Flashback - The Disappearance of Camille Dardanes Dotson - 30th Anniversary

Episode # 42

[Shaun] 

Camille Dardanes Dotson vanished from Las Vegas in September of 1994. Her friends and loved ones chased down lead after lead, hoping to find any clue of what had happened to her. 30 years later, they are still searching. 

[John] 

“Someone knows something” is a phrase you’ve heard us say many times on Sins & Survivors. When all the leads have dried up and all you’re left with are unanswered questions and theories, finding hope can be nearly impossible. 

Camille’s daughter Ashley hasn’t given up, and she’s asking all of us for help. 

(Music - Pause for 8 seconds)

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun, and with me as always, is the one and only John.

[John] 

I am the only John in the room.

[Shaun] 

Today, September 3, 2024 marks 30 years since Camille Dardanes Dotson disappeared.

Camille was 30 years old when she was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center in downtown Las Vegas. After posting bail, she was released the next day and was last seen exiting the facility and walking down Casino Center Blvd. 

Her return hearing date was scheduled for September 24, 1994, but Camille never showed – Making September 3, 1994 the verified last time anyone saw her alive. Her daughter Ashley was only 7 years old at the time. 

[John] 

There are definitely some questions about how Las Vegas Metro handled Camille’s case and multiple theories as to what happened to her. 

We’ll go into this in greater detail later in the episode, but Camille’s initial missing persons report was deleted just weeks after it was filed, most likely by someone in the police department. When Camille's childhood friend Ellen started looking into her disappearance, shockingly, Las Vegas Metro sent her a cease and desist to get her to back off. 

In 2011, Ashley began looking for answers, aided by her friend, Gabby Proulx (Pro-lou). For the past 13 years they have followed up on any lead they can find. Sadly, they do not think there's much likelihood that Camille is alive, since she has been missing for 30 years with no trace. 

[Shaun] 

Ashley was recently interviewed on the podcast The Missing and The Unexplained. She said that with the 30th anniversary of Camille’s disappearance this year, she would love to see the true crime community get more involved in helping to solve what happened to her and to finally find her. 

As more time goes by, people who knew Camille get older, memories fade, and witnesses and friends pass away. Places and businesses where Camille hung out and worked are disappearing. Vegas can have that small-town feel, but the reality is people move in and out frequently, and we don’t know who’s left in town who ever knew her. 

It’s more important than ever that people take a fresh look at the evidence and uncover as many new leads as possible.

Way back on April 27, 1995, a Metro officer wrote:

(quote) “All known avenues of attempting to locate the missing person locally have been exhausted and the investigation has failed to reveal any reason to believe the missing person has disappeared due to foul play or suspicious circumstances.” (unquote)

It feels like they gave up on Camille’s case before they even really started working it. 

This week, we are going to recap Camille’s story, and provide an update of what we know. We’ll also share where you can see copies of documents and photos, because Ashley would definitely like to see the websleuths and armchair detectives get to work on this. 

[John] 

Camille moved to Las Vegas in 1991, but we want to share a little bit about her life before that. Camille was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 23rd, 1964. She was a highly intelligent, mature, empathetic, and caring person who excelled in school, studied ballet for 9 years, and was a semi-pro ice skater. 

Camille’s first husband, Ashley’s father, is Gary Dotson. We covered Gary’s story in December of 2023, and it remains one of our most popular episodes.

Gary was the first person ever to be exonerated by DNA evidence in 1989 when DNA technology was fairly new. In 1977, when he was 20 years old, he was falsely accused of rape by a 16-year-old named Cathleen Crowell. Gary’s case became an absolute media circus and was one of the first ever televised trials. 

We won’t get into all of the details here but if you haven’t listened to our 2 part episode on Gary, it’s called Guilty Until Proven Innocent and is available on all podcast platforms. 

Camille saw Gary on TV and was convinced he was innocent and was interested in meeting him. In 1985, when his accuser recanted her story, he was granted a hearing that was open to the public. Camille went to the hearing and when she saw Gary, she walked up to him and gave him a white carnation in a gesture made national headlines and they began dating shortly afterward. 

The publicity around Gary and Camille and the rape accusations thrust the young couple into the spotlight. They even appeared on Good Morning America together, and we will share that clip on our social media. 

[Shaun] 

Gary and Camille eloped to Las Vegas in 1985 but settled down in Gary’s home town in the suburbs of Chicago, where they had their daughter Ashley in January of 1987. 

As a couple, Camille and Gary were struggling. Gary has openly referred to himself as an alcoholic, and he was drinking quite heavily and had trouble keeping a job. Camille was working as a waitress to make ends meet. 

During this time. Gary was arrested several times for offenses including DUIs, bar fights, failure to report to his parole officer, and domestic disturbances. 

On August 2, 1987, Camille and Gary had a serious fight. Gary and Camille took a six-pack of beer and their daughter to the beach that Sunday afternoon and later met up with friends. In the car on the way home, Camille and Gary got into an argument — Baby Ashley was in the car. Camille was driving, and she stopped the car, reportedly in the middle of the street.  

Gary, who had been drinking, slapped or hit Camille as she tried to get out of the car. Gary then grabbed baby Ashley and fled down the street with her with Camille chasing after them. 

A police car drove by and Camille flagged them down. She told the officer that Gary was drunk and that he had threatened to kill their baby and that he had beaten her and ran off with the child. 

Thankfully, Gary was found sitting in an alley nearby with Ashley, who was safe. 

There is no excuse for Gary’s behavior later in their marriage, but it’s clear he was struggling with alcohol addiction, adjusting to life after prison, carrying the stigma of his rape conviction, and had been unemployed for many years. 

We’ve discussed in previous episodes how stress in a relationship, things like financial stress, and substance use disorders can be risk factors for domestic violence. 

Gary was placed under arrest and charged with domestic battery. If he had been found guilty, he would have also been guilty of violating his parole. He was held without bail while he awaited his hearing. 

[John] 

As a result of this arrest, Gary was ordered to appear in domestic violence court on August 27, 1987, but Camille refused to testify against him, which is not uncommon for victims of domestic violence.  She claimed she couldn’t remember all the details of what had happened because she was very upset at the time. 

She later stated that she just wanted to “shake some sense into him” but didn’t want him to go to jail. 

In 1989, Gary was formally exonerated by DNA evidence, but because his abusive behavior and drinking continued, Camille filed for divorce. 

At this point for both Camille and Gary, it appears the media coverage about their lives and relationship trails off. Camille’s relationship with Gary was over, and his rape conviction was legally behind him, with no doubt of his innocence. 

By 1991 Camille had relocated to Las Vegas permanently with Ashley, who was 3 years old, to put some distance between her and Gary, and to be closer to her mother, Barbara. 

[Shaun] 

When she started her life over in a new city as a single mom, she didn't have a higher education or much job experience so she found work as a server and as a bartender and was also very likely dealing with trauma from her relationship with Gary. 

After struggling with these low-paying jobs, Camille found success working as a dancer at two infamous strip clubs in Las Vegas - The Crazy Horse and the Crazy Horse Too. 

In the early 90s, The Crazy Horse was located at Paradise and Flamingo in the “Paradise Market Strip Mall”, and the Crazy Horse Too was on Industrial, just about a block west of the Sahara Casino. 

Both of these clubs, the Crazy Horse and the Crazy Horse Too (note that “too” is spelled “T-O-O”, not “the number 2”).. Are gone now. 

During this time in Las Vegas, organized crime was still heavily involved in local businesses such as strip clubs and casinos, although that time was slowly coming to an end. 

At the time she worked there, owners and managers of the Crazy Horse and Crazy Horse Too clubs were allegedly linked to organized crime families, and in 2003 Crazy Horse Too was raided by the FBI, IRS, and the DEA in connection with a bribery scandal involving Clark County Commissioners. 

It’s quite possible (but not confirmed) that during her time working there Camille had contact with or even relationships with people in or linked to the mob.

Other dancers, bouncers, or bartenders who worked at Crazy Horse or Crazy Horse Too in the early 90s, would likely be in their 50s-70s now, but if you worked with Camille, any memories you have about her would be precious to Ashley, and you never know if maybe something you remember could give a clue as to what happened to her. 

[John] 

At some point, while working at the Crazy Horse, Camille met a man named George “Cruz” Diaz Jr. who went by Cruz, and the two got married on December 23rd, 1993. Unfortunately for both Camille and Ashley, Cruz turned out to also be a domestic abuser, at one point breaking Camille’s nose.

It seems like it was around this time Camille continued her downward spiral and began using drugs, and got involved in sex work, and Camille was arrested several times. 

Although her life was seemingly quite a mess, she had the presence of mind to see that all of this was very bad for Ashley. Shortly after, Camille’s mother Barbara decided to move back to Chicago, and it was decided that It was best for Ashley to move back with Barbara for her safety and well-being. This was obviously not the environment Camille wanted Ashley to grow up in.

One piece of evidence that Gaby and Ashley were able to locate is an arrest report for Camille from Dec 15, 1993, which occurred just 2 weeks before her marriage to Cruz

The document states that Metro was dispatched to 1809 South Las Vegas Blvd #12 and the Report reads: “I was dispatched to a disturbance call, referenced a male beating up a female. I contacted Camille Dotson and upon a records check found…” and then about 3 lines of text are redacted and that’s where the document ends.

This arrest report feeds into one theory of her disappearance that we’ll get into a little later.

Before we move on let's pause for a quick message from Melanie at the Open Investigation Podcast. Their first episode drops today so when you’re done here, please go subscribe and listen.

(Open Investigation Trailer)

Melanie won the 2008 Emmy Award for her HBO Documentary “Have You Seen Andy”, which is also the subject of the podcast, so we’re expecting great things! Visit haveyouseenandy.com/podcast or just search wherever you get your podcasts.

And now, back to Camille.

[Shaun]

Her abusive marriage to Cruz was mercifully short-lived and by September of 1994, she had left Cruz for good. 

Oddly though, according to information uncovered by Ashley and Gaby, Cruz never filed for divorce. He seemed oddly blase about her leaving, and also by her eventual disappearance. At times he even denied knowing her and definitely denied knowing anything about her disappearance. 

He got remarried in 2021 to a woman we’ll call Diana, which was helpful because it allowed us to confirm that Cruz did, in fact, know Camille, despite what he claimed

Both Ashley and I were able to pull a copy of the marriage certificate for Cruz and Camille, as well as for his 2021 marriage. 

This is important info because when Cruz was asked about Camille he stated he never married Camille, and that his “identity must’ve been stolen”, but the signatures on both marriage certificates, place of birth, birthdate, names, and places of birth of Cruz’s parents all match up perfectly, meaning that he was lying about “not knowing” Camille. 

Also, Camille’s sister-in-law (Her brother’s wife) was also able to identify Cruz in a photo lineup that individuals researching Camille’s case were able to provide to her. She remembered Cruz from meeting him in 1993 when he and Camille came to visit in Chicago and slept over at her house. 

Ashley and Gaby are certain Cruz is the man who married Camille, and I think all of us are very confused and suspicious based on his continued claims of not knowing her.

Ashley and Gaby’s research uncovered that Cruz moved to Salt Lake City shortly after Camille disappeared. He was arrested twice in 1997 for domestic violence and assault and in 1999, he was arrested for attempted murder in Henderson. 

Today, Cruz is reportedly living in the Vegas area again. As we said, he married in 2021 but he’s now divorced. We have reports that Diana found out about his past and avoids him, but she had encouraged him to come forward with information about Camille. 

[John] 

After Camille left Cruz in 1994, things got even worse when she met Francisco “Kiko” Fernandez. Our research shows that she was living with Fernandez after she and Cruz separated. Fernandez has a long criminal history including several domestic battery charges including one that was particularly concerning for strangulation. WE’ve talked recently about how strangulation is a huge red flag and statistically often a precursor to murder

During that time, Camille was still in contact with Ashley via phone. They talked in the summer of 1994, and Ashley recalled that her mom sounded really upset and told her to “be a good girl for Nana”  

Looking back at that, Ashley has said that it felt grim, and seemed almost like her mom was saying goodbye. Sadly, that was the last time Ashley would hear from her mom. 

On September 2nd, 1994, Las Vegas Metro was called to Kiko Fernandez’s apartment because of a domestic disturbance. Kiko was yelling at Camille, who was crying.

Metro responded, and while in the apartment discovered that Kiko was attempting to conceal an amount of Marijuana (which at that time was many years from being legal in Las Vegas) and cocaine. The package of marijuana was even labeled “for Kiko” so there wasn’t a lot of room for Kiko to deny it was his. 

Unfortunately for Camille, they were both arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center in Downtown Las Vegas. 

That brings us to September 3rd, 1994 when Camille was released on bail and was seen walking south in the 300 block of Casino Center. As we said before, that’s the last reliable verified sighting of Camille that we are aware of.

She was expected to return for a hearing on September 24, 1994, but she did not make that hearing. 

This leads Ashley and Gaby to believe she disappeared sometime between September 3rd and September 24th 1994

[Shaun]

Camille’s mother Barbara moved back to Las Vegas in the Spring of 1995. At that point, they hadn't heard from Camille in months. It was odd, but they were hoping that it was easily explained, possibly by Camille being back in Jail.

When Barbara moved back to Las Vegas she realized that Camille was truly missing, and had been for months, so she contacted Metro and attempted to open a missing persons report in the Spring of 1995, 7 months after Camille’s last sighting.

It seemed to Barbara that Metro was absolutely disinterested in doing the work needed to find her daughter, or even really investigating at all. After a brief “investigation”, they put out that statement in April of 1995 that we mentioned earlier, declaring that there was no evidence of foul play or suspicious circumstances. 

I guess it isn't surprising they didn't discover evidence of foul play. Because they didn't do much, if anything in the way of investigating. Barbara was told that the report had been reclassified from “unfounded” to “zero”. It’s not clear what that meant. 

Barbara took matters into her own hands. She put up flyers around town and visited the places where Camille worked and hung out. She asked people about Camille, trying to learn where her daughter might have gone or what had happened to her. Ashley has shared memories of traveling around Vegas and waiting in the car while her grandma went into bars and clubs to ask about Camille. Unfortunately, Barbara didn’t turn up any leads – Camille’s friends said they hadn’t heard from her in months, but some did report that Camille had been acting afraid or paranoid.

The police never shared any new information. Despite Barbara’s hard work, the leads dried up. 

[John]

As we mentioned earlier, Camille’s missing persons report was deleted just a few weeks after it was filed, most likely by someone in the police department. Gabby and Ashley’s extensive research hasn’t led to any theories about who might have deleted it or what might have made them delete it.

However, we can engage in some reasonable speculation here. A friend of Camille’s has mentioned that Camille did spend time around a Las Vegas Metro Police Officer and Ashley has similar recollections, saying that as a child her mom did spend time around police officers, and that they had given Ashley rides several times. A dancer who worked with Camille has stated that it could have been deleted by a dirty cop who frequented the clubs. 

As soon as I heard that her missing person report had mysteriously disappeared weeks after it was filed, the first thought I had was about who would have had access to delete that report. 

It seems like only a member of Metro would have that access. The second thought I had was.. Why would a police officer do that? The only reasons I could come up with are that they were involved with and/or aware of what had happened to her and didn't want it investigated. 

It all seems incredibly sketchy to me.

A new missing persons report was filed for Camille in 2003, and Metro conceded that 9 years of no contact from Camille warranted investigation – and they finally labeled Camille as “endangered.” It's a little jarring how obvious this is and it really highlights their lack of concern.

When the police began investigating Camille’s case – very much for the first time – after 9 years, as you’d expect they faced a lot of challenges. Since so much time had passed,  the people Camille had lived and worked with were unlikely to be living or working in the same places. As we’ve talked about, Las Vegas is a very transient place, with people moving in and out and around town all the time. 

Also, the Crazy Horse was demolished in the 90s and Crazy Horse Too was raided by the feds in 2003… so it wasn’t likely they would find any leads there. Also, speaking generally about the people in Camille’s orbit at that time, it’s possible that many of them were they were people with criminal histories, with histories of substance abuse disorders, and possibly even involved in organized crime, so how likely is it that any of them are going to want to talk to the police?

[Shaun]

Like Barbara, Ellen, a childhood friend of Camille’s, launched her own investigation. She spent hours and hours researching Camille’s life, and she passed everything she discovered on to the Metro police department. However, her assistance was not appreciated. It seems Metro got increasingly defensive, and Ellen actually received a cease and desist notice on Las Vegas Metro police stationery. 

This made us wonder why they would do this. Was Ellen’s hard work making officers look bad or just making more work for them? Is there a chance that Ellen’s research was interfering with a current police investigation? That doesn’t seem likely, since these events were 10 plus years in the past, and Camille was still missing.  None of the evidence sounds like the police were hot on the trail of anything new and Ellen would be getting in the way — especially if you consider how not involved they were when the trail was much more fresh in 1994.

That cease and desist was enough to get Ellen to back off. Around this time Ashley and Camille’s parents did provide DNA samples, in case a Doe or unidentified person’s remains were uncovered. 

The work Ashley has done so far is incredible. Together with Gaby, Ellen, and other enthusiastic web sleuths who were skilled in online research and background checks, the group has put together a timeline and photos of Camille’s places of residence, her workplaces, photos of Camille from the different phases of her life. Video clips of Camille and her first husband, Gary. They even were able to access police reports and rap sheets on Camille’s second husband, Cruz, and info on Kiko as well. 

Just an incredible archive of information about Camille. 

[John]

One key lead they found was Camille’s rolodex. 

For folks who might not be familiar with what a Rolodex is.. It’s basically a mini filing cabinet device that people would keep near their landline phones…and you’d handwrite people’s contact info on little cards like a hard copy version of your cell phone’s contact list. 

Ashley and Gaby have identified a few key contacts from the rolodex that they think might be good leads or at least these people might be old friends of Camille's who have new information to share with Ashley about her mom. The list is up on the Camille Dardanes Dotson Missing Person Facebook page. The list is only first names and phone numbers with Vegas area codes.

One of the numbers is for a person named Dimitri – and the number is for the Las Vegas FBI field office. 

This fact links to an interesting theory about what could have happened to Camille. Some few key things we do know include : 

• She was involved with a drug dealer and 
• She was working in clubs that were owned by individuals who were connected to prominent organized crime families, and
• She was being arrested frequently for petty crimes – things as basic as jaywalking. 

The theory is that Camille may have been acting as an informant either informing on the drug dealers she was involved with or possibly, the mob. 

The arrests may have been an excuse to bring her in for questioning and not alert those around her… Or, the police may have been overwhelming Camille with criminal charges to have leverage against her to get her to talk or flip on someone. 

The FBI number being in her Rolodex seems to support that idea and provides a possible motive for her disappearance – if she had been discovered to be a CI

[Shaun]

Ashley deserves answers about what happened to her mom. When you look at the information we’ve discussed there’s just a lot of red flags – serious issues and questions – that come up. 

First, the fact that the initial report was created, and then deleted. We are all wondering why would someone do that. – did they know what happened to Camille and didn’t want it to be uncovered – to tie into the dirty cop theory? Maybe it was just a mistake, but that seems unlikely.

Another fact about this investigation that is sketchy is – why did they issue the cease and desist against Ellen when she was investigating? Could Ellen have been on the trail of something they didn’t want her to find? 

It almost feels like they had something against Camille, and a lot of time was lost and critical leads dried up in the 9 years that followed.

Also, was Camille an informant, and if so, who was she informing on? Could that explain what happened to her? 

And not to get overly technical – but Camille’s last documented sighting was at the Clark County Detention Center. So the last people who saw her - technically – were law enforcement officers. 

One of the most important things I will continue to stress about this case is how this seems to be another story about a police department treating someone who works as a sex worker or someone who has issues with substance abuse as if they don't matter or are disposable – it’s evident here that the effort was not made to investigate Camille’s disappearance. 

Certainly not with the energy they would have investigated the disappearance of celebrity Camille Dardanes of 1985 who had just appeared on Good Morning America. 

[John]

This is where you can help. As we said, Ashley and her team are looking for peope who can help dig into this case and see if any other clues can be uncovered. 

They are very interested in talking to anyone who lived in Las Vegas in 1991-1994 who knew Camille. Those numbers in her Rolodex could be vitally important, and any locals listening should take a look at that list because you just never know. It’s definitely worth a look, for Ashley’s sake. 

In general, Ashley would love to hear stories and memories about her mom, so if you knew Camille and have a memory to share, Ashley would appreciate hearing from you as well.

As we mentioned, Ashley did provide her DNA for testing against any Jane Does, and Camille is listed on the Doe network and on NamUs, and so far several Jane Doe cases fitting Camille’s description and timeline have been ruled out as being Camille. 

Camille is Ashley’s mom and Barbara’s daughter and has so many other family members and friends who love her and deserve answers. 

Camille is a Caucasian female with brown hair and brown or hazel eyes. She is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs between 125 and 145 pounds. Her teeth show some discoloration due to smoking, and at the time she disappeared, she had a recent injury to her nose, allegedly from a domestic violence incident with Cruz. 

On her right hip, she has a tattoo bearing the name 'Cruz.' She is known to smoke Marlboro cigarettes, and she might use aliases such as 'Nicole,' 'Renee,' or 'Kim,' with last names like 'Clarke' or 'Diaz.' She was born in 1964, and disappeared in 1994 at the age of 30 years old. She would be 60 years old today. 

[Shaun]

Camille’s case is on Websleuths if you frequent that website, so you can join in the conversation there as well. Please visit the Facebook page and findcamille.com to see photos of Camille from different times in her life and see photos of where she lived and worked or was known to hang out. We’ll be sure to share those links so make sure you're following our social media @sinsandsurvivors on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. 

If you lived in Vegas in the early 90s (or maybe you have relatives or friends that did) Please share Camille’s photos and this information with them, and please share her photo on your social media. Your share could be the thing that finally helps Ashley get the answers she is searching for.

Thanks again for listening. As always we remind you what happens here, happens everywhere.