June 7, 2026
Update: Missing Auburn Student Found Dead In Kyoto
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RSS Feed The 20-year-old Auburn student who was last seen walking towards hiking trails in Japan, was found dead on Saturday in a mountainous area outside of Kyoto. The parents of Weston Higginbotham made the tragic announcement after asking for the public’s help in finding their son. The family said Weston took off on his own, after a disagreement during the family trip to Japan to celebrate his younger brother’s high school graduation.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, did its Sunday, June seventh, and an awful update to bring you on a developing story we've been keeping an eye on the past week. A missing Auburn University student gone missing in Japan on a trip with his family has been found dead in Kyoto, and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: Rose.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: This didn't look good from the very beginning, but I have to remember this kid's been missing since May twenty ninth, on what was supposed to be a celebratory trip.
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Yes, they were celebrating his younger brother who had just graduated from high school. So yeah, they were going on this big planned family trip to Japan. And this is not how any of them anticipated this ending. And we felt the urgency from his family, who had said they felt like he might have been in emotional distress and he had just stayed behind while they went off to go tour I believe, a local monastery, and that's when they saw his life three sixty moving and they realized he was headed somewhere that they didn't know.
00:01:13
Speaker 1: And so you've seen the name probably folks in a few headlines. Western higginbotham twenty years old. This is a kid who attended the university I say University of but Auburn University. I say University of because anytime I think about a school in the state of Alabama, like they say, when you're born there, you have to make the first decision of your life is is it going to be Auburn or is it going to be Alabama? So University of Alabama and Auburn University is in my head. But Arburn University student twenty years old, biosystems engineering major and also of note, he is an accomplished hiker. But he has been The mom put out a statement and the family has been giving almost daily updates. But they have put out a statement. We're going to let you hear here. Momentes the difficult part of this, and we don't know for sure what happened beforehand, but a lot of focus was put on what was going on with him before he went away from his family. A again, a group of four and it started at Robes and I've immediately thought about this mom and just as a parent, and how they explained their last interaction was not necessarily loving. They got into a spat, and that seemed like that was part of the reason he ended up going his own way.
00:02:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, and when you hear, look, I know, you're never fighting about what you're fighting about. And probably we say that in relationships, but I'm sure it's any relationship, even a family dynamic, you've got these, you know, these triggers. And it didn't seem like a big deal because the mom said that he was upset with her for having planned the vacation using chat GPT.
00:03:00
Speaker 3: He said he was a naturalist, he was a purist.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: He I'm guessing that falls in line with being against AI of any kind. And I'm not sure how it came up while they were halfway through their trip. They were a week into their trip that he found out or she talked about having used AI chat GPT to plan their Japanese trip, where they were going and how they were getting there, and it upset him.
00:03:24
Speaker 1: It seems like a small thing to us, like you just said, and we hear it all the time. Did your mom, did you just give always? Okay? So that's part of it. Seemed a little odd that that would set the family off in such a way that he was so upset that he needed to go off and be by himself. We haven't said, yet let me say this off the top at this point, Ropes, there's no indication of foul play. We did not say that yet. We do not know a cause of death, but no indication of foul play as what we're giving. But go back to the argument, Ropes, He goes off. He's so upset, he needs a minute, he needs a moment to where he would go to a foreign country, into an area he's unfamiliar with, a language he doesn't speak, and start a hike at eight o'clock at night.
00:04:11
Speaker 2: Correct, And before he starts the hike, it seems like, if there's no foul play indicated, he chose to turn off his location services.
00:04:20
Speaker 3: So that's all deliberative.
00:04:22
Speaker 2: Like the only thought would be if it were foul play and someone took his phone or turned off his phone, that would be one thing.
00:04:27
Speaker 3: But it doesn't seem like that's the case.
00:04:29
Speaker 1: And we should mention as well the other part. We well, did he run out of juice on his phone? This is a possibility and it went out there, but no, she says the last indication again, many of you don't have to explain, yo, you life through sixty with your kids. You can see the amount of power left they have on their phones. You can even tell if it's being charged in that moment. So thirty seven percent, I think, if I remember right, they saw he had that much power left in his phone. When the phone then goes out rope, doesn't seem like he ran out of power. So an intentional move to turn off your location services after a minor spat.
00:05:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, that it seems extreme.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: And then look they had said, We mentioned he was an experienced hiker. He had traveled and hiked this was so impressive to me the Pyrenees Mountains in Europe by himself. So this is a kid who, said they said, knew how to spend the night in the woods on his own.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: They he knew how to forage for food on his own.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: This was a kid who they were hopeful if he got lost, that was their best case scenario.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: He's angry, he storms off into.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: The woods at night because that was his happy place, according to his parents, that's where he went when he wanted space or wanted to get his head right. And he was clearly upset with his family in that moment when they had left, So they were thinking, okay, maybe he got lost. That was their best hope. So we don't know the cause of death. But it was a group of search volunteers correct who ended up finding him. This was a mountainous area outside of Kyoto that just has a tremendous amount of hiking trails.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: And coupled with they did have awful rains over the past week. Again, it's been a week in a couple of days here, so they even thought that might wash away evidence or even wash I don't know, his things away to a different area to where he maybe wasn't where is the last place they've been looking, So all of that factors in robes. It just it is when you take into account, it doesn't seem likely that a kid who was pretty adept at yes, hiking and surviving and being smart enough to know, oh it's a little dark, I should get out of here. I've turned around that just an accident. Accidents do happen, obviously robes. Obviously they do. It's just the likelihood of one with the guy who actually knows what he's doing. The chances are low, but the chance is there.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: Correct, And anytime any averd hiker knows that the worst thing you can do is to go hiking by yourself. That is the biggest no no, because yes, things do happen, and wildlife you can encounter, and there are twists and turns and steep hills and slippery Yes, you need somebody there to be there in case an accident or worst case scenario does happen.
00:07:11
Speaker 3: And in fact it's a note.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: The family who went out initially searching for him, the mom one of the videos, she said they had to turn around because they encountered wildlife they were not prepared for. So, look, there's a lot of stuff going on in those woods. But it is interesting when they said they found him, they didn't. You would think if it was some awful accident, they would say he had fallen down a cliff, or had they found him at the bottom of a ravine, or they it looked like there was an act.
00:07:38
Speaker 3: They said nothing. So that also is of note. Saying nothing is saying something.
00:07:44
Speaker 1: Is that a thing? Is what the other part of that you said, any hiker knows it's almost a rule one you don't hike alone. I mean it's a rule too not to hike at night. I mean who goes in night? You just don't do most trails even close at night.
00:07:54
Speaker 3: A lot of trails close at dusk.
00:07:56
Speaker 2: Yes, you can have a headlamp, and yes, some people can do it, but no, it's certainly not advised at all. And look, if you're anyone who hikes, they usually have a at trailheads. I don't know what it's like in Japan, but they'll have trailheads where you actually sign in so the park ranger or whoever is overseeing the trail, there are safety measures that are in place just to make sure that if you do get lost, there is a record of when you went on the trail, when you went into the trail that someone can reference and look at if you don't have your phone off or your phone runs out of juice. So yes, most people who go into these woods obviously go into the woods with safety in mind and take a lot of these precautions to make sure. What happened to Weston, And we don't know what happened to Weston, if it was an accident, you can prevent a lot of them.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: And Robes. The last thing on this point with the back and forth with the mom robes and I said that the use of that language, why did they choose those words? Right? Because initially the thing was described as having a just a little nothing of a spat with your mom. He's going to go blossom steam, no big deal, is how it was described. But Robes they used a different set of words to describe what his mental state might be. And those were the words that jumped out at me. You don't do you use that language if you're just saying, hey, he got pissed, he went to blow some steam. So this is crazy. It makes no sense. We know something's happened to him, but they use different language. R.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Yes, they said that this was an urgent situation because they felt like their son might be under emotional distress. Look, they know the backstory of Weston in a way none of us do.
00:09:30
Speaker 3: They know where his head is or was. They know maybe how fragile he might have been in that moment.
00:09:37
Speaker 2: We all go through periods in our life and look, being a junior in college, having I even saw my daughters struggle like what's next, what's happening. There's a lot of stress and pressure for kids that age, and maybe it doesn't take much. And if you're already in a fragile state and the people who you trust most just upset you more than anyone else, which is your family.
00:09:57
Speaker 3: You know, we don't know what they.
00:09:58
Speaker 2: Knew about his mental health, but they certainly suggested that it was not in a great place.
00:10:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I just that was from the jump when we started doing this story. That language suggests something else going on with him. You don't use that if your son is just pissed it to the point you could almost say he was being a brat or knuckle in a normal situation.
00:10:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, your mom using AI because you were against AI. Okay, calm down, you little twenty year old who hasn't experienced the world yet, who thinks he knows best.
00:10:30
Speaker 3: Yes, of course, but.
00:10:31
Speaker 1: We never got to that because she used those words that let us all know, wait a minute, Wait a minute, it seems like something beyond So the thought of this and those parents, they know what happened in that back and forth. You just can't help but your heart goes out to them as a parent, to think, Wow, what did I say wrong in that last moment? What did we do wrong in that last moment. I'm not getting on obviously for the parents, but I'm saying right oh, that that's gotta be devastating.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: That is a worst case scenario, because you just think if I had just said this, if I had just done that, I could have.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: They didn't know he was going to leave.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: They left him there in their hotel room, thinking he was going to stay put, that he was annoyed and he didn't want to be with his family and that was it, and they were going to comeback, and maybe he would have ordered takeout and fallen asleep.
00:11:26
Speaker 1: But folks, stay here. We told you that the family has been giving regular updates. They have been very much out there, putting out statements on video and ridden statements. Well, they did give another statement confirming that they had found their son. He had been found, they had found his body. Will let you hear every word of that statement in just a moment, and we will also make one more plea, one more case, one more psa if you will, for why everybody needs life. Three sixties there, all right, Welcome back here, everybody to Amy and TJ. The update we are getting this morning that, in fact, the twenty year old Auburn University student who has been missing for the past week plus after going on a trip with his family and going his own way, taking a hike by himself, turning off his location services. The hope was that maybe he was blowing off some steam, maybe got lost somewhere. But they have found his body in this mountainous region in Kyoto. No cause of death has been given at this point. But Robes I was saying, we have been. Look the family has been and this is what. Look. A lot of families are better at this than others, I should say, but Robe, many people will tell you. You put it out there, you get attention, you get involved with police, you get active on social media. This family had been with videos and postings, but this was the one. Now, Robes, we have got from the family letting us know that they had found their son.
00:12:59
Speaker 2: Yes, and Keith higgin Botham have been making these police right next to each other, talking directly to people, and it was effective. They got a lot of attention for their son, They got a lot of eyes, they got a lot of help there in Japan, and it was in fact a volunteer search group that found their son. Ultimately, so all of those please for help did work. It just was the outcome they were hoping wouldn't be the one that they ended up with. So this was their family statement. It reads, 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. We are forever grateful for the time we had with our sweet, precious Weston, but cannot begin to understand what life without him will be like. 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 our family, offered encouragement, and helped in the search efforts. The outpouring of kindness and support has carried us through the darkest days of our lives. We shared our story here and in the media in the hopes of finding Weston. We now ask for privacy as we begin to navigate this unimaginable loss. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. We will need them now more than ever. We will always love you, Weston. That is heartbreaking.
00:14:29
Speaker 1: Who wrote that? And I say that because I don't know how they were able to put a coherent sentence together given what they have gone through. I don't know how they were able to do that. This is this top twenty a year away from graduation, the whole life ahead kind of a situation. You know, it's devastating to any campus community with something like this. It's just I'm so curious to know what happened. I just hated for this family and I hate the way. Look, any loss is one thing, right, you never supposed toutlive your child. But when they describe ropes, that last interaction in the back and forth and just wonder and just what the family's going through, that's something on top of the loss. Almost it's that's awful.
00:15:14
Speaker 3: It does feel, it feels unbearable.
00:15:16
Speaker 2: You start thinking, yes, he's twenty years old, biosystems engineering major, smart kid, could have done amazing things with his life, and it just it's just it's one tragic moment, one tragic decision on one quick where if someone had been there, if they hadn't gone to the monastery. I mean you just all of the what ifs and should haves and could haves are what are going to drive this family crazy. And we certainly hope that those prayers and those thoughts that they are felt and that they are received. It sounds like they are, but yes, that is to me one of the worst possible scenario as a parent could ever face.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: And we pay attention to this story, and if we get a positive out of it, maybe is that you need to download Life three sixty. Now we do not in any way work for paid for sponsored by Life three sixty, but if you ever you follow us, we talk about it quite a bit here. And I can still remember the moment at tavern on the Green, sitting having Dirty Martinez with Sonny hostin from the view and she pulled up her phone and was keeping up with her kids, and I'm like, what are you doing? And they're older, and she showed me the Life three sixty and she said, yeah, I see exactly where he is, what he's doing. She showed me a thing to where she knew he was speeding because it even tracks how fast you are going if you're moving. Now, Robes, that's one thing, and you know the sound Now on my phone, he said, oops, the bean's on the move. Yep, because it will let me know when she arrives at school, when she leaves where she's not supposed to be. I can track this kid everywhere. But Ropes, this is the other part I didn't realize and it's a story that needs to be heard that has to do with Anna, you and I. My daughter is younger, Sabina is the little one. She's thirteen in all of our group of folks, right, so I can track her. She's got no choice in the matter. Your daughter's twenty and twenty three don't like for Mama to track them. But then we're both amazed that all of our daughters will let all of their friends track them on, whether it's Life three sixty or Snapchat.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: Where it is chat more than anything else.
00:17:25
Speaker 1: Snapchat mostly, but Robes, your daughter turned off her location services, and I think about it because this family said, it's so out of the ordinary. This doesn't happen. He doesn't do that. Your daughter explained the story to us, was this yesterday or the day before? Antalie's telling the story of what happens right when you do something out of the norm, when people are tracking you. Robes, she told that story, and I said, holy hell. Everybody needs to have somebody looking out for them.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Yep, exactly. You need to know when when someone is in distress. And if someone's in emotional distress and they turn off their location services, the first thing that ends up happening is everyone starts texting you, what's going on?
00:18:12
Speaker 3: Where are you? Why did you turn off your locations?
00:18:15
Speaker 2: It's almost as if that crowd knows when you turn off your system or your location services, that it's because you're upset and you don't want people to know where you are.
00:18:23
Speaker 3: And that's the time when you actually need people to check in.
00:18:25
Speaker 1: Well, where was she? That would by the river by the water?
00:18:28
Speaker 3: It was actually ava. But yeah, it's fine. I get them confused all the time time.
00:18:33
Speaker 1: I usually don't at all. They're hard to get confused, to be honest with you, they're very different.
00:18:37
Speaker 2: But yeah, but she started getting like immediately said to the point where it was hilarious because she wanted some peace, and it ended up creating a anything but piece because everyone was checking in on her. But that had to feel good in the moment, like, oh my god, everyone somehow got an alert or realized that she had turned off her location.
00:18:57
Speaker 1: Services, and they reacted and they responded, and they almost to a point Robes saw this as an emergency situation that we need to go save her. She's in trouble. Robes Life three sixty, Snapchat, whatever it may be, and as much as we rail on technology and is annoying, you don't want to be tracked robes. There is a safety element involved, not in just in knowing where someone is, but you can also know maybe how they're doing when they start acting differently, even though they're right from the not right in front of you, But that is behavior that signals that something is going on. Ropes these services. Now, when hearing this story with him and hearing just AA the other day tell that story, I was like.
00:19:43
Speaker 2: Wow, yes, I know, I'm thinking now the moment you see your kids like like, especially if that's out of the ordinary and they're normally okay with the on location. When it's turned off, you get up from wherever you are and you race for their last known place references, right, I mean, I'm sure that's what they're thinking now, but it may not have been in time. But at the very least, these services work and they do help and they can be life saving.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: But again, twenty year old Western Higginbotham. He has been found in Japan. His body has been found, no cause of death just yet. But as they say, keep that family, your thoughts, keep that family, your prayers that we always appreciate you spending some time with us here on Amy and TJ. For my dear Amy Robock, I'm TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you also
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, did its Sunday, June seventh, and an awful update to bring you on a developing story we've been keeping an eye on the past week. A missing Auburn University student gone missing in Japan on a trip with his family has been found dead in Kyoto, and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: Rose.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: This didn't look good from the very beginning, but I have to remember this kid's been missing since May twenty ninth, on what was supposed to be a celebratory trip.
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Yes, they were celebrating his younger brother who had just graduated from high school. So yeah, they were going on this big planned family trip to Japan. And this is not how any of them anticipated this ending. And we felt the urgency from his family, who had said they felt like he might have been in emotional distress and he had just stayed behind while they went off to go tour I believe, a local monastery, and that's when they saw his life three sixty moving and they realized he was headed somewhere that they didn't know.
00:01:13
Speaker 1: And so you've seen the name probably folks in a few headlines. Western higginbotham twenty years old. This is a kid who attended the university I say University of but Auburn University. I say University of because anytime I think about a school in the state of Alabama, like they say, when you're born there, you have to make the first decision of your life is is it going to be Auburn or is it going to be Alabama? So University of Alabama and Auburn University is in my head. But Arburn University student twenty years old, biosystems engineering major and also of note, he is an accomplished hiker. But he has been The mom put out a statement and the family has been giving almost daily updates. But they have put out a statement. We're going to let you hear here. Momentes the difficult part of this, and we don't know for sure what happened beforehand, but a lot of focus was put on what was going on with him before he went away from his family. A again, a group of four and it started at Robes and I've immediately thought about this mom and just as a parent, and how they explained their last interaction was not necessarily loving. They got into a spat, and that seemed like that was part of the reason he ended up going his own way.
00:02:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, and when you hear, look, I know, you're never fighting about what you're fighting about. And probably we say that in relationships, but I'm sure it's any relationship, even a family dynamic, you've got these, you know, these triggers. And it didn't seem like a big deal because the mom said that he was upset with her for having planned the vacation using chat GPT.
00:03:00
Speaker 3: He said he was a naturalist, he was a purist.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: He I'm guessing that falls in line with being against AI of any kind. And I'm not sure how it came up while they were halfway through their trip. They were a week into their trip that he found out or she talked about having used AI chat GPT to plan their Japanese trip, where they were going and how they were getting there, and it upset him.
00:03:24
Speaker 1: It seems like a small thing to us, like you just said, and we hear it all the time. Did your mom, did you just give always? Okay? So that's part of it. Seemed a little odd that that would set the family off in such a way that he was so upset that he needed to go off and be by himself. We haven't said, yet let me say this off the top at this point, Ropes, there's no indication of foul play. We did not say that yet. We do not know a cause of death, but no indication of foul play as what we're giving. But go back to the argument, Ropes, He goes off. He's so upset, he needs a minute, he needs a moment to where he would go to a foreign country, into an area he's unfamiliar with, a language he doesn't speak, and start a hike at eight o'clock at night.
00:04:11
Speaker 2: Correct, And before he starts the hike, it seems like, if there's no foul play indicated, he chose to turn off his location services.
00:04:20
Speaker 3: So that's all deliberative.
00:04:22
Speaker 2: Like the only thought would be if it were foul play and someone took his phone or turned off his phone, that would be one thing.
00:04:27
Speaker 3: But it doesn't seem like that's the case.
00:04:29
Speaker 1: And we should mention as well the other part. We well, did he run out of juice on his phone? This is a possibility and it went out there, but no, she says the last indication again, many of you don't have to explain, yo, you life through sixty with your kids. You can see the amount of power left they have on their phones. You can even tell if it's being charged in that moment. So thirty seven percent, I think, if I remember right, they saw he had that much power left in his phone. When the phone then goes out rope, doesn't seem like he ran out of power. So an intentional move to turn off your location services after a minor spat.
00:05:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, that it seems extreme.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: And then look they had said, We mentioned he was an experienced hiker. He had traveled and hiked this was so impressive to me the Pyrenees Mountains in Europe by himself. So this is a kid who, said they said, knew how to spend the night in the woods on his own.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: They he knew how to forage for food on his own.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: This was a kid who they were hopeful if he got lost, that was their best case scenario.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: He's angry, he storms off into.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: The woods at night because that was his happy place, according to his parents, that's where he went when he wanted space or wanted to get his head right. And he was clearly upset with his family in that moment when they had left, So they were thinking, okay, maybe he got lost. That was their best hope. So we don't know the cause of death. But it was a group of search volunteers correct who ended up finding him. This was a mountainous area outside of Kyoto that just has a tremendous amount of hiking trails.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: And coupled with they did have awful rains over the past week. Again, it's been a week in a couple of days here, so they even thought that might wash away evidence or even wash I don't know, his things away to a different area to where he maybe wasn't where is the last place they've been looking, So all of that factors in robes. It just it is when you take into account, it doesn't seem likely that a kid who was pretty adept at yes, hiking and surviving and being smart enough to know, oh it's a little dark, I should get out of here. I've turned around that just an accident. Accidents do happen, obviously robes. Obviously they do. It's just the likelihood of one with the guy who actually knows what he's doing. The chances are low, but the chance is there.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: Correct, And anytime any averd hiker knows that the worst thing you can do is to go hiking by yourself. That is the biggest no no, because yes, things do happen, and wildlife you can encounter, and there are twists and turns and steep hills and slippery Yes, you need somebody there to be there in case an accident or worst case scenario does happen.
00:07:11
Speaker 3: And in fact it's a note.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: The family who went out initially searching for him, the mom one of the videos, she said they had to turn around because they encountered wildlife they were not prepared for. So, look, there's a lot of stuff going on in those woods. But it is interesting when they said they found him, they didn't. You would think if it was some awful accident, they would say he had fallen down a cliff, or had they found him at the bottom of a ravine, or they it looked like there was an act.
00:07:38
Speaker 3: They said nothing. So that also is of note. Saying nothing is saying something.
00:07:44
Speaker 1: Is that a thing? Is what the other part of that you said, any hiker knows it's almost a rule one you don't hike alone. I mean it's a rule too not to hike at night. I mean who goes in night? You just don't do most trails even close at night.
00:07:54
Speaker 3: A lot of trails close at dusk.
00:07:56
Speaker 2: Yes, you can have a headlamp, and yes, some people can do it, but no, it's certainly not advised at all. And look, if you're anyone who hikes, they usually have a at trailheads. I don't know what it's like in Japan, but they'll have trailheads where you actually sign in so the park ranger or whoever is overseeing the trail, there are safety measures that are in place just to make sure that if you do get lost, there is a record of when you went on the trail, when you went into the trail that someone can reference and look at if you don't have your phone off or your phone runs out of juice. So yes, most people who go into these woods obviously go into the woods with safety in mind and take a lot of these precautions to make sure. What happened to Weston, And we don't know what happened to Weston, if it was an accident, you can prevent a lot of them.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: And Robes. The last thing on this point with the back and forth with the mom robes and I said that the use of that language, why did they choose those words? Right? Because initially the thing was described as having a just a little nothing of a spat with your mom. He's going to go blossom steam, no big deal, is how it was described. But Robes they used a different set of words to describe what his mental state might be. And those were the words that jumped out at me. You don't do you use that language if you're just saying, hey, he got pissed, he went to blow some steam. So this is crazy. It makes no sense. We know something's happened to him, but they use different language. R.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Yes, they said that this was an urgent situation because they felt like their son might be under emotional distress. Look, they know the backstory of Weston in a way none of us do.
00:09:30
Speaker 3: They know where his head is or was. They know maybe how fragile he might have been in that moment.
00:09:37
Speaker 2: We all go through periods in our life and look, being a junior in college, having I even saw my daughters struggle like what's next, what's happening. There's a lot of stress and pressure for kids that age, and maybe it doesn't take much. And if you're already in a fragile state and the people who you trust most just upset you more than anyone else, which is your family.
00:09:57
Speaker 3: You know, we don't know what they.
00:09:58
Speaker 2: Knew about his mental health, but they certainly suggested that it was not in a great place.
00:10:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I just that was from the jump when we started doing this story. That language suggests something else going on with him. You don't use that if your son is just pissed it to the point you could almost say he was being a brat or knuckle in a normal situation.
00:10:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, your mom using AI because you were against AI. Okay, calm down, you little twenty year old who hasn't experienced the world yet, who thinks he knows best.
00:10:30
Speaker 3: Yes, of course, but.
00:10:31
Speaker 1: We never got to that because she used those words that let us all know, wait a minute, Wait a minute, it seems like something beyond So the thought of this and those parents, they know what happened in that back and forth. You just can't help but your heart goes out to them as a parent, to think, Wow, what did I say wrong in that last moment? What did we do wrong in that last moment. I'm not getting on obviously for the parents, but I'm saying right oh, that that's gotta be devastating.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: That is a worst case scenario, because you just think if I had just said this, if I had just done that, I could have.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: They didn't know he was going to leave.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: They left him there in their hotel room, thinking he was going to stay put, that he was annoyed and he didn't want to be with his family and that was it, and they were going to comeback, and maybe he would have ordered takeout and fallen asleep.
00:11:26
Speaker 1: But folks, stay here. We told you that the family has been giving regular updates. They have been very much out there, putting out statements on video and ridden statements. Well, they did give another statement confirming that they had found their son. He had been found, they had found his body. Will let you hear every word of that statement in just a moment, and we will also make one more plea, one more case, one more psa if you will, for why everybody needs life. Three sixties there, all right, Welcome back here, everybody to Amy and TJ. The update we are getting this morning that, in fact, the twenty year old Auburn University student who has been missing for the past week plus after going on a trip with his family and going his own way, taking a hike by himself, turning off his location services. The hope was that maybe he was blowing off some steam, maybe got lost somewhere. But they have found his body in this mountainous region in Kyoto. No cause of death has been given at this point. But Robes I was saying, we have been. Look the family has been and this is what. Look. A lot of families are better at this than others, I should say, but Robe, many people will tell you. You put it out there, you get attention, you get involved with police, you get active on social media. This family had been with videos and postings, but this was the one. Now, Robes, we have got from the family letting us know that they had found their son.
00:12:59
Speaker 2: Yes, and Keith higgin Botham have been making these police right next to each other, talking directly to people, and it was effective. They got a lot of attention for their son, They got a lot of eyes, they got a lot of help there in Japan, and it was in fact a volunteer search group that found their son. Ultimately, so all of those please for help did work. It just was the outcome they were hoping wouldn't be the one that they ended up with. So this was their family statement. It reads, 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. We are forever grateful for the time we had with our sweet, precious Weston, but cannot begin to understand what life without him will be like. 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 our family, offered encouragement, and helped in the search efforts. The outpouring of kindness and support has carried us through the darkest days of our lives. We shared our story here and in the media in the hopes of finding Weston. We now ask for privacy as we begin to navigate this unimaginable loss. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. We will need them now more than ever. We will always love you, Weston. That is heartbreaking.
00:14:29
Speaker 1: Who wrote that? And I say that because I don't know how they were able to put a coherent sentence together given what they have gone through. I don't know how they were able to do that. This is this top twenty a year away from graduation, the whole life ahead kind of a situation. You know, it's devastating to any campus community with something like this. It's just I'm so curious to know what happened. I just hated for this family and I hate the way. Look, any loss is one thing, right, you never supposed toutlive your child. But when they describe ropes, that last interaction in the back and forth and just wonder and just what the family's going through, that's something on top of the loss. Almost it's that's awful.
00:15:14
Speaker 3: It does feel, it feels unbearable.
00:15:16
Speaker 2: You start thinking, yes, he's twenty years old, biosystems engineering major, smart kid, could have done amazing things with his life, and it just it's just it's one tragic moment, one tragic decision on one quick where if someone had been there, if they hadn't gone to the monastery. I mean you just all of the what ifs and should haves and could haves are what are going to drive this family crazy. And we certainly hope that those prayers and those thoughts that they are felt and that they are received. It sounds like they are, but yes, that is to me one of the worst possible scenario as a parent could ever face.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: And we pay attention to this story, and if we get a positive out of it, maybe is that you need to download Life three sixty. Now we do not in any way work for paid for sponsored by Life three sixty, but if you ever you follow us, we talk about it quite a bit here. And I can still remember the moment at tavern on the Green, sitting having Dirty Martinez with Sonny hostin from the view and she pulled up her phone and was keeping up with her kids, and I'm like, what are you doing? And they're older, and she showed me the Life three sixty and she said, yeah, I see exactly where he is, what he's doing. She showed me a thing to where she knew he was speeding because it even tracks how fast you are going if you're moving. Now, Robes, that's one thing, and you know the sound Now on my phone, he said, oops, the bean's on the move. Yep, because it will let me know when she arrives at school, when she leaves where she's not supposed to be. I can track this kid everywhere. But Ropes, this is the other part I didn't realize and it's a story that needs to be heard that has to do with Anna, you and I. My daughter is younger, Sabina is the little one. She's thirteen in all of our group of folks, right, so I can track her. She's got no choice in the matter. Your daughter's twenty and twenty three don't like for Mama to track them. But then we're both amazed that all of our daughters will let all of their friends track them on, whether it's Life three sixty or Snapchat.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: Where it is chat more than anything else.
00:17:25
Speaker 1: Snapchat mostly, but Robes, your daughter turned off her location services, and I think about it because this family said, it's so out of the ordinary. This doesn't happen. He doesn't do that. Your daughter explained the story to us, was this yesterday or the day before? Antalie's telling the story of what happens right when you do something out of the norm, when people are tracking you. Robes, she told that story, and I said, holy hell. Everybody needs to have somebody looking out for them.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Yep, exactly. You need to know when when someone is in distress. And if someone's in emotional distress and they turn off their location services, the first thing that ends up happening is everyone starts texting you, what's going on?
00:18:12
Speaker 3: Where are you? Why did you turn off your locations?
00:18:15
Speaker 2: It's almost as if that crowd knows when you turn off your system or your location services, that it's because you're upset and you don't want people to know where you are.
00:18:23
Speaker 3: And that's the time when you actually need people to check in.
00:18:25
Speaker 1: Well, where was she? That would by the river by the water?
00:18:28
Speaker 3: It was actually ava. But yeah, it's fine. I get them confused all the time time.
00:18:33
Speaker 1: I usually don't at all. They're hard to get confused, to be honest with you, they're very different.
00:18:37
Speaker 2: But yeah, but she started getting like immediately said to the point where it was hilarious because she wanted some peace, and it ended up creating a anything but piece because everyone was checking in on her. But that had to feel good in the moment, like, oh my god, everyone somehow got an alert or realized that she had turned off her location.
00:18:57
Speaker 1: Services, and they reacted and they responded, and they almost to a point Robes saw this as an emergency situation that we need to go save her. She's in trouble. Robes Life three sixty, Snapchat, whatever it may be, and as much as we rail on technology and is annoying, you don't want to be tracked robes. There is a safety element involved, not in just in knowing where someone is, but you can also know maybe how they're doing when they start acting differently, even though they're right from the not right in front of you, But that is behavior that signals that something is going on. Ropes these services. Now, when hearing this story with him and hearing just AA the other day tell that story, I was like.
00:19:43
Speaker 2: Wow, yes, I know, I'm thinking now the moment you see your kids like like, especially if that's out of the ordinary and they're normally okay with the on location. When it's turned off, you get up from wherever you are and you race for their last known place references, right, I mean, I'm sure that's what they're thinking now, but it may not have been in time. But at the very least, these services work and they do help and they can be life saving.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: But again, twenty year old Western Higginbotham. He has been found in Japan. His body has been found, no cause of death just yet. But as they say, keep that family, your thoughts, keep that family, your prayers that we always appreciate you spending some time with us here on Amy and TJ. For my dear Amy Robock, I'm TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you also