Parents with team of friends find Andrew Koenig’s body
Andrew Koenig is dead.
By Salim Jiwa
VANCOUVER – (Update) It was a devastating discovery made by the parents and friends of Growing Pains actor Andrew Koenig.
Andrew’s parents, Judith and Walter Koenig went to Stanley Park to search for their lost son. One of two small teams found the body and called the parents over.
(See Walter Koenig campaign against suicide.)
Koenig was heart-broken about the find. He said his son had killed himself. (see video at bottom.).
“Vancouver Police are confirming the discovery of a body in Stanley Park on Thursday is that of missing person Andrew Koenig. His body was discovered in the woods off Bridal Path around noon, February 25th, by friends and family who had organized a search of the park earlier in the day,” said police.
Police said they were sorry that the body find had to be made by his parents and friends and that cops had not found the body when they searched the park.
“It was a devastating discovery and if we could take that away from their memories we would. The reality is that our previous search of the same are failed to turn up any evidence that Andrew was in the park,” said Const. Jana McGuinness when asked why it took family and friends searching to discover the body and cops could not find it.
Earlier, Const. Tim Fanning said: “On February 23rd, 30 members of local Search and Rescue teams scoured the park for over four hours, which consists of 1000 acres and 150 miles of trails. There has been no evidence that Andrew was recently in the park.”
Later Walter Koenig spoke emotionally about their loss.
The heart-borken dad urged others not to ignore or rationalize depression. He urged those suffering from it to look around before making that final fatal decision to take their own lives.
Koenig, 41, had been missing since Valentine’s Day in Vancouver and he was last seen near a bakery around Stanley Park. His cell phone and banking account had been inactive since Feb. 16. He was reported missing to Vancouver Police on Feb. 18.
The cops did not tell the public until Feb. 21 – allegedly because it was such a private matter.
Koenig was known to be suffering from depression and had sent a letter home that caused his family concern. He was to return to the U.S. on Feb. 16 but never boarded his flight.
Judith Koenig, his mother, and Star Trek fame dad Walter, arrived in Vancouver on Tuesday and made a public plea for him to state he was okay.
His mom said: “You are loved, you count and you matter.”
Andrew was a star of the 1985 TV series ‘Growing Pains’ and was an activist for peace.
“Andrew, there is help. You have so many gifts to offer this world and so much yet to do in this world. Look how many people love you and care about you,” said his mother during a press conference on Wednesday.
Both parents believe their son has fought depression throughout most of his life and and an earlier search of Stanley Park failed to uncover any signs of what had happened to him.
“I just want to know you’re okay,” Walter Koenig had said. “If it means you just want to stay here, that’s okay.”
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Posted by News Editor
on Feb 25 2010. Filed under Featured.
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My daughter has struggled with depression her whole life. My heart breaks for the Koenig’s, however, it will be better for them to know what happened then not.
It’s too bad that more spotlight on mental illness could not be cast from this tragedy. Far too many commit suicide when meds and counseling can help many.
Given the sheer size of Stanley Park, and the fact that it was only searched for 4 hours by 30 searchers, it’s not surprising that they didn’t find him. The reason it was only a small, short search, was because there was no definitive evidence to place him in Stanley Park. Calling the competence of the police into question only shows a lack of appreciation for how hard it is to find a missing person.
Is this really a story about how the police did not find his body? Why do people (news editor “That raises a question about the competence of the police search”) make the police out to be incompetent whenever it suits them? Every day in the news, there’s a story about how bad and stupid they are, it drives me nuts. I’d like to see a “journalist” do the job. That’ would be a laugh. I respect what the police do, and sometimes it doesn’t work out how everyone would want it to. But at least they try.
I totally agree with the above post why didn’t Vancouver PD find the body? It is pretty sad when his parents had to fly up to Vancouver and find it themselves. Also the statement from Tim Fanning saying “Andrew was laying low”. What a farce!! What are people going to think about Vancouver now?
When 12 untrained people search the same area searched by professionals – remember the same area – and find something the professionals overlooked, then you have to wonder about competence. It is also questionable to then suggest that Koenig was not in the park. And to question the handling of one incident does not mean we want to take away credit from VPD from the good job they do every day in many situations.
I’m confused — where in this article does it say WHO discovered the body?
“Andrew’s parents were devastated when his body was discovered near Bridal path at around noon. Later they spoke emotionally about their loss.”
You say it wasn’t police — but who then??
Allison, the police failed to find the body during their earlier search and concluded he was not in Stanley Park. Andrew’s parents and friends searched the same park and they found the body at around noon on Thursday. That raises a question about the competence of the police search.