The Murder of Patrick Dennehy and The Baylor Basketball Scandal

As I mentioned in my last blog I have watched several documentaries on Amazon Prime lately. One of them was called Disgraced. It was released through Showtime in 2017 and revolved around the murder of Patrick Dennehy and and how his disappearance revealed a scandal at Baylor University.

Patrick Dennehy spent his freshman and sophomore years of college in New Mexico where he played on the basketball team. In the summer of 2003 he transferred to Baylor University in Waco Texas. He had been recruited by the head basketball coach, David “Dave” Bliss. Bliss had a bit of a shady past but the problem is that few people knew about it and it seems that those who did know did not talk about it. Not long after Patrick got to Baylor he was driving around in a new Chevy Tahoe. Patrick's family believed that he had gotten an athletic scholarship to go to the prestigious, Baptist college.

Patrick quickly became friends with fellow teammate, Carlton Dotson who had played one season at Baylor. Not long after Patrick arrived a man named Harvey Thomas also arrived as a new recruit to the basketball team. Harvey stayed a few days with Patrick and his roommate, Chris Turk, until his apartment was ready. Harvey's cousin, Larry Johnson came a few days after that to visit. According to friends, family and even the new assistant coach, Abar Rouse, Patrick and Carlton reported an incident with Thomas and Johnson. According to Rouse, Patrick and Carlton told him of an incident in which Larry Johnson had threatened the two men with a gun and Harvey Thomas was involved. Apparently Patrick and Carlton did not feel that anything would be done and the two men went into town and bought two pistols and a rifle. They were known to go out to a farm and do target practicing.

On Friday June 13, 2003 Patrick did not show up for his classes. It was assumed that he had maybe gone home for the weekend early. On Sunday June 15^th Patrick's stepfather had not received a call from him for Father's Day as he normally did. On Monday when he did not show up for class the school, and Patrick's family made contact and realized he had not been seen since the Thursday prior. Patrick's roommate Chris Turk had come home on Sunday to find Patrick's dogs had not been fed. Patrick's friend from home, Daniel Okopnyi, informed people that he had talked to Patrick on Thursday. Patrick had told Daniel about the threat to him and Carlton and Daniel offered for them to come to his house. Soon after Patrick went missing Daniel went to Patrick's apartment and discovered a half-packed bag, presumably to go to his home. Daniel left, taking Patrick's dogs with him. On June 19^th Patrick's parents filed a missing persons report. On June 25^th Patrick's Tahoe was found in Virginia Beach Virginia. The plates had been removed from the vehicle. Investigators learned that Carlton Dotson's home was not far from there and they knew he was home with family and decided to go and interview him while they were in the area. Carlton's interviews with investigators both then, and later were filled with fantasy. It seemed pretty clear that Carlton was having mental issues that included delusions. He believed that he was Jesus and that people (real, and not real) talked to him because of that. To be fair I do not recall what information that Carlton gave the investigators at that first interview in late June but obviously he did not confess to anything.

Sometime between the first interview with Carlton and July 21^st the investigators heard from an “informant” in Delaware. They were told that Carlton had told a cousin that he had shot and killed Patrick. On July 21^st Carlton Dotson was charged with the murder of Patrick Dennehy. At this time Carlton did confess to shooting Patrick at the field in which they had been known to use for target practicing. He claimed he had shot Patrick in self defense. Four days later Patrick's decomposed body, or the parts that animals had not ravaged, was found. Rumors flew that he had been decapitated but medical experts believe that this was due to animal activity. Carlton would be extradited back to Texas to face charges. While still in Virginia Carlton was represented by an attorney who appeared in the documentary highly criticizing how things were later done in Carlton's case.

On July 30, 2003 Patrick's Dennehy's death was officially ruled a homicide. He had died from not one, but two gunshot wounds to the head. The evidence revealed that one of those shots likely occurred while he was laying on the ground. It was more than a year later, in October of 2004 that Carlton was officially declared incompetent to stand trial. Three psychiatrists agreed that he suffered from hallucinations and psychosis, but all thought he could possibly get better with treatment. Four months later, in February of 2005, he was deemed competent as long as he continued his anti-psychotic medications. However, I found it interesting that psychiatrists had deemed him incompetent, while psychologists deemed him competent. Many will say the main difference between the two is that psychiatrists can prescribe medications while psychologists cannot but I still find it interesting in this case.

Carlton's trial was set to begin on June 13, 2005, two years and one day after the murder of Patrick Dennehy. On June 8^th Carlton pleaded guilty to the charge of murder and a week later he was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison. This was a surprise to Carlton and his family because allegedly his attorney's had indicated that he would received a much lighter sentence. He attempted to appeal the following December but was informed that he had forfeited that right with his guilty plea.

It was pointed out that the judge in Carlton's case, as well as his two defense attorney's were all Baylor alumni. Now, I am sure that this happens quite often in the area since Baylor has a large presence and considered to be very prestigious but in this case it seemed a bit inappropriate and many have asked questions about a conflict of interest here. See, while the investigation first into Patrick's disappearance and later involving his murder was going on another investigation was going on at Baylor. The second investigation began as an investigation into NCAA rule violations and ended up being so much more. It has also been alleged that because of all of the other things going on at Baylor, particularly involving basketball coach, Dave Bliss, that Carlton and Patrick's report of being threatened was not taken seriously or reported properly and was a direct result in the two men purchasing guns, one of which was ultimately used to murder Patrick. In the process of all of this Baylor itself and presumably it's alumni were making attempts to first distance themselves as much as they could from the scandal but also attempting to keep things as quiet as they could. It has been alleged that not only did Carlton's attorney misrepresent him in allowing him to plead guilty and what they may or may not have stated to him but that the judge also gave such a long sentence to put to rest any connection between what had been going on at Baylor in the basketball department at the time and Patrick's murder. But, I will let you decide that on your own as you hear about the other things that had been going on. According to the Texas Department of Corrections Carlton is eligible for parole in January of 2021. It also states that his projected release dates is not until July of 2038, when his sentence is maxed out.

So, when Patrick disappeared on June 12, 2003 and nothing in the case moved forward for a while other things began to be questioned and it almost became a snowball affect of actions. Initially all of the questions seemed to surround the fact that Patrick's girlfriend, friends and family were reporting that in the days leading up to his disappearance Patrick and Carlton had reportedly been threatened by a fellow teammate. Head basketball coach, Dave Bliss, first reported knowing absolutely nothing about this “alleged” threat and later going as far as telling the media that the threat was a lie and had never happened, nor had a threat been reported. Assistant coach, Abar Rouse would say publicly, if not then, then later, that it had been reported and that Bliss knew about it. Then again, unknowingly it would be revealed to the public that Bliss did in fact hear about the threat at least before he was telling the media he had not heard anything about it. It seems as if at least from a friends and family standpoint they believed this threat, allegedly from teammate Harvey Thomas and his cousin Chris Johnson, was the cause of Patrick's disappearance. I should state that Harvey Thomas has adamantly denied that he ever threatened Patrick or Carlton and claims he has no reason to lie. As far as Chris Johnson goes, it is unclear if investigators ever spoke to him but when it came to the documentary there was an attempt to reach him and he refused comment.

There were also questions about how Patrick's tuition was being paid and how he had paid cash for a new vehicle. Patrick's family believed that he had received an athletic scholarship and it is quite possible that Patrick also believed this, but the latter is unclear and likely will never be known. The NCAA, Baylor officials and the police would quickly learn though this was not true and Dave Bliss also knew that it would not take anyone long to find out that Patrick had not been accepted to Baylor on a scholarship. For his part, Dave Bliss would come up with a plan but for that plan to work he had to not only get his assistant coaches on board, he also had to get his players on board.

Abar Rouse had only been on the job a few weeks when Patrick disappeared. He has said that it was his dream job. He claimed that soon after Patrick disappeared Dave Bliss informed him of his “plan” and threatened his job if he did not “play along.” Bliss planned to not only plan to completely dismiss the idea that Patrick and Carlton had come to the coaching staff about the threats by Harvey Thomas and Chris Johnson but he also planned to plant the idea that Patrick's tuition had been paid by Patrick himself through dealing drugs. Now, it does appear that marijuana use by many of the players, probably including Patrick, was pretty common. I say this because when their investigation was was over the NCAA found that the coaching staff had been aware of the drug use as well as failed drug tests and against NCAA policy had failed to report it. And, while drug use was discussed in the documentary it does not appear that anyone really disputed it in any way. Now, drug dealing on the other hand was a whole different story. Rouse would also claim in the documentary that just after Patrick disappeared he was “ordered” by Bliss to put Chris Johnson on a bus for home with a ticket that he claims Bliss paid for. This could explain why it appears that Chris Johnson was never interviewed by the people investigating Patrick's disappearance.

Now, what Rouse did next not only blew the case wide open it also all but “self banned” him from ever being a coach at that level again. Rouse bought a tape recorder and began taping Dave Bliss speaking not just to him but to the players. Rouse turned those tapes over to his attorney who allegedly was only supposed to turn them over to the NCAA investigators but they made their way to a journalist. In fact, in a case full of controversies, this became another one. Rouse would later sue his attorney claiming that those tapes were to only be given to the NCAA and were attorney/client privilege. While the attorney would claim that she had no idea how they were transcribed or given to a journalist, the journalist claimed they came from the attorney herself. It is not clear as to the outcome of Rouse's case against his attorney.

As I stated however, the tapes blew the case wide open. Bliss was heard on the tapes not only admitting to knowing about the threat that Patrick and Carlton had reported, but he is also first heard setting up his plan to paint Patrick as a drug dealer and later coaching players on how to report this to investigators. While Bliss would be forced to resign by Baylor, fined and punished by the NCAA as well as sued by Patrick's parents, Rouse was blackballed from coaching. At the time of the documentary he was working at a prison as an instructor. And, in fairness he seemed very happy and stated he enjoyed his job. No one would necessarily come out and defend the actions of Dave Bliss per se but there was a lot of talk about how many felt Rouse had betrayed Bliss.

Not only was Bliss' claim that Patrick was a drug dealer that paid for his tuition with drug money blatantly false the fact that he tried this tactic at all made little sense. Bliss has openly admitted that the second that the NCAA began looking not only at Patrick's school account, but into his personal account he knew he was busted. The conversations recorded by Rouse laid out not only how Bliss planned to frame Patrick to the public as a drug dealer but they also included conversations with players and how he told them to practice the story over and over so they could sound convincing to investigators both from the police department and the NCAA. Then the truth came out and Baylor forced Bliss' resignation on August 8, 2003. Not only did Bliss not stop there when it came to his behavior relating to Baylor, further investigation into his past revealed this was not the first time he had violated the rules, and not surprisingly, it would not be the last.

Before I go into Bliss' past and most current violations I will go into the actions he took after resigning from Baylor. It had been discovered that on top of paying Patrick's tuition, as well as giving him the money for his vehicle and paying for other things, Bliss was also paying the tuition of another player named Corey Herring. Now, remember when I said that Patrick may have in fact believed that he was at Baylor on a scholarship and did not know Bliss was paying his tuition? The reason I stated this is because that apparently was the case when it came to Herring. Then, after his resignation Bliss flew to New York City to take to Herring's mother. It is alleged he asked her to lie about Bliss paying them over $18,000. It was also said that he later pretended to be Herring's father when he called the financial aid office at Baylor to “check on payments” made to Herrings account. It is believed he did this to determine what evidence the school and the NCAA would find.

Dave Bliss received what is called a “10 year show cause penalty” which means that he was not allowed to coach for a NCAA school for that period of time and the penalty would follow him. The basketball program also took a hit from the NCAA and they did not have another winning season until 2008. However in the 2019-2020 season they had their best season ever in their history and have seemed to finally gotten past this scandal.

Bliss was never charged with any crimes though and that does not sit well with many. He was accused of extortion, obstruction of justice and witness tampering considering the police were doing a murder investigation and he was instructing possible witnesses to lie. Bliss was sued by Patrick Dennehy's family and they settled out of court. I believe the case revolved around the fact that Bliss had attempted to defile Patrick's reputation.

When Bliss first started out coaching he was an assistant to Bobby Knight, the infamous Indiana University basketball coach. Living in Indiana all my life and during the period in which Knight's coaching was quite amusing to say the least, I found it interesting that Bliss had learned under him. Bliss and Knight worked together for two years in the late 60's and then again for four years in the 70's at Indiana University. After leaving IU, Bliss went on to be the head coach in Oklahoma for five years. Then in 1980 he went to Southern Methodist University (SMU). While Bliss was at SMU coaching basketball the football program there got in trouble with the NCAA. I did not delve into their violations but they received the NCAA's harshest penalty, referred to as the “death penalty.” It is when a school is banned for a period of at least one year in competing in sports for the NCAA. From my understanding despite the allegations being for the football team, the penalty covered all sports. It was said that Bliss and his conduct was investigated and they found he was doing similar things that he would later do at Baylor, such as paying tuition and buying players. But, it was said that since the NCAA had already imposed the death penalty on SMU they did not see it worth the trouble in delving deeper into Bliss. Soon after it seems that Bliss resigned from SMU and went to New Mexico from 1988-1999 before going to Baylor.

After Baylor it is not completely clear where Bliss went to work but he was apparently eligible to coach for a NCAA school in 2013. It was said that Bliss dove into his Christianity, wrote a book and basically did speaking engagements about his past issues. In 2015 Bliss went back to work as a head coach at Southwestern Christian University. He was working there when in April of 2017 the documentary Disgraced aired on Showtime. Bliss soon resigned because once again he had brought on controversy. Despite everything that had been proven against him, during a time in which he thought the camera was off Bliss made the following statement... “I didn't do anything. I said bad things about their kid. They knew he was a druggie. I got in the mud with the pigs, paid a price and the pigs liked it. He (Dennehy) was selling drugs. He sold to all the white guys on campus. He was the worse.” Bliss continued when he was confronted with the fact that there was no evidence that Patrick was a drug dealer and that no one that knew him, apparently even the teammates that Bliss tried to get on his side would confirm that.

In 2018 Bliss was hired as the athletic director and basketball coach at a K-12 charter school in Las Vegas. In 2019 the middle school was forced to forfeit two games for using “ineligible players.” One has to wonder why the man, now in his 70's does not just give up and retire considering he cannot follow rules set forth. Then again, schools keep hiring him.

Did Bliss murder Patrick Dennehy? Absolutely not, and no one has ever said that he did. However, if Bliss would have taken the threat that Patrick and Carlton reported seriously and either reported it to the police or at the very least even investigated it “in house” then maybe, just maybe, the two men would not have gone out and bought guns; maybe Carlton Dotson would have had a mental break in another way in which would have enabled him to get help; maybe Patrick Dennehy would be alive today. Bliss did not care.... he cared about first apparently winning and second, his reputation. He ignored the threat because it was about keeping all his boys, including Harvey Thomas happy and he probably thought that by ignoring the issue it would go away. Then in an attempt to save his career and reputation he concocted a fabricated story that made the young man who had been murdered out to be a criminal. If people could be charged and sentenced to prison for being vile human beings I have no doubt where Bliss would be.