{"id":212720,"date":"2026-06-05T03:19:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/another-day-passes-with-auburn-student-still-missing-in-japan-parents-say-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T03:19:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:19:02","slug":"another-day-passes-with-auburn-student-still-missing-in-japan-parents-say-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/another-day-passes-with-auburn-student-still-missing-in-japan-parents-say-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Another day passes with Auburn student still missing in Japan, parents say – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Japanese police trudged through deep mud on Thursday in another unsuccessful day searching for a missing Auburn University student, who vanished after an argument with family over artificial intelligence.
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James \u201cWeston\u201d Higginbotham, 20, was last seen Friday at the Kyoto train station, and his disappearance has prompted a massive search by police and local volunteers, the family has said.<\/a>
His mother, Nancy Higginbotham, said in a Thursday post on Facebook<\/a> that rescuers searching for her son Thursday were \u201cincredibly thorough in the difficult conditions.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long, stressful day,\u201d she said in the post. \u201cToday, dozens of Japanese police officers searched through waist-high mud in an effort to find Weston. Search dogs and helicopters were also deployed.\u201d
Weston Higginbotham walked away from his parents while on a family trip following an argument over ChatGPT, his mother told NBC News in a phone call from Japan.
The Auburn student, who majors in biosystems engineering, is devoted to sustainable design and opposes the world\u2019s increasing reliance on A.I., Nancy Higginbotham said Friday morning local time.
\u201cWe had an argument because I was using ChatGPT too much to try to help us navigate the trip and find the best restaurants and do this and that,\u201d she said.
\u201cWe try never to use it and I totally agree with him. It was just a dumb, dumb argument to have,\u201d she added.
Higginbotham described her son as \u201cemotionally distressed\u201d following the argument but said she doesn\u2019t believe he\u2019s a danger to himself or strangers.
He doesn\u2019t even stomp on spiders or insects, opting to carry them outside, she said.
\u201cHe\u2019s such a pacifist. When he gets mad, he just likes retreat to himself,\u201d Higginbotham said.
She said in her Thursday Facebook post that the family has great \u201cconfidence in the professionalism and dedication of the Japanese authorities and do not believe any area within the search zone was overlooked.\u201d
\u201cThey are meticulous,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe area where we believe Weston is missing has ample water and limited berries. There is still hope.\u201d
Senior Breaking News Reporter
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeJapanese police trudged through deep mud on Thursday in another unsuccessful day searching for a missing Auburn University student, who vanished after an argument with family over artificial intelligence. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.James \u201cWeston\u201d Higginbotham, 20, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":212721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}