07.06.2026 00:30
While vacationing with his family in Kyoto, Japan, 20-year-old American university student James Weston Higginbotham, who went missing after a ChatGPT argument, was found dead in a mountainous area following days of search efforts.
A 20-year-old American university student who disappeared on May 29 during a trip to Kyoto, Japan with his family has been found dead in a mountainous area near the city.
HE LEFT HIS FAMILY AND WENT SIGHTSEEING ALONE
American university student James Weston Higginbotham was found dead days after going missing during a family trip to Japan. Higginbotham, a 20-year-old student at Auburn University in Alabama, left his family to explore the city alone on May 29 while in Kyoto with his family after an argument with his mother over the use of the generative AI application "ChatGPT" for travel planning.
HIS LOCATION SUDDENLY SHUT OFF
His family was tracking Higginbotham's location through a live location sharing app and saw the young student board a train and visit various stores. The family sent messages asking Higginbotham where he was going, but shortly after, the young man's location sharing was turned off. His mother said this was not typical behavior for her son.
HE WAS LAST SEEN HEADING TOWARD A FORESTED AREA
After losing contact with Higginbotham, Japanese authorities launched a comprehensive search and rescue operation involving over 100 police officers, specially trained search dogs, and helicopters. During the operation, security camera footage reviewed showed Higginbotham walking alone on a trail leading to a wooded area in Kyoto's Yamashina district just before he disappeared.
Police, considering that the young man, a nature and hiking enthusiast, may have gone to the forested area, began a search operation in the area on June 2. However, a storm with heavy rain and strong winds that night hampered the efforts.
HIS BODY WAS FOUND IN A MOUNTAINOUS AREA
After days of searching, volunteer search and rescue teams located the missing young man's body today in a mountainous area near Kyoto.
His family said in a statement on social media, "We are saddened to share that Weston was found deceased by a volunteer search and rescue team in a mountainous area outside Kyoto. Words cannot express the pain we are experiencing."