Brooklyn model turns Facebook status into suicide note before taking own life

New York, February 21 (ANI): An aspiring model in New York City's Brooklyn borough turned his Facebook status into a suicide note before taking his own life.

Paul Zolezzi, 30, who was tormented by heroin addiction, hanged himself in Mount Prospect Park playground near the Brooklyn Museum early Friday.

A jogger found his body dangling from the monkey bars in the playground about 7a.m., police said.

Hours earlier, Zolezzi had written on his Facebook page that he was "born in San Francisco, became a shooting star over everywhere, and ended his life in Brooklyn. ... And couldn't have asked for more."

His mother, Stephanie Zolezzi, revealed that he had been in a downward spiral since a broken engagement two years ago.

"I would say that people get so lonely, so delusional, that all they want to do is be remembered," the New York Daily News quoted her as saying from her home near San Francisco.

"He probably wanted to be remembered in a big way, to do it dramatically. That's what drugs will do to people," she added.

She even revealed that her son was busted in San Francisco last fall for buying heroin and skipped town.

Zolezzi, who had come to Brooklyn just 10 days ago, crashed on the couch of friend Melissa Lopez, who said that she was disturbed by his "dark" behaviour.

"I think he was really sick. But I was in shock because you never think somebody is going to go that far," Lopez, 33, said, explaining Zolezzi had been talking to himself.

Zolezzi's mother revealed that she was worried about her son's mental state and drug use because her husband, a schizophrenic writer, threw himself off the Golden Gate Bridge in his 40s.

She said that she tried to make her son check into a Christian drug rehab centre, but he baulked.

Stephanie said that she had not seen her son since September.

According to her, she came to know that he was in New York only after being called by the police, who found her number in Zolezzi's cell phone.

"I didn't know what was going on in his life. All I knew is that he knew I was always trying to pray for him. He needed an adjustment to his ego. He couldn't give up the fantasies about what he wanted his life to be," Stephanie said.

Her son broadcast some of his disillusionment on Facebook in what the social-networking site refers to as "status updates" - short messages that can be seen by other users.

The late model's page was apparently pulled down last night. (ANI)