The best friend of a 20-year-old who vanished while visiting Japan has revealed the last messages he sent just before the Alabama college student disappeared.
James ‘Weston’ Higginbotham was touring around Japan’s Kyoto region with his family last month. On May 29, he reportedly went out on his own to explore, and the Auburn University student has not been seen since.
His family had been using the Life30 app to keep track of his location. But not long after they texted him to ask where he was heading, his location sharing was switched off. Weston’s mother, Nancy Higginbotham, told CNN this wasn’t something he would normally do.
At around 6pm on the day he went missing, Weston was reportedly spotted leaving Kyoto Station alone.
As the days passed without any confirmed sightings, his family released a public plea, asking for help and information in the hope of locating him.
Nancy wrote on social media: “He may be emotionally distressed, so this is urgent. We are living in our own hell. He is not detained from a night out partying. The police have confirmed this. Please, I beg you, be kind. I’m already in so much pain.”
His parents have also said they plan to stay in Japan until their son is found.
In the days before Weston disappeared, he and his family met up with his friend Hiyu Shikari.
Hiyu previously attended school with Weston in the US before moving to Japan, and he met the Higginbothams in Tokyo on May 22.
In an interview with The US Sun, Hiyu said: “We had such a great time at a restaurant in Shinjuku, which is in Tokyo.
“Right after that, I tried to contact him on how he was doing in Kyoto, because I was in Kyoto a couple of weeks ago, and also the typhoon was coming as I was kind of worried, and I messaged him, ‘How’s the trip going?’ And that was after he went missing. And so I didn’t get any contact with him after I met him.”
He added: “I’ve been doing what I can to spread awareness.”
Hiyu also provided screenshots of the last texts he sent Weston.
The final message he shared read: “Good evening! How’s the stay going? Hopefully yall are having a good time in Kyoto! Lmk [Let me know] if you need me to recommend you any places [sic].”
It was not confirmed whether the message was successfully delivered to Weston’s phone.