Missing American student found dead in Japan after dayslong search [View all]

Source: CNN

Missing American student found dead in Japan after dayslong search

By Rebekah Riess, Chris Boyette, Hanako Montgomery
Updated 1 hr 6 min ago
Updated Jun 6, 2026, 1:47 PM ET
PUBLISHED Jun 6, 2026, 11:37 AM ET


Undated photo of James "Weston" Higginbotham. (Nancy Higginbotham)

Search-and-rescue volunteers in Japan have found the body of an Auburn University student who went missing during a family vacation, his family said, marking a tragic end to a frantic dayslong search across forested mountains. ... James “Weston” Higginbotham, 20, was found dead Saturday outside Kyoto, his family announced in a social media post.

“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,” the family wrote.

A passionate naturalist, Weston vanished May 29 after leaving his parents and brother to explore Kyoto on his own after butting heads with his mother over her use of ChatGPT – and the natural resources such AI requires – to navigate their trip.

Using the Life360 app to track his location, his parents saw that Weston got on a train and visited several stores. They texted him to ask where he was going, and his location was turned off shortly afterward, which was out of character for him, his mother said.

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Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/06/us/james-weston-higginbotham-found-dead