Name: Hiroko Nemoto
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: June 7, 1998
Location Last Seen: Anchorage, Anchorage County, Alaska
Date of Birth: June 6, 1962
Age: 36 years old
Race: Asian or Pacific Islander
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 110-120 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Hiroko Nemoto, a Japanese national studying English at Michigan State University, lived in East Lansing, Michigan when she traveled to Alaska. She had just finished the spring semester and was only 10 credits away from earning her bachelor's degree. Nemoto told a friend she intended to stay in Alaska for a month, but she only purchased a one-way ticket from Northwest Airlines.
Nemoto arrived alone in Anchorage on June 3. Nemoto then purchased a train ticket from Anchorage to Whittier and a ferry ticket from Whittier to Valdez for June 6th. . The train ticket and the ferry ticket were used, but she never showed up at the Valdez hotel where she had made a reservation for that night.
Nemoto's mother, who lives in Ibaraki, Japan, contacted the Japanese Consulate in Michigan about a month after her daughter arrived in Alaska. The Japanese Consulate then called East Lansing police. Apparently Nemoto, a straight-A student, was depressed after receiving a B in a class.
Foul play is a possibility. Suicide is also a possibility, but she is not believed to have thrown herself overboard on one of the ferries, as she couldn't have jumped without somebody seeing her. Her credit cards hadn't been used since she disappeared.
Agency Name: Alaska State Troopers
Agency Contact Person: Sgt Kid Chan
Agency Phone Number: 907-269-5058
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 98-37923
NamUs Case Number: 19845
NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs
Alaska State Troopers
Anchorage Daily News (August 8, 1998)
Daily Sitka Sentinel (August 10, 1998)
Added: 2/26/2007; Last Updated: 05-18-2022 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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