An American college student who disappeared during a family vacation in Japan was found dead outside Kyoto, the student's mother said on social media.
The body of 20-year-old James Higginbotham was recovered in a mountainous area by a volunteer search-and-rescue group, Nancy Higginbotham wrote in a Facebook post. Authorities have not provided a cause of death or additional details.
"Our family is heartbroken," Nancy Higginbotham wrote. "The grief we feel is impossible to put into words."
Higginbotham, an Alabama resident and an engineering student at Auburn University, was last seen leaving a Kyoto train station on May 29. His mother previously said his phone went dark later that night and location services on the device were turned off, preventing further tracking.
Until the phone stopped transmitting, Nancy Higginbotham had been able to follow his movements using the Life360 app, she said. The family believed he was headed toward a nearby hiking trail, and Nancy Higginbotham had said she thought her son may have "needed space."
The Higginbotham family was in Japan to celebrate the high school graduation of James Higginbotham's younger brother.
Japanese authorities mounted an initial search that lasted three days but did not locate him. That effort involved about 100 police officers, K-9 units and helicopters, according to reporting that described the official response. The subsequent recovery came after a volunteer search-and-rescue group located his body in a mountainous area outside Kyoto.
No further information on the circumstances of his death has been released by officials or by the family.
Context and ongoing details
Officials have not announced whether there will be an autopsy or an investigation into the cause of death. The family statement on social media was the principal public account of the discovery as of the mother's post.
The limited information available leaves questions about the circumstances between the time the student was last seen leaving the station and when his body was found. Those details have not been released by authorities or the family.