Hannah Kobayashi lawyer defends Mexico search fundraiser & insists ‘need has gone up’ as she calls on state dept to help
As the frantic hunt for the missing tourist intensifies, Hannah Kobayashi’s family has requested additional financial contributions, according to their attorney.
One day after making her final touch with her family, the 30-year-old Hawaii woman traveled into Mexico on November 12, sparking a nationwide search and conjecture.
After landing in Los Angeles on November 8 and missing the subsequent aircraft that was meant to take her to New York City for a solo trip, Kobayashid vanished.
After security footage showed that Kobayashi crossed the Mexico border by herself, the Los Angeles Police Department terminated its hunt for her on Monday, claiming that her departure was “voluntary.”
However, Kobayashi’s family maintains that her strange behavior—including sending cryptic texts prior to her disappearance—is concerning and promised to use funds from a GoFundMe account they set up on November 15 to continue looking for her in Mexico.
As of Friday, the campaign had raised $47,612 of its $50,000 target, sparking internet controversy as social media users demanded that the family close it due to allegations that Kobayashi voluntarily vanished.
READ MORE ON HANNAH KOBAYASHI
According to Sara Azari, the lawyer for Kobayashi’s family, the family has no intention of stopping the campaign because “our search efforts are not over.”
Azari told The U.S. Sun, “The goal of that GoFundMe hasn’t changed, only the need for money has increased.”
ADDED EXPENSES
As volunteers gathered to look for Kobayashi in Los Angeles in the days after she vanished from LAX, the fundraising was first established to offer food, transportation, and a media blitz.
When Kobayashi’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, was discovered dead by suicide in a parking lot in Los Angeles after two weeks of looking for his daughter, the inquiry took a fatal turn.
In an update to the description of the GoFundMe page, Kobayashi’s sister, Sydni Kobayashi, wrote, “As we continue searching for Hannah, we also face the unexpected costs of Ryan’s funeral.”
“Donations will now support both the search for Hannah and honoring Ryan s memory.”
Tragic twists of the missing Hannah Kobayashi case – from bizarre texts to dad’s suicide
“The goal of the GoFundMe is the same,” Azari said, “but we need even more money today since we have to send aid to Mexico. Additionally, there are funeral costs because the father passed away.
“The GoFundMe is absolutely legitimate, we post updates, and we have receipts for all the expenses.”
The family will utilize funds to look into Kobayashi’s location, Azari told The U.S. Sun.
We must travel to Mexico. We need to launch an investigation there, use the local media, and I’m beginning to set everything up,” Azari said.
The disappearance of Hannah Kobayashi
After missing a trip to New York during a layover in Los Angeles, Hannah Kobayashi set off a major search. This is a chronology of the case’s occurrences.
On Friday, November 8, Hannah departs from her Maui home and lands in Los Angeles in preparation for her subsequent journey to New York City. At 11 p.m., she has forty-two minutes to make the flight.
On Saturday, November 9, Hannah is scheduled to arrive at New York City’s JFK airport at 7 am, but she never does. An hour away from the Los Angeles airport, she is spotted inside a bookstore in The Grove.
Sunday, November 10: Along with a number of other cryptic texts, Hannah sends a message expressing her fear and anxiety about someone attempting to take her identity and money. Later, she is spotted at a Nike event in Los Angeles at The Grove.
On Monday, November 11, Hannah returns to LAX due to her phone data. She shares a photo from the Nike event on her Instagram account. Then she switches off her phone.
Tuesday, November 12: Hannah takes a bus from Union Station to San Ysidro, San Diego, and then crosses the border into Tijuana, Mexico, without her family knowing.
On Wednesday, November 13, the family flies to Los Angeles to look for her and files a missing person’s report. They have been told that she was last spotted with an unnamed male at Downtown Los Angeles’ Pico Station.
Sunday, November 24: Ryan, Hannah’s father, commits suicide and is discovered dead in a Los Angeles parking lot after searching Skid Row and other neighborhoods for almost a week.
Monday, December 2: Authorities report that Hannah was seen on security film entering Mexico from the United States on November 12 and that she desired to distance herself from contemporary technology. The inquiry has been put on hold.
Tuesday, December 3: In a statement issued by their lawyer, Hannah’s family promises to continue searching for her.
“That’s definitely the aim, but I’m not sure if we’ll have [volunteers] on the ground like we did here.
More significantly, since this is no longer occurring on US soil, I must report this to the State Department.
“This is an American citizen who s gone missing,” she stated.
Instead of criticizing the family, Azari added, contributors who have called the GoFundMe’s mission deceptive should receive their money back.
“GoFundMe offers refunds to anyone who requests them,” she stated.
“They have policies for that so they can just go on there and ask questions and ask for refunds or whatever they want to do.”
According to GoFundMe, the fundraising complies with their rules of service.
‘THEY’RE HONEST PEOPLE’
Azari attested to the authenticity of the family by saying, “The legitimacy of that refund is something I first and foremost investigated,”
“This family is really above the law. They are sincere individuals.
“Everything has paperwork to back it up, the money are tracked down to show what they were used for, and the mission has been revised to reflect the new costs resulting from the recent information that she traveled to Mexico.
Azari also attacked the LAPD after Police Chief Jim McDonnell stated that since Kobayashi’s disappearance was ruled to be voluntary and there was no evidence of foul play, there was nothing more that could be done by the police.
The family said that police never showed them the surveillance tape, which McDonnell claimed showed Kobayashi entering Mexico on November 12 at a pedestrian port of entry in San Diego alone herself with her bags.
Despite what the police chief claimed, the police have not been good at providing this family with frequent, transparent disclosures, updates, or anything else,” Azari added.
“The family has been completely unaware of this. Only a few hours before the announcement at a news conference, they learned of the entry from Mexico.
The Maui Police Department confirmed to The U.S. Sun that no prior missing person report had been filed for Kobayashi on Maui, where she resides, despite LAPD earlier informing reporters that she had previously gone missing.
“This is the first time she’s gone missing,” Azari remarked. Never.
“And when she has traveled, she s always stayed in touch.”
The LAPD informed The U.S. Sun that they would not be commenting on the subject any further.
FEARS OF MARRIAGE SCAM
Speculation has also swirled that Kobayashi was involved in a green card marriage scam after a picture circulated online appearing to show her getting married to an Argentinian man namedAlan Cacace.
Family’s statement on alleged marriage
Regarding allegations that Hannah Kobayashi was a part of a green card marriage fraud, her family’s lawyer, Sara Azari, posted the following statement on their behalf:
“We would like to emphasize that the family has not made any public announcements about a purported marriage since we lacked the information and supporting documentation to confirm the veracity of this claim.
“The family has not attested to the veracity of the information offered regarding a potential covert marriage or the legitimacy of the photos. With the assistance of our lawyer and investigative team, we are now looking into a number of leads, including this one.
“We also want to reaffirm that as soon as we received the alleged information, we gave it to law enforcement.
Additionally, even while we value Larie’s efforts, she does not speak for Hannah’s mother Brandi and her sister Sydni, who make up our personal family.
“As we continue our inquiry, we kindly ask for your patience and understanding as we continue to focus on confirming the information and leads we have received.
“We want to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has helped us through this extremely trying period. We much appreciate your efforts, particularly those of the volunteers and people who have gone above and beyond to assist in the hunt for Hannah.
Lastly, we respectfully request that everyone refrain from making hasty judgments or disseminating unsubstantiated statements. It is particularly crucial to avoid spreading rumors that someone is conniving, since this would only make it more difficult for us to locate Hannah and put an end to the misery we are experiencing as a result of her disappearance.”
Source: X
Azari said the family is investigating the marriage claims, but that they didn’t share the information with the public earlier because they didn’t know if it was legitimate.
“At this point, we don t have any information that that information is correct, whether that photo is real, we don t know,” Azari said after revealing the family was made aware of the picture on November 15.
“But this came to Hannah s sister s attention from Reddit via Facebook and she immediately turned it over to law enforcement.”
Azari said the family just wants to know if Kobayashi is safe, even if it means she has no plans of coming home.
Read More on The US Sun
“The family s not trying to coerce her, the family is genuinely concerned for her because this is not how she rolls,” the lawyer explained.
“All they want to know is that she s located and that she s safe.”
You can text Crisis Text Line at 741741, chat on 988lifeline.org, or call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 if you or someone you know is impacted by any of the concerns discussed in this story.
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