ACTIVE SEARCH JAPAN - Patricia "Pattie" Wu-Murad, 60, US Citizen, on hiking trip Kumano Kodo Trail, didn't arr next stop Osaka, 10 Apr 2023

[Cedars]

I was trying to compare the map to one of the trail she should have been on and I can't seem to do it well.. I was curious if she was on the trail or if she had taken a wrong path and then based on where her items were found, what could have happened. Say she slipped and fell, would there be a trail in the area of the stream that she could have fallen in to? I am curious how far this area is from the guest house she was staying in the night before. If she took a wrong path and was lost is the area her stuff was found possibly a place she took off her bag to try to figure out where she was or what she needed to do to get back and then her bag fell in the water?

This is good news.

The key question would be what direction the stream flows towards. I assume the water would have carried the items some distance. It can be normally a slow moving, small stream, but during certain seasons may rise and become more forceful.

JMO

 

[vls12345]

Keeping Pattie's family in my heart as they are finding more clues to Pattie's disappearance.

In addition to @justtrish's questions above, I'm wonder about direction of water flow to this area where her backpack & shoe were found. Could the items have ended up in this stream from the general areas that were previously searched? Or would she have needed to be in the area of the stream for her items to be found there? (Assuming it was accidental, not nefarious where someone may have later dumped her items.)

MOO.

 

[jennytrevor]

- 00:03:07 immediately after the bridge there is a slight split in the trail; one going higher (the Kohechi trail) and one going flat. The flat one is the trail that apparently had banners by it at the time that Pattie would have hiked it. Some speculated that this might have caused her to follow that incorrect trail to the left.

With the recent news of the backpack and shoe being found and their location, does that support the possibility mentioned here (and maybe elsewhere upthread) that she took the wrong trail early on and got turned around? I am not very good with maps myself and especially get confused easily in this case because Japanese names for things are hard for me to remember and keep straight!

 

[slowpoke]

@justtrish, it seems to me she or at least her things were located north of where she had been staying (Minshuku Mandokoro) rather than southerly which is where her next accommodation (Taiyo no Yu) was located, now that I translated the map (see below).

Doesn’t it appear that way? So, did she go the wrong way?
JMO


I used Google Lens Translate on the map provided at the IG page.

 

[Audrina]

I actually saw a dead one of those giant hornets on the sidewalk in Japan, when I was there over this past summer. I wish I had taken a photo of it, but it was a crowded street and we were in a hurry to get to the train station. It was huge—looked to be maybe 2 inches long!

This was not even in a rural area, either. This was near the train station in Kyoto, if my memory serves me right. So I guess those scary things could show up anywhere in Japan.

one of these landed in my hair at a concert once... I was so damn scared that my soul left my body in that moment lol

 

[DS2021]

Their HelpFindPattie IG says essentially the same thing.

Oh, this is such sad news but good news at the same time. Bless the fisherman who found her backpack. And bless Pattie for her putting her identifying information in the backpack to ease the certainty of ID.

Now, what conclusions can be made, I wonder.

Help Us Find Pattie Wu-Murad on Instagram: "Backpack found that belongs to Pattie. Update from Murphy: On September 15, a person who was fishing in Totsukawa village found a backpack in a stream. He found Pattie’s email (which is more or less he

570 likes, 27 comments - helpfindpattie2023 on September 29, 2024: "Backpack found that belongs to Pattie. Update from Murphy: On September 15, a person who was fishing in Totsukawa village found a backpack in a stream. He found Pattie’s email (which is more or less her name) and her...

www.instagram.com

Backpack found that belongs to Pattie.

Update from Murphy:

On September 15, a person who was fishing in Totsukawa village found a backpack in a stream.

He found Pattie's email (which is more or less her name) and her family's home address written on a ziplock bag inside the backpack, and he reported it to the Gojo Police Station.

The next day, on September 16, with the guidance of the fisherman, police retrieved the backpack and stored it. The backpack was mostly empty, with the exception of the ziplock bag and gravel.

After a further search of the area around the original site, police also located a single shoe downstream from where the backpack was found.

The items were located in a stream northeast of the Mandokoro guesthouse, where she was last seen.

This information was passed along to Kirk and Murphy on September 17, and Murphy was able to confirm the items belonged to Pattie based on a photo her mother shared with her earlier in her trip to Japan (see photos).

Over the next few days, additional items were found, most of which the family could confirm belonged to Pattie. There have been no new updates since September 20. However, the police have recently released information to local media outlets. The family has been in contact with local volunteers who still live in Totsukawa village as well as members of the US SAR volunteer group.

Map with red outlines is areas police searched. The one without is last place she was seen and where the backpack was found.

Note: The original SAR trial is more extensive and covers more area than the police maps.

#helpfindpattie #notgivingup

 

[Audrina]

Do you guys think she fell in the stream or was there foul play?

 

[justtrish]

Do you guys think she fell in the stream or was there foul play?

I don't know what trail she might have went on to lead her to the location where her stuff was found. Since there was also a shoe that leads me to believe she will be near this location. Or if she stopped to rest and had taken her shoes off, then I could see a shoe getting washed away, but surely she wouldn't hike without her shoes. So I just don't know. I am going to try to look into this town and what kind of stream or water way this was. I would think if she fell into the water when she was first lost, then her body would have been found unless this is a really large river that could have swept her really far in a short time.. but then her stuff wasn't swept that far so ??

 

[Unalienable Rights]

Family of CT woman missing in Japan says her backpack was found. Her shoe was there too.

The Connecticut Kirk Murad educator and coach, found out on April 14, 2023 that his wife was missing when he got a call from the U.S. Embassy.

www.courant.com

A fisherman in Japan found a backpack belonging to Pattie Wu-Murad, a missing hiker from Storrs, last week near the guest house she was staying at when she was last seen in April 2023.

When police investigated, they also found a shoe belonging to Wu-Murad, as well as towel she had purchased from Amazon and a pouch with nail clippers in it.

Rest of article behind paywall.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

DBM - double post

 

[starlightstarbright]

The backpack was mostly empty, with the exception of the ziplock bag and gravel.

This really stood out to me. I’ve walked a pilgrimage route (not this one). You carry a lot of stuff, even if she was having her main bag taken on to the next guesthouse by a luggage service (not sure that’s even an option here). Why the the bag mostly empty? What happened to all her stuff?

 

[vls12345]

I wonder if they used any drones in the initial search &/or are using drones now to, at a minimum, go over the creeks/streams/rivers around the area where her items have been found?

 

[slowpoke]

Family of CT woman missing in Japan says her backpack was found. Her shoe was there too.

The Connecticut Kirk Murad educator and coach, found out on April 14, 2023 that his wife was missing when he got a call from the U.S. Embassy.

www.courant.com

A fisherman in Japan found a backpack belonging to Pattie Wu-Murad, a missing hiker from Storrs, last week near the guest house she was staying at when she was last seen in April 2023.

When police investigated, they also found a shoe belonging to Wu-Murad, as well as towel she had purchased from Amazon and a pouch with nail clippers in it.

Rest of article behind paywall.

Good article, @Unalienable Rights .

Paraphrasing some of what the rest of the article says:

The backpack was not on the Kumano Kodo Kohechi trail, but off another trail.

The entry to this trail is close to the one she was supposed to be on.

Pattie’s husband said that (his opinion) the Kohechi wasn’t well marked until after Pattie went missing. Yet it’s hard for him to imagine Pattie making this mistake.

This ‘incorrect’ trail near where her things were found was actually searched before. It was a treacherous one. They had calculated at that time that if she fell, she would fall on the left.

The backpack was located on the right.

 

[LadyL]

I hope they find her for her family's sake.

 

[DS2021]

Do you guys think she fell in the stream or was there foul play?

Japan is pretty safe. Id be more apt to believe she fell in

 

[whitelilac]

Not remembering the details exactly, but this would explain why the Australian guy didn't see her on the correct trail I think.

 

[jennytrevor]

Sadly, I can definitely see someone getting confused and taking the wrong trail if it's decorated! She could have even thought "Hm let me just go down a ways and see if this is the right trail, I can always turn around" and then she fell/got off trail early on. I hike often and I have definitely done that once or twice. Headed down a fork, then realized I don't see the appropriate markers, and turn around and right myself.

 

[Cedars]

This really stood out to me. I’ve walked a pilgrimage route (not this one). You carry a lot of stuff, even if she was having her main bag taken on to the next guesthouse by a luggage service (not sure that’s even an option here). Why the the bag mostly empty? What happened to all her stuff?

The bag could have ripped while in the water or being agitated against rocks. Or she could have had it open when she dropped, and then herself drowned trying to retrieve it. There are many potential scenarios.

JMO

 

[ZaZara]

The items were located in a stream northeast of the Mandokoro guesthouse, where she was last seen.

(from the message on FB Help Find Pattie.)

This is very strange. The Kohechi trail runs north - south. How do the backpack and other belongings end up north of the Mandokoro guesthouse in an mountain stream after one and a half year? Even if Pattie had lost her way, wouldn't you expect that these items would have been discovered much earlier OR that they would have been located far away?

Did it rain more than usual in the last weeks perhaps?

 

[Snoopster]

@justtrish, it seems to me she or at least her things were located north of where she had been staying (Minshuku Mandokoro) rather than southerly which is where her next accommodation (Taiyo no Yu) was located, now that I translated the map (see below).

Doesn’t it appear that way? So, did she go the wrong way?
JMO

View attachment 534327
I used Google Lens Translate on the map provided at the IG page.

Thanks for this. While I suspected she somehow got on the wrong trail, I didn't suspect she would have been anywhere near where her backpack was found. Has anyone found more info on the trails in that area or the source/direction of the stream yet?