Baylor Bears Basketball Murder (2003)

That's A Crime
Episode 02: Baylor Bears Basketball Murder (2003)

Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez break down the true crime story of the Baylor Bears Basketball Murder in 2003. On June 12, 2003, Carlton Dotson, a college basketball player for Baylor University, murdered his fellow teammate Patrick Dennehy.

Original Episode: S01E02

Recorded: 04-14-21
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

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Transcript

Jason Connell: 5:51:06

Welcome to Just curious media. This is that's a crime. I'm Jason Connell.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:51:11

And I'm Sal Rodriguez.

Jason Connell: 5:51:12

Well, Sal, here we are back for Episode Two. And today we are covering the Baylor Bears basketball murder from 2003.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:51:23

Yeah, well, this is an interesting case, because I personally am not a follower of NCAA sports. Yeah. So this is sort of me peering into a world which I'm sort of unfamiliar with.

Jason Connell: 5:51:33

It's true. And after covering DB Cooper, our initial episode of that's a crime that dates back to 1971. But a crime that I knew about forever and wanted to launch this new show with this particular episode. I do remember, but the fact that it deals with Baylor and their college program, and having gone to Oklahoma State, which is also in the big 12 conference and a rival of Baylor, I remember this case, Sal, and not only do I remember it from the basketball program, and Baylor, but the fact that we just finished March Madness, and Baylor Bears won the title, just kind of put this back on my radar, and I felt like it was timely. We needed to cover it now. And I'm surprised more people weren't talking about this, while Baylor went on their trumpet run recently.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:52:24

Well, that would have been a downer. Like, everybody's all excited celebrating that people are like, Hey, you guys put down that trophy for a second member. The murder like that would have been a buzzkill.

Jason Connell: 5:52:34

I thought there'll be some mention in some sort of memorial way, or hey, we did this for it just hadn't come up. And you know, it's been a long time. This is 2003 or in 2021. So I get it. But it resonated with me, because I'm not a Baylor fan, but I'm close enough to the conference. But that's what made me want to make it episode two, because it made me want to go back and read about it and learn more about this case. And I was definitely familiar with when it happened.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:53:01

Yes. Well, let me ask you, Jason, because, you know, I assume everybody who's over six foot plays basketball. Do you have any background in basketball?

Jason Connell: 5:53:08

I do. Man. I used to be a gym rat. Yeah, yes. I was addicted to basketball. Loved it. Now I'm not 66676 10 I'm six, two and a half.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:53:18

Yeah, but to me, you might as well be. Exactly.

Jason Connell: 5:53:22

It's funny. I'll play basketball. Sometimes. It's like you're the center. I'm like, I'm the center. And like pro ball, I'm a guard. Yeah. Now I'm more of a power forward and no, I loved playing. I was totally addicted. I played a lot in on my youth I played for schools I played in leagues. And more recently, I played in Los Angeles at my old club, the LA Athletic Club and the gymnasium there the John Wooden basketball court, we would just have open basketball nights open gym, and we would run for ourselves. So yeah, I love it. But as I segwayed more into soccer and martial arts, I have not played as much basketball in recent years.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:54:04

I'm proud to say that I was very good at horse and around the world. Ooh, nice. Yeah, never actual games but horsing around the world. As a matter of fact, I even want to Elementary School Championship in around the world. Very well done around the world is your game when you're five foot eight, or you go you shoot granny style? Hey, if that's what the person before we did in horse, if the guy before he would call or shoot? Yeah, yeah, you got to do whatever they do.

Jason Connell: 5:54:29

Well, back to this. This case deals with the unfortunate murder of Patrick Dennehy who was a basketball player for Baylor. And the murder occurred on June 12 2003. And Sal one of the worst parts about it is that he was shot by a teammate of his on the Baylor Bears basketball team,

Sal Rodriguez: 5:54:48

not just the teammate, but apparently his best friend and roommate. So it goes even further than that.

Jason Connell: 5:54:53

Yes. And this led to the demise of Baylor basketball, and the scandal the cover up and, and everything else. Yeah, it's quite a story. And again, triumphant now, but at this point in time and the basketball program in athletic program, it was about as low as it can be.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:55:13

So wait, when was the last championship you said they'd never won one and bass never and men's basketball. Oh, okay. Never before. Okay, so this was the first interesting Okay,

Jason Connell: 5:55:22

yeah. So I'm ready to jump in wherever you are. Yep.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:55:26

I'm all set because I have a lot of questions.

Jason Connell: 5:55:30

So Patrick James dinner he was born January 28 1982. And was born in Santa Clara, California, just up the way near SF if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, definitely.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:55:40

I have relatives in San Jose relatives in Sunnyvale. And that is all I believe, part of Santa Clara County.

Jason Connell: 5:55:46

Patrick was 610. So a great height for basketball player and he transferred to Baylor from the University of New Mexico following his sophomore year in 2001 2002. So it saw this happens a lot in athletics. Maybe you're familiar, maybe not. But a lot of college transfers, especially in basketball and football. But they'll go somewhere. Maybe they put some weight on or have some production. And all of a sudden the bigger universities are more attracted to him than maybe they were coming out of high school. So not uncommon at all and Baylor is a much bigger university not to put University of New Mexico down but Baylor's in the big 12, a power conference. So he transferred over and he redshirted that first season. So are you familiar with that term?

Sal Rodriguez: 5:56:32

I actually had to google that Jason, can you explain a little more what red shirting means?

Jason Connell: 5:56:36

So red shirting means you're just not going to play that year. You don't lose any eligibility, but you're on the program. You can practice with the team, you're part of the team, you're just not going to play because you only have so much eligibility and college athletics, only four years I understand right and he already had played at University of New Mexico so your redshirt him a year get him into your program. Then he has whatever eligibility has left but you don't waste years haven't a football a lot you bring in like a redshirt freshman. And sometimes if there's injuries, you can take the red shirt off and you can play them and then that year would just count against their time.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:57:12

So the whole point is to kind of give them an extra year sort of what sort

Jason Connell: 5:57:16

of it's allows you to coach them up. I guess sometimes you want guys to bulk up or see how things work. They're they're working on stuff and practice. There's a million different reasons. If someone's ready to go though and you have a need. You don't have to redshirt him. It's really at the discretion of the coach.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:57:31

Sure. Otherwise, you're expecting everybody that goes zero to 60. All of a sudden, exactly.

Jason Connell: 5:57:36

Danny, he was prepping to play for the Baylor Bears in the upcoming 2003 and 2004 season. Carlton Dotson was a junior power forward on the team and also a friend of Denise who had transferred to Baylor in the summer of 2002. So Sal, he actually played for Baylor for one year already.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:57:57

But was there a time when Dotson and Denny actually played together? So no,

Jason Connell: 5:58:02

unfortunately, Denny he never even got to play an actual game for Baylor he was there getting ready part of the program but never played where his friend Carlton had already played one year for them. I see. Yeah. And so in the summer of 2003 report surface that Dennehy and Datsun, very good friends, were concerned about their safety now. So this is where the story gets a little bit wonky for me. There's like what's going on here?

Sal Rodriguez: 5:58:32

Yeah, because you know what, there's no other information. I mean, what does that even mean concern for their safety? The rest is just speculation as far as what that means.

Jason Connell: 5:58:40

Exactly. And this is a different time. We don't have the level of social media, or camera phones or video phones yet. So you know, there's a lot missing. There's a big hole. These are two friends, all of a sudden they're concerned about their safety. Did they get into an argument with someone else? Who knows what was at play, but it led them to go and purchase pistols and a rifle. And they started practicing on targets at some farm north of Waco.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:59:07

So now when I hear waco Of course, I think of David Koresh in the Branch Davidians, which I think happened sometime in the 90s, I

Jason Connell: 5:59:12

think. Yeah, exactly. It's a good 10 years before this.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:59:15

Yeah. So unfortunately, more blood on the flag of Waco Unfortunately,

Jason Connell: 5:59:20

yes, indeed. And so, during this time, Danny, he's friend Daniel Capponi, said he spoke on the phone with Danny he on June 14. And Denny he said that he was worried about threats made to Datsun by two teammates. So so now we're bringing more teammates into the fold.

Sal Rodriguez: 5:59:39

Yeah, I mean, this is unprecedented. We don't have either in pro sports are college sports, teammates threatening the lives of other teammates. This isn't something that happens.

Jason Connell: 5:59:50

Very rare. Indeed, Sal, some of this does not add up. And then dinner he also indicated that he and Dotson would be at a party the following day at which neither appeared. Now let's go back to that date that a Capponi mentioned That's June 14. Unfortunately, Patrick was killed on June 12 2003. So we've already got some sort of cover up job happening here.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:00:15

Wait, so Danny, he died on the 12. And yet acompany says he spoke with him on the 14th.

Jason Connell: 6:00:20

Exactly. Okay. I mean, this sort of at this point in time, loosely reminds me of the Aaron Hernandez case. Or he and others took another party out, killed them. And then did these really bad cover up jobs. And so very similar, although in this instance, we're talking about teammates and friends and saying other teammates are threatening us. So things again, are not adding up. So over the next few days, there were indications that something had gone wrong. And then his mother and stepfather, Valerie and Brian Brabazon were concerned that they had not received calls on Father's Day and dennah his roommate Chris Turk returned from an out of town trip to find that dinner his dogs had not been fed in day He's,

Sal Rodriguez: 6:01:07

you know, as a pet owner, as a person who has had animals his whole life, sometimes before I leave the house, I will give a little extra food just in case I don't come back. It's a horrible thought. But I do think of what if I don't return, at least my animal has a few more days of food.

Jason Connell: 6:01:25

That's really kind of you. And I think about these things all the time like this. In this instance, my heart goes out to of course, the dinner, he's in the family, but also the dogs. So I totally get it. But now things are starting to go off. So this chain of events here, no call on Father's Day, I'm assuming he had a great relationship with his parents. And obviously, he cares for his dogs. There are some signs.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:01:50

Yeah, well, you know, what's good is when you know people, and you know their habits, if your son doesn't call you on Father's Day, you know, there's a problem, right? You know, something's wrong, the red flags go off. And so I think that's why it's really good when you have family and friends who, who see hey, something's not right here.

Jason Connell: 6:02:06

Exactly. So then on June 19, the ROB Hassan's filed a report with the Waco police department that dinner he was missing. And then on June 25, Danna Hayes, Chevrolet Tahoe was found in the parking lot of a mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia with its license plates removed. You're not good, Sal?

Sal Rodriguez: 6:02:27

Well, yeah, it's also getting very sloppy, you know, it's, yeah, for a first kill. This killer is sloppy.

Jason Connell: 6:02:34

This is often the cover up job of something that escalated to murder. And then this is either a group of people or a person who are way out of their element so

Sal Rodriguez: 6:02:43

well, it brings up the idea of premeditated murder or not premeditated, right. It's almost like this is sloppy enough where you think this was not necessarily premeditated.

Jason Connell: 6:02:52

Yeah. So then an informant in Delaware told police that Dotson who is home now and Maryland confided in a cousin that he had shot and killed Danny heat during an argument while firing guns in the Waco area.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:03:09

No, no. See, this is where it all starts to go downhill for this guy. Well, okay, I'm not gonna say like, if he is the killer, he is the killer. He's been convicted. Yes. But see, that's what I mean, why I don't think this was premeditated because this whole thing is just very sloppy after data, his death.

Jason Connell: 6:03:22

Absolutely. There was a cover up, Danny, his car was moved states away without plates. And now you're confiding in someone about what you did? Yes, sell bad moves. You'd always be better off going out and saying, Hey, this happened. During the midst of this. We had a fight. But yeah, all signs are starting to point to dots and at this point in time, and on July 21, Dotson was charged with his murder and taken into custody in Maryland.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:03:53

Yeah, I mean, so sloppy, I'm thinking that if he did kill his friend in the heat of the moment, some sort of moment of extreme anger or passion, he kills his friend and roommate. You call the police immediately. Exactly. Running. What do you think you're gonna get away? I mean, come on. So yeah, very, very sloppy. He's played his cards all wrong. That's what leads me to believe that this was not premeditated, because how could it be the sloppy if it was? And what about

Jason Connell: 6:04:17

Daniel Capponi? Sal, with his Oh, I talked to Danny, he just the other day, you know, two days after he had already been killed? Like, what's his role? Is he an accomplice in this? There's no more mention of him.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:04:29

Yeah. And no charges have been brought on him to my knowledge. So he was somehow involved in some sort of cover up. But yeah, I don't think he's listed as a suspect or an accomplice.

Jason Connell: 6:04:39

No. So while this is happening, while Dotson is taken into custody, the search for dinner he continues because there is no body at this point in time until July 25. Four days later on, they discovered a badly decomposed body and a gravel pit near Waco and was taken to Dallas for an autopsy.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:05:01

Yeah, very gruesome, because it gets even more grotesque when we find out about what happened to the body. Which brings us additional speculation because during the talking about but go ahead, Jason, tell us what happened with the body.

Jason Connell: 6:05:14

Well, so the following day, the medical examiner's identified the body as Dan Hayes, and on July 30, his death was ruled a homicide after a preliminary autopsy report showed that Danny, he died of gunshot wounds to the head and upon discovery it into his remains the head and body were discovered in separate locations.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:05:34

Yes, yes. Okay. So you and I have read and seen many documentaries and crime stories true crime. The head does not get separated. They're trying to say that scavenging animals separate a den of his head from his body. And okay, fine, if you want to believe that because the other idea would be that Dotson attempted to remove Denna his head from his body, which makes it even more horrific.

Jason Connell: 6:06:00

Yes, you're absolutely right. And it's illogical thinking. So, first of all, and this is really unfortunate. And it's sad that this even happened. And to get into speculation, sometimes I feel a little bit like I'm crossing the lines here, but you have a man who is 610. Yeah. And you know, so he's already not just going to be your average person who they can't really identify based on his whereabouts. And maybe the idea was to sever the head because people know that they can identify people through their dental records or whatever reason, it's a lot of illogical thoughts going around. Maybe they were successful, maybe not. But something happened. I agree with you. I doubt that it was animals that did this, because this is not a frequent thing that happens with bodies found in shallow graves or, or what have you. What's shocking to me, Sal, is we just don't even get these answers out of Dotson when he is convicted.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:06:53

Well, we get some information about him possibly suffering from hallucinations and hearing voices. Right. So then you think, well, a person like that might be able to do something as gruesome, you know, it's one thing to shoot somebody, right. It's one thing that's horrible enough, but then to attempt to decapitate someone, that's extra horrific. But then if you think the person who potentially did that was possibly psychotic, had incredible mental problems, hallucinations, hearing voices, then you think, well, maybe that person can do such a thing. So the whole idea was that Dotson might have been completely out of his mind to do something like this to do more than just kill your friend, but to then dismember his corpse. Yeah.

Jason Connell: 6:07:32

And then on August 7, memorial service was held for Dennehy in San Jose, California. Now, in 2017, Sal, there was a Showtime documentary called disgraced, which really did a deep dive into this. And I only recently learned of this documentary and plan to see it. I saw snippets, I saw the trailer, I saw some different scenes and thought, oh, wow, I need to see this. I'm interested. I don't know if there's any big revelations, other than a lot more about the basketball program, which we're going to get into as we move forward. But it really makes me want to see it just to see what else is out there.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:08:10

Yeah, definitely have to see it, especially after doing this podcast. Absolutely.

Jason Connell: 6:08:13

And so now we're getting into the court case and subsequent to his August 2003 indictment 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 and four months time

Sal Rodriguez: 6:08:35

you got to plead insanity. I mean, if any of us are ever accused of murder, and we did it, you got to plead insanity. That's that's what you got to do.

Jason Connell: 6:08:43

So leave your pet more food than they need when you leave. And you got to plead insanity sounds takeaways,

Sal Rodriguez: 6:08:51

you know, it seems like our court systems give quote unquote, insane people, you know, a little bit of a past I say a little bit of a pass. I'm thinking there's this case from Canada happened a few years ago, where one guy decapitated another on the Greyhound bus began to then eat at his flesh. It's such a horrific story. Oh my gosh, okay, so that killer is walking the streets today. And they say as long as he takes his medication, he'll be okay. So that guy was quote unquote, insane, killed somebody and is walking the streets today. Speaking of I believe Datsun is up for possible parole, as we speak,

Jason Connell: 6:09:29

yes, or later this year. Back to the case. Three psychiatrist, 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. Among other issues. Dotson believe people were trying to kill him because he was Jesus.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:09:50

I used to know a guy at the gym. And this is absolutely true. When I used to work in a gym in Studio City, there was a big muscular guy, almost Herculean and physicality, would go around telling everybody he was Jesus. And at first I thought he was joking. I thought he's being silly. This guy was serious. He walked around the gym, telling everybody that he was Jesus Christ. And after a while, I'm like, Okay, this guy is not all there, you know? So, but the good news is if you do commit a crime, you start talking, that sort of thing. People start thinking that you're crazy. But guess what, you can't really prove that you can't prove that you're insane. You can't prove that you're having hallucinations. You can only try to make doctors believe that you're telling the truth.

Jason Connell: 6:10:26

Well, in this case, even dotson's ex wife noticed that he was hearing voices take that for what it's worth and 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.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:10:49

Again, you see, because you can't prove any of that. If you are missing a leg. You can go look, you're missing a leg you can prove it as far as like I'm hearing voices. Well, it's just your word, I guess, you know.

Jason Connell: 6:10:59

So dotson's plan worked for a little while, but now he's back facing the charges as a saint arson. And on June 8 2005, five days before his trial for murder was to begin Datsun with two court appointed attorneys. Both Baylor grads mind you, as was the judge what unexpectedly pleaded guilty to killing Patrick Denny?

Sal Rodriguez: 6:11:27

I wonder what caused that? Like, how do you just do a 180 like that? You go from

Jason Connell: 6:11:31

insanity, to now you're gonna face these charges in this trial. And then five days before you just say you murdered him. This makes no sense. Now, is it a coincidence that all these Baylor grads are at play here? And I think this is part of the storyline of the documentary again, which we're going to watch after this, but very interesting. And then on June 15 2005, just a week or so later, Dotson was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:12:04

I almost feel like the legal counsel and the judge all being Baylor alumni. I feel like that would be a conflict of interest. Wouldn't it be?

Jason Connell: 6:12:12

I would think so too. And they wanted their guy. They wanted this thing to go away. Again, I'm just speculating here. But yeah, let's wrap this up. Baylor's gotta move on. This is a black guy on the program. And that's that, like, if you're gonna stand trial, maybe they talked him into not going through the trial, and he stood a better chance to live, maybe it was going to be the death penalty. And if you admit to it, you can at least live out your days. And you'll be up for parole at some point in time. But yeah, this is a huge change. And again, these facts I just learned to what little bit I saw of the documentary.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:12:50

And here we are, he's eligible for parole in December of 2021. And I'm telling you if, for you and I and all of our listeners, if you watch and read enough true crime, you will know that right now, as you're listening to this, there are people who committed horrific crimes who are out there walking the streets on parole.

Jason Connell: 6:13:10

Yeah. Well, he was actually denied parole in December 2020. Yeah, but he's back up again later this year. Just to go back for one second. In December of 2005. Datsun wrote a letter seeking permission to appeal his case. But in January of the following year, a judge ruled that Dotson had forfeited his right to appeal when he pleaded guilty.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:13:33

Yeah, okay. So no appeal when there's a guilty plea. Yeah, it makes sense, I guess. Yeah.

Jason Connell: 6:13:39

Dotson is currently an inmate of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and incarcerated in the John B. Conley, unit near Kennedy, Texas.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:13:49

Okay. So Jason, we're going to start getting into the university reactions soon. But as far as motive, you know, when it comes to murder, there's always motive. Why what is this just the case of jealousy? He was just jealous of his roommate. His roommate was redshirting. It. He was jealous of him. Danny, he had more hope. Maybe Maybe he was a better ballplayer? Why did he kill him? What was the motive for this murder?

Jason Connell: 6:14:15

That's a great question. As soon as I brought this case up to you had read about it and thought, what is the motive? Yeah, this has been your main quest, in this case, and I'm with you. I don't know how good of friends were they? Were they really scared of something? Or they just bond over gun? Some people just have activities they do together? And was it just that's how they bonded and then some sort of fight escalated? It could have been something so small and silly. I don't know if I by all this fear factor going on and then to other teammates. So I don't think there was motive other than argument gone wrong. hotheadedness

Sal Rodriguez: 6:14:52

Oh, hang on the JSON. So you also have that they were fearing for their safety thing? What the hell was all that?

Jason Connell: 6:14:58

I don't know. If I buy all of that, Sal, I think they just bonded over guns. And an argument just went south. I mean, it can happen. Yeah, you were kept saying it wasn't premeditated, because if it was dots, I wanted a much better job of setting it up. And then maybe make it look like an accident, as opposed to gunshot to the head. Right? Like, oh, I shot him in the leg and he bled out and he would have done something smarter. So I just think it was two guys. Maybe they're drinking maybe they have an argument over something and it does go south and Daniel Capponi was he around? Was he shooting guns at them at this place? So I want to question him more but we don't know the motive and I'm shocked that's never come out.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:15:39

I mean, look at former Vice President Dick Cheney. He accidentally shot and by the way, I'm holding up air quotes here. It Cheney accidentally shot his friend while they're hunting. Yeah, so you could always say accidental, right you but running you don't flee and take off in their car and take off the license plate. Yeah, it just becomes a whole big mess. But unfortunately, I'm gonna have to just write this off. I think it was some sort of a jealousy I don't think it was necessarily a fear aight, I think that he did shoot him, I don't think was premeditated, but I do think in the moment some sort of anger or resentment came out, he did shoot his friend twice in the head, and then take off and try to cover it up. Now the whole decapitation, we can speculate that all day, so let's forget about that for a second. But I think it was a crime of passion, and then an attempt to flee become a fugitive and cover up. That's what I think this was but unfortunately, I think could have boiled down to possibly a lot of jealousy. Okay.

Jason Connell: 6:16:34

I'm not gonna dispute that. I also believe that was a crime of passion. But I think sometimes an argument can go too far. And yeah, maybe it escalated. Maybe it came from the basketball court over and maybe there was some of that stuff you're talking about at play. But I don't believe when they went up to go shoot that day that this was dotson's plan. I think we both agree on that.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:16:54

Yeah, probably not. I would probably say not.

Jason Connell: 6:16:57

So the day Dan and his body was identified the current standing president at the time of Baylor University, Robert B. Sloan Jr. made a speech to the public where he described the discovery as having the community's worst fears being realized, and that it was a heart wrenching loss. And then he along with many other representatives from Baylor attended Danna his funeral. So Baylor University also held a campus wide memorial for Dennehy on August 28 2003. Now, Sal, this definitely deals with university reactions and everything that be but the other side of this owl was all of the allegations that the NCAA brought forward against Baylor University. And this all happened after dinner, he's disappearance and death. But the men's basketball coach, the coach who recruited Danny he, and Dotson and put this team together, these charges were coming towards him, because I cover up

Sal Rodriguez: 6:18:01

well it has to do with Denny's tuition or his actual right to be in the school and how's he paying for the school and you're not allowed to pay for students? Can you fill us in a little bit about that? What NCAA rules are college players are to be official amateurs. Unpaid? Yes,

Jason Connell: 6:18:17

that is correct. Now, they might get full rides, scholarship, meals, whatever, but not to be paid. Now I went to a big college program. I'm gonna play for them. But I was there at Oklahoma State when we made a run to the Final Four and 1994 got all the way to the final four last UCLA in a very close game who went on to win the title that year. So that program was pretty renowned. They had big country Bryant reads top five in the NBA Draft. They had Randy Rutherford, a great shooter, and they had a great coach and Eddie Sutton. He had had a an amazing run rest in peace Eddie Sutton at many programs, taking several of them to the tournament and having great success never won a title but had great teams. So we had a great run for X amount of years there. Now so I don't want to throw my old school under the bus. But we saw things with the student athletes up close and personal knowing some of them going to parties. They're not allowed to have a job at least not back then. But yet they're driving around and brand new cars not all of them come from money a lot of them don't lie the boosters and donors gift these things. Sure. I saw it firsthand. And there's a movie called blue chips which is really great William freakin love his work to live and die in LA which you can hear on the let's talk movies podcast as we break that movie down but exorcist French connection so many more but blue chips, he tells that whole story he shows a basketball program with Shaq and all these other players. And JT Walsh plays a donor who's amazing in that movie Rest in peace, JT Walsh, but he's like paying the players and yeah, it happened, Sal. We've seen it. I'm pretty sure it happened here.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:20:04

Yeah, bliss paid the tuition for Danny and another player. And also they didn't report players failed drug tests. But like, to me this pales in comparison to the murder. But what happened is this opened up the Pandora's box and revealed all the scandals. It's right.

Jason Connell: 6:20:19

It did reveal it. And I'm not exactly sure what happened. I would venture to say that Dennehy and Datsun and probably other Sal are being paid how they were being paid. I don't know. I don't know if they're saying bliss paid$40,000 of tuition for Danny in another player. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, I thought tuition was covered because that's part of the perk of being a student athlete if you're on scholarship, so I'm not sure what was going on. But I do know that bliss was part of a cover up and the fact that he had given any money and once then he passed away bliss was continuing this cover up long after dinner he had been murdered and buried. And he was saying, hey, the only person who knows that I gave him money is dead. There's audio recordings of bliss, talking This way to other people, which is insane style.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:21:11

To me what really brings coach bliss drags him down. He drags his own character down really is he asked players and an assistant coach to lie to investigators by saying den he paid his tuition by dealing drugs. So right now, he's defaming the deceased bliss. This is where he lost me. Right? Yeah.

Jason Connell: 6:21:31

Thanks for bringing that up. And you're absolutely right. It's despicable. It's unforgivable. Yeah. What if this didn't come out? And this is the new narrative, and then his family's like he was a drug dealer. It's unconscionable. You cannot forgive this. And yeah, so I guess maybe he wasn't on full ride. Maybe he didn't. He wasn't so bliss, took it upon himself to make these payments. And yeah, I tried to cover it up. I'm not trying to justify bliss, his movements or his tactics, but he lost two players, Danny and Dotson. The program is reeling. So he's acting incredibly desperate. And thank goodness, one of these assistant coaches got this on cassette tape, because this is back in a different era. It's like BIOS or micro cassette recorders. Yes. That we used to carry around to school. Yeah. And so he got him on there. And of course, when this came out, so this led to Bliss being banned from any coaching from the NCAA for at least 10 years.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:22:28

You know what I would say, if he hid the failed drug tests, if he paid for a dental he's tuition? I'll say fine, given the 10 year ban, fine. But once you say, Hey, everybody, let's say that data he was selling drugs and that's how he paid his tuition at that point. Sorry, bliss. You are banned forever. Yeah. I

Jason Connell: 6:22:50

don't know why. It wasn't forever, either. Yeah,

Sal Rodriguez: 6:22:52

I mean, what's with this 10 year stuff? That guy tried to disgrace someone who was murdered absolutely horrible person.

Jason Connell: 6:22:59

And Baylor didn't even fire bless he resigned due to the scandal. Yeah, he should have paid a bigger price for this. So it was despicable. It was a black guy. And listen, it took the program to nothing you can imagine who wants to go there now, right? I don't even know if all the players even stayed. No,

Sal Rodriguez: 6:23:18

no, no, no, I understand. Some players transferred. They allowed them immune transfer if they wanted to. Yeah,

Jason Connell: 6:23:25

let alone what the program is looked upon now as but just emotionally. I know, Danny, he was a great friend Dotson as well, this happened. He just want to move on in life and distance yourself from this whole tragic incident. So on August 22 2003 32, year old Scott Homer Drew, took the head coaching position of the men's basketball team at Baylor University. Now south, this is not a job that most people would go near.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:24:01

No, I mean, you're basically stepping into a train wreck effectively.

Jason Connell: 6:24:05

Yeah, I mean, recruiting is impossible, you'd probably have minimal, if any scholarships to offer players to come there. But Scott drew took it over. And it was also a very late coaching change, because practice was only two months away. So the first game was only a few months out. And of course, his top players, as we just talked about, had transferred. The programs in shambles, Sal, but I remember seeing videos now, like just recently because of what just happened of him then in 2003, saying, you know, he's going to come there, get things right, right, this ship, do good by Baylor, and we're gonna compete for championships, people probably thought he was insane.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:24:50

You know what? You got to hand it to the guy, somebody who would do that somebody who would step into those shoes. Gotta hand it to him props to shut up for sure.

Jason Connell: 6:24:58

Yeah, exactly. So despite all this, the program was also put on probation until 2010. And paid scholarships and recruiting visits were significantly reduced, as I just mentioned, and post season play was also canceled for the 2003 2004 season. Which means even if you did qualify, but this team was not going to based on everything that was happening, you couldn't even go on and play. So with all of these handicaps, Scott true, led the bears to an eight and 21 record in 2003 2004. I would say Sal, that eight wins more than they probably should have had that one one more of the following year. So the program's kind of floundering, but rightfully so. So then this past season 2020 2021, the Baylor basketball team went 28 and two, and we're ranked number two in the nation behind Gonzaga or the two teams met and the March Madness, NCAA division one men's basketball championship game. What are the bears 186 to 70 beating an undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs

Sal Rodriguez: 6:26:07

so Baylor went into it 20 And into and that means much like a fighters record 28 wins two losses, right? Correct. Is that a record? That sounds like that would be a record? Well, Gonzaga

Jason Connell: 6:26:19

was undefeated. Holy cow. Wow. So they were going to try to be the first undefeated team in many decades to just went at all. But they were not just beaten. They were manhandled in that game. 86 To 70 I watched it. Baylor's defense was suffocating. Their offense was unbelievable. He has built a powerhouse program. Well, yes, it took 1718 years. But he came through on his promise to the program. And not to mention, even last year before the pandemic actually stopped the NCAA March Madness from happening, they canceled it last year. So because that's right when things happen in March, so it was just cancelled. Well, the Baylor Bears were soaring high, I think they'd only had four losses last year. So he has this team on this trajectory for all these years. So who knows where they would have been last year. But this year, the fruits of his labor paid off, he's got a team and not just a team, he's probably paved the way for the program to shine for years to come. So again, I don't want to overshadow the loss and the tragedy of what happened to Patrick Dennehy. But it's a nice story to see that the program can rise from the ashes and the right man was there to lead them through this unlike Dave bliss, which was the wrong man that led not only there was there a cover up, but what kind of coaching and tutelage are you doing when you're having that type of thing? Go Wrong on your watch?

Sal Rodriguez: 6:27:47

Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, that whole our own teammates are threatening us. I mean, yeah, what the hell's going on and what should be a family and and then it's right under dateless so you know, this story has a villain. It has a victim and it has a hero, I think in the name of Scott Homer Drew. I mean, yeah, to bring Baylor to where it is today. Very interesting success story. But it brings to mind though, right around this time, when the murder happened, how it affected the morale of other sports, other Baylor sports. I mean, you know, what did this do to the baseball team, the football team? How did it affect their morale? You know,

Jason Connell: 6:28:22

I don't know. I do know that. Unfortunately, this isn't the only black guy on the Baylor Bears programs. The football team had its own scandal many years later. 2016 art Briles his highly coveted football team which we're getting better and better with every year, or at the cusp of getting into the national championship games they hadn't but they were just getting better and they were knocking on that door. It's a hard door to have knocked down I should say on the so many teams tend to be in those games, but he had his team there. And a huge scandal came out a very different scandal. So it was a big cover up with lots of players involved with sexual or violence towards women. It's not as if Briles was the ringleader. But he knew and there was a cover up

Sal Rodriguez: 6:29:10

and these cover up something horrible happens. And then people cover it up. I keep thinking of Penn State. Yes, Sandusky, right.

Jason Connell: 6:29:18

Sandusky and yeah, so PA, Joe Paterno knew about it actually reported it, nothing happened. And life goes on. Well, then, of course, this all comes to light and he's ousted and then he didn't even live that much longer. Sal so yeah, cover ups are often just as bad as the actual crime.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:29:36

I mean, you look at the Catholic Church though all the cover ups with the molestation and the priests and the way that our culture works as if something horrible happens. And then everybody just comes out and says, Hey, this happened. Let's deal with it. Let's all work together to you know, have justice or to resolve it. That's one thing and I think that humans and people can be very forgiving. But the cover ups man these cover ups are what just make something horrible, more horrible.

Jason Connell: 6:30:02

Yeah. By the way, have you seen the movie spotlight? Best Picture? No, no see the movie. It gets into the Catholic Church and how they broke the case. Wonderful film. But yeah, it's terrible and to happen in this case, as well. Of course, the real crime is the fact that we lost Brian Dennehy far too young. But his legacy lives on. Let's hope. And that's why I think Sal that I was hoping for some sort of mentor not to be a downer on where Baylor's at now, just to make sure it never happens again, not just at Baylor, I mean, anywhere something like this. And sometimes you can raise awareness just by kind of revisiting it, which is why I thought This podcast was important. You know, we're just beginning it's a second episode. This show is that's a crime. We cover all things from a misdemeanor to a murder and we were going to ease our way in because the first episode was about this amazing heist, and it's a little bit more lighthearted. And this comes right out with a murder but it was a sense of timing. I felt it was important to However now

Sal Rodriguez: 6:31:07

yeah, no, I think it's good to have a tribute to Dennehy at a pivotal moment where you celebrate your victory, but then also see Danna, he is a part of the Baylor basketball legacy exam. So I think to invoke his image and to invoke his name is incredibly apropos. A suitable and respectful

Jason Connell: 6:31:24

absolutely well said. And let's hope that if Carlton Dotson who's definitely aged and had time to reflect and he's in prison, and if he ever gets parole or does it, maybe there'll be more, maybe he'll share more as he has grown. Let's hope. You know, maybe we will get the full story at some point in time. I'm not holding my breath. But you never know.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:31:45

Have they done any interviews in the last few years?

Jason Connell: 6:31:48

I don't know. But I know you and I are going to be watching the Showtime documentary. We'll see what else we find out. But yeah, this has been very enjoyable to explore this today. And I know Sal and I got our start together on Let's Talk Cobra Kai, which is a really fun show that covers Cobra Kai and karate kid. But you co host sometimes on Let's Talk movies, which we do deep dives into films. But I have other interest as Do you. And we have another shared interest in crime and all things crime. So I'm really excited about this show. And the format and we'll continue to investigate or talk about various crimes.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:32:26

Yeah, because you know, one of my things about crime, my interests personally are a how a crime is solved. And that's why Forensic Files is my personal favorite. I want to know how they solve that crime down to the hair fibers. Right? Right. But also, it brings me great joy, when a guilty person is put away. If you're an evil person, if you're a predator, and you're put away that makes me happy. So I hope that every time we have a story like this, someone is murdered in cold blood, especially a murderer. I do hope that the perpetrator is put away.

Jason Connell: 6:32:58

And the only thing I like better than that is an innocent person getting out of jail.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:33:02

Oh, that's great. Yeah, well, yeah. But they want to, you know, cheat them on how much money they give them. Right? They don't want to pay up. Yeah, if an innocent person gets out of prison, pay up, give them money.

Jason Connell: 6:33:13

Yeah. So thank you so much for listening. And please be sure to subscribe to that's a crime wherever you get your podcast. You can also really help us by giving the show a five star rating on Apple podcast.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:33:24

And for all you listeners that enjoy sharing your thoughts. You could leave us a review on Apple podcasts, send us a direct message or post a comment on our social media which is at just curious media.

Jason Connell: 6:33:34

We also highly recommend checking out our other podcast and visiting just curious media.com