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Saturday, July 19 Updated: July 22, 9:03 AM ET Dotson disputes any agreement to leave Bears Associated Press |
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WACO, Texas -- Two days after making a voluntary statement to police in the mysterious disappearance of a teammate, a former Baylor basketball player told a newspaper he has been treated unjustly by the university. In a brief interview with The Dallas Morning News on Saturday, Carlton Dotson declined to say what he told police but took issue with coach Dave Bliss' contention that Dotson had agreed to leave the team. "Me and Coach Bliss never had an agreement that I wasn't coming back," Dotson said in a report for Sunday editions. "The agreement was, he was going to stand behind me, whatever decision I made. I told him that I would stay, and I was going to support Baylor in any which way that I can." Dotson lost his basketball scholarship this spring and was not expected to play at Baylor next season. Patrick Dennehy, Dotson's roommate and teammate, has been missing since mid-June. On Saturday, Waco police released three photos to the media -- two of Dennehy's black 1996 Chevrolet Tahoe and another of a Baylor bear claw design on the vehicle's windshield. Sgt. Ryan Holt said he hopes someone will remember seeing the vehicle between Waco and Virginia Beach, Va., where it was found June 25 in a strip mall parking lot. Dotson voluntarily went to Dorchester County Sheriff's Office near Hurlock, Md., on Thursday to make a statement about Dennehy's disappearance. He was never in custody and was not arrested, leaving the office with his high school basketball coach. Holt would not discuss what Dotson told authorities, except to say it would not change the course of the investigation. Police briefed Dennehy's family on the statement. "From my understanding, (Dotson) didn't really say anything that had any bearing on Patrick's case ... any actual information or anything they needed," Dennehy's stepfather, Brian Brabazon, told the Dallas paper. "I'm kind of exasperated, just because it looks like there's a lot happening, and then nothing happening at the same time." Dotson's attorney, Grady Irvin Jr., did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Saturday. Authorities said Friday they were trying to determine if a 9mm handgun found Thursday at a Waco apartment complex near Baylor is related to Dennehy's disappearance. According to a search warrant affidavit, an unidentified informant told Delaware authorities that Dotson told a cousin he shot Dennehy as the two argued while shooting 9mm guns in the Waco area. Friends have said Dennehy and Dotson told them they bought guns because they had been threatened. Dennehy's girlfriend told police that he had been threatened by a man named Harvey, according to the affidavit. Harvey Thomas, who transferred from Fredericksburg, Va., to play basketball for Baylor this season, lives at the apartment complex where the gun was found, some neighbors said. Thomas' stepmother, Tempia Thomas, has said that police questioned him. Other players also have been questioned. Police have said Dotson is not the only "person of interest" in the case, but have not named Thomas. |
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