dead / die

Hello,

I'd like to know the difference of the meanings of the following sentences.
1) Ken found a lot of robins dead or he was dying on the campus.

( = a lot of robins were dead / Ken was dying )


2) Ken found a lot of robins dead or dying on the campus.

( = a lot of robins were dead or dying )



3) He was finding a lot of robins dead or died on the campus.

( = a lot of robins were dead or died )

About 3), does it make sense? I think "were dead" and "died" are the same.

And it seems grammatically wrong.

Thank you,