Alabama student Weston Higginbotham found dead in Kyoto forest after six-day search

An Alabama student who had gone missing in Japan has been found dead, his devastated mother has confirmed.

Nancy Higginbotham announced the tragic passing of her 20 year old son, James ‘Weston’ Higginbotham, in an emotional Facebook post on Saturday morning, revealing that his body was discovered outside Kyoto following an extensive search-and-rescue operation.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,” she wrote. “The grief we feel is impossible to put into words.

“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 continued.

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she went on to express that their family is “deeply grateful” to everyone across the US, Japan, and beyond, who helped “share Weston’s story, prayed for our family, offered encouragement, and helped in the search efforts.”, reports the Mirror US.

“The outpouring of kindness and support has carried us through the darkest days of our lives… Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. We will need them now more than ever. We will always love you, Weston.”

The exact circumstances surrounding the young man’s death remain unclear. He had travelled to Japan to celebrate his younger brother’s graduation, and was last seen on May 29. Weston was reported to be “emotionally distressed” at the time of his disappearance, with his mother revealing that the family had been “bickering” in the lead-up to him going missing.

“We decided to separate. We had been, you know, kind of bickering with each other, and we decided, you go do your own thing, we do our thing,” Nancy told Fox News, adding that the bickering was normal as the family had been sharing a hotel room for all six days.

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She explained that her son “just needed time by himself,” and that his “happy place is going on a trail or just going on a hike.”

Nancy revealed that when the family realised he was missing, they were able to track his whereabouts using the Life360 app. The app indicated that the Auburn University student had been near a river, visited several shops, and then boarded a local train before his location went “completely dark.”

CCTV footage captured him disembarking a train at Yamashina Station on Tuesday morning — the last confirmed sighting of him before his body was found.