By Marsha R. Triplett

MONTE VISTA - Nearly six weeks ago, local Monte Vista resident and young mother, Danice Day, was reported missing. Since that time no evidence has been discovered by local law enforcement agencies that would lead to her where abouts.

In an interview with Rio Grande County Under Sheriff Charles Martinez last week, Martinez stated that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation had been officially asked to lend a hand in the investigation.

Victor Braun, Day's boyfriend, and Vern Braun, Victor Braun's father, are suspects in the case. Martinez said over 150 hours have been spent combing their property as well as the Rock Creek area in search of Day's body. According to Martinez, there is no strong evidence to suggest there may be a body but all leads had to be checked out. The searches were conducted on both government and private property. Martinez stated that permission of landowners was not needed and indicated valuable time would be lost identifying and contacting landowners to receive their permission.

In addition to the searches on 4-wheelers, Martinez said that several searches of the suspects' homes and shops have conducted with full cooperation and permission of the Brauns. When questioned about a recent shipment of luminol received at RGSO, Martinez confirmed that the luminol was used in the Day investigation by the department. Luminol detects blood proteins on fibers and Martinez stated no evidence of blood was found.

Martinez also stated that cadaver dogs had recently been brought in and again residences, personal vehicles, personal property and the surrounding country was searched but they too failed to find any evidence leading to a body.

When questioned about training the department had received with regard to handling this type of case, Martinez stated, "Many of our people have a lot of experience in missing people and homicides. None of us have forensic training." According to Martinez, that is one reason CBI had been called in.

Posted by jacqui at 05:41 PM | Permalink

Courtesy of Denver 7 News

A San Luis Valley waitress, missing for more one month, is believed to be dead, according to the Rio Grand County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities have been searching for Danice Day, 19, since Jan. 9.

"We're concentrating on looking for a body," Undersheriff Charles Martinez told the Alamosa Valley Courier Monday.

"We still hope she's alive, but everything points to her being dead ... All the leads of her being alive have failed."

Day reportedly went to her home from her job the afternoon of Jan. 9 and told her boyfriend she was going out with a friend, according to Martinez. That was the last time she was seen. Deputies have several suspects in the case, including Day's live-in boyfriend.

"He's always been a suspect," Martinez said, "but he's not the only suspect. We have two or three suspects."

Deputies have used four-wheelers and four-wheel-drive trucks to search an area west of Monte Vista, Colo., but failed to find any trace of Day. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is helping the sheriff's office investigate the disappearance.

San Luis Valley Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the location of Day.

The single mother of two children worked at the Dos Rios restaurant in Monte Vista.

Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Posted by jacqui at 05:42 PM | Permalink

By Becky Noland

MONTE VISTA - Fearing that she may be dead, police last week searched the outlying countryside west of Monte Vista in search of the body of Danice Day, the 19-year-old girl who has been missing for over a month.

"We're concentrating on looking for a body," said Undersheriff Charles Martinez on Monday, when asked how the investigation into Day's disappearance was going. "We still hope she's alive, but everything points to her being dead ... All the leads of her being alive have failed."

Rio Grande Sheriff's Office deputies searched both the Rock Creek area and the Rim Rock Ranch area west of Monte Vista several times on four-wheelers and in four-wheel drive trucks last week, Martinez said.

Both areas are areas suspect Victor Braun, Day's live-in boyfriend, had access to from his home on Lariat Rd. near County Rd. 28, Martinez said, noting that Braun is only one of several suspects in the disappearance of the slender, blond waitress at Dos Rios.

"He's always been a suspect," Martinez said, "but he's not the only suspect. We have two or three suspects."

The undersheriff called in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation last week and said the CBI may return to the Monte Vista area this week to help continue the investigation.

Meanwhile, San Luis Valley Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the location of the missing woman, who is the single mother of two children.

Posted by jacqui at 05:43 PM | Permalink

By Becky Noland

DEL NORTE-A probation officer told a judge last week that Victor Braun, the 24-year-old Monte Vista man on four years probation for burglary, "is doing well."

Braun reports in on a regular basis, is current in his restitution payments and is maintaining full-time employment, reported Teddy Archuleta, Braun's Probation Officer.

"He's doing well, your honor," Archuleta told Judge John Kuenhold Feb. 6 in Rio Grande District Court.

Archuleta said Braun had also complied with drug testing and "everything is clean." He is working full time at his father's paint and body shop, Archuleta said.

Judge John Kuenhold placed Victor Braun on probation July 25 for four years, along with a 60-day jail sentence in the county jail. Earlier in the summer, Braun had pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree burglary in a plea bargain agreement that dismissed three other felony cases pending against him. All the charges stem from a series of burglaries and check frauds Braun committed in Monte Vista during the 2000 Christmas holidays.

When Judge Kuenhold placed Braun on four years probation last summer instead of sending him to prison, he told Braun he was getting a break.

"You're a cocaine addict who's committed a bunch of felonies," Kuenhold said when he sentenced Braun. "You shouldn't expect any more breaks. If you don't shape up, you'll go to the Department of Corrections."

As part of the sentence, Braun was ordered to pay back approximately $8,000. The court ordered him to pay $150 per month and Braun has currently paid $450 in restitution, Archuleta said. When asked how often Braun was tested for drugs, Archuleta said the tests were conducted on a random basis and "often enough to catch him if he's using drugs."

At the sentencing hearing last summer, Braun's girlfriend and mother of their infant child, was present in the courtroom. According to Ruth Acheson, Braun's public defender lawyer, the couple had split up and Braun had filed for custody of his daughter. She then asked that Braun be given no jail time because of his parental responsibilities.

Today, the whereabouts of Braun's girlfriend, Danice Day, is a mystery. Apparently she and Braun had reconciled because she was living with him at the time of her disappearance last month. She disappeared Jan. 9 and hasn't been heard from since. Three weeks into the investigation of her disappearance, the Rio Grande County Sheriff's Office asked the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to assist them in the case. No arrests have been made in the case.

Posted by jacqui at 05:45 PM | Permalink

By Monte Vista Journal Staff

MONTE VISTA - Danice Day's two children and her parents have asked San Luis Valley Crimestoppers to help with their search for her.

Day, the 19-year-old single mom of two children, was last seen Jan. 9 in Monte Vista.

She is 5'5" tall, weighs about 105 pounds, has blonde hair and blue eyes, as well as pierced ears and a pierced left eyebrow. When last seen, she was wearing black Wrangler jeans and a white T-shirt.

When she left home, allegedly telling boyfriend Victor Braun that she was going out with friends, but not revealing who, Day left behind her car and cell phone, according to reports from the Monte Vista Police Department. A reward of up to $1,000 is offered by San Luis Valley Crimestoppers, and persons with information may contact 589-4111. Confidentiality is assured and callers need not be identified.

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The bank of Monte Vista and her family has established a reward fund in hopes of obtaining adequate monies to offer substantial reward for information from anyone who is willing to come forward and identify either Danice's whereabouts of person(s) responsible for her disappearance.

Please send donations to:
The Danice Day Reward Fund
C/o Bank of Monte Vista
PO Box 671
Monte Vista, CO 81144

For assistance in banking transactions, contact Dorothy Van Treese at 719-852-2547

Posted by jacqui at 05:56 PM | Permalink

A reward is being offered to anyone with information leading to the location of Danice Day. If you have information or know anything pertaining to this case please contact:

Shawn Woods
Chief Criminal Investigator for Office of the DA
12th Judicial District
Alamosa, Colorado
Phone: (719)589-3715

Or to make donations please go to:
Carol Sund/Carrington Foundation Reward

Posted by jacqui at 05:53 PM | Permalink

By Becky Noland

MONTE VISTA - Authorities are tight-lipped, but it appears there may be a break pending in the case of the 19-year-old girl who has been missing for a month.

"We can't say anything, but I can tell you that Undersheriff Martinez will probably have something to say to you guys in the next couple of days," RGSO deputy Boyd Wheelwright said Tuesday morning when pressed by a reporter.

Undersheriff Charles Martinez was "out in the field" working on the case and couldn't be reached for comment, deputies said.

Persistent rumors about the case have been swirling throughout the Valley for weeks, ever since Danice Day, a 19-year-old waitress at Dos Rios Restaurant in Monte Vista, disappeared Jan. 9. Police have questioned her boyfriend, Victor Braun, but no arrests have been made in the case.

One of the rumors circulating around the Valley is that Day's body was found last night at Navajo State Park, but nobody at the Archuleta County Sheriff's Office or the Southern Ute Police Department had any knowledge of a body being discovered recently at the lake.

"We would certainly know about something like that, " said a spokesperson from the Southern Ute Police Department. "We're here every day."

Last week frustrated local sheriff's deputies called in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to help out in the missing person case. The Rio Grande Sheriff's Department has put in hundreds of hours on the case, says Undersheriff Charles Martinez. Undersheriff Martinez said he's been working on the case" "day and night nonstop for three weeks."

Victor Braun, Day's boyfriend with whom she had been living at the time of her disappearance, has agreed to take a polygraph test, police said. But as of last week, Martinez said "he keeps putting it off." It is believed, but unconfirmed, that Victor Braun took a polygraph test early this week.

Danice Day's parents were contacted Tuesday morning and said the Rio Grande County Sheriff's Department haven't contacted them about any recent breaks in the case.

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