Finding a dead man saved Linda Mulligan. When Mulligan opened the lid of a trash bin near her Weinland Park home and saw the body of Kosta Karageorge, she understood how he got there. Not just what physically happened to the 22-year-old college student, but how someone could feel so low, so down on himself, he could end his life.

Finding a dead man saved Linda Mulligan.

When Mulligan opened the lid of a trash bin near her Weinland Park home and saw the body of Kosta Karageorge, she understood how he got there.

Not just what physically happened to the 22-year-old college student, who died from what police say was a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head. She understood how someone could feel so low, so down on himself, he could crawl into a dumpster and end his life.

�It made me want to fight more for my own life,� she said. �Three weeks before this, I could have seen myself like that. ... I know how you can go there.�

Mulligan, 49, has been depressed on and off for the last five years, a sadness that was compounded in the last year or so when she lost both her mom and her sister within eight months, she said.

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and she was dreading the holidays without them when her 8-year-old grandson looked inside the trash bin and screamed for her.

When Mulligan looked inside and saw the body of the Ohio State University senior, she thought, � I don�t want my family to find me like this. I don�t want to put them through this pain.�

�I knew I had my son and grandbabies to keep me going, but honest, (Karageorge) kind of saved me,� she said. �He really did.�

Her story resonated with many. After The Dispatch wrote about her finding the missing football player, several people reached out to help her. One was Tracy Taylor, who, with the organization End the Violence, adopts families in need to give them a Christmas they couldn�t otherwise afford.

�When I read her story, I said, �That�s going to be one of our families,�� Taylor said.

End the Violence took care of Christmas for Mulligan, her grandson Marcine, who was with her that day, and his two little brothers. Aaron�s, a sale-lease furniture company, donated a living-room set to replace Mulligan�s tattered furniture. She now has toys to give her grandkids and a meal to serve on Christmas.

�My mom and sister died,� Mulligan said. �With the people helping me, it seemed like they were still here.�

Marcine couldn�t wait for Christmas to open his toys, especially his new chess set. Grandma let him.

�We�re here to help one another, regardless of religion or what you believe in,� Taylor said. � There�s one common law for the human race and that�s to help each other, especially those who can�t help themselves.�

Mulligan is especially grateful for Taylor and her friends, who have cooked for her and helped her clean house, and have just been there to listen and talk.

�I still mentally wasn�t able to get up myself,� Mulligan said. �God sent those ladies to pick me up.�

Still, it�s not the gifts or the donations or the helping hands that make this holiday season so special � it�s finding Karageorge before that dumpster was emptied, Mulligan said.

�The most important thing for me is that God put me (there) to find closure for this family,� she said. �That�s my Christmas gift.�

amanning@dispatch.com

@allymanning