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Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin-Madison student charged with killing mom with a baseball bat while on spring break

By Paulina Dedaj Fox News
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A University of Wisconsin-Madison student was charged with murdering his mother on Tuesday after he allegedly beat her to death with a baseball bat while home on Spring Break.

Thomas J. Summerwill, 21, was charged with two felony counts of second-degree murder after prosecutors say he beat his mother, 53-year-old Mary Summerwill, to death last month.

Summerwill, a junior at UW-Madison, was at home on March 24 when he believed there was “an intruder in his bedroom,” the Kane County State's Attorney's Office said in a press release.

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Prosecutors said Summerwill, not realizing it was his mother, grabbed a bat and “struck the person multiple times in the head.”

Officials said Mary died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.

This undated photo provided by the Kane County Sheriff's Department in St. Charles, Ill., shows Thomas Summerwill. Summerwill has been charged with second-degree murder in his mother's baseball bat beating death. 

This undated photo provided by the Kane County Sheriff's Department in St. Charles, Ill., shows Thomas Summerwill. Summerwill has been charged with second-degree murder in his mother's baseball bat beating death.  (Kane County Sheriff's Department via AP)

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Liam Dixon, Summerwill’s attorney, also stated that the suspect thought his mother was an intruder in his bedroom when he struck her with the sports memorabilia baseball bat that had been hanging on his wall.

But prosecutors say that his confusion was “not reasonable because of his alcohol impairment.”

Summerwill had just returned home from a trip to Europe which his attorney said could have caused his client to be jet lagged, The Chicago Tribune reported.

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Summerwill turned himself into police on Monday and his bail on Tuesday was set at $300,000. He is set to appear in court again on May 23.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.