14 DAY TRIAL // The search for an aspiring teenage survivalist missing for a month in southeastern Oregon has been canceled over the weekend due to bad weather conditions.
19-year-old Dustin Self set off from suburban Oklahoma to Oregon in an effort to survive on his own in rugged terrain, in an isolated area, eating nothing but what he could find in the woods.
According to Daily Mail, Self's truck has been recovered in the northern part of Steens Mountain. It was found off the road, but Self was not near it.
Mother Tammy and father Victor Self describe the teenager as a “very urban child” with no experience in living in the wilderness, having gained information on the area by browsing the web.
“He is not a survivalist,” his father tells reporters. “We did everything we could to try to talk him out of it,” Tammy Self notes.
“He was leaving, no matter what. [...] I think he got a lot off the Internet,” she adds.
KOCO describes that the search was called off due to high winds in the area. Deputy Missy Ousley described that heavy snow was registered in the region in the last few days.
Sheriff Dave Glerup reported that the teen made one last call to his family, and he was hallucinating throughout the conversation. He mentioned to his girlfriend that plants were growing next to him, running as they were rising.
“He thought he was going to eat berries,” mother Tammy Self recalls. “We tried to tell him, berries don't grow in wintertime,” she explains.
“We're worried sick. [...] I just hope he's alive,” father Victor says.
Self's parents remembered that Dustin was trying to emulate the main character in the 2007 movie “Into the Wild,” in which a student dies while trying to make it in Alaska by living on roots and plants.