Disgraced Page #6

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I was going there.

I was going to make it there

because he saw me there.

He was always cleaning,

just sweep, sweep, sweep.

He would sweep the floor

over and over and over.

He said, "Heaven is not dirty.

I've got to keep this

floor clean."

For the past week or two,

Carlton's family's been

very concerned

about his state of mind,

his mental condition.

It's my understanding that he

was going from room to room in

the house reading Bible verses.

In my recollection of any

conversation that I had

with Carlton, without

waiving any privilege,

it's never been

about criminality.

It's been more about

his mental state.

It was obvious

that he had issues.

I told Carlton that if

there was something that

was going on, that he needed

to get off of his chest,

that he needed to

take care of that.

[recording playback]

[recording playback]

[recording playback]

low dramatic music

I get a call from my supervisor,

who advised that

he needed me to respond

to the hospital up in

Chestertown, Maryland because

Carlton Dotson was there

and he wanted to

talk to the FBI.

We made arrangements to

speak with him at a hotel.

It was probably 30 minutes,

45 minutes,

until we started getting into

a lot of the good details

that we needed.

[Sponaugle] It was just like,

he was sitting there

telling us a story.

[Spotts] Mr. Dennehy asked

Carlton if he wanted to go

shooting, so they drove and left

in Mr. Dennehy's black Tahoe

and drove to the place where

they were going to shoot.

Carlton had a 9 millimeter

that Mr. Dennehy gave him,

Mr. Dennehy had a .32 caliber.

[Sponaugle] And upon reaching

this clearing,

Dotson claims that

Patrick Dennehy faced him,

pointed the .32 caliber handgun

at him, pulled the trigger,

but it didn't go off.

There was a misfire.

[Spotts] He tried to reload,

two rounds fell out

of the chamber...

[Sponaugle] At which point

Dotson claims,

he made the statement,

"Father, please forgive me,"

Pulled the trigger and shot

Mr. Dennehy once in the head.

He left in Mr. Dennehy's black

Tahoe and drove back to the

apartment, changed clothes...

[Sponaugle] threw those

in a dumpster...

[Spotts] drove to Dallas.

And on his way to Dallas,

he threw the gun,

the 9 millimeter that he

used to shoot Mr. Dennehy,

he threw it in the lake

and continued to drive.

[Sponaugle] He drove to

Hurlock, Maryland.

[Spotts] His uncle helped

him hide the car...

[Sponaugle] after they had

taken the tags off of it

and thrown them

in a wooded area

somewhere between

Hurlock and Federalsburg.

They get the vehicle down there,

they wipe it clean.

[Spotts] They drove

Mr. Dennehy's truck to

Virginia Beach and left it

there and returned home.

[Sponaugle] All he would talk

about was, I was scared

and I didn't know what to do.

So, he's finally telling us this

on July 21st, so several days,

weeks had gone by.

When it was over, he

definitely seemed to relax

and it's not uncommon in this

job, when someone confesses

to you about something

they have done,

that they have a

big sigh of relief.

They just need to get it

off their chest.

They need to tell someone.

He did lay down in the

bed after he confessed.

[Spotts] He didn't want it to

happen, but as far as, you know,

after going through the details

and reliving those details,

he showed no emotion.

[Sponaugle] One of the most

important parts of that

interview was to find

Mr. Dennehy's body

or find out where it was, you

know, to bring some closure

to the family.

We provided maps of Texas to

Carlton, who would look at it.

[Spotts] He turned it two or

three different ways

and he said, "Well, this is

kind of hard to tell."

There's no landmarks or things

like that, but he did eventually

focus on an area where he

felt the body would be.

[Sponaugle] A warrant was

obtained for Carlton Dotson

and he was arrested.

[reporter] Dennehy's roommate

and former teammate,

Carlton Dotson, was charged

with murder last night.

He faces a bail hearing

later this morning.

[Thomas] I ended up going up

there and take a polygraph test

with the FBI and sure enough,

after, I leave out...

I'm walking out of there from

doing the polygraph test

with them, which I passed

with flying colors too,

the Sheriff, he comes to me

and says,

"Thank you for your cooperation,

Mr. Thomas.

Did you hear the good news?"

I'm like, "What news," I'm like,

"What kind of news is

good right now?"

Carlton Dotson just turned

himself in, in Maryland.

He confessed to the murder.

After the arrest is done,

then my office was involved.

We had no proof, other

than Carlton's word,

that there was a murder.

He claimed to have shot and

killed Patrick Dennehy,

but he did it in self-defense.

Under Texas law, you cannot

convict someone on the

uncorroborated confession alone.

People make confessions all the

time, especially those who are

suffering from mental illness,

they make false confessions

or they make confessions which

in their mind are true

that never occurred because

they're psychotic.

During the search for

Mr. Dennehy, we had a

tremendous amount of officers

that were involved.

[Fuller] All these entities in

or around Waco,

they jumped out there

to help us search.

[Segrest] Time was running.

When I indict a case,

I'm telling the judge

and I'm telling everybody else

that it's my opinion

under the law and under

the facts that I have,

this man is guilty of murder,

which is a serious allegation.

I didn't have enough proof

to take it to court

and I was not about to do so.

[Fuller] So, I had a talk with

the DA and he reiterated,

you know, that we don't

have a body, you know,

what are we going to do?

You know, how do you want

me to proceed with this?

Produce the body.

low dramatic music

[Fuller] I went to the area,

out on FM 3400.

I knew that they had searched.

And I just went out there

snooping around.

And I noticed that there was a

little track where you could

drive into the ditch and follow

this little dirt road around.

[door closes]

Then I got out of the car,

you know, at one point

and just started walking,

looking around.

And then, that's when I started

getting the whiff of decomp.

There was a box of ammo

there in the weeds.

The grass had already grown up

and if you really weren't

just looking, you know,

you might have missed it.

So, we decided, this

is in the county.

We're not going to mess with any

crime scene, disturb anything.

Let's notify the county and

we'll need to get together

and search this area, you know,

very heavily the next day.

And I contacted Clay Perry

and told him where we were.

[Perry] I found the location

he was talking about

and picked up a foul odor,

followed the scent carefully,

20, 30 yards maybe,

off the road.

It was Mr. Dennehy.

low dramatic music

I just felt like I needed

to say a prayer, so I did.

I did.

I just prayed for healing and

comfort for the family

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