- 20-year-old American James “Weston” Higginbotham went missing and was found dead during a family vacation in Japan.
- He went alone into the woods around Kyoto on May 29th after an argument with his mother.
- On June 6, a volunteer search party found his body in mountainous terrain outside Kyoto – the cause of death is still unclear.
On Saturday, the Higginbotham family from Alabama, USA, received the shocking news: their son James “Weston” Higginbotham (20), who had been missing for a week, was found by a volunteer search party – dead. The tragedy happened while they were on holiday together in Japan.
The Higginbothams left for Japan on May 22nd. They visited Tokyo and other cities, celebrating the high school graduation of Weston’s two-year-younger brother, before heading to Kyoto traveled. There the mood changed, as mother Nancy told CNN. Nancy and her son argued, causing Weston to go off alone. He needed some time for himself and wanted to explore Kyoto and the surrounding forests alone – that was on May 29th.
Weston is a nature lover, a free spirit, and has often gone hiking alone. “It’s not unusual for Weston to go into the woods to blow off steam. This is his happy place.” At first, the family wasn’t worried, also because he always shared his location via an app.
“We will not leave Japan without Weston.”
When Weston’s location was suddenly shut down and the family could no longer reach him, concern for the 20-year-old grew. «That was very unusual. He had never deactivated his location before.” Shortly afterwards they reported their son and brother missing. The only clue: He was last captured on a public video surveillance camera around 8 p.m. on May 29, in eastern Kyoto, in an area that leads to well-known hiking trails.
Anxious hours and days followed. Missing reports were placed, volunteers searched for the young man, the local police and the FBI in the USA were also involved. A passing typhoon complicated the situation and worried the family.
The family said on Facebook: “We will not leave Japan without our son.”
A week later, on Saturday, June 6th, sad certainty: “Our family is deeply shocked to have to announce that our son was found dead by a volunteer search party in the mountainous area outside of Kyoto. It is incredibly difficult to put our grief into words. We are eternally grateful to have had our wonderful Weston, but it’s hard to imagine what life will be like without him.” The cause of death is not yet known – investigations are ongoing.
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Yasmin Rosner (roy), born in 1980, has been working from abroad for 20 minutes at the news desk on the night shift since 2017.
