that dedication and isn’t ending its search.
“We haven’t been proven that there was footage in any respect for us to substantiate as her household that that was, in actual fact, her,” Sydni Kobayashi instructed NBC Information. “We sort of simply really feel left at the hours of darkness, and we’re simply confused and annoyed greater than something proper now.”
In a separate interview with Hawaii Information Now, Sydni Kobayashi mentioned she feels just like the LAPD has given up.
“Now that she’s there, it seems like they’re sort of washing their fingers clear of the state of affairs,” she mentioned of the LAPD’s investigation, which police mentioned stays lively however faces limits since Kobayashi is seemingly not within the U.S.
A LAPD spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to JHB’s request for touch upon the video’s launch.
At a press convention on Monday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell mentioned there’s no proof that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the sufferer of foul play. She’s additionally not a suspect in any legal exercise.
She “expressed a want to step away from trendy connectivity” earlier than departing Hawaii on Nov. 8, McDonnell mentioned.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, the place Kobayashi was as a result of catch a connecting flight to New York Metropolis, she requested the removing of her baggage, deliberately missed her connecting flight and left the airport, in response to police, who say that she additionally removed her cellphone in some unspecified time in the future.
Kobayashi’s sister says it doesn’t add up.
She “by no means talked about going to Mexico” and he or she would have responded to information of their father’s suicide roughly two weeks after she went lacking, Sydni Kobayashi instructed Hawaii Information Now.
“If she had seen what occurred with my father and his passing, she would have positively reached out by now,” she mentioned. “There’s no means that she wouldn’t have reached out, realizing the individual that she is.”
Hannah Kobayashi stayed within the Los Angeles space for a number of days, primarily based on Nov. 11 surveillance footage displaying her close to a downtown Metro practice station with a person police mentioned they’ve questioned and cleared.
The person, whom police didn’t establish, mentioned he met Hannah on the airport. No additional particulars about their interplay have been launched, although police mentioned he has been cooperative and that his story checks out.
The next day, at 12:13 p.m., police mentioned Kobayashi was seen strolling by a tunnel that results in Mexico whereas carrying her baggage.
“She appeared positive. She was with no person else,” LAPD Lt. Douglas Oldfield mentioned at Monday’s press convention.
Kobayashi used her passport and money to buy a public transit ticket that was used to succeed in the border, he mentioned.
“She has a proper to her privateness, and we respect her selections,” McDonnell mentioned, “however we additionally perceive the priority that her family members really feel for her. A easy message may reassure those that care about her.”
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McDonnell careworn that when folks voluntarily go lacking, they take public assets away from different individuals who need assistance.
The LAPD mentioned it is not going to proceed its investigation into Mexico, however that legislation enforcement will likely be notified if Kobayashi returns to the U.S.