Parents Of CSU Student Suspect Asthma Attack Killed Her

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) - The parents of a Colorado State University sophomore who died suddenly over the weekend believe a medical condition was to blame.

Sascha Franzel died in her apartment on Saturday. Her friends say earlier that night they were at a party and that Franzel decided to go home because she began having trouble breathing.

David and Sonia Franzel, Sascha's parents, say they think she may have had a severe asthma attack and used her inhaler to try to fight it instead of going to the hospital.

Police said there was alcohol in Sascha's system, but they didn't say if it played a role.

The Franzels say Sascha suffered from asthma for a long time. They say she had a severe asthma attack in November and has been on medication. She also had multiple food allergies.

The Franzels came to Colorado from their home in Hawaii after hearing the tragic news. Friends joined them parents on Monday night for a candlelight tribute on CSU's campus.

Sonia said she talked to Sascha only a few hours before she died.

"She gave me so much strength and that's the way she was with people -- you could never really be sad," Sonia Franzel, her mother, said. "She always helped you find something to look forward to."

Her father David said that after hearing the news, their lives "inalterably changed."

"She's just somebody that you would have wanted to know and somebody that I'm proud to have known and proud to have been her dad," David said.

Sascha dreamed of being a pediatric surgeon. She also had volunteered at the school since she was young and was well known to many on campus.