Hannah Kobayashi, who was “found safe” about a month after she walked into Mexico and vanished, crossed back into the United States over the weekend, PEOPLE can confirm.
Lt. Doug Oldfield, with the L.A. police’s missing persons unit, tells PEOPLE on Monday, Dec. 16 that police “received notification that Hannah Kobayashi crossed yesterday – 12/15/2024.”
Oldfield said she spoke with Customs and Border Protection and “presented herself for entry into the U.S.,” adding that she “appeared to be in good health” and “did not appear to be under any distress.”
“We are listing her as found,” he adds. “Our case is closed.”
Kobayashi’s family also confirmed her return to the United States to ABC News. TMZ was first to report the news.
PEOPLE has reached out to Sara Azari, an attorney representing Kobayashi’s sister and mother, for additional comment.
On Wednesday, Dec. 11, Kobayashi’s family announced that she had been found.
“We are incredibly relieved and grateful that Hannah has been found safe,” her sister and mother, Sydni Kobayashi and Brandi Yee, said in a statement to PEOPLE through their attorney, Sara Azari. “This past month has been an unimaginable ordeal for our family, and we kindly ask for privacy as we take the time to heal and process everything we have been through.”
“We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us,” added Hannah’s sister and mother.
At the time, Oldfield told PEOPLE that authorities were separately notified by Azari that Kobayashi had been found, but had no other information to share about the specifics about when, where or how she made contact with her family.
L.A. police previously told PEOPLE they spent weeks untangling Kobayashi’s movements around the city between Nov. 8, when she arrived from Maui in Hawaii, and Nov. 11, when contact was lost.
But on Monday, Dec. 2, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Jim McConnell said that video footage from U.S. Customs and Border Protection “clearly shows Kobayashi crossing the United States border on foot into Mexico.”
“For unknown reasons, she decided not to board her pre scheduled flight to New York,” the LAPD said in a statement. “While she did check her bag through to New York, she requested her bag be sent back to her at LAX where we have surveillance footage of her retrieving it from the baggage carousel on November 11th.”
“She was alone, with her luggage and appeared unharmed,” McDonnell added.
Based on their investigation, authorities said they believed Kobayashi “knowingly departed” LAX and went to Union Station. At the transit hub, she used her passport to purchase a bus ticket for a destination in the vicinity of the Mexican border.
Courtesy of Larie Pidgeon
During the press conference, Oldfield added that authorities believed that Kobayashi wished to disconnect from the world was based examining the missing woman’s previous social media posts.
“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. “We just know that she did not have her phone after she left LAX.”
Courtesy of Larie Pidgeon
According to members of the LAPD’s missing persons unit, who spoke at length with PEOPLE in the wake of the re-classification of Kobayashi’s case, said a key discovery was learning the truth about reports that Kobayashi she was seen with an unknown person in Los Angeles.
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According to police, the two formed a quick bond after their paths crossed around 9 p.m. local time on Nov. 11 as she was leaving the airport — and they spent about nine hours together, walking L.A. and eventually ending up at Union Station, where they fell asleep.
“We haven’t spoken to her, but from what we gather is that she was looking to understand how to get to Union Station and that he was going to assisting getting her there,” Detective Omar Franco, who heads the missing persons unit, told PEOPLE.
“For the amount of time they spent together, he pretty much was an ear to listen,” Franco added. “She just spoke and talked about her life in Maui, her personal life, her love life and so forth. And he just listened to her.”
When the man, whom police are not identifying, woke up the next morning, Kobayashi was gone — and police say they’ve been “able to corroborate” that she gathered her luggage and “walk[ed] off on her own” before buying a bus ticket to the U.S.-Mexico border at 6:10 a.m. local time.
Before announcing that Kobayashi had been found, her family members — who had been vocal in raising awareness about her case, and sharing their concerns about whether she was victimized in some way — said that they remained “committed to doing everything possible to bring her home safely.”
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