'Growing Pains' star found dead

Former "Growing Pains" star Andrew Koenig, who has been missing since Feb. 14, was found dead Thursday in Vancouver, British Columbia, The Associated Press reports.

At a news conference in Stanley Park, where Koenig's body was found, Vancouver police said foul play was not suspected, but would not release a cause of death because the coroner is still investigating.

Koenig, 41, who played Richard "Boner" Stabone on the popular 1980s sitcom, was reported missing by his parents last week after he did not board a flight back to Los Angeles from Vancouver.

Walter Koenig said at the news conference that his son "took his own life."

He and his wife Judy, had been in Vancouver since Tuesday, searching for their son.

A private search team of family and friends found Koenig's body around noon Thursday in a heavily wooded area of the park, just off a popular foot path, People magazine reports.

His father was also searching when he received a phone call advising him that Koenig's body had been discovered.

"I went to the site," Walter Koenig said, adding that he then learned his son had committed suicide.

Police and his family declined to comment on how Koenig took his life.

The discovery came a day after the Koenigs made an emotional televised plea to their son to let the family know he was OK.

The Koenigs said they had received a letter from their son last week in which he wrote in a "despondent tone."

Unknown to his family at the time, Andrew Koenig had sold or given away many of his possessions and moved out of his Venice, Calif., apartment before traveling to Canada.

Walter Koenig, who is best known for his role as Pavel Chekov on the original "Star Trek" TV series, said his son had stopped taking medication for depression about a year ago.

At yesterday's news conference, Walter Koenig made a plea to anyone suffering from depression.

"If you can't handle it anymore, you know, if you could learn anything from this, is that there are people out there who really care," he said.