8/20/2005

Menasha Man Missing in Japan
A 20-year-old U.W.-Madison student from Menasha is missing in Japan, where he’s been working as a student intern. Andy Lathrop has now been missing for more than four days.
Lathrop was last seen on the island of Hakodate, where he was touring… a record of his last conversations with a friend through cell phone text messages.
At 7:24 Monday morning, he messaged “I’m leaving” as he headed out on his own to see a nearby national park.
At 9 a.m. he messaged “Ferry at 5:30 p.m. from Hakodate to mainland.”
Just a couple hours after leaving for the park, he sent this message, “I decided to stay in Hakodate. I walked to swimming area and a ways and the sea is beautiful.”
That was the last thing anyone has heard from him…..

This is a sad but very odd tale. Hakodate is about as peaceful as any place in world. People just don’t vanish, but Andy did.
His family has put a website up FindAndy.org but there’s no new information on it.
His school. “LABO” where he taught English still has his pictures and profile up.

Hi, my name is Andrew Lathrop, but you can call me Andy. I am an Intern for LABO. I am 19 years old, but I turn 20 on October 19. I have been to Japan twice before this excursion. The first time was through LABO in 2001. I participated in the Nihongo program and the month long home-stay. In 2002 I received a scholarship from the US Senate to study at a high school in Fukuoka for six weeks. I studied Japanese for four years in high school and one year in college. I look forward to enjoying many new experiences and meeting many new people.

Let’s hope he didn’t meet those “new people.”