The Search for Weston Higginbotham Parents Reveal What They Know

Added: 2026-06-10

[00:00:01]Today, we're talking about the baffling disappearance of 20-year-old Auburn University student James Weston Higginbotham, who vanished during a family trip to Kyoto, Japan.

[00:00:14]The case has captured international attention, not just because of the mystery, but because of the heartbreaking determination of his family, who refused to leave Japan without him.

[00:00:27]Let's walk through what we know, what doesn't add up, and where the search stands today.

[00:00:34]Weston is a biosystems and environmental engineering student at Auburn University.

[00:00:41]Friends describe him as intelligent, outdoorsy, and deeply connected to nature.

[00:00:48]He's an experienced hiker, something that becomes important later.

[00:00:53]His family traveled to Japan for what was supposed to be a meaningful, once-in-a-lifetime trip.

[00:01:00]But on May 29th, 2026, everything changed.

[00:01:06]According to his family, Weston seemed stressed that day. After a tense moment, he told them he needed some space, something many young adults say when overwhelmed.

[00:01:17]He walked away from the group and headed towards Yamashina Station, a transit hub surrounded by dense forests and mountain trails. CCTV captured Weston leaving the station alone at 8:29 p.m.

[00:01:34]His phone lost signal. That was the last digital trace.

[00:01:40]He was last wearing a white Save the Bees shirt, lavender corduroy pants, Adidas shoes with black stripes, and carrying a tote bag with an outline of Alabama.

[00:02:00]>> And there's another picture of Weston.

[00:02:06]Japanese authorities launched a massive search. Over 100 officers, K9 units, drones, and helicopters. But the terrain around Yamashina is brutal. Steep, heavily wooded, and made worse by incoming typhoon conditions.

[00:02:22]Despite the scale of the search, no trace of Weston has been found.

[00:02:28]Police have since scaled back their official efforts, but the family has not.

[00:02:34]They've hired private search and rescue teams and continued distributing flyers across Kyoto.

[00:02:42]His parents have said publicly, "We will not leave Japan without our son."

[00:02:49]Japanese police have stated it's highly probable that Weston left intentionally, meaning they believe he walked away on his own.

[00:02:59]Not that he staged a disappearance, but that doesn't mean he's safe. He doesn't speak Japanese.

[00:03:06]He was emotionally distressed.

[00:03:09]And the mountains around Kyoto can be unforgiving.

[00:03:13]His family strongly believes he may be injured, lost, or disoriented, not intentionally missing.

[00:03:23]There are three main theories circulating right now. He went hiking and got lost. There is full of trails, cliffs, cliffs, and thick forest.

[00:03:33]Even experienced hikers can get turned around, especially near dusk.

[00:03:38]He had a mental health crisis. His family mentioned he was overwhelmed. If he walked into the mountains alone, he may have been seeking solitude, not danger.

[00:03:49]He met with foul play.

[00:03:51]There is no evidence of this, but the lack of evidence in any direction keeps the possibility open.

[00:04:00]As of today, Weston remains missing. His family continues to seek to search daily.

[00:04:06]Flyers are still being posted. CCTV from surrounding areas is still being reviewed. This case is active, ongoing, and deeply emotional.

[00:04:17]Not just with family, but for everyone following it.

[00:04:22]If you are traveling in Kyoto, especially near Yamashina Station or the surrounding trails, keep your eyes open.

[00:04:30]Even the smallest detail could help bring Weston home.

[00:04:34]Share this video. Keep his name circulating. And as always, sending love and light to all. I'm going to end this with um Weston's family speaking out to the public.

[00:05:04]>> the return of their son, Weston Higginbotham, who vanished on a trip to Japan with his family to celebrate his younger brother's high school graduation. The Auburn University student, last seen on May 29th after traveling to Kyoto. His family believes he may have been hiking and exploring trails in the area. Joining me now from Japan, his parents, Nancy [snorts] and Keith Higginbotham.

[00:05:31]Nancy and Keith, as a parent, I obviously cannot imagine the pain, the worry, the angst that you're going through. Nancy, when was the last time you saw your son?

[00:05:42]son.

[00:05:44]>> It was on May 29th at the hotel room.

[00:05:49]>> Did he say Did he say anything, Nancy, about his plans to you, give you any indication as to what he was going to be doing?

[00:05:59]>> No, I mean, we decided to separate. We had been, you know, kind of bickering with each other and we decided, you know, we're you you go do your thing, we go do our thing. I mean, he's 20 years old. He's extremely well-traveled. He's a wonderful navigator. And so, we went to the temples and then he went by the river, you know, we could follow him on Life360 and he's by the river and he goes to a couple stores and then he gets on a train and his location goes dark. It's It goes completely dark. So, we can't follow him and we're texting him and we're we're seeing that our texts aren't going through. We're trying to follow him on Life360. It's it's completely dark.

[00:06:43]>> Nancy, two follow-ups to what you just said. One, you said he was by a river.

[00:06:47]Can he swim?

[00:06:50]>> Oh, he's a triathlete. He just completed his first half Ironman. Yeah.

[00:06:54]>> Okay. Then he can swim. But but to your earlier thing, you said you were bickering and at the risk of getting way too personal here, was this a normal bickering that as a 20-year-old I had with my parents on vacation? I wanted to do my thing. Or was there something else there?

[00:07:06]>> Yeah. Oh, no. I mean, when you're in a hotel room for the past 6 days in twin beds that are this big, about 4 inches from each other, yeah.

[00:07:16]That's what you're going to just Right.

[00:07:18]>> Keith, um you have said your son loved hiking. Did he say he was traveling to Kyoto at any point during the trip for the specific purpose of hiking?

[00:07:27]>> No, but, you know, he's wherever we're at, if there's a trail, he's interested in it. So, and there's a lot of wonderful trails around here, so it doesn't surprise me at all.

[00:07:37]>> Keith, your wife mentioned that he his phone location turned off. In your experience with him, it was it normal for him to turn off his phone location or is that just one of those things that he always kept on his phone? Was it he shut it off to to save battery? Like why would it be off?

[00:07:52]>> No, I think it's it's totally out of character for him to shut it off and leave it off. I believe he probably turned it off because maybe we were sending him too many messages asking what he was doing and where is he at when he left, you know, and he just wanted some time alone.

[00:08:05]Turned it off, but it's not something he normally does and he definitely won't leave it off for extended periods of time because we're just too close of family to do that.

[00:08:14]>> Nancy, we're going to put up some pictures of what he was last wearing.

[00:08:17]Can you describe what we're seeing in these pictures? What he was wearing the last time you saw him and the last time we have these pictures.

[00:08:25]>> Okay.

[00:08:26]Sure. So, he's wearing a white t-shirt on the back it says save the bees and then his pants are just lavender corduroy pants with a larger cuff at the bottom. He has two silver hoop earrings and he was wearing some beat up Adidas.

[00:08:41]>> Okay. And Nancy, you wrote in another media publication that he may have been and I'm using your words here, emotionally distressed. What do you mean by that?

[00:08:53]>> Well, I just meant like, you know, he just needed time by himself just like we you know, we all did. We just needed some separation. And so his happy place is going on a trail or just going on a hike and so we just all needed just a little bit of you know, time away. It's it's it's not an abnormal thing to want time.

[00:09:14]>> Sure.

[00:09:14]>> You know, when when you're 20, you're an adult, you can you can do that.

[00:09:18]>> And Keith, there's obviously a distinction between wanting a little time, wanting a little space and going missing. Has he ever gone missing for an extended period like this?

[00:09:29]>> No.

[00:09:30]No. No.

[00:09:31]>> Never.

[00:09:32]>> We we we stay very well connected know where each other are in the family at at all times really. you know, he's a Auburn student and even at Auburn we know where he's at and what he's doing when he's not home and you know, cuz we share that with each other.

[00:09:45]>> [snorts] >> Have you received any information, any leads from Japanese authorities, Keith?

[00:09:52]>> Um I mean not from the authorities here, you know, the the Japanese police have been fantastic. Uh they work a little different than in the US and the investigations they keep very uh close.

[00:10:03]So, they don't provide a whole lot of information. They do their thing and uh take care of what they need to.

[00:10:08]>> Yeah, and the embassy, you know, typically comes um calls us every night and debriefs us as well as the FBI which they have everybody has been so wonderful. Today they deployed another 50 police officers and I was told that, you know, they had mud up to their chest and looking for Weston and they had the canine dogs and they had the helicopters today and unfortunately we didn't get the news that we wanted to get that they found him but they are still searching for him.

[00:10:35]>> Obviously your goal is to get this information on American media. Have you been able to get his picture, his story circulated on Japanese media?

[00:10:44]>> I have. So, I um have several um it's it's on several other local networks as well as major um Japanese networks.

[00:10:53]Today was a very fruitful day for the media in Japan and I'm very grateful. We win, I guess.

[00:11:00]>> Okay. Um what do you want the world, the country, Japan to know about your son?

[00:11:08]>> My son is the most sweet person you could ever meet. He, you know, he's a vegan. He wouldn't kill a a mosquito.

[00:11:16]He's amazing. He's an avid hiker. He's hiked the El Camino Santiago. He's hiked the Pyrenees Mountains. He's hiked Acadia. He's He is not you know, he is built to endure, you you six days of not of being out in the wilderness. The water is very fresh here. He has plenty of water to drink and he knows how to forage. He can survive. He is out there and we are going to find him.

[00:11:46]>> Nancy and Keith Higginbotham, our prayers are with you. Our prayers are with your son, Weston, and we pray that he returns home to his family safe and sound and soon. Thank you for joining us this morning.

[00:11:59]>> Thank you very much.

[00:12:00]>> I appreciate you so much.

[00:12:01]>> More Fox and Friends First after this.

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