CT CT - Skye Budnick, 21, Southington, 31 Mar 2008

[Pennysmom2]

Surviving Skye — Surviving Skye

www.survivingskye.com

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[AubrieC]

Happy Birthday Skye!

Also Skye's sister Megan has a , shes raising funds to donate DNA samples, investigators, translator's and lawyers in Japan.

Please share the link out! Donate if you can!

https://www.🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬.com/f/getting-...unch&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer

 

[TwinkieDefense]

March 12, 2024 article

‘I hope she’s still alive’: Family still searching 16 years after daughter disappears while on trip to Japan

Skye Budnick disappeared in 2008 after booking a one-way ticket to Japan.

www.fox5vegas.com

[…]

Skye Budnick’s sister Megan started a TikTok page dedicated to her sister’s case. The family is also raising money to send Susan Budnick back to Japan, to supply DNA to Japanese investigators to match against Jane Does.

Police in Southington have been involved in the investigation into Skye Budnick’s disappearance and have provided DNA to Interpol in Japan.

[…]

 

[Skigirl]

I stumbled on her sister’s tiktok the other day and am binging her podcast. I used to live about ten minutes from where Skye went to school and always follow CT MP cases, so I am stunned that I had never heard of Skye before this week. Her interview with her mom absolutely shredded my heart - the brutal honesty, the self recrimination, her gratitude toward Skye’s sister keeping it together in those first few days and weeks. It was so real and raw. What a nightmarish situation. I hope that this family can find some answers.

 

[AubrieC]

I stumbled on her sister’s tiktok the other day and am binging her podcast. I used to live about ten minutes from where Skye went to school and always follow CT MP cases, so I am stunned that I had never heard of Skye before this week. Her interview with her mom absolutely shredded my heart - the brutal honesty, the self recrimination, her gratitude toward Skye’s sister keeping it together in those first few days and weeks. It was so real and raw. What a nightmarish situation. I hope that this family can find some answers.

Her sister is currently working on going to Japan to have a new DNA sample taken, as well as doing investigative work. Megan said she'd bring us along with her so def recommend keeping an eye on her Tiktok.

 

[Diavola]

in one of her TikToks Megan showed a document which showed which inns in Noboribetsu Skye stayed at.First was Noboribetsu Onsen, Kiyomizu-ya (I think I got the right one) for nights, and then Karurusu Onsen, Suzuki Ryokan for one night (link).

Her last inn is literally in the middle of a huge forest. looking at pictures of trails the forest has a lot of low bushes. I'm a big anime fan, and although Skye is older than me I can't think of anything that would lead her there. It seems like a really random place in Japan, unless she was meeting someone there.

Look how much space there is.

 

[Skigirl]

Wow, cool to have an anime fan looking at this.

I am realizing how little I know about Japan.

I agree with you and with her family that it seems like she had to be meeting someone. The place my mind went was that she met someone online through anime (I would assume that in 2004 there were some kinds of online message boards where people congregated? Chat groups? My space? Do you know what it would have been back then?). The other thing I wondered about is if she was also into MUDs or MOOs or multi-player online games? I had a boyfriend in the early '00s who was super into online gaming and he had tons and tons of friends that he hung out with while playing -- that seems like fertile ground to strike up an international relationship.

There was online dating back then, so I guess she even could have been on something like match.com, but it would have taken some work for her and a person in Japan to connect that way, unless she had set her location as Japan or something. I wish they still had the computer she was using so that it could be looked at forensically. I believe that the computer belonged to her brother and is no longer accessable.

 

[Diavola]

The issue with meeting someone is that Japan always had their versions of popular sites. For example, when Deviantart was popular there weren't many japanese artists because they were all on Pixiv, and all their sites were in japanese so if you don't know the language navigation would be difficult. The only site everyone shared was Twitter.
If she did meet someone I feel like this person had to know english pretty well because they had to persuade her somehow.

 

[Diavola]

Skye's sister Megan and mom are going to Japan again. Hope something comes out of it.

 

[sleepyhead25]

Skye’s mum and sister are staying at the inn she was staying at in Japan before the disappearance. My heart aches for them, hope they get closure

 

[StillDiggin]

Can TikTok solve mystery of US student who vanished in Japan?

Skye Budnick, from Connecticut , alarmed loved ones when she went missing in April 2008 - having taken little to nothing with her as she left.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[dotr]

"Jul 1, 2024 #missing #SkyeBudnick #banfield
Skye Budnick was 21 when she left for a trip to Japan in 2008 and never returned. Budnick’s sister Megan shares an update to the case on "Banfield."

 

[Diavola]

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7416385174184791339

The DNA Megan and her mom went to submit in Japan has come back with no matches. It will continue to be on file, though.

 

[Aurora90]

Bumping for Skye

 

[Same Old Stella]

The mention of Japan and a potential suicide in this case immediately makes me think of Aokigahara Forest, which is unfortunately known as a "suicide forest."

The forest is about 19 hours away from Hokkaido, so I don't know how feasible that would've been. But if she decided to end her life there, it could explain why she hasn't been found yet.

Skye disappeared in March 2008, and according to the Wikipedia article, suicides (both attempted and completed) were increasing between 2003–2010 (maybe because of social media?). Most of these occurred in March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan.

Skye's family has stated they believe she was talking to someone who lured her to Japan. Could that person have wanted to end their life in March and suggested a suicide pact? Maybe the money Skye was collecting wasn't just to fly there, but also for the train ride from Hokkaido to the forest.

Aokigahara was my first thought too. Skye isn't on Charley Project. Has anyone done an age progression picture of her? She isn't going to look the same after 16 years.