"Into The Wild" Linked To Missing Teen's Death: Johnathan Croom Wanted To Leave Society, Live In The Woods- But Died In Them

"Into the Wild" has been linked to a missing teen's death-and tragically, both stories have unfortunate endings.

"Into the Wild" is a bestselling book and movie about a young man who leaves society to live off the land.

Johnathan Croom, 18, went missing recently. His body was found near his car in  rural Oregon on Monday. Police say Croom's body was 1,000 feet from his abandoned car and are investigating the death as a suicide.

This "Into the Wild" incident is not the first time young men have romanticized nature with disastrous consequences, but it is a particularly sad example.

"John made us feel like he was OK, but he was really hurting inside," his father, David Croom, said Tuesday. "It's really important that we pay real close attention to what our kids are saying and that we remind them that we love them, because there are influences in the world that tell them otherwise."

Croom said his son showed a growing interest-or even an obsession-in "Into the Wild", a nonfiction book about a young man named Chris McCandless, who drops out of society to live in the woods in Alaska.

"He's been watching the movie a lot," Croom said while his son's body had yet to be found. "Maybe he said, 'I want to do it.' That's our theory, because he kept talking about the movie."

John Croom was en route to college in Mesa, AZ from Seattle when he went missing in Riddle, Oregon, where he has been the subject of speculation all week.

"We still don't know what happened," his father, David Croom, said, "but he

 was lost in the wild. He got in over his head, and things didn't go well."

The rural town has no grocery store or movie theater. Some don't think Croom's death matches up to the movie.

"There's nothing that makes sense," one local resident said. Riddle is several miles from the nearest wilderness area, residents say.

"It's 2½ miles from the major interstate; it's right in town in Riddle," Huston said of where Croom's car was found. "There are houses and people, and it's well-populated, so if he wanted to do an 'Into the Wild,' it wasn't the appropriate place."

Much like Croom, "Into the Wild" subject McCandless had very little actual experience with nature and ended up dying in his van parked near Healy, Alaska, outside Denali National Park. The site has become a cult figure for others entranced by the book and wanting to leave society.