Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - Where is Camille Dardanes Dotson? - Part 1

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

Camille had a promising future—but her life took a tragic turn. After moving to Las Vegas, Camille vanished in 1994, leaving behind her young daughter and grieving mother. For decades, her family has fought for answers. What really happened to Camille? Explore the twists, unanswered questions, and the heartbreaking reality of a woman who disappeared without a trace. This episode takes a closer look at the relentless search for answers led by Camille's daughter, Ashley, and her friend, Gabby Proulx, who have dedicated years to unraveling the truth behind Camille’s disappearance. We explore the details of Camille's life, including her turbulent marriage to Gary Dotson, a man thrust into the limelight as the first person exonerated by DNA evidence. Their relationship, clouded by domestic violence and intense media scrutiny, played a significant role in the dramatic changes in Camille's life.After moving to Las Vegas with her daughter, Camille disappeared, sparking a myriad of questions and theories. https://sinspod.co/episode6sourceshttps://sinspod.co/findcamilleDomestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag!Apple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

To listen ad-free, visit Zinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show! Not many people who knew the charismatic and intelligent Camille Dardane Stotson 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 Prolu,

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 3, 1994. When she was reported missing, the Las Vegas Metro police were unable or unwilling to help. On April 27, 1995, a Metro officer wrote, Of course, this was never going to be sufficient for Camille's daughter, Ashley, or her mother, Barbara, who both want answers. 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, Sean, 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 Dardane Stotson, 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 person's 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 Vegas, people that she may have known, places she worked, etc. The website that they put together, 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 Dodson was 30 years old on September 2nd, 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 by all accounts, Camille never showed, making September 3, 1994 the last verified time anyone saw her alive. Her daughter, Ashley, was only seven 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, possibly. It wasn't until seven months later that a missing persons report was filed. As we said, the police did not seem to be concerned about Camille at that time. About three months after the report was filed, it was mysteriously deleted by the Las Vegas Metro Police 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 Dodson'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 timeframe of less than 10 years. And I don't

think anyone could have predicted what happened to them both. So let's start with Camille. Camille was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 23rd, 1964. Her mom's name is Barbara Kritzalis, and by all 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 Dodson, 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, quote, no, but I will, unquote. 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 details 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 was a high school dropout 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, 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. So 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. And 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, 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, but 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 and information about their dating life and their new life together was getting reported coast to coast, New York Times, LA Times. 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 findcamille.com website, 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. And 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. And at first, things were going well for them. 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 that 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. And Camille was working as a waitress to help make ends meet. Then in January 1987, their only child, Ashley, was born. And 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, 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, quote, At his parole hearing, Gary admitted what he had done, and he admitted that he had said, quote, He also admitted that he'd been drinking a lot that night. On September 4th, 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, December 24th, 1987, Governor Thompson released Dodson again, stating that he thought he deserved one more chance. When Gary returned home, however, it's 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 26, 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, quote, an admitted alcoholic, unquote, 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, quote, a violent and ungovernable temper, unquote. And I think we can agree agree a pretty serious drinking problem. When you said that just now, I was thinking that it's 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 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 had 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 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.

And according to reporting, Gary posted bail and had a hearing scheduled for October 6, 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. And that's one of the things we'll explore when we talk more in detail about Gary Dodson

and what can, one of the things that can turn someone into an abuser. At this point, 1989, for both Camille and Gary, 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 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 talking 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. Thanks as always for listening, and remember, what happens here, happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com.

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John.

The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.