A year and a half later, backpack and other items from missing Storrs woman found in Japan

(WFSB) - Items that belonged to a Connecticut woman who disappeared while hiking in Japan were discovered earlier this month, nearly a year and a half after she went missing.

According to those close to the search for Patricia Wu-Murad, or Pattie, her backpack was discovered near a stream by a person who was fishing in Totsukawa village.

Wu-Murad, of Storrs, vanished on April 10, 2023. She was said to have been hiking on the Kumano Kodo trail.

Her family has been searching ever since.

Despite constant check-ins on the search for his missing wife Patti, Kirk Murad says he kept getting the same response from Japanese police.

“They’re basically saying we’ve continued the search, but we’ve found nothing and then they cut and pasted that every two weeks, we’ve continued the search but we’ve found nothing,” Kirk Murad said.

But on Sept. 17, Kirk Murad said he received a message that was much different than the usual cut and paste from the police.

They told him that on Sept. 15, 2024, the backpack was found. Her sister-in-law, Julie Ann, reported that inside was Wu-Murad‘s email address and family address, which was hand-written on a Ziploc bag.

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

Investigators retrieved the backpack a day later.

They also reportedly found a shoe downstream.

“We were able to ascertain that all those things did belong to Patti, so we had some excitement and thought maybe this is a breakthrough,” Kirk Murad said.

While the items gave police a location to focus, Kirk Murad said there haven’t been any new updates two weeks later.

“Now we’re back to frustration, the same frustration for the last 17 months, where there’s nothing,” he said.

The emotions have also led to Kirk Murad moving out of Connecticut, as his home kept reminding him of his missing wife.

As the search continues, his family, friends, and search crews are hanging on to hope that Wu-Murad was still alive.

“Hoping upon hope that she’s still alive and we can bring her home,” said Kirk Murad.

He said there was no timeline on how long the search would last.

The family’s GoFundMe to aid in the search efforts remained active as of Monday. Find it here.