WACO, Texas -- The estranged wife of former Baylor basketball player Carlton Dotson said Thursday that she spoke with Dotson on Tuesday and he told her he had nothing to do with former teammate Patrick Dennehy's disappearance, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald.

Dotson had been staying with Dennehy since May, Melissa Jill Kethley said.

	Dotson

	Dennehy

"They were friends. I don't see any reason why [Dotson] would kill him," Kethley said from her parents' Sulphur Springs home.

She said Dotson told her that he and Dennehy had received threatening calls and felt "that somebody was trying to get them."

Kethley, 21, said the men didn't know who made the threats and that Dotson never got the calls when she lived with him. She did not say why they separated in April after eight months of marriage.

Dennehy's girlfriend, Jessica De La Rosa, said she didn't think the two had a falling out. She last talked to Dennehy on June 11, and a few days later she called Dotson to find out where her boyfriend was.

"They were friendly teammates and recently had become closer as friends," De La Rosa of Albuquerque, N.M., said Wednesday.

A Baylor student who had been tutoring Dotson and was planning to room with him said the player was scared in the days before he left Waco and his teammate disappeared.

"He told me his life was in real danger,'' Kamrin Siddiqui, an accounting major from Pakistan, told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday's editions, adding that Dotson had a 9 mm pistol.

Siddiqui had agreed for Dotson to move into an empty bedroom in his apartment near the campus and that Dotson did move in about June 9 or 10, but left a couple of days later, the Pakistani said.

	“	They were friends. I don't see any reason why [Dotson] would kill him. ”
		— Melissa Jill Kethley, Dotson's estranged wife

On Wednesday, Dotson's cousin said Dotson is not in hiding and he hired an attorney because of all the media attention, not because of questions from police.

Chris Waters said Dotson is in his hometown of Hurlock, a rural community on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and hasn't been contacted by investigators since last week.

"I know he's well. I know he's not running and hiding," Waters said.

Dotson has been under investigation regarding Dennehy's disappearance, but he has not been charged.

Before Dennehy disappeared three weeks ago, he told a friend he was concerned about threats to his and Dotson's safety, a longtime friend said Wednesday.

Daniel Okopnyi said he urged Dennehy to come stay with him in Fort Worth so he could avoid trouble, but Dennehy at first refused, saying he had to protect roommate Carlton Dotson.

"He said, 'I've got Dotty's back,' " Okopnyi told ABC's Good Morning America.

Dennehy changed his mind about going to Fort Worth a few days later, saying on June 14 he would come and bring Dotson along, Okopnyi said. Okopnyi said Dotson had a shotgun they were using for protection, but they were "trying to trade it in for two handguns," he said.

Okopnyi said on Tuesday that Dennehy said in that telephone conversation that "someone is out to get me." But Okopnyi said the person who had allegedly threatened Dennehy wasn't Dotson. "Patrick told me that he and Dotson got the guns to keep themselves safe," said Okopnyi, who lives in the Fort Worth area.

That was the last contact anyone has publicly reported having with Dennehy.

Dennehy's stepfather, Brian Brabazon, said he contacted Baylor after his stepson did not call home on Father's Day, June 15, and his girlfriend called to say she hadn't heard from him since June 11.

He said someone had recently broken into Dennehy's SUV and stolen money from him, and that Dennehy had told Baylor coaches he was scared.

On Wednesday, Coach Dave Bliss released a statement saying Dennehy never reported to his coaching staff "anything about safety concerns or personal threats."

In an interview with ESPN.com's Andy Katz, Bliss said that he did not learn until June 23 or 24 that Dennehy had purchased a gun. He said that while the university allows students to have guns off campus, the team had a more stringent policy prohibiting guns.

"Given that policy, I would have approached Pat and made him aware of it, and we would have taken action. There's no need on Baylor's campus, and even off-campus, there is no need for a basketball player to have a gun," Bliss said.

According to school records, Dotson and Dennehy both arrived in Waco last summer on basketball scholarships.

Dotson was a transfer from Paris Junior College in East Texas and eligible to play. Dennehy, because of NCAA eligibility rules, had to sit out a year after transferring from New Mexico, where he was kicked off the team for losing his temper.

Dotson, a 6-foot-7 junior, married Kethley, his long-time girlfriend, after moving to town and the two moved into an apartment near campus.

On the basketball court, Dotson's role steadily decreased and by the end of the season, Bliss and Dotson agreed that Dotson should play elsewhere and his scholarship was dropped.

About the same time, Kethley sought a divorce.

Dotson's cousin, Chris Waters, said Wednesday that Dotson is still in his hometown, Hurlock, a small rural community on Maryland's lower Eastern Shore.

Dotson's cousin, Chris Waters, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Dotson is still in his hometown, Hurlock, a small rural community on Maryland's lower Eastern Shore. "I know he's well, I know he's not running and hiding," Waters said.

The family hired Grady Irvin, a St. Petersburg, Fla., attorney who represents athletes, because of media attention surrounding Dennehy's disappearance three weeks ago, not because of questions from police, the cousin said.

"This is a difficult time for the Dennehy family, the Dotson family and everyone who cares for Patrick and Carlton," Irvin said.

Police have not found the Baylor junior forward, don't know how his vehicle ended up on the East Coast and have not named Dotson as a suspect. A search warrant affidavit, citing a police informant, said Dotson had shot Dennehy in the head during an argument.

Authorities said Wednesday they have "received hundreds of leads" over the past few days and were investigating each one.

"Somebody out there knows what happened to him or they know where he is," Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson said. "We're hoping that person or persons will call in and give us that good tip and we can resolve this."

Search dogs found no sign of the 6-foot-10, 120-pound Dennehy when the FBI helped Waco police search about 50 acres of private land north of town last week, Anderson said.

Dotson, who played basketball at Baylor last season and had been staying at Dennehy's apartment, told a cousin he shot Dennehy as the two argued while firing guns, according to the affidavit that cited an unidentified informant in Delaware.

But authorities simply called Dotson a "person of interest" and said that they have no single suspect.

"We have nothing at all right now to indicate (Dotson's) a suspect. He's just a citizen. It's a missing person's case," said Chris Flynn, captain of the Hurlock police department.

No charges have been filed, Anderson said. He said a Waco investigator interviewed Dotson on Friday, but he didn't know whether police had spoken to him since the search warrant affidavit was made public Monday.

Irvin told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Dotson's family called him Monday and he flew to Baltimore to meet with them. He wouldn't discuss what Dotson told him or whether Dotson was involved in Dennehy's disappearance.

"It was a fruitful meeting and a very good meeting," said Irvin, who wouldn't discuss what Dotson told him or whether Dotson was involved in Dennehy's disappearance.

"This is a difficult time for the Dennehy family, the Dotson family and everyone who cares for Patrick and Carlton," Irvin said.

Dotson told The Washington Post, which did not cite his whereabouts in its story Wednesday, that he wanted "everyone associated with this to know my prayers are with them."

In Hurlock, Dotson's aunt, Pat Waters, said Tuesday that he returned to town for the summer and was at her house Sunday, but they didn't discuss Dennehy. She didn't know where he was Tuesday.

Waters said Dotson is "probably scared. He's not a person that talks a lot."

Dennehy's mother and stepfather, speaking Wednesday on Good Morning America, said Dennehy and Dotson were friends, and that when they spoke with Dotson, he seemed sincere and forthright.

They said Dennehy had no history with guns, though they knew he had told a coach he was worried about his safety.

"We never raised our kids to touch guns or even be around guns. We never kept guns in our house," Valorie Brabazon said. Not even toy guns, added her husband, Brian Brabazon.

The family reported Dennehy missing June 19, eight days after he reportedly was last seen. His sport utility vehicle was found last week in a mall parking lot in Virginia Beach, Va.

The search warrant sought in the affidavit was for Dennehy's room and the contents of his computer. It doesn't say if anyone else was present when Dennehy and Dotson allegedly were firing guns; according to the affidavit, Dotson said he got rid of the guns while driving home to Maryland.

A man who owns a Waco area farm searched by police last week told The Dallas Morning News for Wednesday editions that Dennehy and Dotson were seen shooting guns there on June 10, two days before Dennehy disappeared.

The property owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the two often visited the farm 21 miles northeast of Waco for sport shooting and fishing. The property owner's wife told the newspaper she saw Dennehy and Dotson in Dennehy's vehicle in Waco on June 12.

The two had met the property owner and his wife in March while responding to an advertisement for pit bulls.

Dennehy averaged 4.6 points in a reserve role with Baylor this season, his only year there after transferring from the University of New Mexico, where he was cut after losing his temper during practice. His playing time at Baylor declined, and he was expected to transfer to a lower-division NCAA school before next fall.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.