20-Year-Old College Student Vanishes During Family Trip in Japan: ‘We Are in Our Own Living Hell,’ Mom Says

She and her husband, Keith, have been actively searching for Weston, but their efforts have been inhibited by a typhoon that swept through the region.

“My husband and I went last night with flashlights and headlamps and didn’t get too far because we weren’t prepared for the wildlife we encountered,” Nancy wrote on Tuesday. “If anyone wants to join us after the storm, I would be grateful.”

Her pleas online and interviews with various outlets helped ensure her son’s pH๏τo has appeared on local platforms. “My biggest hurdle is getting it out to Japanese residents,” the concerned mom told WVTM.

In an update on Wednesday, June 3, Nancy said that officials in Japan had “watched endless footage on CCTV cameras” to track her son’s movements, which confirmed that his last known location was Yamashina. That same day, 50 police officers, K9s and helicopters scoured the surrounding wooded area, made more difficult by the wet and steep terrain.

“We will not lose hope,” Nancy wrote, “and we feel all of the love that you are pouring out throughout the day.”

By Wednesday night, Weston had still not been found, and a search was set to begin again the next day, she said.

“This was an unimaginably hard day,” Nancy wrote before extending her thanks to the various agencies, including local police, the FBI and the U.S. government, that had helped in the search.

The National Police Agency and the U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.