Missing Baylor basketball player's body found; roommate charged with murder

A devastating loss has been confirmed for the family and friends of Patrick Dennehy: Authorities recently found the body of the Baylor basketball player in a grassy-field near Waco, TX, after he had been missing for more than six weeks.

Two days after a badly decomposed body had been found, investigators found a head in the same field, a rural area about 5 miles south of Waco. The mystery surrounding his whereabouts came to an end when authorities combed through chest-high weeds in the same field near a gravel pit in which the body had been found and discovered evidence they say helped identify the 21-year-old player.

McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch announced that the Dallas County medical examiner's office determined that the body was that of Dennehy, a junior from Santa Clara, CA. Lynch did not specify what evidence was found, or the possible cause of death, and authorities have declined to say if a weapon has been recovered.

Carlton Dotson, a 21-year-old teammate of Dennehy, was arrested July 21 in his home state of Maryland on a murder charge from Texas in Dennehy's death. Dotson remains jailed without bond, awaiting an extradition to Texas. A hearing is set for Aug. 19.

Dotson was arrested after he called 911, saying he needed help because he was hearing voices, authorities said. Dotson told FBI agents in Maryland that he shot Dennehy after the player tried to shoot him, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. But after his arrest, Dotson told the Associated Press that he "didn't confess to anything."

Dotson and Dennehy arrived last summer in Waco on basketball scholarships. Baylor is the world's largest Baptist university with 14,000 students. The two have been roommates since spring.

Dotson was seen "during the late evening" on June 12 in Sulphur Springs, the hometown of his estranged wife, driving Dennehy's Chevrolet Tahoe, and told someone he planned to go to Maryland, the warrant said. Dennehy's vehicle was found abandoned, without license plates, in a Virginia Beach, VA, mall parking lot June 25.

Dennehy, a 6-10 center who transferred from New Mexico to Baylor about a year ago, was last seen on campus on June 12 or heard from since June 14; his family reported him missing on June 19.

Dennehy's family held hope that Dennehy could still be alive throughout the investigation. His mother and stepfather, Valorie and Brian Brabazon, and their teenage daughter were on their way back to their Carson City, NV, home after retrieving the player's belongings from Waco when the body was identified.