Dennehy's death ruled homicide

Autopsy: Baylor player died of gunshot wound to head

Dennehy Developments July 31: Attorney questions paper's interview 31: De La Rosa doubts Dotson's claim 30: Dotson suggests self-defense 30: Autopsy: Dennehy died of gunshot 29: Funeral set for mid-August 28: Baylor grieving over Dennehy's death From SI: Scorecard: Arresting developments

Above: Dennehy/AP

WACO, Texas (AP) -- Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy was shot in the head and died in the field where his body was found, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday.

The one-page preliminary report confirmed what authorities had suspected about the death of Dennehy, whose remains were found Friday in the grassy field four miles from Baylor's campus in Waco. He had disappeared more than a month earlier.

Carlton Dotson was arrested July 21 after telling FBI agents that he shot his former roommate and teammate when Dennehy tried to shoot him, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. Dotson has been charged with murder.

Dennehy's official cause of death is homicide, the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas said in its report.

The report does not specify how many times Dennehy was shot, whether he suffered any other wounds or the day he died. The complete autopsy is expected to take several more weeks.

After his arrest, Dotson, 21, told The Associated Press that he "didn't confess to anything." He remains jailed without bail in his home state of Maryland pending transfer to Texas, which could take as long as three months.

Dotson's attorney, Grady Irvin, did not return a call Wednesday.

A .32-caliber revolver that belonged to Dennehy was found near his body, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Wednesday, citing an unidentified source close to the investigation.

Near the gun, authorities found .32-caliber bullets that had spilled from an ammunition box, the newspaper reported. There was no evidence the .32 had been fired, but officials recovered nearby shell casings from a 9mm pistol, the paper reported.

Sheriff's Capt. Paul Wash would not say whether any weapons were found near Dennehy's remains.

A funeral service is set for Aug. 7 at the Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, Calif., near where Dennehy grew up. A campus memorial service is being planned for September at Baylor, the world's largest Baptist university, with 14,000 students.

 

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