Pichler

Seattle, Jan. 18 (Reuters): Former child actor Joe Pichler, who starred in two of the Beethoven movies about the exploits of a St Bernard, has been missing for nearly two weeks and police fear he has killed himself, his family said yesterday.

Pichler, 18, has been missing since January 5. His car was found four days later in a parking lot near Bremerton, Washington, where he lived alone in an apartment, his sister Samantha said.

Pichler, who also appeared in the The Fan with Robert De Niro and Varsity Blues, left a note in the car, saying he wanted to leave all his possessions to his younger brother, AJ, and apologised for not being a better example for him. But the family does not believe Pichler committed suicide.

“The police are writing it off as a suicide,” said Samantha Pichler. “I don’t know why they think that. Everybody who knows him, his family and his friends, think he’s out there. With all my heart, I don’t think he killed himself.”

According to the actor’s family, Bremerton police said they suspect Pichler committed suicide by jumping off a bridge near the abandoned car and his body may not surface from the water for months.

Sergeant Kevin Crane denied that officers had told the family they suspected Pichler was dead.

On the last night before his disappearance, Pichler drank alcohol with friends at his apartment. After driving a guest home, he called a friend in the early morning upset about something, Samantha said. The friend calmed him down, but no one has heard from him since.