What Happened to Hannah Kobayashi? What We Know About the Hawaii Woman Declared a 'Voluntary Missing Person' After Crossing Mexico Border

Hannah Kobayashi, a Hawaii woman, was declared a 'voluntary missing' person days after she missed her connecting flight to New York City from Los Angeles on Nov. 8

Hannah Kobayashi was on a trip to New York City to explore the city's art scene as an aspiring photographer — but she never made it to the Big Apple.

The Hawaii woman, 30, landed at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Nov. 8, where she was scheduled to take a connecting flight to N.Y.C. However, Hannah never made it onto the plane, Hannah's family told Fox affiliate KHON.

Hannah's phone last pinned her location at LAX on Nov. 11, which was also the final time anyone from her family heard from her. However, Hannah's communication was out of character for her, her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, wrote on Facebook three days later.

"Hannah’s last message to us was alarming — she mentioned feeling scared, and that someone might be trying to steal her money and identity," Pidgeon said. "She hasn’t been heard from since, and we are gravely concerned for her safety.”

Two weeks later, Hannah's father died. Ryan Kobayashi was found dead in a parking lot on Nov. 24, with the L.A. County medical examiner later confirming his cause of death was suicide.

On Dec. 2, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters that surveillance footage from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows Hannah crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Nov. 12, alone and with her luggage. Now, police have determined her to be a "voluntary missing person."

So what happened to Hannah Kobayashi? Here's everything we know so far about the seeming disappearance of the Hawaii native.

Who is Hannah Kobayashi?

Hannah is a 30-year-old woman from Hawaii who lost contact with her family days after missing her scheduled Nov. 8 connecting flight to N.Y.C. Her aunt described her as "so special and kind" during a rally outside Crypto.com Arena on Nov. 21, per KTLA.

“She’s a beautiful girl inside and outside,” Hannah's father, Ryan Kobayashi, said at the event.

Hannah was heading to N.Y.C. for a concert and to enjoy the city's art scene as an aspiring photographer herself, NBC News reported.

“Hannah loved to travel. She loved photography, art, music. I wasn’t too close with her … growing up. We haven’t had contact for a while,” Ryan told CNN. “I’m just trying to make up. I’m trying to get her back. That’s my main focus.”

What happened to Hannah Kobayashi?

On Nov. 8, Hannah flew from Maui, Hawaii, to Los Angeles, where she had a layover before a connecting flight to N.Y.C. However, she never made the second flight.

“So I reached out to her and I’m like, ‘Hey, are you in New York yet?’ And she’s like, ‘Not yet.’ And it was weird because the flight that she was supposed to go on had already flown,” Brandi Yee, Hannah's mother, told KHON.

Hannah's sister, Sydni Kobayashi, told CNN that Hannah was struggling to rebook her flight and had left LAX. On Nov. 9, she was seen at a Taschen bookstore at The Grove shopping center in L.A. and sent a Venmo payment to two people whose names the family didn't recognize.

That evening, she went back to LAX and called her other aunt, Geordan Montalvo, to tell her she was still trying to get on a flight to New York. "She was like, '‘This is a nightmare. I don’t understand what’s going on with these airlines, I’m trying to get to you,' ” Pidgeon told PEOPLE.

The following day, Hannah was spotted attending the LeBron XXII Trial Experience, which was held at the Nike store at The Grove, in a YouTube video posted on Nov. 10.

The last time Hannah's family heard from her was on Nov. 11, when her location showed her back at LAX. Pidgeon told Hawaii News Now that Montalvo also tried to contact her.

"Her phone pinged at LAX at 4 p.m. and then after that, Geordan kept trying to talk to her, and then it went dark. Her phone went dead, and her communication cut off completely,” she said.

Previously, Hannah had texted a friend after she failed to board the plane, “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds for someone I thought I loved."

"She texted her that she was scared and that she couldn’t come back home or something," Sydni told Hawaii News Now. "It was just really weird texts … it doesn’t sound like her, like there’s just something off about it. So I wasn’t too sure. I don’t know if it’s her or if someone else was texting.”

Sydni elaborated to CNN that the texts used language that Hannah didn't normally employ, like "hun," "love" and "babe," causing her to think it may not have been her sister who was sending them.

“She doesn’t use the word ‘hun.’ ‘Love’ and ‘babe,’ but never ‘hun.’ Even her close friends have said the same," she said.

A ticketing agent told the family that they spoke with Hannah earlier on Nov. 11, sharing that she was trying to buy a ticket either back to Maui or to New York, Pidgeon told PEOPLE.

However, police confirmed that Hannah later left the airport on Nov. 11 "with an unidentified person" and took the train, Pidgeon told KGMB/KHNL. “We haven’t heard about [it],” Pidgeon told the outlet. “She knows no one in L.A. Our entire family knows no one in L.A.”

Pidgeon also added that Hannah did not look well in the surveillance video showing her leaving with the stranger. The pair were later seen getting off the train at Pico Station, an area the family later looked through after coming to L.A. to help with the search for Hannah.

“It wasn't a good neighborhood," Pidgeon told PEOPLE. "And the officers that were there and people that we spoke with, they were like, you don't come here after dark."

However, on Dec. 2, police confirmed that Hannah did not go missing, but was instead a "voluntary missing person" after seeing video surveillance of her crossing into Mexico on foot around noon local time on Nov. 12.

Following the news, her family said in a statement to NBC News and NewsNation that they are "committed to doing everything possible to bring her home safely.”

“We are deeply grateful for the urgency and dedication law enforcement has shown in investigating Hannah’s disappearance,” they said.

What have the police said about her seeming disappearance?

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE on Nov. 15 that a missing persons report had been filed for Hannah. Five days later, they confirmed that an investigation was "ongoing" and that "there is no further information at this time."

Hannah's family, who have been helping with the ongoing search, have expressed concern that she might have been abducted or trafficked. Police have not publicly accused anyone of wrongdoing in Hannah's case.

LAPD Chief McDonnell announced at a Nov. 26 Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners meeting that police determined that Hannah intentionally did not board her connecting flight to N.Y.C.

However, four days later, her mother and sister addressed the investigation in a statement on Facebook, writing that “it does not appear that Hannah intentionally missed her flight," and that the police did not inform the family of their "alleged findings."

“These alleged findings have yet to be relayed to my mother and I directly from the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department or any detective involved in Hannah’s case,” Hannah's sister wrote.

After confirming that Hannah voluntarily left the country, police confirmed the investigation found no evidence that Kobayashi "is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play," McDonnell said.

While the investigation will not continue in Mexico, McDonnell confirmed that if Hannah returns to the U.S., law enforcement will be informed.

McDonnel added that investigators found that Hannah "expressed the desire to step away from modern connectivity" before she left for N.Y.C., but there was "no indication that there would be anything to cause this to happen."

What happened to Hannah Kobayashi's dad?

Two weeks after Hannah allegedly disappeared, her father was found dead in a parking structure near LAX around 4 a.m. on Nov. 24. A medical examiner report confirmed he died by suicide.

Before his cause of death was confirmed by authorities, his family told PEOPLE they believed he killed himself amid a mental health emergency.

“He died of a broken heart,” Pidgeon, his former sister-in-law, told PEOPLE. “We’ve been searching tirelessly. I think it just became so overwhelming for him driving the streets, going to Skid Row and seeing where his daughter could possibly have ended up."

The family also stressed that they didn't believe any rumors that Ryan had something to do with Hannah's death or was lured to his death, Pidgeon told PEOPLE.

“He wanted to do everything he could,” she said. “He showed up when it mattered the most.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.