KYOTO (TR) – A 20-year-old American university student who vanished in Kyoto City late last month has been found dead, his mother announced on social media on Saturday.
“Our family is heartbroken to share that Weston was found deceased by a volunteer search-and-rescue group in a mountainous area outside of Kyoto. The grief we feel is impossible to put into words,” Nancy Higginbotham wrote on Facebook.
James Weston Higginbotham arrived with his family in Japan on May 25. Four days later, he left their Kyoto hotel alone at around 6:00 p.m. and never returned.
Security camera footage later captured him walking on a street in Kyoto’s Yamashina Ward at approximately 8:00 p.m. His final confirmed purchase was made at a Kohnan home improvement center in the city.
After reportedly arriving at Kyoto Station, his mobile phone lost its signal, and its location tracking was disabled at 8:29 p.m.
His mother did not reveal a cause of death or other details.
“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,” she added.
