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.