Fans use Twitter to search for missing celebrity

Andrew Koenig, the son of Star Trek actor Walter Koenig has gone missing in Canada.

Andrew Koenig, a star actor in the iconic American television sitcom “Growing Pains,” has mysteriously gone missing. But as a clear sign of the growing importance of social networking, fans and fellow celebrities have turned to Twitter to try to solve the star’s disappearance. According to media reports, the last time anyone saw Koenig was in Vancouver, just before the start of the Winter Olympics. Koenig’s parents have tried to reach their son as well, but his mother told journalists that his mobile phone has been turned off since 16 February 2010. Kevin Smith, Sarah Silverman and Alyssa Milano are just some of the celebrities who used Twitter to ask their followers to help track Koenig’s whereabouts. One of the actor’s closest friends in Vancouver also turned to Facebook, in order to express her concern for a star who had reportedly been suffering severe depression.

Lance Miccio, a director who had worked with Koenig in the past, noted that only a week before his disappearance the star declared that he would not be accepting any projects in the future, despite the fact that acting seems to run in his family. Koenig’s father, for example, was one of the lead actors in the original hit series Star Trek—having played Chekov for years—and the Growing Pains star himself played in a 2008 sci-fi film.

Vancouver constable Raymond Payette is leading the investigation into Koenig’s disappearance and director Kevin Smith was one of the most prominent Twitter users to “file” an online missing person’s report, in the form of a tweet on Sunday morning.