Auburn University Student’s Body Found in Mountains Outside Kyoto After Typhoon Delay
James “Weston” Higginbotham, 20, was last seen May 29 at Kyoto station. Volunteer searchers recovered his body Saturday after Typhoon Janmi delayed the search.
Nbc NewsVolunteer searchers found the body of Auburn University student James “Weston” Higginbotham on Saturday in the mountains outside Kyoto, Japan. Higginbotham, 20, had been traveling with his parents when he was last seen at the Kyoto train station on May 29. Higginbotham walked away after an argument with his mother, Nancy Higginbotham, over her use of ChatGPT during the trip.
Nancy Higginbotham said she had been hiding her use of the tool from her son, who opposed the growing influence of artificial intelligence. The search for Higginbotham was delayed until Wednesday because of Typhoon Janmi, which brought flooding, landslides and blackouts to Kyoto. It is not clear when or how the student died, and foul play is not suspected.
Higginbotham was wearing a “Save the Bees” T-shirt when he went missing. He studied biosystems engineering and was devoted to sustainable design, according to loved ones. Nancy Higginbotham described her son as a pacifist who would not stomp on spiders or insects but would carry them outside.
Audrey Daniels, 23, a longtime neighbor and family friend, said Higginbotham was an experienced hiker. “He was definitely an experienced hiker and that was a mode of decompression for him as well,” Daniels told NBC News. ” Jennifer Harper Bowen, 39, another family friend whose son studies at Auburn, said she did not believe Higginbotham intended to harm himself.
“He was upset and he wanted space, so I don’t think he turned his phone off because he didn’t want to be found,” Bowen said. “I don’t think he intentionally ran away or tried to harm himself or anything like that. ” Higginbotham lived in Hoover, Alabama.
