A 60-year-old Connecticut woman vanished on a hiking trail in Japan last month, and her family has traveled there to organize a remarkable search effort. But hope is fading because Patricia Wu-Murad has not been seen since April 10.

Wu-Murad, an experienced hiker, checked into a guesthouse on April 9 along an ancient pilgrimage trail called the Kumano Kodo in a mountainous region of southern Japan

She left the following morning but never arrived at the next guesthouse.

Wu-Murad has hiked abroad previously, sometimes alone, as she was this time. "Unless something came up that was unexpected, this would have never have happened to her," says sister-in-law Julie Murad-Caruso. "I heard there could be mudslides or avalanches out there. There are some animals like a specific snake. Something caught her off-guard maybe." ...continue reading