Hannah Kobayashi, the missing Hawaii woman who was found last week in Mexico, has dashed her family’s hopes of a reunion.
Kobayashi, 31, whose disappearance sparked a police investigation before she was found to have voluntarily left the country, told relatives she did not want to return to her home state, according to her family.
Her sister, Sydni, posted a statement on her Facebook saying that she and her mother have not physically seen Hannah, but have spoken on the phone with her.
“We do not have actual proof of where she is, other than that she is somewhere in Mexico,” her sister wrote, adding that Kobayashi does not want to return home. “The past 31 days have been absolute hell for us, and I feel they will continue to be for a while, even as we try to transition back to some semblance of normalcy.”
Kobayashi went missing in November at Los Angeles International Airport, the spot where days later her father died by suicide in what family members said was the result of a “broken heart.”
“Each day brought the unbearable uncertainty of whether my sister was alive or dead,” she wrote. “Losing my father to suicide during this ordeal was more than my soul and heart could bear. I am human.”
Hannah had sent cryptic last messages to loved ones, which sparked concern and Internet theories across the globe.
“Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f—k since Friday,” she texted one of her friends, according to the New York Post.
“I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds … For someone I thought I loved,” she wrote in another text.
But after three weeks of searching for her, police moved to classify Kobayashi as a “voluntary missing person” after video evidence revealed that she was alone, unharmed, and had crossed into Mexico on foot.
Her sister also criticized in the statement how her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, had handled the media, and no longer considers her family.
“There were many occasions when my mother and I requested that Larie respect our feelings and tone down her posts and interviews. Our priority was finding Hannah, not creating a media circus.”
