Hanna Kobayashi detected in Mexico, but still at risk: Sources

Missing Hannah Kobayashi is in great danger traveling alone in mexicoa private investigator looking for him told The Post.

The 30-year-old aspiring photographer was reported missing by his family on November 11 after missing a flight connection and leaving the airport in Los Angeles.

Authorities announced Monday that she was last seen on Nov. 12 after taking a bus to the border and headed toward Mexico — in Baja California, a region rife with crime, murder, sex trafficking and smuggling. Kidnapping last year.

“A single woman dragging her suitcase around you is basically making light of, ‘Hey I don’t know where I’m staying’. That would be dangerous. I believe she is delicate. is in a mental state and is ready to be taken advantage of,” Steve Fisher, a private investigator who is searching for Kobayashi, told The Post.

“There are these communities south of Tijuana – are they extremely safe for a woman traveling alone? No.”

worrying text Kobayashi’s messages were sent from her phone to her friends shortly before her disappearance, one of which stated that she had had a “very profound spiritual awakening”, and another claiming that “Deep hackers erased my identity. , stole all my funds.”

Nevertheless, Los Angeles police say they have evidence that she went to Mexico on her own and that she is “classified as a voluntary missing person.”

Fischer believes Kobayashi may have taken refuge in a surf community 50 miles south of Tijuana, which has become a haven for nomads thanks to the group of surf breaks at Kilometer 38 of Baja Highway 1.

“This is a community she can belong in too. There is a K38 surf community around the area where you will find a lot of nomads. It’s cheap, but not free,” he said.

Baja is a tourist destination for surfers, solo travelers and psychedelic retreats, but has been a gateway to organized crime, Violence, drugs, kidnappings and murders, especially in Tijuana, Mexico’s largest border city Which Kobayashi crossed.

In May, Four bodies were discovered An American and two Australian surfers were also involved in the 50-foot-deep well in Baja. They were said to be camping at surfers’ beach La Bocana in the Mexican countryside, just 130 miles south of San Diego, when they were reported missing.

There have been more than 30,000 murders in Mexico for the sixth consecutive year and more than 100,000 people are missing. The Guardian reported.

And Fischer fears that the California-Mexico border, which attracts many fugitives and solo travelers, is especially dangerous for women traveling on foot or by bus.

“They don’t have many security measures in there,” Fischer warned.

Los Angeles private investigator Paul Katz told The Post that Kobayashi being in Mexico adds another layer of complications.

“Mexico is a whole country, and once she crosses the border she could be anywhere,” Katz told The Post, adding that her family must work with a local investigator who is in the area. Be familiar with.

Katz tells The Post about running a missing persons case drug ridden areas like mexico A lot of manpower and money would be required – something like It has become difficult to manage the family from America

“It’s incredibly difficult to find people. I deal with a lot of missing persons cases. Recently I was looking for a guy in San Francisco. It took six guys to search the Tenderloin (a notorious drug district) day after day – after spending a lot of money, we found him,” Katz said.

He also expressed concern for Kobayashi’s safety.

“She crossed the border alone with just a suitcase? This makes him an instant target for cartelThe sex trafficker… seems to have a mental health breakdown,” he said.

The Kobayashi family declined to comment for this story.

Kobayashi flew from Maui to Los Angeles on November 8 and was scheduled to take a connecting flight to New York City.

She was traveling with an ex-boyfriend, who is cooperating with authorities in the search for Kobayashi, but she departed from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) instead.

Authorities said they believed Kobayashi had abandoned his phone some time before flying to Mexico.

An ex-roommate who lived with Kobayashi in Maui suggested that her condition may have been exacerbated by her breakup with her ex-partner.

“There may be some underlying stress from the breakup,” the ex-roommate told The Post, recalling the time Kobayashi told her that her ex-boyfriend “got angry at all her friends” one night. .

Kobayashi’s ex-boyfriend did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.

Although there is speculation online that Kobayashi may Tied to the Twin Flames of the New Age Another friend told The Post she thought it was unlikely she would have joined the Spiritualism movement, which some have called a cult.

“I don’t feel like it matches the Hannah I knew. We spent time in Maui. We spent nights together. I think we were already so giddy that I couldn’t understand why she wanted to join a dangerous cult and go with friends.

“I also think she knows how much love and support she gets. I don’t think it’s something people should be concerned about,” said Ariana Ursua, a 30-year-old freelancer who met Kobayashi in 2017.