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By Sean O'Driscoll
Senior Crime and Courts Reporter
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A private investigator has questioned a video purporting to show missing woman, Hannah Kobayashi, crossing the Mexico border.
Police say the video shows 30-year-old Kobayashi walking over the border in San Diego.
The Los Angeles Police Department has changed the status of her case from missing person to someone who is voluntarily absent.
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The LAPD says a U.S. Customs and Border Protection video clearly showed Kobayashi crossing the border on November 12.
"She was alone with her luggage and appeared unharmed," said LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters at a news conference on Monday.
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He said she was seen on November 12 entering Mexico through the San Ysidro crossing, about 125 miles south of Los Angeles.
"This is now classified as a voluntary missing person case," McDonnell said. "A simple message could reassure those who care about her."
He added that the case remains active until Kobayashi's safety is confirmed.
Private detective and retired FBI agent, Tom Simon, called on the LAPD to release the Customs and Border Protection video.
"I'm very skeptical of this idea that she voluntarily walked across the border to Mexico. I think it's entirely possible that the LAPD misidentified a person in this video with all the other border crossings. As such, I'm calling on LAPD to release the video publicly. The family will know if it's Hannah," he told Hawaii News Now on Tuesday.
The family has hired their own private investigator to investigate the case.
Her sister, Sydni Kobayashi, told Hawaii News Now that even if Hannah was alone crossing the border, she might still be under someone's control.
"[The LAPD] say that they have seen her alone, but that doesn't discount the fact that someone could be watching her from afar, knowing how big this case has gotten and maybe controlling her or telling her what to do," she said.
She also said that the LAPD have not been keeping the family informed.
"For them to tell us that they have been keeping us informed throughout the entire time, that's absolutely inaccurate," she said. "We feel like we're kind of left in the dark and that was kind of like a huge slap in the face for us."
Newsweek sought comment from the LAPD through email and from Sydni Kobayashi through email and social media on Wednesday.
Kobayashi flew to LA on November 8, to visit relatives in New York.
She informed family members she would sleep at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after missing a connecting flight. The next day, she texted that she was sightseeing in LA, with plans to visit The Grove shopping destination and other locations.
On November 11, her family received cryptic messages from her phone, saying she had been "intercepted" and feared her identity had been stolen, according to her aunt, Larie Pidgeon.
Kobayashi's father, Ryan Kobayashi, traveled from Hawaii to Los Angeles to assist in the search.
However, he was found dead on November 24, after jumping from a multi-level parking lot at Los Angeles airport, where he had been searching for his daughter.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled his death as a suicide caused by multiple blunt-force injuries.
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