Anyone following this stuff at Baylor?

I've heard of Texas justice but this may be too much if some of his own teammates were involved. A 6-10, 230 pounder isn't easy to hide.

Texas Police Probe Dennehy Disappearance

WACO, Texas - Some of Patrick Dennehy's teammates might be suspects in the disappearance of the Baylor basketball player, police said Friday.

Dennehy, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound center, has not been seen or heard from in more than two weeks.

While police have not found a body, department spokesman Steven Anderson said they "have received information from several sources that would lead investigators to believe that foul play was involved."

In a written statement, Anderson said police were looking into whether Dennehy might have been killed in the Waco area. A sport utility vehicle belonging to the 21-year-old Dennehy was found this week in Virginia Beach, Va.

"From that lead and others, potential suspects in the disappearance of Dennehy potentially include fellow Baylor basketball players," Anderson said. "Information about possible crime scenes are currently being investigated."

The statement did not elaborate on the possible connection of Baylor players to Dennehy's disappearance.

Baylor athletic director Tom Stanton issued a statement Friday night saying the university had just learned about the new developments in the police investigation.

"The nature of the developments is certainly disturbing," Stanton said. "It's impossible to respond at this moment until we learn more about the investigation.

"Our thoughts and prayers right now remain with Patrick's family and everyone in the Baylor University family. ... All we know now is there are more questions than answers. It's important at this moment that we not speculate."

Police records supervisor Tommy Tull said Friday night that he couldn't release any additional information and that Anderson was out of the office. Anderson plans a 4 p.m. CDT news briefing Monday on the case.

Police records supervisor Tommy Tull said Friday night that he couldn't release any additional information and that Anderson was out of the office. Anderson plans a news briefing Monday on the case.

Virginia Beach police spokesman Jimmy Barnes said at least one Waco detective flew in Thursday to examine an SUV found without license plates in a strip mall. The mall's owner had it towed as an abandoned vehicle.

The towing company reported the vehicle's identification number to Virginia Beach police, Barnes said. Police then checked the number on a national law enforcement database and found it was wanted by Waco police in connection with a missing person.

Baylor coach Dave Bliss could not be reached for comment Friday night. Earlier this week, Bliss said the team remained hopeful that Dennehy would eventually turn up unharmed.

"Obviously, we've got tremendous concerns," Bliss said. "We are prayerful, we're concerned, we're anxious, we're apprehensive. We just pray for this to be resolved, and we look forward to him returning to our team."

Dennehy, who played high school basketball in Santa Clara, Calif., sat out last season after transferring from New Mexico and was expected to vie for playing time this fall. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Dennehy had an impressive but controversial two-year stint at New Mexico under former Lobos coach Fran Fraschilla.

Midway through his freshman season at New Mexico, Dennehy said he might transfer at year's end because of a lack of playing time. Dennehy eventually saw more action and became the third-leading freshman rebounder in school history.

As a sophomore in the 2001-2002 season, Dennehy averaged 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds, but his season was clouded by a number of problems. During a game against Air Force in February 2002, Dennehy argued on court with teammates, shoved a one of them, kicked over a chair and stalked off to the locker room. He didn't return to the game.

Fraschilla declined to discipline Dennehy, and the team physician said the player was being treated for "a confidential medical condition."

Fraschilla resigned under pressure in March 2002, and Ritchie McKay was hired later that month. Less than two weeks later, Dennehy had another flare-up during practice. McKay dismissed him from the team.

A month later, Dennehy announced he had accepted a scholarship to play for former New Mexico coach Bliss.

 

I just saw this on Sportscenter today. talk about bad team chemistry! Makes the Niners fighting in hotel hallways look harmless. if his teammates are involved, that is some sick stuff.

 

Damn! If this stuff is true, their team has some serious psychological stuff to get through in the months ahead.

Informant: Baylor Player Shot by Teammate
By Angela K. Brown, Associated Press Writer

WACO, Texas - A police informant told investigators that missing Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy was shot in the head by a former teammate as the two argued while firing guns together, according to court documents.

A search warrant affidavit released Monday says the informant told investigators in Delaware that Carlton Dotson shot Dennehy in the head with a 9 mm handgun. Dennehy has been missing nearly three weeks.

The informant said Dotson told a cousin that he and Dennehy argued while shooting guns in the Waco area and that Dennehy pointed a weapon at Dotson as if to shoot him.

But Dotson instead shot Dennehy, the informant said. Dotson said he then drove home to Hurlock, Md., and got rid of the guns along the way, the informant said. The warrant was filed June 23 in 19th District Court in McLennan County.

A message left on an answering machine at a number listed for Dotson's guardians in Maryland was not immediately returned.

Waco Police Chief Alberto Melis said Monday that no body has been found and no one has been arrested. District Attorney John Segrest declined to comment.

No charges have yet been filed, Waco police spokeswoman Melody McElyea said Tuesday. She said she had no information on Dotson's whereabouts or whether he was being sought by police.

Dennehy's family reported the 6-foot-10, 230-pound junior missing June 19. His sport utility vehicle was found last week in a mall parking lot in Virginia Beach, Va.

Waco police asked the FBI (news - web sites) to join the investigation and said several Baylor players had been questioned.

Tom Stanton, Baylor athletic director, released a statement late Monday confirming that Dotson was a former player, but said he couldn't discuss the case.

"We saw a young man who got along well with his teammates and was extremely anxious to compete this year," Stanton said. "Patrick has been a model student-athlete since coming to Baylor."

Dennehy transferred to Baylor last fall. He had played two seasons at the University of New Mexico, where he averaged 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds his sophomore year.

He was cut after losing his temper during practice, two months after he argued with a teammate during a game, kicked a chair and stormed out.

He accepted a scholarship to play basketball at Baylor and told friends he had become a born-again Christian. He was a B student and rarely missed a class. He was not eligible to play for a year, but he practiced with the team.

"It's a fresh start," Dennehy said in May 2002. "I feel great. It's a new coach, a new team, a new set of personalities."

Dotson, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 4.6 points and 2.5 rebounds in a reserve role with Baylor this season and was not expected to return next season.

People who knew the fellow Baylor University basketball players said Monday that they were fun-loving, well-mannered roommates who never argued.

Neighbor Kristal Wilson, 21, said the pair knocked on her door last semester when they were locked out of their third-floor apartment, laughed and asked if they could crawl over her balcony.

"They were just really funny guys," Wilson, a senior from El Paso, said, fighting back tears. "I'm sure it's upsetting for everybody. It's a tragedy."

Brian McDonald, 21, a Baylor junior from Houston, said he went to the apartment in early June to see Dotson's pit bull. He said Dennehy also was there, and the two seemed friendly.

Friends and family said it was uncharacteristic of Dennehy to disappear for days on end without calling someone.

Roommate Chris Turk, who is not on the basketball team, told police he last saw Dennehy before leaving for a trip June 11. When Turk returned five days later, the apartment looked normal but Dennehy's dogs had not been fed, he said.

Dennehy's girlfriend in Albuquerque, N.M., 20-year-old Jessica De La Rosa, said he seemed fine during their last phone conversation the night of June 11.

When Dennehy did not call his Santa Clara, Calif., home on Father's Day, June 15, his mother and stepfather, Valorie and Brian Brabazon, got worried. They called his friends and then the university.

 

pretty sad, but they need to find the body first

 

i guess the lesson here is you dont point a gun at someone unless you're prepared to take a hot one in the head....

 

It just keeps getting wierder and wierder......


ESPN.com news services


WACO, Texas -- Baylor coach Dave Bliss defended his program's reaction to learning of Patrick Dennehy's disappearance in an exclusive interview with ESPN's Andy Katz on Wednesday night,.

Bliss responded to allegations that the Baylor coaching staff was too slow to respond to Dennehy's disappearance. He said that he and his staff stressed that players follow the Baylor student code of conduct policy forbidding the use of firearms.

Bliss also was relieved that investigators did not indict any players as suspects in Dennehy's disappearance.

An unnamed police informant in Delaware alleged former Baylor player Carlton Dotson shot Dennehy in the head after the two argued while shooting guns on property outside Waco, court documents show. No one has been arrested and the matter is still classified as a "missing persons" case by authorities.

Dennehy was reported missing by his family June 19, about a week after he was last seen. His car was found last week in Virginia Beach, Va., where he had no apparent connections. Bliss said he talked to Dotson on June 11, which is one day before Dennehy apparently was last seen. He said Dotson was in a car accident and Bliss said he talked to him about his rehabilitation. He said Dotson was in summer school and planned on going to a non-Division I school in the area.

Dotson has been under investigation regarding Dennehy's disappearance, but he has not been charged. Dotson played for Baylor last season but his role steadily decreased by the end of the season. Bliss and Dotson agreed that Dotson should play elsewhere and his scholarship was dropped.


And the last time Bliss talked to Dennehy? Apparently it was around the same time as when he last talked to Dotson. How did he characterize Dennehy's demeanor in early June?

"Patrick's bouncing in and out all the time, and I think his demeanor was normal,'' Bliss said.

Did Dennehy ever come to the coaches and say that he was scared about something?

"He never did that, and again I've heard all the things that have been written and some of the things that have been said and very frankly they concern me because I talked to our staff,'' Bliss said.

"Even during that period we were talking to the players regularly and never once was there anything communicated about any physical threat or anything along that line whatsoever.''

But Dennehy's mother, Valerie Brabazon, told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap early Wednesday that Dennehy had gone to the coaches, at least two of them, and told them that he was afraid of something or someone. The family was also critical of the timeline of when the Baylor coaches called them.


"I felt our son came to them telling them that he was afraid or scared or something. That at least they should have jumped on it right then and did something," Valerie Brabazon told Schaap.



"I'm not aware of anything along that line and a lot of these things have caught me off guard because Patrick is 6-10, 250 pounds and you know he has never ever given us any reason to think that anything bothered him,'' Bliss told Katz.

"I think that from our standpoint on looking back as you look over the thing we again talked in terms of that but never once did we get any sense that there was something that concerned him.''

When did Bliss know that Dennehy was missing?

Bliss said the staff was worried on June 16. They weren't as concerned during the previous weekend since in the summer the players come and go without much notification, but he missed a class on that Monday. Bliss said the staff called his cell phone. They tried his friends in the state and then contacted the family as well as his teammates as well as making repeated trips to his apartment before talking to campus police.

"It was one of those things that at any moment I expected Pat to come walking in the door like he always does and then apologize for being gone and we move on,'' Bliss said.

What surprised him the most when the parents said they thought they should have been contacted earlier?

"Well again I am a parent too, and I understand and the situation doesn't surprise me at all,'' Bliss said. "All I know is that we worked as hard and as attentive as we could to every one of those issues. And I understand how they feel and I would probably feel the same way. We worked as industrious as we could.''

In the affidavit, Dotson and Dennehy are said to have had guns. Dennehy was said to have pointed the gun at Dotson before Dotson then shot Dennehy. If that were true then the players would have violated Bliss' and Baylor's student code of conduct policy forbidding the use of firearms.

Bliss said he wanted to institute a policy on firearms after he had an incident during his time at New Mexico in the early 1990s when former Lobo Vladimir McCrary tried to board a plane to Wyoming with a handgun in his bag that he at the time said he forgot had been in his luggage.

"So I got the Baylor handbook out and we copied the exact student disciplinary policy out of the book,'' Bliss said.

"Then the first day of fall, when the players come back to school we sit right here in this locker room, we have it all printed out for them and just so they understand it we go through it and we read it together. And as you know we have them read it together because we don't want there to be any surprises what so ever.''

Bliss said the first time he was made aware that Dotson and Dennehy had guns was when the police told him on either June 23 or 24.

"So given that policy I would have approached Pat and made him aware of that and taken action," Bliss said. "There is no need on Baylor's campus, and even off the campus, there is no need for a basketball player to have a gun."

But, according to Daniel Okopnyi, who called himself a longtime friend of Dennehy's, the two had guns for protection. Okopnyi told ESPN's Schaap on Wednesday that Dotson felt threatened and that Dennehy had told him that he "had Dottie's back.''

"This is again (goes) back to that area that we had intense conversations,'' Bliss said. "And all during the period where supposedly the alleged threats would have been made we nowhere heard a threat, or any sign of physical violence or anything along that line. Nothing was ever communicated.'' When Schaap asked who was threatening Dotson, Okopnyi said: "As I understand it Harvey and another player who are recruits from the East Coast (were) coming to the Baylor basketball team had, uh, initially started creating threats.

"I had heard (Dennehy) had mentioned to me that they had threatened him and Carlton Dotson. He was saying they had come over to their apartment on occasion and threatened. (Dennehy) wouldn't give me any details. I begged him for details and he said 'I will explain everything to you when I get over there. I don't want to talk over the phone.'"

Okopnyi later told Schaap: "I don't know if it was another recruit. I don't know if it was someone in relation but there was someone else involved and I really don't have any details to that. But I know Harvey was involved in threats directly." Okopnyi mentioned "Harvey," but didn't name Thomas' last name. But he's the only Harvey on the roster. Bliss said Dennehy recruited Thomas to the team and that the three of them had become good friends

"But again I've seen the same thing, it is in the affidavit (the name Harvey), but I also go back to the original statement and emphasize that during our conversations we never heard of any threat, specifically on any player," Bliss told Katz.

"And so consequently, I don't know of anything that would allege that Harvey was involved with the threat.'' Did Thomas have anger issues?

"No, Harvey is again a high-energy guy but again I never saw anything that would ever give you any reason to believe that they did not get along, other than the fact that they are competitive in everything along that line,'' Bliss said.

"But what you have is a situation where as a coach you address certain things and try to make sure there are no apparent problems.''

Baylor players, who are the 2003-04 roster, have been asked not to talk to the media about the case.

Bliss said the investigators did talk to Thomas and several other players. But he said he was relieved that the officers didn't indict any players as suspects.

But initially the Waco police released a statement saying that teammates could be suspects.

"That might be one of the lowest moments you have as a leader," Bliss said. "It's when you go through something like that, what it does it shakes your confidence, because maybe they know something I don't know.

"I am kind of a positive person and somebody that believes that all my guys are fun-loving and everything along that line. All I know is that we have a problem and now there seems to be an implication the way Officer (Steve) Anderson put out that release. And that's why we are tremendously relieved when he recanted that particular release.''

But then a few days later, Dotson's name surfaced in the affidavit.

"The whole thing is unbelievable,'' Bliss said.

"To think that situations occur, maybe they do occur but at Baylor University that is just, I mean it is unexplainable. And so I go through a situation where I am like everybody else. I read what they have there and I don't know what to believe. All I know is that I care about my team.

"I talk to them, I talk to their parents, and we try to keep them aware that we are doing everything we can do from the standpoint of assisting. We are a team and we have to stay together and we'll just get through it.''

Information from ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz and The Associated Press was used in this report.