New search for Monte Vista mom bittersweet
Excavation turns up bone that may be from human

By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News
January 25, 2006
The family of a missing Monte Vista mother said Tuesday the renewed investigation that may have uncovered a bone from the woman was sad news and good news.

Danice Day, then 19, disappeared Jan. 9, 2002, leaving behind two young children.

"All weekend, we were on pins and needles," said Jacqui Flint, Day's sister who operates a Web site on her missing sister.

"I'm scared of what I feel when they find her, but I'm hopeful that they will finally find her," said Flint. "We're all hopeful they'll find her."

The downtown site of a former filling station was excavated, and a bone believed to be from a human joint was located, said Rio Grande County Sheriff Brian Norton.

Other items of interest were also located underground at the site and will be sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for testing, he said.

Norton declined to discuss the other items that were found.

"We're very happy that they've renewed the search," said Jonene Day, Danice's mother.

"We were pretty disappointed by the way it was handled in the beginning," said Jonene Day. "No one bothered to look for her for several days."

At the time of her death, Danice Day was living with Victor Braun and they had a daughter, Kaylee, who is now 4, Jonene Day said.

Both Jonene Day and Flint said Danice Day had filed domestic abuse charges against Braun, moved out, reconciled and had resumed the relationship before her death.

Norton confirmed that Danice Day had filed a domestic violence complaint against Braun before her death. He said Braun was one of several people that would be interviewed as part of the investigation. Norton said Braun had been interviewed when Danice Day disappeared.

Jonene Day said she last saw her daughter on Christmas Day, 2001, when they both celebrated successful drug-rehabilitation programs and promised each other they would stay "clean and sober."

"She seemed happy, but my ex-husband (Danice's father, Rod Day) and her friends told me she was still being physically abused and wanted to leave," said Jonene Day.

"Her stuff was still at another apartment when she disappeared," said Flint.

Day vanished after her waitress shift at a Monte Vista restaurant ended Jan. 9, 2002. She left Kaylee and her son from another relationship at Braun's home along with her vehicle, wallet, cellular phone and clothing, said Jonene Day.

"She would never have left her children like that," said Jonene.

The empty lot that was excavated belonged to Braun's family and was sold in March 2002, the county assessor's office said.

Former Sheriff Desi Medina was a friend of Braun's father, Vernon Braun, and excused himself from the investigation because of the circumstances.

Victor Braun has custody of Kaylee, Norton said.

frazierd@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5308