Family of Dennehy visits ranch
Property owner Cox says loved ones retrace steps of missing player; Dotson remains jailed without bond
Waco, Texas ? The family of missing Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy on Thursday visited a ranch outside town where he and his teammate fired guns and where police have searched for his body at least twice.
His mother and stepfather, Brian and Valorie Brabazon, their daughter and the player’s girlfriend seemed to be trying to retrace his steps in the weeks before he vanished in mid-June, said property owner Tammy Cox.
“We just kind of talked about Patrick, how he was a real polite, respectful boy,” said Cox, whose 52-acre property is about 20 miles northeast of Waco amid cow pastures and cornfields. “They didn’t ask me anything about Carlton.”
Carlton Dotson, who also played basketball at Baylor and was Dennehy’s roommate, remained jailed without bond on a murder charge in his home state of Maryland. An extradition hearing is set for Aug. 19.
Meanwhile, a car dealer from the small town of West, said Baylor coach Dave Bliss called him last fall and told him he had a new player who was looking for a sport-utility vehicle. The player was Dennehy.
However, auto dealer Jerrel Bolton told the AP that Dennehy told him he received the $2,000 down payment for the black 1996 Chevrolet Tahoe he bought from “one of his girlfriends” — not from the Baylor coaching staff.
Baylor’s athletic department opened an internal inquiry this week into whether coaches made improper payments to Dennehy — a claim denied by Bliss and his staff.
Among the allegations against Baylor is that Dennehy emerged from basketball offices last fall with between $1,200 and $1,800 that he told his girlfriend, Jessica De La Rosa, came from a coach and was to go toward the purchase of a car.
De La Rosa declined to comment on the matter Thursday.
Bliss was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Cox and her husband, Darren, met Dotson in the spring when he answered their newspaper ad selling pit bull puppies. Dotson and Dennehy then started visiting them — as often as four times a week — to hang out, fish or play basketball with their three teenage children, Tammy Cox said. The two players shot guns at trees on the property on June 10, she said.
Cox said the two told her husband they bought weapons because they had been threatened with a gun by teammate Harvey Thomas and one of his friends, after Dotson and Dennehy accused Thomas of stealing money.
Dennehy’s girlfriend told police that he had recently been threatened by a man named Harvey, according to documents filed in the case. Thomas, who recently transferred from Fredericksburg, Va., to play this season for Baylor, has denied any involvement in Dennehy’s disappearance.
Since Dennehy’s disappearance was made public, Dotson has called the Cox family several times from his Maryland home, but he never discussed the case, Tammy Cox said. A police affidavit indicates someone used Dennehy’s cell phone on June 18 — a day later than previously made public. Brian Brabazon said the phone’s billing records show the call was made to a number in Waco that he didn’t recognize. Dennehy’s family has been in Waco since Tuesday night.

