US woman Hannah Kobayashi breaks silence after disappearance
· BBC NewsBrandon Drenon
BBC News
Hannah Kobayashi, a Hawaii woman who was reported missing in Los Angeles but then surfaced in Mexico, has said she was "unaware" of the extensive media coverage surrounding her disappearance.
In a statement - issued in a letter through her aunt - Ms Kobayashi said she returned to the US from Mexico on Sunday. Her disappearance had sparked a massive nationwide manhunt.
The 30-year-old photographer flew from Maui to Los Angeles early last month. She was supposed to take another flight to New York on 8 November. Police later learned she instead crossed into Mexico on 12 November.
Amid the search, her father travelled to Los Angeles and was found dead in what authorities declared a suicide.
"I was unaware of everything that was happening in the media while I was away, and I am still processing it all," Ms Kobayashi said in a statement to NBC News.
"My focus now is on my healing, my peace and my creativity," she said.
In their own statement last week, Ms Kobayashi's family did not say where or how she was found.
Her vanishing had spawned conspiracies theories, after she arrived in Los Angeles from Maui but never boarded her connection flight to New York to visit her aunt as planned.
Surveillance camera footage showed her leaving the airport and at various locations around Los Angeles with an unidentified man, who was later questioned by law enforcement.
Once she arrived in Los Angeles, Ms Kobayashi's family members said they received unusual text messages from her phone before all communication ceased.
On 11 November, her mother texted to ask if she had arrived in New York, to which Ms Kobayashi replied "no".
She also sent messages to friends expressing fears for her safety and concerns that someone was attempting to steal her identity.
Her family had expressed concern that she was the victim of human trafficking, but police investigated and said there was no evidence of foul play.
After days of search, the Los Angeles Police Department said surveillance footage showed she crossed the border into Mexico independently and they were halting the operation.
The police classified her as a "voluntary missing person".
On 24 November, after relatives gathered in LA, her father Ryan, 58, was found dead near Los Angeles International Airport.
The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be suicide.
The incident was not directly addressed by Ms Kobayashi's statement, as reported by NBC on Monday.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, you can visit the BBC's Action Line pages, or contact Samaritans, external, in the UK.
If you're in the US, call 988, or contact Lifeline, external.