Growing Pains actor missing in Vancouver

Family and friends are anxious about the safety of actor Andrew Koenig — who played Boner in the ’80s TV show Growing Pains — after he disappeared in Vancouver last week.

Koenig, son of actor Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov on the original Star Trek TV series, is believed to have sent his family a letter post-marked Feb. 15 from Vancouver before his disappearance. Koenig, 41, is said to have been suffering from depression.

He arrived in Vancouver on Feb. 10 and was due to fly out of Vancouver on Feb. 16 but never boarded the flight.

He was reported missing to Vancouver Police on Feb. 18, Const. Tim Fanning said.

"It’s an active missing persons investigation right now," Fanning said.

The police have asked for the public’s help in locating Koenig.

He is described as a white male, five feet five inches tall, weighing 135 pounds, with long shoulder-length brown hair. Police said he could "be anywhere in the Vancouver area." Anyone who has seen him is asked to call 911.

His father Walter and mother, Judy, said Sunday they were praying he would be found.

"We last spoke to him on Feb. 8 or 9th," his mom said. "I had some surgery and he phoned from Toronto to see how I was doing, but he sounded a little distant," she said.

His father was distraught. "I only want to say he’s a really good person, a great humanitarian," he said. "Everyone who knew him was very fond of him. He was not in a good frame of mind when he called us. He was depressed."

Judy said that police have told her the last activity on his cellphone was on Feb. 16 when he was apparently in the Stanley Park area and that there was activity on his bank account at about the same time, but nothing since. One of his close friends is Vancouver Sun entertainment editor and former actor Maggie Langrick.

She was out searching for him in Stanley Park this weekend.

Langrick said Stanley Park was a "special place" for Koenig, whom she first met some 20 years ago.

She spoke with Koenig’s parents Sunday and said they are deeply concerned after receiving a letter from him.

Langrick said his friends are worried about him because he is believed to have sold some possessions before flying to Canada, where he paid brief visits to close friends in Toronto and Montreal, and then Vancouver.

Asked to describe him, she said he is "a wonderful person with a very active social conscience."

"He is vegan for ethical reasons, and an active supporter of many causes, environmental, animal rights, human rights — he is a very sensitive person who has struggled for a long time with depression. He has a lot of friends who love him deeply," she said.

Koenig lived in Vancouver from about 1989 to 1992 after he finished his work on Growing Pains.

Langrick said Koenig’s Vancouver years were very happy ones for him, and that he often told friends he regarded Vancouver as his true home and hoped to return here to stay.

Following his role on Growing Pains he continued to work as an actor, but his subsequent work did not reach the same level of success.

He remained in the entertainment business and in recent years did standup comedy, video editing, documentary work and was developing a feature film script that he had written and hoped to direct.