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The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever

Urgent Search For Auburn University Student Missing In Japan

The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever

iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture, Relationships, Tv & Film

4.33.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2026

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

20-year-old Weston Higginbotham was on a family vacation celebrating his younger brother’s high school graduation. After an argument with his mom, Higginbotham went out on his own, last seen walking towards a hiking trail in Kyoto at 8pm last Friday. He’s an experienced solo hiker, but his location services were turned off just before he disappeared and now family is begging anyone with information to help in the search for their son.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an IHeart podcast.

0:02.5

Guaranteed Human.

0:06.0

Hey there, folks.

0:07.0

It is Thursday, June 4th and concern this morning for an Auburn University student who's been missing since May 29th.

0:18.4

But not in Alabama, not near the campus., actually missing in Japan. And with that,

0:24.6

welcome to this episode of Amy and T.J. Robs. It's been, I mean, we're up a full week here now

0:30.0

since this kid went missing and the kids missing on a trip with family. Yeah, that's the real

0:36.7

head scratcher. He was with his parents. He was with his brother.

0:40.0

The whole family went to Japan to celebrate his younger brother, his 18-year-old brother's

0:45.6

high school graduation. So we're talking about 21-year-old James Weston Higginbotham. He goes

0:52.2

by Weston. He's studying biosystems engineering at Auburn University,

0:56.9

and yeah, he was on a family trip. They had been in Japan for about a week when he went missing.

1:02.6

And the family has sense, and this is starting to get a little more attention as the days go by.

1:08.7

But his family's been making pleas to the public.

1:11.5

They've been putting out videos.

1:12.6

We'll get into some of what they have been saying.

1:14.2

But they have also, Robes, and you imagine, there is a language barrier.

1:18.4

Now they're in Japan trying to get help from police there,

1:21.5

trying to get assistance from the community.

1:23.6

So you can imagine how difficult this is for them right now.

1:26.8

But we'll get into that. But Robes, again, he just...

1:31.3

Vanished. Vanished. And there are some circumstances here that lead some to maybe believe something else might be going on with him. But Rose, he turned off his location services that we'll get into, but that is a, that is a signal

...

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