ACTION 8 UPDATE: Auburn University student missing in Japan found dead

20-year-old Weston Higginbotham – Photo from CNN/Nancy Higginbotham

ACTION 8 UPDATE (WAKA) – An Auburn University student has been found dead in Japan while on a vacation with his family.

The body of 20-year-old Weston Higginbotham was found in a mountainous area near Kyoto, his mother Nancy Higginbotham wrote on social media. A cause of death or more details haven’t yet been released.

“Our family is heartbroken to share that Weston was found deceased by a volunteer search-and-rescue group in a mountainous area outside of Kyoto. The grief we feel is impossible to put into words. We are forever grateful for the time we had with our sweet, precious Weston, but cannot begin to understand what life without him will be like,” his mother wrote.

Higginbotham was last seen on Friday, May 29. He, his parents and his brother had been visiting Japan and were in Kyoto, a city of about 1.5 million people. He decided to stay back while his parents and brother visited a nearby temple. They believe he was headed to a hiking trail when he left a train station.

His parents told CBS News they saw his location move on a family tracking app and texted him, but didn’t receive a response.

He was a graduate of Spain Park High School in Hoover.