A woman from stores has gone mig
while hiking in Japan, and now efforts
are underway to bring her home.
Joining us now is a Patricia
Woo Murad sister-in-law, Julie.
Julie, first of all,
thanks for joining us.
How are you and your family doi?
We're doing OK. Thank you for hg
us and sharing her story today.
Absolutely. So when did you andr
family find out about Patricia',
the fact that she's gone missin?
And what do you know about what happened?
She went missing last Monday
and we didn't find out about it
until this past Friday night.
Apparently they had a search for
with the local authorities aftee
was reported missing on Monday night.
They did a 72 hour search.
They did not find her,
so they called off the search.
They notified the consulate and
then on Friday the consulate
notified my brother Kirk.
So we were begging them,
asking them to please continue e
search to keep looking for her.
And we were swarming because we couldn't
believe they waited all that ti.
We would have pinged her phone.
We would have done other things
to try to locate her on our own.
And by that time the the battery was dead.
Senator Blumenthal did release a statement
about this incident saying he's quote,
determined to seek every possibe
source of search and rescue to aid her.
So Julie. Do you think enough is being
done right now to try and find Patricia?
We can't have enough done for P.
Patty is a vibrant person.
She's a wonderful avid traveler, avid hiker.
She plans everything right down to the tee,
every piece of this trip
she planned for for months.
So for something like this to happen to her,
there must really be something wrong.
We need everyone we possibly ca,
anyone that's on the route
to go and look for her.
Even though she's on the
Kohiche route right now,
we don't want a discount that you might
have gone off the trail somehowd
may have ended up in a different route.
It's also possible she could be in a small
village somewhere in the Key Peninsula,
but basically we just want to
get as many people possible.
We're thankful that.
Senator Blumenthal had reached
out to my brother Kirk.
They did speak and that he is
trying to help him see if they n
unlock the last location on the
iPhone because right now Apple l
not give that information to us.
So we are asking.
Senator Blumenthal to release t,
have them release that information to us.
We were also in contact with the
local authorities through one oe
local Regency folks at the US Embassy.
It's been a little challenging trying
to go back and forth with them,
but they they are helping with .
We are coordinating with the local police.
And now my brother, my niece Mu,
my nephew Bryce,
and some close dear friends of theirs
are out there searching for Pat.
They had hired a private grounds crew
to look for the search and resc.
They've done it for the last coe
of days and so far nothing's come up.
We are working on getting a helicopter
up there, but it's very expensi.
It's over $1600 an hour.
So we're going to run out of money fast.
We have the Go Fund Me account,
and we're so thankful for all
the people that have donated and
given their support.
I mean,
it's immensely appreciated and e
can't tell you how much we appreciate
everyone getting out the word,
but that money is going to blow through fast.
So folks like Fox 61 that are ot
there spreading that message.
We wanted to get as far as we cn
to Japan and to let people know.
Please help.
Please help find Patty so we
can bring her home.
I cannot imagine what you and yr
family are going through, Julie.
It's not uncommon to have a loved one
travel overseas on a vacation like this
and to find yourself in this situation.
It's unnerving to say the least.
Julie, we appreciate your time and we hope
that Patty is home safe before we know it.