Police Question Players About Disappearance

Police in Waco, Texas, have been questioning Baylor basketball players in the disappearance of a teammate, who authorities fear may be a victim of homicide.

Authorities have not found a body, but they say Patrick James Dennehy, 21, hasn’t been heard from in more than two weeks, and his sport utility vehicle turned up abandoned in a parking lot last week in Virginia Beach, Va., with its license plates missing.

Baylor player Ellis Kidd Jr. was quoted as saying in Saturday’s editions of the Dallas Morning News that police talked to a group of team members who hadn’t left for summer vacation.

“They just wanted our help,” he said. “We just started having meetings with them. We don’t know nothing. Everybody’s shook up. We don’t know what’s going on. It’s unknown.”

Carlton Dotson, who was on the team last season and lives in Hurlock, Md., told the newspaper he was told not to talk about the case.

“I had to talk to police today, and I told them everything I can tell them and everything I knew,” Dotson said.

Several team members did not immediately return messages left by Associated Press on Saturday.

Waco police spokesman Steven Anderson said police have interviewed people other than Baylor players.

Investigators have searched Dennehy’s apartment at least twice in recent days, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Saturday. They also sent at least one detective to Virginia Beach to examine Dennehy’s vehicle, Virginia Beach police spokesman Jimmy Barnes said.

Dennehy’s stepfather, Brian Brabazon, criticized Baylor officials, saying they seemed aloof and brushed off any foul-play theories when he first contacted them.

“Nobody did anything,” Brabazon told the Tribune-Herald. “I was doing all the calling. Nobody at that school did anything until the police department was involved.

“I think they should have at least called us or called somebody after Patrick went missing for three or four days.”

A school spokesman said coaches have kept in constant touch with Dennehy’s mother.

“The coaching staff was very diligent in contacting the proper authorities when Pat first disappeared,” Baylor spokesman Scott Stricklin said.

Investigators believe the 6-foot-10, 230-pound center from Santa Clara, Calif., may have been killed in the Waco area, but authorities wouldn’t say what led them to that conclusion.

Coach Dave Bliss read a brief statement Saturday afternoon.

“Right now, the team, the university and all the members of the Baylor family and myself are in tremendous disbelief about the recent events,” Bliss said. “If fact, no part really seems real.”

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USC offensive lineman Winston Justice, 18, is free on bail and awaiting a July 8 court date after being arrested in a prostitution sting in Long Beach.

Justice, a tackle from Long Beach Poly High who started 12 games as a freshman, was taken into custody Tuesday evening after soliciting an undercover officer in a sting at Pacific Coast Highway and Temple Avenue, Long Beach Police Sgt. Paul LeBaron said.

“He was by himself,” LeBaron said. “The female officer posed as a prostitute and was working one of those areas where there are a lot of complaints by people in the neighborhood. He happened to stop and attempted to solicit her.”

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Diving

Olympians Troy Dumais of Ventura and Laura Wilkinson of Spring, Texas, repeated as champions in the U.S. Diving Championships at Indianapolis.

Dumais won the men’s three-meter with a score of 665.49 and Olympian Mark Ruiz finished second with a score of 660.96. It was the 16th national title for Dumais, who trails Greg Louganis (47) and Ruiz (19) on the men’s list.

Wilkinson, the Olympic platform champion in 2000, scored 497.49 to win her sixth 10-meter platform title since 1997.

Sara Hildebrand finished second with a score of 461.70.

Boxing

Eric Morel (33-0) won a unanimous decision over Isidro Garcia (22-3-2) at Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and retained his World Boxing Assn. flyweight championship.

Joe Calzaghe (36-0) defended his World Boxing Organization super-middleweight title, rallying from his first-ever knockdown to stop former two-time WBA champion Byron Mitchell (25-3-1) in the second round at Cardiff, Wales.

Tennis

Fourth-seeded Chip Hand defeated top-seeded Jack Li, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3, and third-seeded Gary Sacks beat second-seeded Brandon Wai, 7-6 (8), 6-3, in the semifinals of the Southern California Tennis Assn. junior sectional championships at Fountain Valley.

Hand and Li beat Jason Mossembekker and Jonathan Sanchez, 7-5, 6-1, to win the boys’ 18 doubles title.