The husband of a missing Connecticut woman who mysteriously disappeared while on a solo trip to Japan said his “gut” tells him his wife “may have trusted the wrong person.”
Kirk Murad, 61, is desperately searching for his wife Patricia ‘Pattie’ Murad, 60, after she disappeared without a trace on April 10.
He now fears she may have been the victim of a kidnapping, although, he admitted, “there is no evidence that this took place.”
“My gut tells me that maybe Pattie trusted the wrong person by accepting a ride and fell victim,” he said after the searches were called off, “but there’s no evidence that that happened.”
“I think she struck up a conversation with someone and trusted them enough to accept a ride from them,” he said. “Her toe gave her trouble, so it’s possible she accepted a ride and then got kidnapped.”
His wife checked out of the Mandokoro guest house in Higashiōmi town and was on her way to a hostel in Osaka, about a nine-hour hike along the Kumano Kodo, a group of trails that wind through mountainous regions in southern Kansai.
But based on all the searches by police, volunteers, helicopters, drones and dogs, he said, “I don’t think she ever went down that path.”
Patricia “Pattie” Wu-Murad, 60, was last seen on April 10 around 7 a.m. checking out of the Mandokoro guest house in Higashiōmi town on her way to a hostel in Osaka
Kirk Murad, 61, pictured with his wife Pattie, has been searching tirelessly for her and now fears she has been kidnapped
A scenic view of the mountainous area in Tokyo where world traveler Pattie went on a solo walking tour
Japanese authorities assisted in the search for Pattie, along with 34 search and rescue experts from the United States.
“They thoroughly searched the part of the Kumano Kodo Trail that Pattie would be hiking on April 10th. Every group was empty,” Kirk said.
“Police are continuing to investigate this as a missing person case, but they have no leads and no suspects.”
Japanese police called off their search on May 7 due to a “disappointing amount of evidence found,” but Mountain Works, a local search and rescue team working with US personnel, did not end their search until the last week of May.
Kirk and his daughter Murphy are still in the country trying to find new clues and hope to obtain cell tower data from the Japanese telecommunications companies.
He hopes the data will reveal his wife’s last known location and help pinpoint the search area, but there has been some backlash, so he’s asked the FBI and State Department to get involved.
“Police told us that telecom companies have said they don’t have any records, but we don’t accept that answer out of hand,” Kirk said.
The last time he spoke to his wife was on April 7. The couple, who have been best friends since 1986 and married in 1990, spoke via Facetime before their lives changed forever.
“She said she will be hiking the Kumano Kodo route and she may not be reachable for four days,” he said. “She had a big smile on her face.”
Kirk said his wife had made a two-month pilgrimage where she went to Spain and France, and another month where she walked in Jordan and Egypt.
This time, the couple planned to travel to Spain on June 16.
“She wanted me to experience the Camino de Santiago and she already had plans for another two-month trip in the fall of 2024.”
He described his life partner as “very trusting.” “That’s helped her make so many friends from her past walks,” he said.
Kirk and Pattie in a family photo with their three children: Murphy, 27 (center), Bryce, 25, and Rachel, 32
During her first trip to the Camino de Santiago, Kirk said, his wife made several new friends and kept in touch, and when she returned to the country, stayed at home with them.
“She loved meeting new people, sharing stories and being out in nature,” he said.
“That’s why I need to keep the story alive in Japan and at home so that someone reads the story and remembers seeing something… anything.”
Saturday marks eight weeks since Pattie disappeared.
Innkeeper, Shigeaki Tsuji, at the Mandokoro guest house in Higashiōmi town, was the last person Pattie saw around 7 a.m. on April 10. He described her as “full of energy” before she left the inn.
“I’m more concerned that someone might have driven by and kidnapped her,” he said told The Messenger News.
“Everyone in the village is worried about her. We are all waiting for her return.’
“The ‘case has been strange from the start’, and many feel helpless.
“In our village we have no experience with incidents, so I don’t think any of us know what to do.”
The Unesco heritage Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail in the heavily wooded forest leading to Nachi Falls, Wakayama, Japan
Two statues of Jozo or Jizo Bosatsu, called Hanakake Jizo’, are carved on a large rock along the Dainichi-goe route, a path over Mount Dainichi that connects Kumano Hongu Taisha and Yunomine Onse
Kirk and his daughter Murphy are still in the country trying to find new clues and hope to obtain cell tower data from the Japanese telecommunications companies.
Pattie’s distraught family set up a GoFundMe to help them raise money to travel to the county and hire private teams to find Pattie, but have since stopped accepting donations.
Murphy expressed her gratitude to all the search teams and hopeful messages her family received.
“If we had the time, resources and financial capacity to search every track in the area with as much depth and precision as this one, we would,” she said.
“However, the reality is that all searches stopped on May 30 due to the overwhelming amount of evidence found.”
“As heartbreaking as it is to come up empty handed,” she wrote in part.
“The amount of work we have been able to accomplish would not have been possible without the unwavering support of our family, friends, community and the remarkable individuals we encountered in Totsukawa.”