The mother of missing Auburn University student James Weston Higginbotham asked hikers in Japan on Friday to help police find her son, who vanished after leaving his hotel in Kyoto on May 29. Nancy Higginbotham said the search had reached Day 7 and remained active as officers continued to work in the Yamashina area.
Weston Higginbotham, 20, was last seen on security camera footage walking alone on the streets of Yamashina after he left the hotel, police in Kyoto said. He is a biosystems engineering student at Auburn University.
Nancy Higginbotham said her son was last known to have entered the mountainous forest area near Yamashina and urged hikers, trail runners and outdoor enthusiasts to help if they were in the area. She said food is limited in the terrain and that the family wanted the search to continue as quickly as possible while there were still water sources throughout the region.
The search had been delayed by heavy rains from a typhoon until Wednesday, when police and local volunteers were able to begin working more fully in the mountains. On Thursday, dozens of Japanese police officers searched through waist-high mud, with search dogs and helicopters also deployed. By Friday, police had completed their search of the northern part of Yamashina and were continuing elsewhere.
The family said Weston Higginbotham disappeared after an argument over artificial intelligence. Nancy Higginbotham said her son was emotionally distressed after the dispute, but she did not believe he was a danger to himself or to strangers. She also said the family had great confidence in the professionalism and dedication of Japanese authorities and did not believe any area within the search zone had been overlooked.
What happens next is still the central question: where Weston Higginbotham went after he was last seen in Yamashina and whether the ongoing search elsewhere in the area will find him.
