Missing Woman’s Remains Found Two Years After Her Trip to Japan

The remains of Patricia “Pattie” Wu-Murad, a Connecticut woman who went missing more than two years ago while hiking in Japan, have been found, her family confirmed Saturday in a post on her husband Kirk Murad’s Facebook account.

“The finality of this news is heartbreaking,” the family wrote.

Newsweek reached out to Murad for additional comment via Facebook Messenger on Sunday.

The Context

Wu-Murad, a mother of three, was reported missing while on a solo hiking trip on the Kumano Kodo trail in Japan on April 10, 2023. The pilgrimage route is known for its beauty, tranquility, and spirituality.

Almost a year-and-a-half later, in September 2024, a fisherman found some of her belongings including her backpack and a hiking shoe, the family wrote in a Saturday Facebook post.

The family received official notice of Wu-Murad’s death on May 9, according to the post.

Wu-Murad retired during the COVID-19 pandemic and began traveling solo more frequently, including hiking part of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Europe, according to CT Insider.

What To Know

The family, along with various search and rescue teams, carried out numerous efforts over the past two years to find Wu-Murad. Her family said the efforts “involved 24 American search and rescue (SAR) professionals, local Japanese SAR experts, law enforcement, U.S. Embassy officials in both Japan and Washington, D.C., the FBI, and Senator Richard Blumenthal.”

On April 27, a member of the U.S. search team retracing the area where Wu-Murad’s backpack was previously found discovered a femur and brought it to local police, who later confirmed through DNA testing that the remains belonged to Wu-Murad, her family wrote in the post.

“Although we had tried to prepare ourselves for this outcome, the finality of this news is heartbreaking,” they wrote, adding that “it offers a measure of closure, but many questions remain unanswered, including the exact circumstances and cause of Pattie’s death.”

The social media post concluded with the family writing, “Pattie was an incredible woman whose love and friendship touched many lives. While we are devastated, we are also humbled by the global community that rallied to help find her. We will continue to honor her memory with love and gratitude in our hearts.”

Inset: Photo of Patricia Wu-Murad from a GoFundMe page organizing rescue efforts. A sign indicating Kumano Kodo hiking pilgrimage trail in Totsukawa, Japan, on August 24, 2017.

ANTOINE BOUREAU/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

They also thanked all the various search and rescue team members, volunteers, and supporters. The family raised over $200,000 for rescue fees on GoFundMe. An Instagram account dedicated to finding Wu-Murad also shared the latest update to its over 1,000 followers.

Many social media users shared condolences with the family and expressed their fondness for Wu-Murad.

What People Are Saying

Storrs, Connecticut, resident Alexa Udell told Local News 8, WTNH: “I hope that with modern forensics methods they can kind of piece it back together. I feel like I hear about that all the time with older cases and stuff more recently where they can back track and figure out what happened to people. I hope that eventually her family is able to get that information.”