Phoenix teen Johnathan Croom who went 'Into The Wild' found dead in Oregon wilderness

THE body of a teen obsessed with the movie Into The Wild has been found in the Oregon wildeess with his dad saying he died of a broken heart.

Douglas County sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said in a statement that the body of Johnathan Croom, 18, was found 300 metres from where he abandoned SUV was found last week. He said police are investigating his death as a suicide.

Johnathan's father, David Croom, said his son was grieving the end of a relationship with "someone back in Phoenix", where the family lives.

"He was a young man who had a broken heart and headed out to try to find himself," Mr Croom said. "We're looking forward to finding out exactly what happened."

The teenager had spoken with his parents about the film Into The Wild, the biographical drama about Christopher McCandless, who left home and disappeared into the Alaskan wildeess in the early 1990s where he lived, and eventually died, in an abandoned bus.

Johnathan's mother, Monica Croom, said her son was travelling alone back from Seattle where he had been visiting a friend. He was due to start college in Arizona on August 17.

"He talked with his parents about 'Into the Wild,' and in text messages we've looked at, he does specifically talk about running away, kind of just running away from his life," the sheriff's spokesman Mr Hutson said.