The body of James Higginbotham, 20, was discovered in a mountainous area near Kyoto after he disappeared while on a family holiday
1-MIN READ1-MIN ListenReutersPublished: 4:15am, 7 Jun 2026An American student who disappeared while on a family holiday in Japan was found dead outside Kyoto, his mother wrote in a social media post on Saturday.The body of James Higginbotham, 20, was discovered in a mountainous area by a volunteer search-and-rescue group, Nancy Higginbotham wrote.
A cause of death and further details were not immediately available.
“Our family is heartbroken,” she said. “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 railway station on May 29.
Later that night, his phone went dark and its location services were turned off, his mother previously said.
