A Timeline of Hannah Kobayashi’s Disappearance: Updates

Hannah Kobayashi‘s family lost contact with her days after she missed her connecting flight from Los Angeles to New York City. But weeks later, police say she voluntarily disappeared.

The 30-year-old Hawaii native was flying from Maui to N.Y.C. with a connection at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Nov. 8. While her family thought something suspicious caused her to miss the flight, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell confirmed on Nov. 26 that she purposely didn’t board the plane.

Two days later, McDonnell confirmed that Kobayashi crossed the U.S. border to Mexico on Nov. 12, determining her to be a “voluntary missing person.”

“We are deeply grateful for the urgency and dedication law enforcement has shown in investigating Hannah’s disappearance,” Kobayashi’s family said in a statement to NBC News and NewsNation following the news.

From her initial alarming text messages to her family to her disappearance to Mexico, here’s a complete timeline of Hannah Kobayashi’s case.

November 8, 2024: Hannah Kobayashi misses her connecting flight in Los Angeles

Kobayashi was taking a flight from Maui to L.A. on Nov. 8 and had a connecting flight from LAX to New York City later that evening that she missed.

“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.

Her sister, Sydni Kobayashi, told CNN that she was struggling to rebook her flight. Police previously told PEOPLE that they think she actually attempted to rebook a flight, but the cost was too high.

November 9, 2024: Hannah Kobayashi is seen at The Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles

At some point, Kobayashi left LAX and was spotted the following day at The Grove, a shopping mall in L.A. She was seen at a Taschen bookstore, and her family noted that she sent two Venmo payments to names they did not recognize, per CNN.

Later that day, Kobayashi returned to the airport, where she called her aunt, Geordan Montalvo, whom she was planning on visiting, to tell her she was trying to book another flight to N.Y.C.

 “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 previously told PEOPLE.

November 10, 2024: Hannah Kobayashi is again seen at The Grove

The following day, Kobayashi once again returned to The Grove, where she was spotted in a promotional video for the LeBron XXII Trial Experience, which was held at the Nike store.

She was also in a YouTube video posted on Nov. 10 by an attendee.

November 11, 2024: Hannah Kobayashi returns to LAX and spends the day with an unidentified man

On Nov. 11, Kobayashi returned to LAX, marking the last day her family heard from her and the last time her phone showed her location.

“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,” her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told Hawaii News Now.

Pidgeon told PEOPLE that a ticketing agent informed the family that Kobayashi was attempting to buy a ticket that day to either Maui or N.Y.C. However, police confirmed that she left the airport later in the afternoon.

“It has been confirmed that she did leave the airport on 11/11 in the evening and that she boarded the Metro,” Pidgeon told KGMB/KHNL. “She was not alone. She was with an unidentified person.”

The LAPD was able to locate the person and confirmed to PEOPLE that the two were strangers who met near the airport around 9 p.m. local time on Nov. 11, and formed a quick bond after spending nine hours together and walking around downtown L.A. They both also spent the night in Union Station in a waiting area.

Police ruled that he was not a dangerous figure as surveillance footage showed him and Kobayashi smiling while talking to one another. “We have this gentleman, we have them walking [on video]. We’re looking — hey, does this person seem like she’s in distress, what does she look like? We see a lot of smiling,” Lt. Doug Oldfield told PEOPLE. “We see smiling from the guy.”

The two got dinner together and were chatting about their lives, with the man — whose identity the police would not reveal — telling LAPD that Kobayashi “just spoke and talked about her life in Maui, her personal life, her love life and so forth,” Detective Omar Franco told PEOPLE.

November 12, 2024: Hannah Kobayashi takes a bus to Mexico

At 6:10 a.m. local time on Nov. 12, Kobayashi bought a ticket at Union Station and boarded a bus shortly after. She arrived at the Mexican border four hours later and crossed into Tijuana by foot around 12 p.m., using the San Ysidro point of entry tunnel.

Her phone, however, was left behind at LAX.

November 24, 2024: Hannah Kobayashi’s father dies by suicide amid the search for her

Before more details came to light and while the search was ongoing, Kobayashi’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, flew to Los Angeles to help her family look for the photographer. However, on Nov. 24, his body was found in a parking lot.

The L.A. County medical examiner confirmed his cause of death was by suicide from multiple blunt force traumatic injuries.

December 2, 2024: Hannah Kobayashi is declared a voluntary missing person

Just a week after her father’s death, police announced at a press conference on Dec. 2 that Kobayashi was now considered a voluntary missing person after seeing footage of her crossing into Mexico, alone and unharmed.

LAPD Chief McDonnell shared that before she left Maui, Kobayashi “expressed the desire to step away from modern connectivity,” while Oldfield told reporters that her latest social media had “indications that there were some desires or posts that would be consistent in somebody who would” want to disconnect.

December 7, 2024: A Tijuana official confirms to PEOPLE that “no one is looking for her” in the city

Since Kobayashi is no longer considered a missing person and is in Mexico, police will not continue their investigation there. However, McDonnell confirmed that if she returns to the U.S., law enforcement will be informed.

In the meantime, Kobayashi’s family does not believe that she is voluntarily missing but rather that something nefarious is at play. They hired lawyer Sara Azari, who is continuing the search for Kobayashi in Mexico.

“They’re pretty shocked at the LAPD conclusion that she’s voluntarily missing. They don’t agree with that at all,” Azari told PEOPLE after the police statement. “They don’t believe that there’s anything voluntary about this, because … Hannah doesn’t have any drug addiction, mental illness.”

She added that the family also does not believe Kobayashi is acting of her own accord, as she’d never before “disconnected” from them.

“The family obviously knows her very well, so they’ve confirmed to me over and over again that her behavior in all of this is extremely suspect,” Azari said. “And it’s almost like she’s influenced by someone.”

While Azari hopes to make Mexican media aware of the situation, as of early December, ex-patriots in Tijuana, Mexico, told PEOPLE that they hadn’t heard of the case — nor Kobayashi.

Meanwhile, Guillermo Manjarrez, commander of the State Police, Binational Unit, Unidad de Enlace Internacional, added that talking to a reporter was the first he’d heard of the case since LAPD had not reached out to him about it.

“No one is looking for her here,” he said.

“If she doesn’t have a warrant, I cannot bring her back to the U.S.,” Manjarrez continued. “I can find her to let her family know that she’s safe, but I cannot bring her back.”