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Police Treat Basketball Player Disappearance as Possible Homicide

Aired July 02, 2003 - 15:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: After backtracking yesterday, police in Waco, Texas, say they are once again treating the disappearance of a Baylor basketball player as a possible homicide.
But Patrick Dennehy's body has not been found and police say they have no crime scene.

With me now for an update on the case, CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman.

Gary, what is the latest on what the police are saying?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy has now been missing for three weeks and if the statements of the Waco, Texas, police are to be taken at face value, well, they have very little clue as to what happened to him.

At a news conference today, a police spokesman told us this quote, that basically, quote, "the case is not progressing as well as we would like it." That is certainly not good news in terms of solving this.

But the good news for the family of Patrick Dennehy, the 21-year- old, is they have not found a body yet in areas where they've been searching.

Authorities at the news conference today said it's so slow with trying to solve this case they're not even holding news conference any more until there's a development. They do say officially this is a missing person case, although they do believe that this young man is dead.

They say they have persons of interest who they're investigating, but no official suspects as of this point.

They do want to get tips from the public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ANDERSON, WACE POLICE SPOKESPERSON: The exact number I'm not sure. As I said, we've gotten hundreds of calls already and we attribute a lot of that you all's help of getting this out to the general public. And again, some of the calls that we've gotten immediately we know and can dispel those right there while we're talking to them. Others have more validity to them and those are the ones we're following up on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: So have they followed up on them? Well, they conducted searches in various spots in the Waco, Texas, area but they have not found a body.

We asked a very specific question, though. Have you found any evidence? That question they won't answer.

Now we talked about the persons of interest. And one of those persons of interest is a friend, a player also on the Baylor University basketball team. His name is Carlton Dotson. Carlton Dotson lives in Hurlock, Maryland. He was interviewed by police last week.

Today, my colleague Bob Franken caught up with Dotson's cousin in Hurlock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WATERS, CARLTON DOTSON'S COUSIN: As far as I know, authorities have interviewed him last week.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From Waco or here?

WATERS: Waco, Texas, police. I'm sure authorities from here had to be with Waco police. And he was questioned and released.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Now it is believed that Dotson is still in the state of Maryland. It's not known when or if police will talk to him again.

Judy, back to you.

WOODRUFF: All right. Gary Tuchman joining us. Very troubling story. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Homicide>


Aired July 2, 2003 - 15:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: After backtracking yesterday, police in Waco, Texas, say they are once again treating the disappearance of a Baylor basketball player as a possible homicide.
But Patrick Dennehy's body has not been found and police say they have no crime scene.

With me now for an update on the case, CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman.

Gary, what is the latest on what the police are saying?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy has now been missing for three weeks and if the statements of the Waco, Texas, police are to be taken at face value, well, they have very little clue as to what happened to him.

At a news conference today, a police spokesman told us this quote, that basically, quote, "the case is not progressing as well as we would like it." That is certainly not good news in terms of solving this.

But the good news for the family of Patrick Dennehy, the 21-year- old, is they have not found a body yet in areas where they've been searching.

Authorities at the news conference today said it's so slow with trying to solve this case they're not even holding news conference any more until there's a development. They do say officially this is a missing person case, although they do believe that this young man is dead.

They say they have persons of interest who they're investigating, but no official suspects as of this point.

They do want to get tips from the public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ANDERSON, WACE POLICE SPOKESPERSON: The exact number I'm not sure. As I said, we've gotten hundreds of calls already and we attribute a lot of that you all's help of getting this out to the general public. And again, some of the calls that we've gotten immediately we know and can dispel those right there while we're talking to them. Others have more validity to them and those are the ones we're following up on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: So have they followed up on them? Well, they conducted searches in various spots in the Waco, Texas, area but they have not found a body.

We asked a very specific question, though. Have you found any evidence? That question they won't answer.

Now we talked about the persons of interest. And one of those persons of interest is a friend, a player also on the Baylor University basketball team. His name is Carlton Dotson. Carlton Dotson lives in Hurlock, Maryland. He was interviewed by police last week.

Today, my colleague Bob Franken caught up with Dotson's cousin in Hurlock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WATERS, CARLTON DOTSON'S COUSIN: As far as I know, authorities have interviewed him last week.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From Waco or here?

WATERS: Waco, Texas, police. I'm sure authorities from here had to be with Waco police. And he was questioned and released.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Now it is believed that Dotson is still in the state of Maryland. It's not known when or if police will talk to him again.

Judy, back to you.

WOODRUFF: All right. Gary Tuchman joining us. Very troubling story. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Homicide>