If Hannah Kobayashi Is Off the Grid in Tijuana, 'No One Is Looking for Her,' Official Says

“Mexico is a big place. No one has talked about it. I feel bad for her,” one expat tells PEOPLE

As the search for Hannah Kobayashi continues, and after she was determined to be a “voluntary missing person” for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, officials and expats in Tijuana say they believe little has been done to spread the word locally about her disappearance.

Guillermo Manjarrez, commander of the State Police, Binational Unit, Unidad de Enlace Internacional, tells PEOPLE that speaking with a reporter marked “the first I’ve heard about” Hannah’s case. Manjarrez, who acts as a liaison between the U.S. and Mexico, has previously worked with the Los Angeles Police Department, FBI and other U.S. police departments to help locate missing persons and says that the LAPD had not contacted him about Hannah’s disappearance and that “no one is looking for her here.”

“If she doesn’t have a warrant, I cannot bring her back to the U.S.,” he says. “I can find her to let her family know that she’s safe, but I cannot bring her back.”

Others in Tijuana tell PEOPLE they have not heard about Hannah’s case either. PEOPLE spoke with multiple expats at cafes, bars, hostels and other locations where they frequent in Ensenada, Rosarito Beach and Tijuana — with few claiming they were familiar with Hannah’s disappearance.

As previously reported, the 30-year-old Hawaii woman has been the subject of a search in Los Angeles for multiple weeks after she did not board her connecting flight to New York City on Nov. 9 and sent what were described as “alarming” text messages to her family.

Authorities in Los Angeles have since determined her to be a “voluntary missing person” after discovering she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on foot on Nov. 12, just after noon local time. Her aunt has since told PEOPLE that the search for Hannah is “not over” and that the latest insight into her potential international whereabouts “does not provide the answers I need, nor does it ease the heartbreak I feel.”

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“It’s pretty sad,” says Denis Forchette, an 82-year-old Canadian expat in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. “I have no idea what she’s up to. Mexico is a big place.”

“No one has talked about it,” he adds. “I feel bad for her.”

Joshua Mohr, a San Diego business owner who has lived in Tijuana for nine years, adds that the area “can be dangerous” with missing person posters “everywhere.”

“Here, they find a body and they report it,” Mohr notes. “There hasn’t been anything reported about Hannah. It seems like they could be doing more to find her.”

Attorney Sara Azari, who is working with Hannah’s mother, Brandi Yee, and sister, Sydni Kobayashi, told PEOPLE on Wednesday, Dec. 4, that “the search is not over” for their relative — after Los Angeles police reviewed video showing Hannah walking into Tijuana. “They have to take matters in their own hands, which is why I stepped in,” Azari said, adding that the family won’t be waiting to hear from Hannah.

The family’s attorney said the “first step” is to “get Mexican media involved” to raise public awareness about Hannah’s disappearance. “I plan on getting people involved both through the State Department and in Mexico,” Azari said. “This, obviously, has to be escalated, because the last thing we know according to LAPD is that she was in Tijuana and Baja [California, a Mexican state].”

“God knows if she’s still there, if she’s still safe, because a lot of time has passed,” Azari added. “But at least we need to start there — unless and until we get leads that she might be somewhere else.”

After Los Angeles magazine published a report this week alleging that before her case unfolded, Hannah “may have engaged in a secret marriage for money” (citing anonymous sources), Azari said that the family has not “confirmed … the accuracy of the information provided about a possible secret marriage” and are “actively investigating.”

Lt. Doug Oldfield, one of the investigators in Hannah’s case, told PEOPLE that they are not examining the report, as it’s “the point of rumor and that we can’t confirm if it’s correct.”

“It is especially important not to perpetuate speculation that anyone is involved in a scam,” Azari told PEOPLE, “as this only hinders our efforts to find Hannah and bring clarity and closure to the nightmare we are living because of her disappearance.”