<p>Andi-
You are correct-- but if you scroll down towards the bottom of the website, you'll see, on the left, links to blogs, message boards, photos, etc. Thats where the discussion about the possible alternative use for the grill, charcoal and car cover stuff is. There is also a timeline. There, they mention that he filled his gastank with his debit card the night before he left, after he'd hit the ATM twice earlier. The charcoal etc purchases were a few days before. The optimist in me says he wanted to disappear for a while and purposely left his cellphone so the GPS in it wouldnt help locate him. The pessimist in me says a full tank of gas burns up/explodes faster. I hate to think negatively-- I want to remain hopeful. Its just that dealing with 3 suicieds in about a weeks period has me thinking the worst. I will remain hopeful that Matt is safe and sound.</p>
<p>I hope in my heart Matt is found safe & sound. As a parent of 2 college students, I find this story very scary. This reminds me somewhat of the recent movie " Into the Wild ", where a just graduated college student cuts all ties to society, including his family, & decides to find himself by living off the land by his own resources. This is an extremely disturbing film to watch as a parent & my wife asked me to not mention this film to my son, she was so upset about it. I know it's a long shot, but Matt's parents may want to ask his friends if he saw this film prior to his disapperance. Hopefully this helps & I pray for a happy reconciliation with Matt & his parents.</p>
<p>I also pray he's found safe. But I do have a colleague whose committed suicide via the charcoal in the car method last year. It was a week before his body was found. He had parked in a rural area. To any of you reading this who are kids, I can promise you that whatever pain you are in is temporary. Life is worth living. There's no shame in taking a semester off if you need to seek help.</p>
<p>Was in Houston this weekend, and caught this update in the Chronicle:
Oklahoma</a> college student's car found | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle</p>
<p>^^ yes, the found his car, almost 6 mos to the day from when he disappeared, in Berkeley. The is a discussion about this in the Rice U forum. They found his backpack and a few other items in his car, and no sign of foul play. The car has apparently been there for quite a while. Keeping my fingers crossed....</p>
<p>:( I hope he is fine. Perhaps he needed a break from life...I hope it's not permanent.</p>
<p>Everyone is hoping they will find him safe and sound. I cannot imagine what his mother is going through. This is eery... If you got to google maps and put in the location of the spot they found his car, 1268 Allston Way Berkeley, you can see his car in the photo.</p>
<p>Actually, I forgot to add that I was in Houston for my high school reunion this weekend, and we have a couple of classmates that are on staff at Rice. I asked one of them what the intuition was on campus as far as what might have happened, and my classmate said they are all convinced he's in the wild somewhere, of his own choice.</p>
<p>^^ This seems to be something young adults think is OK to do. I think Into the Wild (book and movie) fostered this sense of "why not?"</p>
<p>That's good news. I just wish he'd left a note or something.</p>
<p>This morning's paper said he was found in a classroom at Berkeley.</p>
<p>I'm hoping he was alive, taking notes??</p>
<p>If he isn't dead, and I was his mother, I think I'd go ahead and kill him.</p>
<p>LOL timely</p>
<p>He was alive and stealing stuff!</p>
<p>And is apparently likely to be arrested.</p>
<p>This made the news because it was a middle class white dude at an elite college. Period.</p>
<p>If this had been a poor hispanic or black kid at a local small college, it wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the press coverage, sad to say.</p>
<p>It made the news because, by all accounts, this was out of character for this student and he disappeared into thin air. Yes, he was at a prestigious college and I'm sure his middle class family was beyond despair.</p>
<p>A Christopher McCandless wannabe who preferred the wilderness of Berkeley over the Stampede Trail?</p>