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Search yields no sign of missing college athleteCourt document: Informant says teammate shot Dennehy
WACO, Texas (CNN) -- Investigators found no sign of missing Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy in a 50-acre field where a Delaware police informant said he was shot last month, a police spokesman said Tuesday. Dennehy, 21, was last seen on or about June 12. His SUV was found last week in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "We have searched the location that we were given as to where he may be, but came up with nothing," Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson said. An affidavit Waco police used to obtain a search warrant for Dennehy's computer states that an informant told police in Seaford, Delaware, that teammate Carlton Dotson shot Dennehy in the head during an argument when the two players were firing guns in the Waco area. Anderson said Dotson is not a suspect in Dennehy's disappearance, and that he is one of several people being questioned in the case. "We have spoken to him once," Anderson said. "I'm sure investigators will speak to him again, as well as other individuals they have spoken to maybe once and will also speak to again." Investigators searched the field Friday, aided by FBI agents with two dogs trained to detect human remains. Anderson would not disclose any evidence that might have turned up in the search, but said, "we did not find Mr. Dennehy." Waco municipal spokesman Larry Holze said Dennehy is still considered a missing person. "We're not talking about him in the past tense," he said. Family members told CNN that Dotson is staying near their home in Hurlock, Maryland, and would like to make a public statement but might consult a lawyer first. Police there said they have not been asked to take any action. "As of this point we have not been contacted by anyone from Waco Police Department or any other law enforcement agency," Hurlock police Capt. Chris Flynn said. He added, "We're here if they need assistance from us." The affidavit states the "informant had been told that Carlton Dotson told his cousin" about the incident. The informant, who is from Delaware, gave his information to a detective in Seaford who had used the informant in the past and considered him "reliable," the affidavit states. Seaford is about 10 miles east of Hurlock. Seaford police would not comment on the matter. "This is not our case, and we have taken no police action," Lt. Gary Ford said in a statement issued Tuesday. "We will not discuss any information in regard to it." Dennehy's dark-blue 1996 Chevrolet SUV turned up Wednesday at a strip mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, without license plates, drawing further suspicion. Waco police Chief Alberto Melis said authorities learned Dennehy was missing June 19, when they received a phone call from his family. Police got the search warrant to allow access to Dennehy's computer, which they believed might contain e-mail messages pertinent to the case. According to the court document, the informant alleged that Dennehy pointed his gun at Dotson "as if to shoot him," and then Dotson pointed his own 9 mm pistol at Dennehy and fired, striking him in the head. Dotson disposed of the weapons as he drove home to the Northeast, the informant reportedly said. Police in Delaware relayed that information to detectives in Waco. Kelli Chapman, manager of the apartment complex where Dennehy lives, said she had told the basketball player to get rid of two dogs in his apartment the week before he disappeared. When she returned to the apartment June 13 to see whether the dogs were gone, Chapman found only Dotson there, she said. A roommate told police he had not seen Dennehy since June 12 or 13. Officers have found no evidence of foul play in the apartment, Melis said. Dennehy, a 6-foot-10-inch junior center, was considered a top recruit to Baylor, having transferred the year before from the University of New Mexico. College basketball rules had forced Dennehy to sit out one season, but he was expected to vie for playing time this fall. Dotson came to Baylor a year ago from Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas, and averaged 4.4 points per game last season. Several of Dennehy's neighbors said Dotson was one of the teammates closest to Dennehy. CNN's attempts to reach Dotson have failed. Sources said Dotson's basketball scholarship was not renewed and that he had planned to transfer to another school this fall. Dotson was supposed to have attended summer school in June but never showed up for classes, sources said. CNN correspondents Ed Lavandera and Bob Franken contributed to this report.
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