WACO, Texas - Police have been questioning Baylor basketball players in the disappearance of a teammate, who authorities fear might be a victim of homicide.
No body has been found, but authorities say Patrick James Dennehy, 21, hasn't been heard from in more than two weeks, and his sport utility vehicle turned up abandoned last week in Virginia with its license plates missing.
"Right now, the team, the university and all the members of the Baylor family and myself are in tremendous disbelief about the recent events," Bears coach Dave Bliss said Saturday in a brief statement. "If fact, no part really seems real."
Investigators believe the 6-foot-10, 230-pound center might have been killed in the Waco area, though authorities wouldn't say what led them to that conclusion. Waco police spokesman Steven Anderson said police have interviewed Baylor players, as well as other people, in the case.
"Several sources have mentioned names of players," Anderson said. Waco police spokeswoman Joy Mauer said authorities had no additional information to release.
In a statement late Friday, Baylor athletic director Tom Stanton called the developments in the investigation "certainly disturbing."
Several team members did not return messages the Associated Press left Saturday.
Player Ellis Kidd Jr. said in Saturday's 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 paper 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.
Investigators searched Dennehy's apartment at least twice in recent days, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. They also sent at least one detective to Virginia Beach, Va., to examine Dennehy's vehicle, Virginia Beach police spokesman Jimmy Barnes said.
The vehicle was towed from a strip mall at the behest of the mall's owner. When the towing company reported the vehicle's identification number to Virginia Beach police, it matched the Waco missing person's case listed in a national law enforcement database.
Dennehy grew up in the San Francisco area and played for Wilcox High in Santa Clara and St. Francis High in Mountain View. He played two seasons at New Mexico before transferring to Baylor. His sophomore season there was clouded by problems, including an argument during a game in 2002 when Dennehy shoved a teammate, kicked over a chair and stalked off to the locker room. He didn't return to the game.
Dennehy sat out last season after transferring to Baylor and was expected to compete for playing time this fall.
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