COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State football players and wrestlers are among those who attended a campus vigil for a teammate found dead in a trash bin with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The vigil was held after Kosta Karageorge’s body was found Sunday. He had disappeared four days earlier after sending his parents a text message that said concussions had messed up his head.
The 22-year-old Thomas Worthington High School graduate had been a Buckeyes wrestler for three years and joined the football team as a walk-on this season, playing in one game.
The football team’s doctor has said he couldn’t comment on the medical care of student-athletes.
Wrestling coach Tom Ryan tells The Columbus Dispatch that Karageorge had no documented concussions as a wrestler.
Ryan says some teammates are wondering if they could’ve intervened to help Karageorge.
Police say Karageorge was found dead Sunday in a dumpster, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
A woman and her son apparently looking for items in the dumpster found the body, and police were called, police Sgt. Rich Weiner says
He says a handgun was found in the dumpster.
University athletic officials say they are grieved to learn of Karageorge’s death.
“The Ohio State University Department of Athletics was shocked and saddened to learn today of the death of student-athlete Kosta Karageorge, a senior from Columbus. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Karageorge family, and those who knew him, during this most difficult time,” said a statement issued by Jerry Emig, associate director of Ohio State Athletics Communications.
Police found the body near the campus after a search began when Kosta Karageorge went missing Wednesday. The senior defensive tackle had last been seen at his Columbus apartment, when his roommates said he left to go on a walk.
In a missing persons report filed Wednesday when he went missing, Karageorge’s mother told police he’d had several concussions. She says about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday he texted a message apologizing and saying the concussions had messed up his head.
A person who answered the parent’s phone said no one wanted to comment.