Where is Camille Dardanes Dotson? Part 1

Not many people who knew the charismatic and intelligent Camille Dardane's Dotson when she was growing up would ever have guessed her life would turn out the way that it has. Camille has been missing for 30 years and her daughter Ashley has been searching for answers as long as she's been old enough to search.

She's also had some amazing help from her friend Gabby Proulx who has worked tirelessly for years to uncover answers and get closer to answering the question "Where is Camille?" 

Within three years of her arrival in Vegas, Camille had disappeared, leaving her daughter and her mother with unanswered questions. Camille was last seen alive on September 3rd, 1994, when she was reported missing, the Las Vegas Metro Police were unable or unwilling to help. 

On April 27th, 1995, a Metro officer wrote, "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." 

Of course, this was never going to be sufficient for Camille's daughter Ashley, or her mother Barbara, who both want answers. 

(Music Intro)

(Episode)

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas True Crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. I'm your host, Shaun, and with me, as always, is the one and only John. 

I am the only John in the room.

This week's episode is a bit different. We're talking about the life and disappearance of Camille Dardanes-Dotson, who was last seen in Las Vegas on September 3rd, 1994. I found this case when we were discussing how we wanted to cover a missing persons case locally and highlight another local incident that needs more media attention. 

Ashley, Camille's daughter, and Gabby have done years of research piecing together Camille's life. The two of them appeared on local Las Vegas news about two years ago, hoping to generate new leads about Camille's disappearance and prompt anyone who might have information about her disappearance to come forward. Gabby and Ashley have created an exhaustive list of potential suspects and information on the different places Camille had lived while she was in Vegas, people that she may have known, places she worked, etc. The website that they put together, http://www.findcamille.com, is comprehensive with photos, news clips, and a timeline explaining all of Camille's life both before and after she moved to Las Vegas.

John and I hope that this episode and future episodes of this podcast help them in their quest to find out what happened to Camille when she disappeared.

Camille Dardanes-Dotson was 30 years old on September 2, 1994, 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 seen exiting the facility and walking down Casino Center Boulevard. Her return hearing date was September 24, 1994, but Camille never showed, making September 3, 1994 the last verified time anyone saw her alive. Her daughter Ashley was only 7 years old at the time. 

Ashley was living with her grandmother Barbara, Camille's mom in the Chicago area, because Camille's life had entered a downward spiral. When they hadn't heard from Camille in a while, they hoped that maybe she was in rehab or even in jail.

It wasn't until 7 months later that a missing person's report was filed. As we said, the police did not seem to be concerned about Camille at that time. About 3 months after the report was filed,

 it was mysteriously deleted by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. Department. The report was refiled in 2003 and in 2011 Ashley began looking for answers aided by Gabby and other friends of Camille.

Sadly they don't think there's much likelihood that Camille is alive since she's been missing for nearly 30 years with no trace. And over this episode and the next episode we will go into details about Camille's life, the specifics of her disappearance, the clues and suspects that have been collected so far. 

We learned that both of Ashley's parents have very compelling backstories. Her dad Gary Dotson is known in legal and true crime history as the first person to ever be exonerated by DNA evidence back in 1989 and her mom Camille gained minor celebrity status in the late 1980s as a result of her marriage to Gary.

For this first episode, we'll be focusing on Camille and Gary through the end of their relationship and we'll pick up next week with Camille and what happened to her once she arrived in Las Vegas.

There are so many aspects to this story there's no way we could do it justice in one episode. There's a lot of background with Camille and Gary and a ton of information about Gary Dotson's rape case which we'll actually cover in a subsequent episode or potentially two episodes. 

So this will give us time to explore his history and the details of his early life, his wrongful conviction and the extreme effects this had on his life. 

Gary and Camille's relationship does involve domestic violence and it serves as an example of how two people can be very much in love and building a life together and how complicated and difficult romantic relationships and marriages and parenting can be.

Their relationship was in the public eye from the moment they met which likely put a lot of pressure on both of them and like we said at the beginning of the episode both of their lives changed drastically in a time frame of less than 10 years and I don't think anyone could have predicted what happened to them both.

Let's start with Camille. Camille was born in Chicago Illinois on February 23rd 1964. Her mom's name is Barbara Critsalis and by all accounts accounts,

Camille was a highly intelligent, mature, empathetic, and caring person. She excelled in school, studied ballet for nine years, and was a semi-professional ice skater.

The circumstances under which Camille met her first husband, Gary Dotson, were very, very unusual, so unusual, in fact, that they made national news. In her late teens and early 20s,

 Camille became captivated by Gary Dotson and his highly publicized rape trial and conviction. Camille's friends have stated that she would rush to the living room whenever he was on the news. One of her friends once asked Camille something like, "Do you know this guy?" And Camille replied, "No, but I will." 

As I mentioned, we'll dive much deeper into Gary's case and history and his story in a future episode. Remember this case happened in the late 1970s, 15 years pre-OJ, and was one of the first major cases that was televised, and it was a bit of a media circus. - Yeah, I think you had a really great idea to cover Gary's case in more detail over a couple of episodes because you're right. I think our listeners will be fascinated by Gary's case, especially people who are interested in false convictions and forensics. 

For this episode, let me provide some basic background on Gary. Gary Dotson was born on August 3rd, 1957. His case is heavily documented by the Northwestern Law School's Center on Wrongful Convictions because as mentioned, his case became the first case of exoneration through DNA evidence. According to Northwestern, Gary dropped out of high school and who grew up in a working-class suburb of Chicago.

He lived with his mom and his three sisters. What happened to Gary was in 1977, he was accused of rape by a 16 -year -old named Kathleen Crowell.

At the time, Gary was 20 years old. Kathleen's story was very detailed and very convincing, and she had picked Gary out of a lineup. Gary ended up getting convicted of the rape in 1979,

 and this was based largely on Kathleen's own testimony and forensic testimony about the blood typing of a semen stain. And those forensic findings were later proven false through more high tech DNA testing.

Gary always maintained his innocence and he had several alibi witnesses. But as we mentioned, we'll go into this much more in a future episode with a lot more detail.

In 1985, Kathleen formally recanted her story admitting she had made the whole thing up. She was 16 years old. As I said, she was a foster kid and she was afraid that the truth was that she thought she was pregnant by her boyfriend, and that admitting that to her foster parents would have been a deal breaker for them. And so Kathleen became an advocate for Gary apologizing, recanting and working to get him released from prison where he had spent the previous six years.

There was a lot of public outcry over Gary's conviction with Kathleen, his accuser, and others wanting his conviction overturned. So he was granted a clemency hearing that was actually open to the public and that hearing began on May 10th, 1985. 

Camille, as we mentioned, she was quite taken with Gary and his case and she wanted to be at the hearing. So she was thrilled that it was open to the public, so she of course went. And when she saw Gary, she walked up to him and gave him a white carnation and this gesture made national headlines. As a result of the three day hearing in June of 1985,Gary's sentence was commuted. 

Importantly, that's a lot different from a sentence being overturned or vacated. Essentially, he was still technically considered guilty by the state because he was allowed to leave prison on parole as if he'd served his full prison sentence.

So the two started dating shortly after they met and Camille was quoted as saying that she'd never had any doubt that Gary was innocent and that, quote, I've known a long time that I was in love, unquote. But at least one of Camille's friends, friends, Sherry Miller, has been quoted as saying that it was, quote, "insane of her to meet him in the courtroom and give a bum like that the time of day," unquote. Kathleen, Gary's rape -accuser turned advocate, continued in her support of him, and she actually secured a book deal to tell her story. And Kathleen was given an advance of $17,500, which she then gave to Gary, along with a promise that she would give him any additional proceeds from the book sales. The book was titled, "Forgive Me," and you definitely get the sense that Kathleen was really wracked with guilt over what happened and leaned into trying to make things right with him.

Gary said at one point that he doesn't blame her. He blamed the justice system for his wrongful conviction. And as John mentioned, this was in the years before Court TV,

Gary's hearings were televised so local and national news networks were honed in on Gary's story, giving Gary and Camille minor celebrity status.

So with the details of the flower incident, information about their dating life and their new life together was being reported, coast to coast, New York Times, LA Times, etc.

Gary ended up proposing to Camille in September of 1985. He cooked Camille a lobster dinner and popped the question with champagne and a diamond ring. They appeared on Good Morning America together, looking like a happy engaged couple, excited and joyful to start their life together. Publications like People magazine were writing about Gary and the injustice he endured. And it seemed that the press was really rooting for Gary. It was obvious that it wasn't just Camille who was fascinated by his story. But because of Gary and the couple's notoriety in the mid-1980s, there are quite a few news articles and blurbs about the couple,

 their romance and their future plans. 

Gary was on the Today show and was written about in people magazine. And if you visit http://www.findCamille.com, you can watch clips of the couple on Good Morning America and news coverage of Gary's trial. Shortly thereafter, they used part of the money Gary had received from Kathleen to elope to, where else, Las Vegas. 

Of course they did. 

As a result of all this publicity, though, Gary's struggles over the next few years are very well documented. In the following months and years, Gary had more than a few brushes with the law. He was, in fact, arrested five times in the subsequent year or so. Remember that Gary also carried with him the stigma of being a convicted felon at this point, because his sentence was commuted, it wasn't overturned or vacated. So really he's only out on parole. 

At first things were going well for them. They had 70, and they had that $17,500, which is about $50,000 in 2023, and they were really kind of living it up. They rented a furnished apartment and each of them got a new car. 

Gary was drinking heavily at the time, however, and in early 1986, they were evicted and moved back in with Gary's mother, Barbara, who still lived in the same place, that Chicago suburb where Gary grew up. He was struggling to find work and keep a job, and once the money from the book was spent, the couple was broke 

Camille was working as a waitress to help make ends meet. Then in January, 1987, their only child, Ashley, was born. 

During this time, Gary was arrested several times, as we mentioned, for offenses such as DUI, getting into bar fights, failure to report to his parole officer, and also domestic disturbances.

On August 2nd, 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. Camille chased after them. A police car drove by and Camille flagged them down. She told the officer that Gary was drunk and 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 that he was struggling with alcohol addiction, adjusting to life after prison, and carrying the stigma of his rape conviction. He 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.

At this time, Gary was placed under arrest and charged with domestic battery, and if Gary was found guilty, that would have been a parole violation, so he was held without bail while he waited for his hearing.

As a result of this arrest, Gary was ordered to appear in domestic violence court on August 27, 1987. 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 it was happening. She later stated that she just wanted to "shake some sense into him" and that she didn't want him to go back to jail.

At his parole hearing, Gary admitted what he had done and he admitted he had said "I said I'd kill the kid before I let Camille take her away." He also admitted that he'd been drinking a lot that night.

On September 4, 1987, the parole board met to review his violation. His parole ended up being revoked, reinstating the remaining 16 years of his original sentence,

 so he was set to go back to jail. 

However, on December 24th, 1987, Governor Thompson released Dotson again, stating that he thought he deserved one more chance. When Gary returned home, however, it was reported that Camille threw him out of the house and told him that she would be seeking a divorce, which he did not take very well. 

On December 26th, 1987, just two days later, Gary was arrested and jailed after a drunken disorderly incident where he allegedly pushed a 67-year-old woman over a sandwich order at a local tavern.

Those charges were dropped when the women involved decided not to press charges. They didn't say why, but Gary's attorney speculated that the two women instigated the fight. It was apparently a very ugly incident, with Gary yelling racial slurs and one of the women slapping Gary and calling him a rapist. Reports have stated that Gary was "an admitted alcoholic" and he was drunk at the time, which again was a serious violation of his parole. His attorney claimed that Gary was pushed over the edge and began drinking when Camille said she would seek a divorce. 

After the incident, Gary was returned to prison to serve six months for his parole violation. In August of 1988, he was then moved into a state-run alcohol treatment center. Camille did follow through with filing for divorce about a year later, mentioning that Gary had "a violent and ungovernable temper" and I think we can agree a pretty serious drinking problem.

When you said that just now, I thought that it was very interesting and telling that Gary's attorney, instead of putting any blame on Gary for Gary's behavior in the restaurant with that argument over the sandwich that he put the blame it sounds like he's putting the blame on Camille saying that you know her behavior she pushed him over the edge as if she were responsible for his drinking his alcohol addiction and his behavior that night and we definitely aren't trying to excuse Gary's domestic violence behavior but it is definitely true and we keep saying this throughout this episode that he got a really really bad deal he was falsely accused of rape he went to prison for six years and you know that definitely altered the way he acted when he got out it really changed him 

In August of 1989 Gary was formally exonerated via PCR DNA testing which was cutting-edge technology when this happened all the charges against him were formally dropped because the testing showed that he couldn't have been the source of the semen sample collected after Kathleen made her rape report so this makes 

Gary Dotson the very first example of a convicted felon being exonerated completely by DNA evidence that's the first time that ever occurred in history and afterwards Gary had completed a year of treatment for alcohol abuse but sadly this wasn't the end of his problems on September 18th 1989 Gary was arrested at Camille's home for trespassing Gary and Camille they'd been separated and she seemed to be in the process of relocating her life to Las Vegas where her mom was living at the time but she had an apartment in the Skokie area of Illinois and according to the Cook County Sheriff Camille and Gary have been working on repairing their relationship or reconciling in some way and Camille gave Gary a key to her apartment however something must have happened because Camille asked Gary to give her the key back and he wouldn't so Camille I don't know she left to go to Las Vegas and when she came back, she found Gary in her apartment and he refused to leave, and he was then arrested for trespassing According to reporting, 

Gary posted bail and had a hearing scheduled for October 6th, 1989, at that hearing, all the charges were dismissed because the judge found Camille was not present. She didn't show up for the hearing. 

However, it turned out that Camille was just running a little late. She was nine minutes late to the hearing, but the judge had already dismissed the charges. And I said this before, but it's really clear that prison had an absolutely horrible effect on Gary and he wasn't able to readjust to life on the outside. He has said in interviews that he had to change in order to survive in prison. And it's obvious that the person he changed into was incompatible with life on the outside. That's one of the things we'll explore when we talk more in detail about Gary Dotson and what can, one of the things that can turn someone into an abuser. 

At this point in 1989, for both Camille and Gary, it's, it appears that the media coverage about their lives and their relationships just kind of trails off. Camille's relationship with Gary was over and his rape conviction was legally behind him with no doubts about his innocence, and by 1991, Camille had relocated to Las Vegas permanently with her daughter, Ashley, to put some distance between them and Gary. 

We will discuss the specifics leading up to her disappearance in the next episode, as well as talk about potential suspects that range from her second husband, Cruz Ruiz to the boyfriend she was living with after she left him to a local biker gang and even members of the mob.

 So be sure to tune in next Tuesday for part two of Camille's story and make sure you subscribe so you get the notifications when our episodes about Gary's case come out. out. Thanks as always for listening, and remember, what happens here happens everywhere.