ROSEBURG, Ore., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A missing man from Arizona who was about to enter college was found dead in a wooded area in Oregon late Monday, sheriff's deputies said.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Department said Johnathan Croom, 18, may have taken his own life, The (Portland) Oregonian reported.
Croom, who was about to enter Mesa Community College in Arizona, had borrowed his father's Honda CRV to visit a friend in Seattle, his family said. He had left Seattle for the trip home and was overdue to return.
The body was discovered about 1,000 feet from the spot where the Honda was found last week on a country road in Riddle, Ore.
David Croom, in an interview with CNN before he learned of his son's death, said Johnathan had become fascinated by "Into the Wild." The book by John Krakauer tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who broke off relations with his family and went to Alaska, where he lived and eventually died in an abandoned school bus.
Croom said his son read the book after watching the movie version. He told CNN that, like McCandless, his son "left all his stuff in the car and took off."
"The problem with that movie is, he doesn't make it. It's a fatal end to the story," he said.
