Hiroko Nemoto

• Missing Since 06/07/1998
• Missing From Anchorage, Alaska
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Asian
• Date of Birth 06/06/1962 (62)
• Age 36 years old
• Height and Weight 5'6, 110 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Asian female. Black hair, brown eyes. Nemoto is a Japanese citizen.

Details of Disappearance

Nemoto was a senior majoring in psychology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan in 1998. She told a friend that she did not plan to return to school the following semester, as she believed that her degree would lead to employment solely in research and she wanted to work in clinical psychology.

Her friend also stated that Nemoto sold the majority of her clothing and personal belongings in early June. Nemoto gave her friend numerous Japanese mementos at the time.

Nemoto's friend and her husband took Nemoto to dinner shortly before her scheduled return to Japan on June 3, 1998. She was an excellent student who received a lower grade than expected in one of her classes during the spring semester. She was apparently upset about the matter and her friend believed it lead to her decision to leave college, although she was only ten credits shy of completing her undergraduate degree.

Nemoto departed from Lansing, Michigan on a Northwest Airlines flight to Anchorage, Alaska on June 3. She normally phoned her mother in Japan weekly, but she did not tell any of her loved ones that she did not intend to return to her native country.

Authorities determined that she traveled to Denali National Park and Preserve near Mount McKinley after arriving in Alaska. She returned to Anchorage shortly afterwards and spent one night at a youth hostel before traveling to Wasilla, which is approximately 50 miles north of Anchorage, on June 7, 1998.

Nemoto has never been heard from again. Investigators established that she purchased a train ticket from Anchorage to Whittier, Alaska and a ferry ticket from Whittier to Valdez, Alaska. It's unclear if she arrived at her destinations.

Nemoto's friend said that she theorized Nemoto was attempting to forget about Japan during the summer of 1998. Nemoto's case remains unsolved.