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Autopsy: Baylor player killed by shots to head
WACO, Texas (CNN) -- A preliminary autopsy report has found that Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy died of gunshot wounds to the head, a McLennan County, Texas, official said Wednesday. The report, from the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas, said the official cause of death is homicide, but did not disclose how many times Dennehy had been shot. The report was released Wednesday to Belinda Summers, a McLennan County justice of the peace. Dennehy was killed at the same place where he was discovered, around a gravel pit four miles southeast of the Baylor University campus in Waco, the report said. Dennehy, 21, had been last seen around June 12. His body was found Friday and his head was discovered separately Sunday. A forensics laboratory confirmed Sunday night that the remains belonged to the missing basketball player, ending a six-and-a-half week search that attracted national attention. On Monday, Baylor University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. called on the school community to pray for the families of Dennehy and a former teammate, Carlton Dotson. Dotson was arrested July 21 in Chestertown, Maryland, and charged with murder in Dennehy's slaying. (SI's report) "Baylor has endured the heart-wrenching loss of students before, but never in such a startling and perplexing manner," Sloan said. "We grieve the loss of Patrick and the impact of that loss on the Baylor community." Dennehy, a 6-foot-10-inch center, was considered a top recruit to Baylor, having transferred the year before from the University of New Mexico. College basketball rules forced him to sit out the past season, but he was expected to play this fall. A campuswide memorial service will be held when the school reconvenes in the fall. A source close to the investigation said that authorities went to the site where Dennehy's body was found based on information obtained during an interview with Dotson. Dotson confessed to the crime while talking to FBI agents, according to an arrest warrant issued by Waco police. (Full story) The warrant said that Dennehy was killed with a handgun. Outside a courthouse in Chestertown last week, Dotson told a reporter with The Associated Press, "I didn't confess to anything." Dotson is being held without bond in Kent County, Maryland, after he refused to waive his right to an extradition hearing. A hearing likely will be held within a month. An informant's account in an affidavit given to police said Dotson shot Dennehy during an argument while the two were shooting guns in a field north of Waco. Sgt. Ryan Holt of the Waco Police Department said investigators are performing forensic tests and trying to trace a 9 mm handgun that was recovered in south Waco and handed over to police. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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