Hannah Kobayashi’s household says she was “discovered secure” on Wednesday, Dec. 11, a few month after she walked into Mexico and vanished in what police have known as a voluntary disappearance that made headlines across the nation — largely due to her kinfolk’ insistence that one thing horrible might have occurred.
“We’re extremely relieved and grateful that Hannah has been discovered secure,” her sister and mom, Sydni Kobayashi and Brandi Yee, mentioned in a press release to PEOPLE via their lawyer, Sara Azari.
“This previous month has been an unimaginable ordeal for our household, and we kindly ask for privateness as we take the time to heal and course of every thing we have now been via,” the household continued.
“We need to categorical our heartfelt because of everybody who supported us throughout this troublesome time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us,” Hannah’s sister and mom added.
Azari didn’t present particulars about when, the place or how Hannah made contact along with her household and mentioned there could be no additional statements at the moment.
Lt. Doug Oldfield, with the L.A. police’s lacking individuals unit, tells PEOPLE that authorities have been individually notified by Azari that Hannah was positioned on Wednesday simply “a couple of hours in the past.”
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“We’ve not seen her and at this level we have now no motive to compel her to see us,” Oldfield says.
Nonetheless, he notes, “It’s a giant information story so she might resolve to return with a lawyer, however she isn’t obligated to talk to us. We’ll see what occurs subsequent.”
He says the Hannah’s household didn’t share her present location and “we have now not obtained notification that she’s had contact with CBP [Customs and Border Protection] or crossed again into the U.S.”okay
“When she crosses again, she’ll present as a lacking particular person,” Oldfield says. “We often need regulation enforcement to find out an individual is secure and make contact — on this case CBP may present us with that information to take her out of the system.”
Hannah, a 30-year-old photographer dwelling in Hawaii, had been reported lacking on Nov. 11 after failing to make a connecting flight in Los Angeles certain for New York Metropolis.
Within the weeks since then, Hannah’s kinfolk drew a nationwide highlight to her case and mentioned they frightened she was the sufferer of a kidnapping or human trafficking.
“We’re terrified,” her Larie Pidgeon beforehand instructed PEOPLE. “We’re actually afraid.”
Syndi, Hannah’s sister, echoed that in feedback to NBC Information: “I can not stress sufficient how beloved you might be, how supported you might be,” she mentioned. “We’re actually frightened about you. It doesn’t matter what state of affairs you are in, you at all times have a house to return to.”
Because the household seemed for Hannah, they confronted one other loss: Her dad, Ryan Kobayashi, died by suicide in L.A. on Nov. 24.
“He died of a damaged coronary heart,” Pidgeon mentioned.
L.A. police have mentioned they spent weeks untangling Hannah’s actions across the metropolis between Nov. 8, when she arrived from Maui in Hawaii, and Nov. 11, when contact was misplaced.
A break within the case got here on Dec. 1 when authorities reviewed video on the southern border exhibiting Hannah, with a grey backpack and pink rolling suitcase, coming into Tijuana alone and never below seen misery.
Whereas that willpower was challenged by Hannah’s household, who mentioned they might launch their very own search — “they do not consider that there is something voluntary about this,” Azari instructed PEOPLE — investigators have stood by their work.
“To this point, the investigation has not uncovered any proof that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the sufferer of foul play,” L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell instructed reporters at a information convention on Dec. 2. “She’s additionally not a suspect in any prison exercise.”
“We urge Ms. Kobayashi to contact her household, regulation enforcement or personnel on the U.S. Embassy to tell us that she is secure,” McDonnell mentioned then.
“She has a proper to her privateness and we respect her decisions, however we additionally perceive that the priority her family members really feel for her. A easy message may reassure those that care about her.”
This can be a breaking information story. Please return for updates.
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