Owen Thomas Suicide: UPenn Football Captain Hanged Himself, Mother Says

Owen Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania football captain whose body was found Monday, committed suicide at his off-campus residence, his mother tells the Daily Pennsylvanian.

The junior's mother, Rev. Katherine Brearsley, tells the newspaper her son hanged himself. "He put huge expectations on himself and just impossibly couldn't live up to them... and wouldn't let other people give him an appropriate perspective," she said.

"His friends and his football coaches all tried to help him put it in perspective and we thought they were succeeding. They told him to take it one day at a time," Brearsley told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

A funeral service is scheduled for Monday at 10:30 AM at Union United Church of Christ in Neffs, Pa. Click here for more of Rev. Brearsley's interview with the Daily Pennsylvanian.