CT CT - Skye Budnick, 21, Southington, 31 Mar 2008

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https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/show/3491

SKYE WAS LAST SEEN ON AMERICAN SOIL ON MARCH 31, 2008 AND IS BELIEVED TO HAVE LEFT ON TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2008, 0N A PLANE T0 JAPAN. SKYE WAS REPORTEDLY LAST SEEN IN JAPAN ON APRIL 7, 2008. SKYE SAVED A DRAFT OF A POSSIBLE
SUICIDE NOTE ON HER COMPUTER.

Dental: not available

StatusMissing
First nameSKYE
Middle name
Last nameBUDNICK
Nickname/Alias
Date last seenMarch 31, 2008 00:00
Date entered12/02/2009

Age last seen21 to 21 years old
Age now28 years old
RaceWhite
Ethnicity
SexFemale
Height (inches)66.0
Weight (pounds)180.0
 

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Budnick's family members say the junior at Central Connecticut State University and native of Southington, Conn., left the United States on April 1 without telling her family members she was going to Japan. On April 4, her family looked at Budnick's e-mail account and discovered that she had booked the one-way trip to Hokkaido by way of Tokyo.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4666523

SAPPORO (Kyodo) A 21-year-old female college student from the United States has been missing since arriving in Hokkaido on April 2, her mother and sister said Tuesday, asking Japanese people to come forward with any information they may have about her.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...rican-woman-missing-in-hokkaido/#.VnWX0rgrLIV
 
Yes, more content, links, etc are helpful. My heart breaks for her family, not to know. The families of missing persons get stuck in a sort of limbo I refer to as the unknowing.

I read that she was believed to have stayed in an inn in Japan and I think that possible siting took place on April 7, 2008 but the namus date is that of the day she was last known alive and on US soil so that is the date on the thread title.

The international angle only makes it that much harder I would imagine for her family to get leads on her movements once she landed in Japan. I am still looking for more articles about the case. indricold, do you happen to know if the family has a facebook support page or a website on the case? Thanks for any further info on Skye's disappearance you can provide.
 
https://www.facebook.com/skye.budnick

https://www.facebook.com/groups/15599295311/?fref=nf

there are some photos that seem to be of her on deviant art, a site she would likely frequent given her passion for Japanese anime and art. http://www.deviantart.com/tag/budnick

lots of info regarding initial search efforts by family here

The family revealed Monday that Skye left with only her laptop and about $800, according to information obtained from her bank accounts. Megan Budnick said if her sister is still alive, she is not sure what she is doing for money.Megan Budnick said her sister showed symptoms of clinical depression prior to leaving on the trip. There is a history of depression in the family, including one case that ended when an aunt committed suicide, she said.Skye Budnick refused to see a doctor regarding the condition and was afraid to get help. Aside from one counselor she claimed to be seeing at CCSU, Megan Budnick said Skye constantly told family members she needed to resolve her issues alone."She said it was something she needed to do on her own, that it was something she could do on her own if she got a chance," Budnick said. "We have gone through every scenario and this is what we hope she is trying to do."

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=120369568825F7D0&p_docnum=1

other archived articles can be found here

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...rpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no
 
I went to my town police department to get some possible information on the case, all I was able to get was that Southington is not, and has not investigated the case since briefly after the disappearance had occurred.
They said, considering that she was an adult at the time she was free to do as she wished, the tracked her transactions for a time and once it stopped they no longer kept tracked and consider the case closed. They're also not willing to speculate.
 
Poor Skye and her family. Although I don't know her, I hope she is somewhere safe, and I would like to say, please please contact your family.
Please send them a letter with an email address where they can reach you, open that door.
We have other cases here where people have perhaps gone to start a new life. The families just need to know that's what was chosen and that the person who left is safe.
Thinking of this family and hoping they will come together again and/ or find answers.
 
there is new information on her sisters tiktok account! @/meganlebron

she checked through her facebook messages and found out that skye had been trying to collect money months prior to her disappearance. she was trying to receive $2,500 and was being dishonest about the reasons she needed the money. she was telling her friends that she needed it for tuition and that her mom was forcing her to pay. skye's mother never had her pay for tuition and she lived in their house with no bills whatsoever. please go follow her sisters tiktok and support her! she is desperately still trying to find out what happened to skye.
 
Bump! Just saw a Youtube about this case today and was pretty intrigued.

Family seems to think she may have been in contact with someone in Japan who lured her there. Suicide also a possibility but it's already hard to kill yourself and not be found, and it'd be that much more difficult in a foreign country, imo. Especially somewhere like Japan where she would be likely to stick out in a lot of places.
 
Bump.

I have been going through her sister's TikTok, learning about the case. It's so complicated because there's technically no crime, there's two very different countries involved and so much time has passed she could be anywhere in the world.
While suicide seems like the most prevailing option in one video her sister raised a good point; she had to have planned her trip, got on the plane for an 18h (guessing) fligh to be alone with her thoughts, land in Japan and finally get to explore it and still be set on commiting suicide. That is a lot of time.

Another thing I'd like to know is which inn did she stay at in Noboribetsu - I don't think her sister mentioned it (maybe she doesn't know) - and if it still exists.

Her sister seems like a really cool person, I hope she gets some answers soon.
 
Found this quote from the Japan Times article that was posted on this thread a while back.
Relinking here if anyone wants to read: American woman missing in Hokkaido

SNIP:
"Megan Budnick said her sister had suicidal wishes and that they had also found a note at their home in which she said she wanted to end her life after seeing cherry blossoms in Japan."

----

Noboribetsu, has the Road of Japanese blooms aka The Flower Tunnel or called Sakura Tunnel.
Snip: "There are more than 2000 cherry blossoms lined up on both sides of Route 2."

Noboribetsu Road of Japanese blooms – Carinanokapur

carinanokapur.com carinanokapur.com

I wonder if Skye went there to see the flowers and/or investigators checked the surrounding areas of the Flower tunnel, like Sakurazakachusha park or Lake Kuttara. There is also the Horobetsu Dam 20 minutes south of that area.

There is also the fact Noboribetsu is coastal.

Those are just some thoughts I had as someone who has studied Japanese Culture. I hope Skye's family gets answers.
 

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I just saw one of her sister's videos on Facebook Reels. I hope her sister and parents get answers one day.
 
The mention of Japan and a potential suicide in this case immediately makes me think of Aokigahara Forest, which is unfortunately known as a "suicide forest."

The forest is about 19 hours away from Hokkaido, so I don't know how feasible that would've been. But if she decided to end her life there, it could explain why she hasn't been found yet.

Skye disappeared in March 2008, and according to the Wikipedia article, suicides (both attempted and completed) were increasing between 2003–2010 (maybe because of social media?). Most of these occurred in March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan.

Skye's family has stated they believe she was talking to someone who lured her to Japan. Could that person have wanted to end their life in March and suggested a suicide pact? Maybe the money Skye was collecting wasn't just to fly there, but also for the train ride from Hokkaido to the forest.
 
JSolt1210 said:
The mention of Japan and a potential suicide in this case immediately makes me think of Aokigahara Forest, which is unfortunately known as a "suicide forest."

The forest is about 19 hours away from Hokkaido, so I don't know how feasible that would've been. But if she decided to end her life there, it could explain why she hasn't been found yet.

Skye disappeared in March 2008, and according to the Wikipedia article, suicides (both attempted and completed) were increasing between 2003–2010 (maybe because of social media?). Most of these occurred in March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan.

Skye's family has stated they believe she was talking to someone who lured her to Japan. Could that person have wanted to end their life in March and suggested a suicide pact? Maybe the money Skye was collecting wasn't just to fly there, but also for the train ride from Hokkaido to the forest.
Click to expand...
The suicide forest gets mentioned in every TikTok her sister uploads. I don't know if Aokigahara was known in the West in 2008, even among weebs, but there was a documentary made about it in 2011 I think and ever since then I've been hearing about it. That and the Jake Paul incident. So I'm very doubtful about it.
Her sister mentions they managed to track her to an inn in Noboribetsu, half of Japan away from Aokigahara, but she has never mentioned if they knew the name of the inn. This is where the trail ends.
I don't know anything about Noboribetsu, it's just a tiny town, but apparently it has a famous onsen.
 
Last edited:
Diavola said:
The suicide forest gets mentioned in every TikTok her sister uploads. I don't know if Aokigahara was known in the West in 2008, even among weebs, but there was a documentary made about it in 2011 I think and ever since then I've been hearing about it. That and the Jake Paul incident. So I'm very doubtful about it.
Her sister mentions they managed to track her to an inn in Noboribetsu, half of Japan away from Aokigahara, but she has never mentioned if they knew the name of the inn. This is where the trail ends.
I don't know anything about Noboribetsu, it's just a tiny town, but apparently it has a famous onsen.
Click to expand...
I don't think it matters if the West knew about Aokigahara or not. If Skye was corresponding with a Japanese local, that person could've told Skye about it because clearly by 2008 the Japanese themselves knew about it.

But yeah I'm not married to that theory, especially with the distance involved; it's just a thought. From a satellite view alone, Noboribetsu seems to have many areas one could go missing in.
 
JSolt1210 said:
I don't think it matters if the West knew about Aokigahara or not. If Skye was corresponding with a Japanese local, that person could've told Skye about it because clearly by 2008 the Japanese themselves knew about it.

But yeah I'm not married to that theory, especially with the distance involved; it's just a thought. From a satellite view alone, Noboribetsu seems to have many areas one could go missing in.
Click to expand...
Same could be said about Noboribetsu too. Why go there and not to more popular places like Tokyo or Kyoto? There are onsens there too.
There has to be a reason she chose that place, either meeting up with someone, or for some reason it was important for her.
 
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