Missing Ohio State player dead from self-inflicted gunshot

by Rusty Miller and Lisa Cornwell

12-1-2014

This photo taken on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, and provided by Ohio State university shows college football player Kosta Karageorge in Columbus, Ohio. The mother of a missing Ohio State football player has told police he texted her about his prior concussions the morning he disappeared. A missing-person report filed with Columbus police Wednesday evening, Nov. 26, 2014, says Karageorge told his mother he was sorry if he was an embarrassment but concussions had his head messed up. The 6-foot-5 senior missed practice Wednesday and Thursday and has not been heard from.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio State football player who disappeared after sending his parents a text message about his concussions was found in a trash bin, the victim of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

A woman and her son looking for items in a dumpster found the body around 2:30 p.m. Sunday and contacted the authorities.

"At this time we are able to confirm through tattoos here at the scene that it is the body of Kosta Karageorge," said police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner.

Weiner said a preliminary investigation showed that Karageorge apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was found in the dumpster, he said.

University athletic officials said they were saddened to learn of the senior defensive tackle's death.

"It's hit the team hard," team spokesman Jerry Emig said.

Karageorge went missing Wednesday, and police found his body within a couple hundred yards of his home and about a half block from High Street, the main artery of the campus. Karageorge had last been seen at his apartment in Columbus, when his roommates said he left to go on a walk.

Karageorge's parents filed a missing-person report Wednesday evening, and his mother, Susan Karageorge, told police he had had several concussions and a few spells of being extremely confused, according to the report. She said that at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday he texted a message apologizing and saying the concussions had messed up his head. "I am sorry if I am an embarrassment," he said.

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