An Alabama student who went missing in Japan while traveling with his family has been found dead, his mother said in a Saturday, June 6, social media post. It had been over a week since he was last seen.
James “Weston” Higginbotham was found by a volunteer search-and-rescue team in a mountainous area outside Kyoto, Japan, his mother Nancy Higginbotham said.
“The grief we feel is impossible to put into words,” she said. “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.”
The 20-year-old Auburn University student was last seen on May 29 while the family was on a trip to celebrate his younger brother’s high school graduation, Nancy Higginbotham previously told USA TODAY. The family was supposed to leave Japan on June 4 but extended the trip since Higginbotham went missing.