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Patrick Dennehy ////// 319

November 16, 2023 / 56:13

This episode covers the tragic case of Patrick Dene, a Baylor University basketball player who went missing in June 2003 and was later found murdered. The discussion includes details about Dene's background, his relationship with teammate Carlton Dodson, and the events leading up to his disappearance and death.

Patrick Dene was born in January 1982 in Santa Clara, California. He played basketball at Willcox High School and later at the University of New Mexico before transferring to Baylor University. His athletic career was marred by a torn ACL and tensions with teammates.

The episode details the timeline of events leading to Dene's disappearance, including complaints about threats from teammates and the purchase of guns for protection. Dene was reported missing on June 19, 2003, after his family became concerned when they had not heard from him.

On June 25, 2003, Dene's vehicle was found in Virginia Beach, Virginia, raising alarms about his safety. Carlton Dodson, who lived with Dene, was later arrested and charged with murder. The episode discusses Dodson's claims of self-defense and his mental health issues.

The investigation revealed deeper issues within the Baylor basketball program, including NCAA violations by head coach Dave Bliss. The episode concludes with Dodson's guilty plea and sentencing, leaving many questions about the case unanswered.

TLDR

The episode details the murder of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dene and the subsequent arrest of teammate Carlton Dodson.

Episode

56:13
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[Music] crime [Music] you know a question that a man always has to a ask himself when he goes
00:03:47
through something like I went through are you in a better spot than you were before was it worth
00:03:58
it and the answer to me is yes and the sooner man gets to Leading a life of transparency the better off he is and
00:04:09
you do that by making things simple but what we do because of sin things get complicated I mean every day the devil
00:04:21
would beat me up every single day the devil would beat me up and remind me of what a bad person I was and what that
00:04:29
does that that keeps harboring you know the crime and keeps burying you and what
00:04:36
you then you can't be of any use to [Music] anybody January 1982 Santa Clara California a baby is
00:04:58
born this is Patrick James Dene Patrick grew up to be tall and athletic he played basketball on the Willcox high
00:05:07
school team located in Santa Clara as a sophomore Dene averaged 20 points 14 rebounds and eight blocks a game
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afterward he transferred to St Francis High School in Mountain View he was rated a 1999 2000 High
00:05:26
honorable mention All-American by Street and Smith's magazine this despite missing half of his senior season due to
00:05:36
a torn ACL an injury that required surgery the high school star athlete then went on to play college basketball
00:05:45
a scholarship player at the University of New Mexico where he was listed as a 6'9 in tall backup forward as a freshman
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he played in 33 games and started two and was named the school's most approved player as a sophomore in 20012 2002 Dene
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now listed as a center started 28 games and played in 30 in total averaging 10.6
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points 7.5 rebounds per game and was named all Mountain West Conference honorable mention but remember friends
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the fall is always a lot faster than the climb Patrick Dene got into hot water with his coach and teammates this is
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after he stormed out of a practice leading Patrick Dene to be kicked off of the basketball team but Dene made enough
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of an impact on his team and in his conference finishing fifth in the conference in
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rebounds that he's going to get another opportunity he was offered a roster spot
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on the University of Baylor's basketball team where per league rules he would be
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required to sit out a year for making the transfer Baylor a proud Baptist University this is where Dene made a
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religious and personal transformation then after sitting out for a year Patrick Dene now 21 years old
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6'10 Ines tall and weighing 230 lbs was ready to play for the Baylor Bears in the upcoming 2003 2004 season and it was
00:07:25
looking like Baylor was ready to try to make a run at not only defeating the big
00:07:30
dogs like Texas and Kansas but making a run at winning the Big 12 championship this team seemed to be full
00:07:38
of transfers from other colleges one of those transfers was Carlton doson doson played for Paris Junior College in East
00:07:47
Texas and transferred at the same time as Dene but per league rules doson was allowed to play immediately Carl doson
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in his first year playing for the Baylor Bears played in 28 games and averaged almost 16 minutes a game but in 2003 a
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new Junior College transfer was making his way to Baylor this is Harvey Thomas head coach Dave Bliss believed Harvey
00:08:14
Thomas was the missing piece and informed Carl Dodson that his playing time was going to go down
00:08:21
significantly Dodson was going to leave the team in University and transfer again if he could find a school in early
00:08:30
2003 Carl Dodson and his wife split up Dodson goes to live with his good friend in teammate Patrick Dene in an apartment
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at some point doson answers an ad this is for a breeder who was selling pitbull puppies Dodson and Dene go to a farm to
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check out the pups there the two become friends with the property owners this is
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Darren and Tammy Cox but hold on to your horses cuz it's going to be become a bumpy ride pretty quick doson and Dene
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they go to their coaches with a complaint and this is not your normal type of complaint yeah they're not
00:09:09
talking about basketball or things related to their time playing their Court time any of that this is more
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serious this is they are saying that $300 was stolen from their apartment and that they were being threatened by some
00:09:25
of their other teammates it does not appear that any action was taken regarding these complaints but we know
00:09:33
that these complaints took place so these young men are going to take action into their own hands on June 2nd 2003
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they tell friends that they have purchased guns to protect themselves after the 5-day waiting period on June
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7th Dene and Dodson show one of their doggy friends Darren Cox two guns they say were purchased because because they
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were concerned about their personal safety they asked if they could practice shooting these guns at the farm and
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permission was granted yeah on June 11th Den's other roommate Chris Turk leaves for a trip Patrick Dene makes a
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long-distance call to his girlfriend in Albuquerque this is longtime girlfriend Jessica De la
00:10:25
Rosa on June 12th Patrick Den he attends his final class of the year two days later Den he tells his friend Daniel
00:10:36
that he is worried about threats to Carlton Dodson by two of their teammates he also tells Daniel that both he and
00:10:44
doson will meet him at a party the next day but neither Dene or Dodson ever show
00:10:52
up to this party so you have these roommates that go to their coach saying hey we got $300 that are missing
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and now we're getting these threats now I'm assuming that now that they're you know worried about these threats that
00:11:06
are coming from quote unquote teammates were these the threats that they talked about to their coach
00:11:13
earlier it appears that all of this is the same stemming from all the same story right the next day on June 15th
00:11:22
Den's mother and stepfather they find it very odd that they didn't hear from Patrick Dene on that day
00:11:29
this is Father's day yeah and he does not call home to to speak with his father on June 16th the other roommate
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uh Chris Turk and I say other roommate because remember we have Dene and Dodson and Chris Turk living there yeah this
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Chris Turk he returns from his out ofate trip and finds that Den's dogs have not
00:11:53
been fed in what he says he believes to be days now a few days go by and Patrick's parents still have not
00:12:01
heard from their son and in fact they are in the process of trying to track him down they want to know why they've
00:12:09
not heard from him where could he be what's going on with this young man well after talking with Patrick's friends and
00:12:17
his girlfriend they decide to step up the search and they actually report Patrick Dene missing on June 19th 2003
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now as anybody report in uh Carlton missing no no one is reporting Carlton missing and this is also why I included
00:12:35
some of the events leading up to when he's actually reported as missing so we have the other team the other roommate
00:12:44
Chris Turk saying hey I left for this trip and when I left everything was normal everything was fine right and we
00:12:50
know that Den he spoke to his long distance longtime girlfriend and everything was fine then
00:12:58
everything was fine they were actually planning on when they would see each other remember he had attended his last
00:13:03
class of the year but he might have met mention the threats to her or do we do we know that I don't
00:13:11
know that he did there's nothing to state that he did but what we do know is when Chris Turk returns from his out
00:13:18
ofate trip he's like look that's when things appeared weird to me everything was fine when I left I get back and his
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dogs appear to be starving they've not fed in days and oh by the way nobody has heard from Patrick Den including his
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parents who he very close to not calling on Father's Day and his girlfriend that
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he was very close to has not heard from him since that last phone call right the
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dogs maybe I mean you know little Frank he he acts like he's starving all the time even right after he just ate so but
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big red flag to go hey here's this guy that you know is getting on track to to play some basketball seems like a good
00:14:04
guy why didn't he call home Father's Day mhm well now we have the wakeo police department they're involved because now
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we have a missing person's report that has been filed so on June 23rd the Waco Police Department they file an affidavit
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seeking a search warrant this is for Den's computer they want to get into that computer see what was going on if
00:14:29
they can find a trail of breadcrumbs to lead them to Patrick Denny yeah now this
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next part certainly scared the hell out of Patrick's friends and family because on June 25th so this is 6 days after he
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is officially reported missing to police on June 25th Patrick Den's Chevy Tahoe is found in a mall parking lot
00:14:54
now this is way out in virgin Virginia Beach Virginia mhm So Not only would the 1,400 mil distance in the 21 hours of
00:15:08
driving time scare the hell out of me but the the vehicle is also found without license plates yeah this is not
00:15:16
good so somebody moved this vehicle this great distance 1,400 miles and tried to
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conceal it by removing the license plates police don't know how it ended up there or who moved D it there or if in
00:15:29
fact it could have even been Patrick himself yeah but then just 2 Days Later a statement is issued by police saying
00:15:37
the potential suspects in this missing person's case include Patrick's teammates in relation to this statement
00:15:46
amongst other aspects of this investigation a St Petersburg Florida attorney who is known to have represent
00:15:53
athletes says he has been hired by one of Patrick's teammates this is Patrick's quote unquote friend and roommate
00:16:02
Carlton Dodson the attorney says Carlton doson is at his home in Maryland and will not discuss the case well that's
00:16:12
interesting right what's pretty close to Virginia Beach Maryland and this poor young man has gone missing in
00:16:21
Texas during all of this the authorities back in Waco Texas have been conducting
00:16:27
ground in aial searches looking for the young man now most of these are conducted in large areas some of which
00:16:36
are large open areas and they seem to be focusing in on three areas in particular
00:16:42
one of them being the Cox Farm where right so this is where they became friends with the people that were
00:16:49
selling the puppy the puppies right and they also got permission once they became friends with these people to to
00:16:56
shoot guns and target shoot and practice shooting these guns on their property well we got a bunch of weird stuff going
00:17:03
on we have these two athletic men well we got three that are living together but everything seems fine other than
00:17:11
there was some money missing and that we have possibly some threats happening so
00:17:17
then these guys feel threatened enough that they're going to get guns to protect
00:17:22
themselves and now we have one of the one of the basketball players is400 miles away right and we have his
00:17:33
roommate his quote unquote friend saying hey I'm not talking about this and so July
00:17:40
9th we have Den's mother coming out and saying the coaches told her that her son
00:17:48
said he was being stalked so I wonder if that's something he said when he said hey we somebody took this money we're
00:17:55
being threatened and I'm being stocked I want if that's when he told the coaches
00:18:01
about that well and according to ESPN Patrick's mother said that that she and her husband they regret that their
00:18:11
son never alerted them about his fears stating that if he had Den's stepfather said quote I would have been on the
00:18:20
first plane to Waco on July 17th Carlton doson has a meeting at the DOR Chester County
00:18:29
Sheriff's Office in Delaware after which no charges are filed and Carlton walks out of this meeting a free man the next
00:18:39
day a maintenance worker at an apartment complex found and turned over to police
00:18:44
a handgun this is the apartment complex where Harvey Thomas remember the new kid
00:18:52
in town the believed to be missing piece on the Baylor basketball team this is where he lived
00:19:00
but then in a strange and surprising twist to some but not to all on July 21st Carlton doson is arrested in
00:19:10
Maryland and charged with the murder of Patrick Dene this is this goes down in a very
00:19:18
weird manner okay so as soon as police come out and because hold on because we have these two friends that live
00:19:25
together they both go to the coaches they they're fearful enough they say there's threats they're fearful enough
00:19:33
that they get guns and and now he's being arrested with the involvement of his friend's disappearance MH okay and
00:19:44
remember he's in Maryland and when we when the attorney for doson first comes out to the media and says look I'm
00:19:51
representing Carlton Dodson now he's staying in his Maryland home he's not going back to Waco Texas and he's not
00:19:59
going to be discussing this case with media at this time oh we do know that he has this meeting with the sheriff's
00:20:09
department now he's still in his hometown he's not back in Waco Texas yet the weird thing that comes out here is
00:20:17
when they interview him and they they allow him to leave they very quickly the sheriff's department very quickly tells
00:20:24
the media that he didn't say anything incriminating during the the course of this meeting he didn't say anything that
00:20:30
led us to believe that or would give us more suspicion than we currently have right even though he's all these many
00:20:38
miles away and the vehicle Patrick denes Chevy T Tahoe is found a lot closer to Carlton doson than where Pat went
00:20:47
missing from yeah yeah the arrest becomes it takes place because apparently Carlton dson called 911 dis
00:20:57
the dis dispatcher okay doson said he had an emergency and requested that the police be told where he was and how to
00:21:06
find him now some of what doson said to police has not been made public because it pertains to his mental condition so
00:21:16
protected information according to state law but what we learn is this he says he
00:21:23
was hearing voices and that he was afraid for his life Dodson told police that people want to kill him because he
00:21:32
is Jesus the son of God right yeah if he's Jesus the son of God people want to kill him okay he said he
00:21:41
was from a family of prophets and that he could see who was going to have him okay so this
00:21:51
is a new skill above his basketball skills yeah something like that yeah so this is a strange turn of events to say
00:22:02
the least you think right but can I just point out the obvious mhm wakeo this is not the first person from
00:22:14
wo that has claimed to be a prophet yeah what is in that water right right that's
00:22:21
that's a good question drink the water in Waco on the next episode we will be sampling water from Waco Texas no so
00:22:30
this gets a little more involved especially on Carlton dodson's part so he's essentially I guess turning himself
00:22:39
in and I'm sure that it's not quite clear to police what he's turning himself in for other than the fact that
00:22:46
he's saying hey I'm afraid people were going to kill me yeah so they get this guy to the police department and they
00:22:54
tell them hey you're safe here you need to tell us everything that's going on with you so we can protect you or or
00:23:00
what have you and this is when they're realizing our suspicions were correct this Carl
00:23:09
doson guy probably was involved with something that happened to Patrick Dene or he he's aware of it right to which
00:23:19
Carl doson never really denies killing Patrick Den in fact he goes on to say that that he did kill Patrick Dene but
00:23:30
this was in self-defense this was his argument was going to be a self-defense argument he says that at some point when
00:23:39
they went out to target shoot and to practice shooting these guns that Patrick Dene pointed a gun at
00:23:48
doson and he even he even pulled the trigger and doson says that the gun either misfired or or didn't fire at all
00:23:56
whatever happened right to which Carl doson responds by shooting Patrick twice we have this individual in custody
00:24:07
he's not denying murdering Patrick Dene but he's already putting together a self-defense argument for whatever took
00:24:17
place and then on top of that he's got some questionable things going on inside his head right so he believes that he's
00:24:24
Jesus he also believes that he's uh he's from a of prophets he also can tell whether or not people can go to heaven
00:24:34
or hell and he is feeling threatened at some point though he's feeling threatened it's I'm trying to
00:24:42
back it up a little bit because their roommates is it possible that he is hearing this stuff in his head and he
00:24:49
starts feeling that he's threatened and and so therefore therefore Den starts feeling
00:24:58
that or is he just going based off of what his roommate says I mean because if you live with somebody and you and you
00:25:05
come home and they go a couple people called us and they're threatening us and you don't know your roommate to
00:25:12
be he's not telling you that he's Jesus he's not telling you he's a prophet do you just believe that you see
00:25:19
what I'm saying I maybe I'm reading too much into it but we have two individuals
00:25:25
that go to coaches and say hey we f spring two individuals that buy guns was it just as it almost seems like
00:25:34
a schizophrenia thing happening with doson is he taking that and and making Dene believe him uh without without
00:25:44
actual evidence I think you're really on to something here because some things that we got to factor in here as well
00:25:51
Patrick Dene was not at Baylor University for a very long period of time I mean transferred there he sat out
00:25:59
a year these two individuals did not live together for that the entirety of that time we have we have Dodson who was
00:26:09
married he was living elsewhere it wasn't until his marriage fell apart that he ends up shacking up with Patrick
00:26:16
Dene and this other guy Chris Turk you really have to question how well did Patrick Dene in fact know Carlton doson
00:26:25
right they before this this what is now believed to be a murder they only lived together a handful of months before this
00:26:35
all went down and it gets very confusing here because I think you you've really hit
00:26:42
the nail on the head where you wonder if the the perceived Threat by Patrick Dene
00:26:49
is it just because it's the spillover factor from being roommates with this guy right because in the early reports
00:26:56
it states something to the effect that well we have Patrick Den we have the other roommate who says he comes out and
00:27:04
says Patrick Denny he was concerned about threats that Carlton Dodson was receiving right is this and then is this
00:27:12
Carlton doson later saying no no no no I'm they're threatening you too they're threatening all of us that live here
00:27:18
right right you're in on this now somebody broke into our home and stole money we're not safe here Hide your
00:27:24
children hide your wife hide your husband too and like said they did go to police whatever was going on at this
00:27:31
time whether it be real or something manufactured by Carlton doson or something that Carlton doson believed to
00:27:38
be real we know that that Patrick Dene believed this enough that he went with doson to the coaches to report this on
00:27:47
July 26th so this is just 5 days after Carlton Dodson is arrested police announced that they have found a badly
00:27:57
decomposed body in one of the areas provided to them by Carl doson the medical examiner's office would later
00:28:06
identify the body as Patrick Den an early report state that he died from gunshot wounds to the Head Patrick Den's
00:28:15
funeral service is held in his home state of California about 300 people were in attendance at this beautiful
00:28:23
ceremony at Jubilee Christian Church Center not far from his parents home this was a celebration of Patrick's life
00:28:32
much more so than to mourn his death the space was filled with friends family teammates and of course his longtime
00:28:40
girlfriend MC Hammer was present and gave a speech and told some [Music] stories
00:28:58
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[Music] Freedom all right cheers mates we are back cheers to you captain now question
00:31:21
for you this Carlton do doson did he also create the Yeezys but what I don't know what that
00:31:29
is because you know Kanye West thinks he's a prophet and he created the Yeezys it's a sh well there there are a lot of
00:31:38
complications with this week's case study and regarding just the case itself so the murder of young Patrick Dene a
00:31:47
basketball player at the University of Baylor and the murder charges brought forward by the State against another
00:31:52
Baylor basketball player or former basketball player whatever you want to call him him yeah this opened up a can
00:31:59
of worms and you know when you go to like somewhere like Costco or GFS and they have those giant can goods yeah I
00:32:06
would say this opened up a giant can of worms for the Baylor basketball program Costco size yeah so it turns out that
00:32:14
the Baylor basketball program well specifically the head coach Dave Bliss had violated several NCAA rules and
00:32:23
regulations several players were receiving Improv ER benefits and this was coach Bliss is doing one of these
00:32:32
players was in fact Patrick Dene now I'm just going to refer to him as Dave Bliss
00:32:39
from now on because in my opinion he does not deserve to be called coach or deserve the title of a coach a coach is
00:32:46
someone who should be a leader and should be a teacher and he was working with young adults and in fact this this
00:32:56
guy is is so disgusting he's a complete weasel of a man that in order to cover up some of his own Mis dealings yeah he
00:33:07
was ready to he had a plan and his plan was to blame a lot of this on the murder
00:33:14
victim Patrick den and we know this to be true because of a very good man that was in this in this case and this is
00:33:23
assistant coach Ral so the assistant coach one of many he is in these meetings with with
00:33:31
Dave Bliss and he's like wait my boss a lot of this stuff is not adding up what he's saying to us in these
00:33:39
meetings right this dude does not seem to be on the up and up and this coach this assistant coach is learning of Mis
00:33:47
dealings that he was unaware of it wasn't like that from from the top to the bottom everybody knew what was going
00:33:54
on and in fact coach Ral what he gets he gets this great idea he's like you know
00:34:00
what this guy Dave Bliss is a terrible person and I'm not going to go down with this guy so he starts bringing a tape
00:34:09
recorder to these meetings and hold on he comes up with this idea all on his own yeah okay and
00:34:17
so good for him so during one of these tape recorded conversations between Dave Bliss and assistant coach
00:34:25
Rouse well you can clearly hear Dave Bliss stating a couple things that they needed there were some tracks that they
00:34:33
needed to cover and specifically this was $200 or I'm sorry $2,000 that was made as a down payment
00:34:42
on the Chevy Tahoe that Patrick Den was driving at the time of his murder the other thing that they needed
00:34:49
to clear up was $7,000 in paid tuition paid for Patrick Den's tuition so we got a couple problems here you
00:35:01
can't get a vehicle from your coach you can't get a vehicle from your basketball
00:35:06
program and remember Patrick Denny he was not on scholarship at Baylor well he was but it appears that some of his or
00:35:13
all of his tuition was being taken care of he was he was under the table scholarship so what Dave Bliss is saying
00:35:22
in this recorded conversation he said look we can blame all of this on Patrick Dene
00:35:29
because he's dead he can't say anything he he can't have a defense for this he can't tell them what actually was going
00:35:36
on so let's come up with an idea of how we can cover up this $2,000 for the vehicle and $7,000 for the tuition so
00:35:47
you're going to try to take this dead man and try to make some Scandal that he stole money somehow no Bliss wants to
00:35:54
say that Patrick Denny he was a drug dealer and that he paid for the vehicle and for his tuition with drug deals oh
00:36:04
but we know that not to be true because we know this was manufactured by Dave Bliss so what a scumbag right you know
00:36:13
like the this is a kid that you're supposed to be mentoring this is a kid that you're
00:36:18
supposed to and look I I understand he had wasn't there a long time it wasn't like you had this long relationship with
00:36:24
him but because you're crooked you know well he used these offers to entice Dene to go to school there and play for
00:36:33
the basketball team yeah and I get it you know there's somebody out there listening right now that's going well
00:36:39
Patrick Denny he accepted that that misdoing yeah and I get I he was in the wrong for that too I get that there's
00:36:46
rules and regulations and and and Patrick Den he was he was breaking those rules and regulations but the to the
00:36:53
point where Dave Bliss elevates himself to a whole new level of loser is when he's like oh I did this stuff wrong this
00:37:02
guy's not around to say anything differently because he's been murdered and oh we'll just we'll just make up the
00:37:08
story that he's a drug dealer and that's how he got the money right which also then put some Cloud around his
00:37:15
death you know what I mean like if you go well Patrick Den he was involved in all this other stuff so okay well uh you
00:37:23
know we we don't know exactly what Carlton is telling us if it's true or not but uh but you know it's drug
00:37:30
related so no big deal I mean this is this coach is he's not a coach he's he's yeah so
00:37:39
some form of justice will prevail here regarding this stuff with Dave Bliss because on August 8th 2003 Dave Bliss
00:37:48
and the Baylor athletic director Tom Stanton both resigned Dave Bliss was forced to resign admidst allegations
00:37:56
that he had violated NCAA rules by making Financial payments to four players and that he made improper
00:38:04
statements to the media characterizing Patrick Dene as a drug dealer the school placed itself on probation limited
00:38:12
itself to seven scholarships for two years and imposed a postseason ban for one year Additionally the NCAA further
00:38:21
punished the team by initiating a non-conference ban for the 200520 season and extending the probationary
00:38:29
period during which the school would have limited recruiting privileges yeah but these guys resign
00:38:38
and they just move on to other dirty games yeah Dave Bliss is coaching elsewhere I he's he's taken a
00:38:45
significant step back in his in his career let's say but unfortunately and this is not just
00:38:53
America this is most of society I we live in in a society where a lot of people or at least some because there's
00:39:03
evidence of such some people are willing to turn a blind eye to very bad behavior
00:39:10
and choose winning over character and it's just despicable so we won't we won't discuss Dave Bliss where he is now
00:39:19
or what he's up to but his new name is Turd Ferguson but for those of you that didn't know the the story behind the
00:39:27
story you now know who Dave Bliss is what a bag of but our story our story is far from done here so on this is in
00:39:38
October Carlton doson was declared incompetent to stand trial this by a district judge and he was sent to a
00:39:46
state mental hospital to be evaluated and this evaluation the judge was going to allow for four months of
00:39:55
evaluation three psychiatrists including one appointed by the court said that doson appeared to be suffering from
00:40:02
hallucinations and psychosis but that he could regain uh competency to stand trial in the future now in February of
00:40:14
2005 doson was returned to jail after psychologists deemed him competent to stand trial but that he must continue
00:40:23
taking his antis psychotic medication the psychologist also said that dodson's accounts of hallucinations and hearing
00:40:31
voices were quote suspect prosecutors and dodson's defense team tried this is this is
00:40:41
just this part of the story is I don't ever remember us reporting this in any other case Okay prosecutors and Dotson's
00:40:50
defense team tried to work out a plea agreement but could not agree on the terms of that agreement
00:40:56
agreement so they're working on a possible plea agreement they can't agree on the terms I think that the the thing
00:41:03
that was really in question what they were battling on was the length of time that he would have to
00:41:09
serve anyway no agreement is reached but then on June 88th 2005 just 5 days before dodson's trial for murder was to
00:41:20
begin doson unexpectedly pled guilty to killing Patrick Dene and to be perfectly
00:41:27
clear this is without a deal Carlton Dodson was sentenced to 35 years in prison and he will be eligible
00:41:35
for parole in 2021 so this is a case that I like to file under the solved but unresolved category
00:41:49
for many reasons there's you you seem to have the answer to what what went down and and somewhat
00:41:57
how it went down but then you're left with all these extra questions you know like was Carlton doson actually
00:42:03
competent or incompetent was he did he know what he was doing and this whole self-defense or
00:42:11
versus murder claim that's because this thing never went to trial those are the answers that we do not have and we don't
00:42:21
get to we don't get to have them we really can only just sit back and examine this thing and form our own
00:42:27
opinions and conclusions yeah and it's this whole thing is weird I mean go back to
00:42:35
David Bliss with or AKA Turd Ferguson the thing is is we don't know if these claims or
00:42:45
these threats were real so we don't even know if both people went to these coaches unless we have assistant coaches
00:42:54
coming forward yeah there were sounds to me according to yeah but Patrick's mother's statement that that multiple
00:43:02
coaches said that there was something going on that there was complaints or that he was being stalked so it wasn't
00:43:09
just Dave Bliss uh manufacturing this it sounds to me like multiple coaches were talked to
00:43:16
by these basketball players yeah but again we don't know but we don't know if those are even real in the right right
00:43:25
but but but what I'm saying is let's say you have a problem and I don't know what
00:43:30
it is and I'm I'm not trying to take a giant leap here but just roll with me for a second you got a problem you have
00:43:38
some shady stuff going on in your program and you have this guy that you might think
00:43:45
is uh going to be the the the [ __ ] in the armor right mhm and that that is Patrick D he right
00:43:57
and for whatever reason then you tell his roommate hey we got these threats coming and then you got this money
00:44:02
missing blah blah blah uh you know uh you're going to get these guns then you're going to practice shooting them
00:44:09
you're going to kill him when you're out there you kill him when you're out there
00:44:13
you'll start saying that you heard voices blah blah blah and the reason why I say that's all
00:44:20
that stuff seems so made up as you have a third person that lived with them that
00:44:25
didn't make any of these claims beforehand you know what I mean like he didn't say that his roommate seemed off
00:44:33
that Carlton seemed off that that Carlton seemed like that he was you know hearing
00:44:40
voices doesn't say any of that so just all of a sudden magically roommate goes away and all of
00:44:50
a sudden he thinks he's Jesus thinks he's from a family of prophets and uh then then kills his
00:44:58
roommate it's just it it doesn't make a lot of sense no of course it doesn't and then
00:45:05
on top of that you got somebody that they're they're saying is competent to fit trial or to stay in trial as long
00:45:11
he's as he's medicated but that's even questionable and then all of a sudden they can't come up with a deal so there
00:45:17
is no deal so I'll just plead guilty a lot of this doesn't make any sense like we're missing pieces of the
00:45:25
story right and that's why I point out that because this thing didn't go to trial
00:45:30
that leaves some of these questions as just unanswered there are open-ended questions that are unanswered so a
00:45:38
couple things here it's difficult in any of these situations when it's tough to form an
00:45:47
opinion and sometimes I don't even think that I should because I'm not the right
00:45:52
guy not the right person for the job I can't tell you I'm not educated enough or have or even have sat down face to
00:46:01
face with Carlton Dodson to give you an opinion on his mental state it would be foolish for me to do so so in that
00:46:08
situation you just go you know what I'm going to leave it to the powers that be to people to more interested parties
00:46:13
that are better equipped to handle this type of thing the problem is they come out with two different answers in my
00:46:21
opinion he yes he's competent in the end after 4 months he's competent to stand trial as long as he keeps taking this
00:46:29
medication yeah so you that doesn't really give you a clear understanding if if in fact he believed if he was
00:46:38
hallucinating and believed these threats or if he manufactured them to put Patrick Dene in a position of
00:46:46
vulnerability yeah because you why what was his motivation well he's a loser right but I don't even know if
00:46:54
it's that simple and that's what that's what's creepy to me I don't know if it's
00:46:59
that simple I maybe it is I'm just saying that there's a whole university involved in this and there's
00:47:07
coaches and there's higher beings yeah but I I don't I don't feel like the coaches had anything to do with the the
00:47:13
murder of Patrick Den what I'm getting at and and I know that I shouldn't just say it so simple as he's a loser that is
00:47:20
just the the the introduction for my argument okay we have Carlton Johnson who is is leaving the team he's not
00:47:29
going to be playing on the team anymore he's just lost his wife he doesn't have anywhere to live he doesn't have a job
00:47:35
he doesn't have a team to play for and who's his buddy the the kid that in his eyes probably has it all he's on the
00:47:43
team he's getting himer benefits to be on the team he's got a girlfriend he's got everything going for him that
00:47:50
Carlton does not have going for him and could Carlton have manuf factured a a reason to one Let's Get Some Guns two
00:48:01
let's let's put him let's put this guy in a in a place of vulnerability where we are out in the open by
00:48:09
ourselves and maybe Patrick Den's even walking around with a gun that he purchased himself because here's the
00:48:15
here's the thing if this whole case didn't fall apart very quickly on Carlton Dodson you have to wonder if
00:48:24
they would have found Patrick Dene a year or 18 months or two years later out in this very remote
00:48:34
location and he's out there with a with a gun do they go maybe he killed himself
00:48:41
right maybe he shot himself in the head now where it gets to be difficult and I think where Carlton doson got scared and
00:48:47
realized that whole plan that I try to set into motion is not going to work because I had to do a double tap I had
00:48:54
to shoot the guy twice and then on top of that according to the LA Times Patrick James Den II was shot twice in
00:49:02
the head and did not have alcohol in his system and another source States no drugs were found in his system either
00:49:09
the LA Times goes on to say both gunshot wounds were above the right ear the first bullet exited Den's forehead above
00:49:17
the left eye the second exited behind the left ear according to the autopsy by the southwestern Institute of forensic
00:49:26
Sciences in Dallas the report does not say how long Dene had been dead but he was missing for about 6 weeks when his
00:49:33
body was found on July 25th in a field near a rock quy 4 miles south of the Baylor campus so I can't without this
00:49:43
thing going to trial and having somebody that's better educated to tell us and explain all of this to us what I can say
00:49:50
here is I don't know that this that the wounds match up perfectly with Dotson's story right of he was aiming a gun at me
00:49:59
and whether he was joking around or whatever and it misfired or it didn't fire or whatever and then I shot him
00:50:05
twice this almost looks like somebody came up behind him stuck the gun to the side of his head or this was some kind
00:50:13
of execution style murder yeah or which was which would never fall into place with the the
00:50:20
self-defense argument that he's posing and that's where it makes you wonder if he just at the last minute
00:50:27
went I'm a real [ __ ] I don't want this thing to go to trial because then all these other things are going to come
00:50:34
out all the the the details of the story are going to be filled in and at least if I go and plead guilty this way I have
00:50:43
a system I have a setup where it's I had a defense where I was I was losing it a
00:50:48
bit I was hallucinating I didn't really know what was going on and then on top of that he pointed a gun at me and I
00:50:54
fired there's even there's even times when he's been in prison and he's been interviewed and he said to the person
00:51:00
interviewing him well what would you do the guy was pointing a gun at me right what would you do and I just wonder with
00:51:08
the strange way of they were in talks they were in talks to try to come to some kind of plea
00:51:16
agreement it was never going to be that Carlton doson wasn't going to be guilty of this murder but what was going to
00:51:24
happen if this thing went to trial again the details the blanks all that could have been filled in the story could have
00:51:30
been completed and we might have had a better picture if in fact Carlton doson was in fact competent or incompetent or
00:51:39
if the self-defense argument has is even an argument at all yeah it's it's very strange I mean
00:51:47
on one aspect you want to go okay he drank too much of the Waco water he thought he was Jesus he
00:51:54
hallucinated even if it's not self-defense even if he just hallucinated that well then there's that
00:52:01
makes the story somewhat make sense and then you just okay call a day and the thing that came out was that
00:52:09
that they were paying uh Patrick under the table and probably paying some other players under the table and they got
00:52:15
caught so the coach had to resign and then he moves on with his like that that's one thing but
00:52:24
because because the evidence doesn't match up with his story and we don't know because there's
00:52:31
multiple reports on you know he's competent he's not competent you know was he hearing voices we don't
00:52:38
know you just wonder if there's something bigger here well there there was the was the threats a setup in order
00:52:47
to get the guns and order to get them to be alone so then they could it just seems like we're missing
00:52:56
some of the story and we're probably always will be missing it because I think Carlton's going to sit there in
00:53:02
prison and and just rest on this idea I was hallucinating I was hearing things he threatened me that's end the story
00:53:13
well and there's people out there still to this day that question could more than one person have
00:53:19
been involved in the murder of Patrick den and not doesn't seem to me that anybody questions that that Carlton
00:53:28
doson was involved or that the that Carlton doson should be in prison for this murder nobody seems to be
00:53:36
questioning that it's everybody feels like we just don't have the whole complete story and we did mention that
00:53:43
little story of a maintenance worker finding a gun in the apartment complex of another teammate and so these things
00:53:52
are just unfortunately it has to fall into that solved but unresolved compartment there because I
00:54:00
don't think I mean we're we're 2 years away from dodson's being eligible for parole we're not we're not getting we're
00:54:11
not going to get the answers to these questions this is how they are going to [Music]
00:54:24
remain [Music] we want to thank everybody for listening and thanks for telling a friend do we
00:54:33
have any recommended reading for this week why yes we do Captain this week we are recommending under the bridge by
00:54:40
Rebecca Godfrey this is a true story of a horrific murder it's a mustre book you'll want to go to our website we have
00:54:47
all of the recommended reading there for you on the recommended page and while you're there check out Stitcher premium
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00:55:01
they have like 21,000 hours of Premium podcast available on there so it's not just us check out our other show off the
00:55:10
Record but what's cool is we have over 60 episodes so if you're wondering like he I'm all caught up on True Crime
00:55:18
garage the main show what else can I listen to check out off the Record and until next week everybody out there
00:55:24
please be good be kind and don't [Music] [Applause] [Music] litter you can start your day off right when
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Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Most controversial
  • 75
    Most heartbreaking
  • 75
    Biggest twist

Episode Highlights

  • Gift of Better Sleep
    Your mattress purchase helps give the gift of better sleep to children in need.
    “Make every snooze count!”
    @ 00m 11s
    November 16, 2023
  • True Crime Garage Introduction
    Welcome to True Crime Garage, where hosts Nick and the Captain dive into gripping stories.
    “Thanks for listening!”
    @ 01m 41s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Mysterious Disappearance
    Patrick Dene goes missing, raising alarms among friends and family.
    “Why didn't he call home on Father's Day?”
    @ 11m 27s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Murder of Patrick Dene
    A tragic case involving the murder of a young basketball player at Baylor University, leading to serious allegations against the basketball program.
    “This opened up a giant can of worms for the Baylor basketball program.”
    @ 32m 06s
    November 16, 2023
  • Dave Bliss Resigns Amid Scandal
    Baylor's head coach resigns after allegations of NCAA violations and improper conduct related to Patrick Dene's murder.
    “What a bag of scumbag!”
    @ 36m 13s
    November 16, 2023
  • Carlton Dodson's Guilty Plea
    Just days before his trial, Carlton Dodson pleads guilty to killing Patrick Dene, receiving a 35-year sentence.
    “This is a case that I like to file under the solved but unresolved category.”
    @ 41m 44s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Unraveling Story
    The details of Patrick Den's murder raise more questions than answers, leaving a haunting mystery.
    “We just don't have the whole complete story.”
    @ 53m 39s
    November 16, 2023
  • Recommended Reading
    This week’s recommendation is 'Under the Bridge' by Rebecca Godfrey, a true story of a horrific murder.
    “It's a must-read book!”
    @ 54m 42s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • The sooner man gets to leading a life of transparency, the better off he is.
    Patrick Dennehy ////// 319
  • The fall is always a lot faster than the climb.
    Patrick Dennehy ////// 319
  • This opened up a giant can of worms for the Baylor basketball program.
    Patrick Dennehy ////// 319
  • What a bag of scumbag!
    Patrick Dennehy ////// 319
  • This is a case that I like to file under the solved but unresolved category.
    Patrick Dennehy ////// 319
  • We're probably always going to be missing some of the story.
    Patrick Dennehy ////// 319

Key Moments

  • Game Changer00:42
  • True Crime Begins01:41
  • Found Vehicle14:51
  • Murder Investigation31:44
  • Guilty Plea41:23
  • Murder Mystery48:36
  • Conflicting Stories49:57
  • Hallucination Defense50:45

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown