The search is continuing for a woman from Storrs who is missing after going hiking in Japan. After weeks of searching, Pattie Wu-Murad's family has learned new information from local police there and that has led them to change the search area.
Wu-Murad went missing on April 10 while hiking in the Nara Prefecture in central Japan.
Investigators had a previous account from one hiker who never saw Wu-Murad on the trail. Now, police have spoken with three more people who were all running the trail, about 30 minutes behind Pattie. They also said they never saw her.
Given both accounts, police now think she missed the trailhead so they are changing their search area.
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Her family said she's an experienced hiker. In the last two years since retiring from United Technologies, she has hiked in Spain multiple times, as well as Egypt and Jordan.
"She just loves people. And she loves to share stories and walk with them and talk with them and talk about her family and talk about their families and their hopes and your dreams. And this is just something she loves to do," said Wu-Murad's husband Kirk.
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“Their expertise is in kind of tactical rope and getting further down into areas that we’re hoping she is," said Wu-Murad's daughter Murphy. “Every day we wake up and hope that today is the day," Kirk added.
In addition to the search efforts, the family has encouraged police to also open a criminal investigation.
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