COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio State athlete who committed suicide had suffered concussions but didn't show evidence of trauma affecting the brain, a coroner said Friday.
Wrestler and football scout team member Kosta Karageorge, who was 22, had been missing for several days when his body was found in a trash bin in Columbus not far from his campus-area apartment on Nov. 30. A handgun was found near his right hand.
Dr. Anahi Ortiz had waited for neuropathology reports about Karageorge's brain before making Friday's announcement. Ortiz had previously said Karageorge killed himself with a gunshot to the head. She says her determination that it was a suicide won't change.
Investigators concluded that Karageorge and his girlfriend broke up around the time he disappeared on Nov. 26.
Karageorge texted his girlfriend after 1 a.m. that day, saying he loved her and wanted to talk, according to text records released by police this year. When he received responses asking him not to speak again to the sender, he replied, "I am gonna kill myself," and he said that she shouldn't go to his funeral, the records show.
Texts sent to his mother moments later said concussions were affecting his mind and he hoped he wasn't an embarrassment.
Karageorge's mother told police he'd had several concussions and a few spells of extreme confusion.
Karageorge's body was found by a woman searching trash bins for scrap metal.