The family of James “Weston” Higginbotham, a 20-year-old student from Auburn University who went missing during a vacation in Japan last May, has confirmed his death.
On Saturday morning, Higginbotham’s mother, Nancy, announced in a Facebook post that a volunteer search-and-rescue team found her son’s body in a mountainous region near Kyoto.
“Our family is heartbroken,” Nancy Higginbotham shared in her post, adding, “The grief we feel is impossible to put into words.”
Authorities last tracked James “Weston” Higginbotham to Yamashina Station, located east of Kyoto, during the family trip, according to his mother.
The Higginbotham family expressed their profound appreciation to those in the U.S., Japan, and worldwide who offered prayers and supported the search.
“The outpouring of kindness and support has carried us through the darkest days of our lives,” she said, pleading for privacy as the family begins to navigate the loss.
“We are forever grateful for the time we had with our sweet, precious Weston, but cannot begin to understand what life without him will be like,” his mother wrote. “… Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and support. We will need them now more than ever. We will always love you, Weston.”
The update comes after a massive, multinational search.
The 20-year-old hiker was last seen May 29 near Yamashina Station, just east of Kyoto, after being separated from his parents following family “bickering,” News Media previously reported.
His parents were able to track him near a river and boarding a train via the Life360 app before his phone location suddenly went dark.
The family had previously held out hope that he would be found alive, telling News Media earlier in the week that he knew how to forage and was “built to endure.”
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