Hannah Kobayashi, the woman whose disapperance sparked a nationwide manhunt before being discovered alive in Mexico, reportedly spent nine hours with an unknown man before she crossed the border. According to police, Kobayashi met the unknown man close to Los Angeles’ LAX airport.

It was stated that the man and Kobayashi reportedly developed a quick bond. The two were then spotted walking through downtown LA before the pair walked to Union Square and fell asleep. It was reported that by the morning, the 30-year-old aspiring photographer was gone.

[Its] already in the news that she’s with this male who’s scary, and she’s in big trouble, Lt. Doug Oldfield told People. For a while, he was the last person to have seen her when we didn’t know where she was.”

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So we did have to spend a few days on this to ensure that nothing bad happened, he says. According to the officer, investigators on the case were able to track the man down only days after the woman was first reported missing. Oldfield later told the outlet they finally managed to track down the man who had been with the woman and confirmed his story.

Oldfield states that the man  who has yet to be named  met Kobayashi at LAXs train stop around 9 pm on November 11 as she was leaving the airport and the pair struck up a conversation. “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,” Oldfield says.

For the amount of time they spent together, he pretty much was an ear to listen, Detective Omar Franco, head of the missing persons unit, chimed in. For the amount of time they spent together, he pretty much was an ear to listen.”

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. According to the man, he described Kobayashi as a “free spirit” adding that she seemed coherent and normal and not at all scared. The man told police that she wanted to see the redwoods and had mentioned that she had missed her plane to New York.

it had previously been reported that Kobayashi was due to meet family in New York but when she did not show up, they had panicked. Police have stated that they believe that she had tried to rebook the flight but was unable to due to the cost of the flight.

Franco told the outlet that the man said the duo had gotten food together before they went to sleep in a waiting area. According to the detective, Kobayashi got up by herself, gathered her luggage and walk[ed] off on her own. It was further stated by Oldfield that she then bought a 6:10 am bus ticket and traveled into Tijuana around noon.

Police have stated that neither the man nor Kobayashi will face criminal charges. Police have stated that since the woman is in Mexico by choice, they have halted the investigation.

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