Patrick Dennehy

Patrick James Dennehy (born January 28, 1982 in Oakland, California, died c. June 2003) was an American basketball player.

Dennehy transferred to Baylor University from the University of New Mexico following his sophomore season in 2001-2002. After redshirting the 2002-2003 season (to comply with the NCAA's Division I transfer policy), he was preparing to play for the Baylor Bears in the upcoming 2003-2004 season. Carlton Dotson, a junior power forward on the Baylor basketball team who played two seasons at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas before transferring to Baylor University in the summer of 2002, was Dennehy's friend.

In the summer of 2003, Dennehy and Dotson indicated that they were concerned about their safety. They had purchased two pistols and a rifle and practiced firing them at a farm north of Waco. On June 14, Dennehy told friend Daniel Okopnyi that he was worried about threats made to Dotson by two fellow teammates. Dennehy also indicated that he and Dotson would be at a party the following day at which neither appeared.

Over the next few days, there were indications that something had gone wrong: Dennehy's mother and stepfather, Valorie and Brian Brabazon, were concerned that they had received no calls on Father's Day, Dennehy's roommate, Chris Turk, returned from an out-of-town trip to find that Dennehy's dogs had not been fed in days. On June 19, the Brabazons filed a report with the Waco Police Department that Dennehy was missing.

On June 25, Dennehy's Chevrolet Tahoe SUV was found in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia with its license plates removed.

An affidavit filed on June 23, which was unsealed on June 30, seeking a search warrant for Dennehy's computer says that an informant in Delaware told police that Dotson, who by now was at home in Hurlock, Maryland, told a cousin that he had shot and killed Dennehy during an argument while firing guns in the Waco area. On July 21, Dotson was charged with the murder of Patrick Dennehy and taken into custody in Maryland.

The search for Dennehy continued for several weeks until July 25, when a badly-decomposed body was found in a gravel pit near Waco and was taken to Dallas for an autopsy. The following day, medical examiners identified the body as being Patrick Dennehy. On July 30, his death was ruled a homicide after a preliminary autopsy report showed that Dennehy died of gunshot wounds to the head. Dennehy was buried in San Jose, California on August 7.

On October 28, 2004, Dotson was declared incompetent to stand trial by District Judge George Allen and was sent to a state mental hospital to be reevaluated in four months' time. Three psychiatrists, including one appointed by the court, said that Dotson appeared to be suffering from hallucinations and psychosis, but that he could regain competency to stand trial in the future.

However, in February 2005, Dotson was returned to jail after psychologists deemed him competent to stand trial but that he must continue taking his anti-psychotic medication. The psychologist also said that Dotson's accounts of hallucinations and hearing voices were "suspect."

On June 8, 2005, five days before his trial for murder was to begin, Dotson unexpectedly pleaded guilty to killing Patrick Dennehy. On June 15, Dotson was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after he has served about half of his sentence.

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