(NewsNation) — The family of Hannah Kobayashi, the Maui woman who went off the grid after missing a connecting flight at LAX and has since been spotted crossing into Mexico on foot, is skeptical of the police’s official story.
“I said this from day one, I feel like she is in danger. I feel like this is completely out of character for her. I’ve known her my entire life,” sister Sydni Kobayashi said Tuesday.
Loved ones flew to California to form a search party following concerning texts and then radio silence from Kobayashi. During the search, Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, was found dead in a parking lot near LAX on Nov. 24.
“If she had seen what happened with my father and his passing, she would have definitely reached out by now,” Sydni Kobayashi said. “There’s no way that she wouldn’t have reached out, knowing the person that she is.”
Hannah Kobayashi’s sister: Mexico trip ‘bizarre’
Authorities updated the public Monday evening with the latest details on Kobayashi’s disappearance.
Hannah Kobayashi was seen on security footage crossing the U.S. border on foot into Mexico, alone, with luggage and seemingly unharmed, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The case is now classified as a voluntary missing person case.
Sara Azari, a legal analyst for NewsNation who has been retained to represent the Kobayashi family, tells “Banfield” that the case’s new designation “doesn’t make it any lesser of a disappearance and a missing person case” to the family.
Sydni Kobayashi told NewsNation she found her sister’s crossing into Mexico “bizarre” because it was her first trip to Los Angeles, and “she’s never mentioned going to Mexico,” adding: “It just doesn’t make sense to me.”
“It feels like someone else is involved or controlling her or doing something,” Sydni said.
Kobayashi’s family have unresolved questions
Notably, Azari pointed out that Hannah Kobayashi had planned and flown on this trip with an ex-boyfriend.
“Did anybody talk to flight attendants to see if there was any interaction on this flight between her and the ex-boyfriend? I mean, we’re just, there’s a lot of questions and there’s no answers,” Azari said.
Sydni added that the handling of her “baby sister’s” case has concerned the family, as they were kept in the dark about her movement to Mexico until the Monday news conference.
“Had we have known that she had crossed the border on the 12th, that would have given us so much more of a different direction of where to look and what to do, as far as this is concerned,” Sydni Kobayashi said.
She also added that LAPD hasn’t shared that footage of the tunnel to Mexico with the family, so they can’t even confirm whether it is their missing loved one.
Sister’s message to Hannah Kobayashi
“I just I want her to know that that she is loved and she is supported in every way, shape or form. And no matter what she’s going through right now, she needs to know that she has a place to come home to.
“And I can’t stress it enough, like she is such light in our lives, and she’s just such an amazing and beautiful woman, and she’s like, she’s my baby girl, you know, she’s my baby sister.
“And you know, I just, I really hope that if she does see this, just let us know. Give us a message or something to let us know that you are safe and that you are OK, because you have so many people behind you.
“You have so many people who love and care for you that just want to know that you’re genuinely OK, even if you’re not. Just something, some sort of like message, phone, call, something.”
Kobayashi family lawyer: Don’t listen to others
Azari also added that it’s important to note that Hannah Kobayashi’s family consists of Sydni Kobayashi, “her mother and her uncle and that side,” not aunt Larie Pidgeon, who has spoken to NewsNation mutliple times about the case.
“I will do whatever I can to protect our family at this point and do whatever I can to still find my sister,” Sydni Kobayashi said. “And I no longer want to have any connection with the confusion that I feel like she’s caused since this case started with my sister.”
NewsNation’s Liz Jassin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.