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

[Cedars]

Without diving deeply back into this, I'm getting a vibe she seems to have taken an alternate trail that morning..is that what others are sensing?

JMO

 

[ZaZara]

Without diving deeply back into this, I'm getting a vibe she seems to have taken an alternate trail that morning..is that what others are sensing?

JMO

Your question answered:

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.

 

[Cedars]

Your question answered:

Oh, thanks, I missed that.

I doubt that Patti made a mistake. She'd perhaps been 'plodding' along official trails for many days, and liked to explore/take photos for a while in the morning before leaving the village.

JMO

 

[ZaZara]

Oh, thanks, I missed that.

I doubt that Patti made a mistake. She'd perhaps been 'plodding' along official trails for many days, and liked to explore/take photos for a while in the morning before leaving the village.

JMO

Not so sure about that. Apparently Pattie went North, roughly backwards in the direction of where she had come from the previous day, instead of South on the next leg of the Kohechi trail.

 

[Cedars]

Not so sure about that. Apparently Pattie went North, roughly backwards in the direction of where she had come from the previous day, instead of South on the next leg of the Kohechi trail.

Perhaps.

I just feel the cases with sad endings I've followed - say Julian Barnes or Esther Dingley - it's the skilled hiker who is ambitious, who deliberately goes onto a dangerous trail, rather than a cautious hiker who is confused and trying to find help.

JMO

 

[ZaZara]

Perhaps.

I just feel the cases with sad endings I've followed - say Julian Barnes or Esther Dingley - it's the skilled hiker who is ambitious, who deliberately goes onto a dangerous trail, rather than a cautious hiker who is confused and trying to find help.

JMO

Pattie was supposed to be on her way to the next guesthouse where she had a reservation, because that is how it works at the Kohechi trail and the other trails of the Kumano Kodo. Strictly organized. You make your reservations before the start.

IMO she took the wrong trail by mistake ~ or someone took her ~ but deviating deliberately from the trail and going backwards instead of forward is not a viable option.

 

[jennytrevor]

Pattie was supposed to be on her way to the next guesthouse where she had a reservation, because that is how it works at the Kohechi trail and the other trails of the Kumano Kodo. Strictly organized. You make your reservations before the start.

IMO she took the wrong trail by mistake ~ or someone took her ~ but deviating deliberately from the trail and going backwards instead of forward is not a viable option.

I agree. I believe that she made a very common mistake that can be made by almost anyone, and took the wrong trail early on. For whatever reason, she likely didn’t realize for a while. Then was down quite a ways when she either 1. Suffered a devastating injury/medical event/fall from the trail 2. Started panicking about her wrong location, and attempted to navigate back to the original trail, and then had the injury/medical event fall. I am not certain which is most likely based on location, and her remains are scattered anyway. We will likely never know. But I’ll hold our hope that maybe more remains and belongings will be found and more insight can be gathered.

 

[Cedars]

Pattie was supposed to be on her way to the next guesthouse where she had a reservation, because that is how it works at the Kohechi trail and the other trails of the Kumano Kodo. Strictly organized. You make your reservations before the start.

IMO she took the wrong trail by mistake ~ or someone took her ~ but deviating deliberately from the trail and going backwards instead of forward is not a viable option.

Yes of course. I have done a lot of multi-day backpacking/walking trips, myself.

17 km is not that long a day, when she's been out there every day for quite a while.
There was no necessity for her to get onto the trail at 7 am and march straight to her next destination. She had the whole day to get there. Why would she leave so early?

The place near where her backpack was found, Totsukawa village, is apparently an exceptionally beautiful place:

"Visiting Totsukawa is like stepping into another realm. The landscape — astonishingly beautiful and bordering on fantastical — is covered with lush, verdant mountains that seem to brush against the sky. A bright, turquoise river snakes alongside the road into the heart of the village, contrasting sharply with the stony cliff faces at the water’s edge and suffusing the scenery with a serene, mystical quality"

Totsukawa Village: A Fairytale World Hidden in the Mountains

Discover one of Japan’s most beautiful hidden gems deep in the forests of Nara Prefecture.

www.tokyoweekender.com

In her situation, I would want to see that place before I left, since I would probably never return. I and my companions have done similar things on our trips, often: it's morning, we're fresh and full of vim, so lets go early on a quick side hike, up to this fabulous peak/viewpoint, before heading back onto the scheduled route, which is a bit of a boring slog.

Apparently the person who found her things on the trail only walked an hour, although they must have been scanning the edge closely looking for signs.

I think she could well have taken a serious risk in venturing to a higher, dangerous place to get - what else - a view and photos...

Google Image Result for https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/32/33/55/23706491/5/1920x0.jpg

JMO

 

[ZaZara]

Totsukawa Village, where Pattie's backpack was found according to Murphy, has an area of 672,38 km² (over 400 square miles). It is huge and it would take more than a few hours to visit. In fact, the Kohechi trail passes through Totsukawa, so pattie was already there.

Pattie's next stop was Totsukawa Onsen. Totsukawa Onsen is a smaller area within Totsukawa Village, and famous for it's hot springs and baths.

 

[LookingForClues]

In an article published on April 20, 2023, it says she was supposed to meet friends that evening. I imagine that is why she left so early in the morning.

Husband of Missing Storrs Hiker Speaks on Search Efforts in Japan

Patricia “Pattie” Wu-Murad, of Storrs, is missing after going hiking in Japan and the Murad family was able to convince local authorities in Totsukawa, Japan to resume the search for her on April 18. Wu-Murad went missing on Monday, April 10 while hiking the Kumano Kodo Trail in Japan. The U.S...

www.nbcconnecticut.com

From article:

When she didn’t arrive to meet friends that night from Wethersfield, Connecticut who were in Japan, the friends notified authorities that she was missing.

“We know that if she left at 7 a.m., she definitely would have been to her next stop before 5 p.m. There's no doubt about it. And so now we're thinking what else could it be? Could she be a victim of a crime? So, I met with the police again today (Thursday). We asked the police to open up a criminal investigation. Not that we have any suspects, but we just want to open all avenues because really, right now, she disappeared off the face of the earth. We don't know how,” said (husband Kirk) Murad.

 

[slowpoke]

Are there any maps displaying Patti’s supposed route versus where her body was found?

I also wonder if the remains have any indication that could suggest her cause of death, for example a skull fracture or fractured leg. It doesn’t seem like it from the articles. But curious.

This is a map provided by the family on the Help Find Pattie page, except I added in red text in English where Pattie last stayed and therefore started out from last, and where the next guesthouse she was going to stay at that evening. I think the areas in the thicker red mostly follows the trail she was supposed to be hiking on (I think it may be the areas searched). The Post-it points to where the backpack was found. The femur bone was found somewhere in the general area of the backpack.