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Dennehy's body identified by examiners Posted: Sunday July 27, 2003 11:18 PMUpdated: Monday July 28, 2003 10:41 AM
WACO, Texas (AP) -- Combing through chest-high weeds under the blazing sun, authorities found evidence they say helped identify the body of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy, who was missing for more than six weeks. Searching in the field where a decomposing body was found two days before, investigators found a head Sunday morning, McLennan County Justice of the Peace Belinda Summers said. Later Sunday night, McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch announced that the Dallas County medical examiner's office determined the body was Dennehy's. It was found Friday and taken in for an autopsy, but authorities gave no further details Sunday, including a possible cause of death. "With that evidence collected today, they were able to make a positive identification," Lynch said, without specifying what evidence was found. Authorities have declined to say if a weapon has been recovered. Carlton Dotson, 21, was arrested last week in his home state of Maryland and charged with murder in Dennehy's death. Dotson, who played basketball at Baylor last season and had been living with Dennehy since spring, remained jailed without bond, awaiting extradition to Texas. Sunday's search took place just north of gravel pits where authorities looked last week after Dotson's arrest. Investigators used farm equipment to cut down weeds and grass up to 7 feet tall in the rural area about five miles south of Waco. Authorities picked up Dotson July 21 after he called 911, saying he needed help because he was hearing voices, authorities said. Dotson told FBI agents in Maryland that he shot Dennehy after the player tried to shoot him, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. Dotson's attorney, Grady Irvin, said Monday police haven't disclosed any details about comments his client made to them. "They haven't shared any details of the investigation with me," he said when asked about the recovery of Dennehy's remains. Dotson's mother-in-law, Pam Bayuk, told The Dallas Morning News in Monday editions that he told her last fall he was hearing voices, seeing visions and having trouble controlling his thoughts. This spring, Bayuk said she spoke with one of Dotson's coaches at Baylor, telling him several times that she was worried about Dotson's mental stability. The school, citing privacy laws, refused comment to the newspaper. Dennehy's family has decided not to return to Waco, the player's girlfriend Jessica De La Rosa said Sunday afternoon. "Technically, there's nothing we can do out there," De La Rosa said from her Albuquerque home. Reached hours later, after learning that the body was Dennehy's, she sobbed and said she was unable to comment. Dennehy's mother and stepfather, Valorie and Brian Brabazon, and their teenage daughter traveled to Waco from their Carson City, Nev., home last week to retrieve the player's belongings. The family and De La Rosa left Waco about noon Friday after a three-hour meeting with police and said they believed Dennehy could still be alive. The Brabazons dropped off De La Rosa in Albuquerque early Saturday morning and left for their home Sunday before learning that Dennehy was dead. Dotson and Dennehy arrived last summer in Waco, about 100 miles south of Fort Worth, on basketball scholarships. Dotson was a transfer from Paris Junior College in East Texas and eligible to play. Dennehy, because of NCAA eligibility rules, had to sit out a year after transferring from New Mexico, where he was kicked off the team for losing his temper. Dennehy's family reported him missing June 19, seven days after he was last seen on campus. Dennehy's vehicle was found abandoned in a Virginia Beach, Va., parking lot June 25. An unnamed informant told Delaware police that Dotson told someone that he shot Dennehy in the head as the two argued while shooting guns in the Waco area, according to court documents filed in the case June 23. Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. notified faculty, staff, students and alumni about the identification of the body, saying in an e-mail that "today our worst fears were realized." He asked Baylor employees to pray for Dennehy's family and for Dotson. Sloan said a campus-wide memorial service would be held for Dennehy in the fall semester at Baylor, the world's largest Baptist university with 14,000 students. "Baylor has endured the heart-wrenching loss of students before, but never in such a startling and perplexing manner," Sloan wrote. "... We grieve the loss of Patrick and the impact of that loss on the Baylor community." Richard Guinn, whose son R.T. Guinn plays basketball at Baylor, said he and his son were saddened by the news. "It's devastating," Richard Guinn said. "It's sad on our part
and everybody else's, for Waco and Baylor, and yet it's closure
that now we know we found him. I wish he'd been found alive."
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