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 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 purchased only a one-way ticket from Northwest Airlines.

Nemoto spent her first night in Alaska at the Denali Windsong Lodge. The next day, she traveled to Anchorage and spent the night at a hostel at 700 H Street. Nemoto had made reservations June 6 for the ferry from Whittier to Valdez and had a reservation at the Westmark Hotel in Valdez. Both tickets were used, but she never showed up either at the ferry or the hotel.

Local police tracked her to the Windbreak Hotel in Wasilla on June 8, 1998.

Nemoto's mother, who lives in Ibaraki, 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. (Information retrieved from NamUs.gov)