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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Informant Says Teammate Shot, Killed Patrick Dennehy

Aired July 2, 2003 - 07:08   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the investigation into the disappearance of college basketball player Patrick Dennehy. Information from an informant led investigators to a field where Dennehy may have had a fatal altercation with teammate Carlson Dotson.
Now, both play for Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and our Gary Tuchman is there.

Good morning -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning to you.

Police have searched a 50-acre area north of where we are in Waco, Texas, in the town of Leroy, Texas, where that informant says Patrick Dennehy was shot and killed. But police found no body. They're not telling us if they found any additional evidence.

Patrick Dennehy has now been missing for three weeks.

Furor was caused by a legal document that was released. It was an affidavit for a search warrant. On that affidavit, it stated that this former teammate, Carlton Dotson, shot and killed Dennehy. The legal document says Dotson then told his cousin about it. His cousin told an informant about it. The informant told police, and that's what the affidavit says.

Now, this is very important to stress: There is no evidence whatsoever that the informant knows what he's talking about or is telling the truth. This is not legal evidence. It is simply written down by a police officer to get permission from a judge to search computer records.

Nevertheless, Dotson is being called "a person of interest" in the investigation, along with other people who are said to be "persons of interest." That's a term that police like to use when they don't want to use the term "suspect."

Either way, Dotson is from Hurlock, Maryland. That's in Dorchester County, Maryland, east of Washington, D.C. He played for his high school basketball team, helped them win a state title in Hurlock, Maryland. He lives in a small home there on the eastern shore of Maryland. It's been very quiet outside the home. No police presence whatsoever.

He hasn't been talking very much, but he did issue, Carlson Dotson, a statement to "The Washington Post." He said -- quote: "I have hired a lawyer, and from now on everyone is going to have to go through him. I want everyone associated with this to know my prayers are with them."

So, once again, Carlson Dotson not a suspect officially; a person of interest. And Patrick Dennehy, not dead officially, and that's very important to stress. Police are still hoping this is just a missing person case and that they find Patrick Dennehy. But it's fair to say they're not particularly hopeful.

Miles -- back to you.

O'BRIEN: Gary, that "Post" piece says Dotson is talking to authorities. What do we know about that?

TUCHMAN: Well, Dotson was interviewed last week by police. We asked police what was said during the interview, what the significance was. They won't tell us, but it's significant to note that they're still saying he's "a person of interest."

O'BRIEN: And one other thing they say is that Dotson and Dennehy obtained those firearms perhaps together. Do we know much about that?

TUCHMAN: Well, we asked yesterday the president of the university of what the -- here at Baylor University in Waco, Texas -- by the way which happens to be the world's largest Baptist university, 14,000 students -- what the rules are for firearms on campus. And the rules are you're not allowed to have firearms on campus. So, they're saying that people are not legally allowed to have guns here, so it's not clear if guns were involved, and that's big if, where the guns were gotten from and where they were kept.

O'BRIEN: Easy to get too far ahead of ourselves in this one. Gary Tuchman, thank you very much.

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