KYOTO – A body found in the western Japan city of Kyoto has been identified as that of a missing American man, police said Sunday, after he disappeared during a family trip to the country.
James Weston Higginbotham, 20, went missing in late May, the police have said. His disappearance attracted media coverage in Japan and overseas, prompting searches by local volunteers in a mountainous part of the ancient capital.
The body of Higginbotham was found Saturday by a volunteer in Kyoto’s Yamashina Ward, the police said, adding foul play is not suspected in the case.
The discovery came after his family turned to social media and news outlets in the United States and Japan to try to find their missing son.
According to a missing person’s report issued by the Kyoto prefectural police, Higginbotham disappeared after leaving his hotel in Kyoto at around 6 p.m. on May 29.
In a Facebook post by his mother, Nancy Higginbotham, announcing that his body had been found, she said the grief felt by the family is “impossible to put into words.”
“We are deeply grateful to the countless people across the United States, Japan, and around the world who shared Weston’s story, prayed for our family, offered encouragement, and helped in the search efforts,” she wrote.
