Hannah Kobayashi’s family confirmed they are investigating the possibility that she was involved in a green card scam in the lead-up to her disappearance.
Kobayashi, 30, was initially reported missing by her family early last month after she failed to board her connecting flight from Los Angeles to New York.
On Wednesday, sources told LA Mag that she was apparently defrauded out of proceeds from a green card visa program.
The outlet says Kobayashi and her then-partner landed at LAX with plans to board their connecting flight, with her legal husband and his partner also on board.
LA Mag reports that the scam was discovered by Kobayashi’s mother, who found documents listing a lawyer for her daughter’s wedding, which she handed over to police.
In a statement from family attorney Sara Azari, she said the family did not have “the facts or necessary documents” to verify what they called the “alleged marriage.”
Their statement said: “This is one of many leads that we are actively investigating with the assistance of our attorney and investigative team.
“We would also like to confirm that we transferred the alleged information to the police immediately upon receipt.”
On Monday, Los Angeles police announced she had been spotted crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Tijuana.
Hannah Kobayashi, 30, was declared “voluntarily missing” by the LAPD on Monday after her family filed a missing persons report, days after she was scheduled to arrive in New York on November 8.
She was caught on security camera footage getting off a plane at LAX on November 8 just before 10 p.m.
Investigators say security footage from the border near Tijuana, about 140 miles from LAX, shows her alive between Nov. 12 and 13, about a day after she disappeared.
Footage reviewed by police on Sunday “clearly shows 30-year-old Hannah Kobayashi” crossing the border on foot, the LAPD said Monday.
Authorities have released new details of their investigation — citing “witness interviews, reviewed video surveillance” and cooperation with local law enforcement — into what they say happened to Hannah.
Kobayashi “knowingly” departed LAX after checking her bag for her connecting flight to New York from Maui and went to Union Station on November 11 and used her passport to purchase a bus ticket to the border.
In a photo from the surveillance footage, she is standing at a counter with her passport in her hand and a suitcase next to her.
The footage showed her just days after she disappeared and about two weeks before her father, Ryan Kobayashi, committed suicide in a parking garage near Los Angeles International Airport after arriving to help search for her.
The next morning, she took a bus to San Ysidro, California, before crossing the border.
The LAPD said there is no evidence of human trafficking or foul play and noted that Kobayashi appeared to want a less complicated life.
“Investigators noted that before leaving Maui, Kobayashi expressed a desire to distance himself from modern connectivity,” police said in a statement.
Therefore, they are now classifying her disappearance as ‘voluntary’ in an effort to respect ‘her right to privacy’.
“The LAPD remains mindful of privacy concerns while ensuring that all investigative actions are conducted within the bounds of legal and ethical standards,” the statement added.
Hannah Kobayashi’s sister, Sydni Kobayashi, told NBC News on Tuesday that the family is “confused” about why authorities have not shared images of Kobyashi crossing Tijuana.
Police say they will not continue their investigation into Kobayashi to Mexico, but that they will be notified if she returns to America and encourage her to contact police or the U.S. Embassy in Mexico to “concern her well-being to confirm’.
Her sister, Sydni Kobayashi, called that decision unsatisfactory for the family, who still have not seen the footage.
“We’re as confused and as frustrated as anything right now,” Sydni said in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday.
Family lawyer Sara Azari questioned how police could make this decision without consulting Kobayashi’s relatives.
“They just came to this conclusion … without showing them any footage,” the lawyer told NBC News. “It takes a lot more digging and research to say it’s voluntary.”
Sources said NBC Los Angeles that they do not suspect foul play in her disappearance at this time.
One of them even made a bold suggestion: “She’s an adult and she can choose to go missing.”
Los Angeles police recently said they believed Kobayashi “intentionally” missed her flight to New York City — even though her family says she would never do that.
She was captured on security footage standing at the Union Station counter the day before, passport in hand
Kobayashi’s father Ryan, 58, joined the search after the family believed she may have been kidnapped. Ryan was found dead on November 25 after jumping from a Los Angeles parking garage
The 30-year-old disappeared from the streets of downtown Los Angeles after missing a connecting flight from her native Maui to the Big Apple on November 8.
She was on the run with her ex-boyfriend, who was traveling to New York and had been cooperating with police while she was missing.
Kobayashi missed the flight to New York and security camera footage showed her leaving the airport alone with her backpack.
On November 10, she visited a bookstore in The Grove, a popular shopping center in Los Angeles.
Security cameras showed Kobayashi boarding a train on the LAX Metro C Line at Aviation/Century Station at 9:02 p.m. and then being transferred to another train at Rosa Parks Station.
Kobayashi was eventually seen leaving the Pico subway station with an unidentified person at 10:03 p.m.
It was around that time that her family received a series of strange text messages from Kobayashi that seemed to imply that she was in trouble and that someone had stolen her money.
She claimed she recently had a “spiritual awakening” after meeting family in New York.
In another, she claimed: ‘Deep Hackers erased my identity, stole all my money and have had me on their minds since Friday.’
A third text message to a friend said she had “pretty much been tricked into giving away all my money to someone I thought I loved.”
The family also noted that the young artist’s phone has been off since November 11 and that her last pinned location was LAX.
“There are a lot of suspicious or at least unusual things about this case,” Almonte said, referring to her text messages and “spiritual awakening.”
“It remains a mystery to me why she would enter Mexico.”