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Three weeks after Hawaiian photographer Hannah Kobayashi vanished on her way to a “bucket list” vacation in the Big Apple, authorities announced she fled to Mexico to “disconnect” from the modern world — but her desperate family insists the search is far from over.
The 30-year-old brunette beauty from Maui was reported missing by her family on Nov. 11 after she missed a connecting flight at Los Angeles International Airport a few days earlier and then went dark.
Her disappearance quickly made national headlines as her concerned relatives said they received “strange and cryptic” text messages about someone stealing her identity just before she went missing.
The case then took another curious turn Monday when Los Angeles police declared Kobayashi a “voluntary missing person” and said she willfully crossed into Mexico to “step away from modern connectivity.”
“We’ve basically done everything we can do at this point,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said at a Monday night press conference, citing US Customs and Border Protection surveillance footage showing Kobayashi crossing the border Nov. 12.
“She’s left the country and in another nation now.”
The police chief added that there was no evidence the budding snapper was being trafficked or was otherwise a victim of a crime.
Lt. Douglas Oldfield, who works in the department’s Missing Persons Unit, said Kobayashi’s social media activity also led them to believe she “wanted to disconnect” from the modern world.
“By looking at her past social media, we then saw indications that there were some desires or posts that would be consistent in somebody who would have the desire to disconnect from their phone,” Oldfield said at the press conference.
But the LAPD’s conclusion was no consolation to her distraught family — who has not only lost Hannah but also her dad, Ryan Kobayashi, who died by an apparent suicide near Los Angeles International Airport less than two weeks after his daughter disappeared.
On Tuesday morning, the family insisted the search is “far from over” despite the declaration that she’s considered voluntarily missing.
“We are deeply grateful for the urgency and dedication law enforcement has shown in investigating Hannah’s disappearance,” the family said in a statement.
“Our family remains hopeful that Hannah is safe, and urges everyone to continue the search,” it continued. “The search is far from over, and we are committed to doing everything possible to bring her home safely.”
The wild twist is just the latest head-scratching turn in Kobayashi’s disappearance, which began when she flew from Hawaii to LAX on Nov. 8.
The 30-year-old was supposed to hop on a connecting flight to New York, where her relatives and a new job awaited. But the Maui native never boarded the plane.
She’d told her family that she’d sleep at LAX that night, and they assumed she was on standby for the next plane out, according to her aunt, Larie Pidgeon.
But the next day, Kobayashi texted to say she was wandering around the City of Angels, taking in sights like The Grove shopping mall and downtown LA.
That’s when things went downhill.
On Nov. 11, she began texting the “alarming” messages to friends and family.
She claimed she’d been “intercepted” on a metro train, and seemed to believe someone was trying to steal her identity, her aunt said.
“Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f—k since Friday,” one text to a friend said.
Others said, “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds … For someone I thought I loved.”
Kobayashi also texted her aunt in New York, saying she’d “just finished a very intense spiritual awakening” — and made weird Venmo payments to strangers, one of which seemed to be for a tarot card reading.
“Once the family started pressing, she went dark,” Pidgeon told The Associated Press, adding that her niece’s phone “just went dead” after her disappearance.
After popping up in various parts of the city, cops said she asked that her luggage — which had been checked to New York — be hauled back to the West Coast.
She grabbed it from the airport on Nov. 11, police said, and didn’t have her phone with her when she walked out.
Her family reported her missing that day, and her dad flew to Los Angeles to help family, friends and volunteers parse through the city in their quest to find the missing woman.
Meanwhile, wild conspiracy theories erupted across the internet, with some claiming she was brainwashed by a cult, blackmailed by African hackers, fleeing an abusive father or had been kidnapped by angry mobsters to whom her dad owed money.
The strain appeared to be more than her heartbroken dad could bear.
On the morning of Nov. 22, police say the 58-year-old jumped from an LAX parking garage while searching for his little girl.
Cops ruled his death a suicide, with the cause being blunt force trauma.
“It’s such bulls—t!” Pidgeon told The Post. “If Ryan is looking at all this s–t, imagine that weighing on him?”
“He broke,” she continued. “He died of a broken heart. We were tirelessly searching, and Ryan was a big, giant teddy bear. He’s sensitive. Imagine looking in places like Skid Row, picturing his daughter being sex-trafficked, not getting sleep. He just broke.”
At a Monday night press conference, the LAPD chief said police reviewed surveillance footage that “clearly showed Koboyashi crossing the United States border on foot, into Mexico” near Tijuana at about 12:15 p.m. on Nov 12.
“She was alone, with her luggage, and appeared unharmed,” McDonnell said. “At this time, Koboyashi’s case has been classified as a voluntary missing person.”
The police chief insisted there was no evidence of “any criminal activity” and added that before leaving Maui, Koboyashi had said she wanted to “step away from modern connectivity.”
“Our priority is ensuring Ms. Koboyashi’s safety and well-being, and we urge Ms. Koboyashi to contact her family, law enforcement or personnel at the US embassy to let us know that she is safe,” he said.
“She has a right to her privacy,” McDonnell continued. “And we respect her choices. But we also understand the concern her loved ones feel for her. A simple message could reassure those who care about her.”
There’s also the matter of the GoFundMe organized by her family — which had raised nearly $47,000 as of Tuesday to help bring Koboyashi home.
In a Tuesday email, a GoFundMe spokesperson said the fundraiser “is verified and remains within GoFundMe’s Terms of Service at this time,” even though the case’s circumstances have changed drastically.
“If any donor would like to submit a claim to request a refund, we will honor it for them,” the rep said.
The family, however, said they have been left with more questions than answers.
“I want to thank the LAPD for their hard work and the resources they have dedicated to this search,” Pidgeon told The Post. “I know they’ve worked tirelessly, and their efforts have brought us to this new piece of the puzzle.
“But I also want to be clear — this search is not over,” she continued.
“Knowing Hannah crossed the border does not provide the answers I need, nor does it ease the heartbreak I feel.”
With Post wires
