Articles Recently Published
Recently, there were two new articles published about Danice's case. Please see the following links for details:
9News in Colorado:
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=101424&catid=339
MONTE VISTA - A bone fragment, a chair and a hidden trapdoor may lead the Rio Grande Sheriff's Department to answers about a woman who's been missing since 2002.AdvertisementDanice Day disappeared from Monte Vista in 2002. She was 19 years old with two children.Recently, the new owners of a home that Day's boyfriend’s parents' had owned, moved a shed to build a fence. Beneath the shed, they found a hidden trapdoor with an 8-feet by 5-feet by 4-and-a-half feet hole.
"It appears to be a trash pit," said Rio Grande Sheriff Brian Norton.
Sheriff’s investigators took nearly four hours to sift through the hole. They found a chair, a rusted step ladder to get into the hole, a missing poster of Danice Day, a newspaper article from September of 2002 and a bone fragment.
Day disappeared on January 9, 2002.
Sheriff’s investigators have sent the bone fragment, which is 2 inches by 3 inches, to the El Paso County lab to determine whether it is human and if so, if it’s related to Day in any way.
Her boyfriend, Victor Braun, is still listed as a “person of interest” in the case. He was recently released from the Rio Grande jail after burglary and bad check convictions.
Day's extended family has kept searching for her through the years. They maintain the daniceday.com Web site. 9NEWS has done stories on Day in the past.
"Any lead on this case we get, we’re going to follow," said Sheriff Norton.
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)
7News in Colorado:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17661151/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news
Bone Found May Be Break In Danice Day Case
Monte Vista Mother Disappeared 6 Years Ago
October 8, 2008
MONTE VISTA, Colo. -- Investigators say a bone fragment was found outside a Monte Vista home linked to a woman who disappeared more than six years ago, but they don't know whether it is human.
The Rio Grande County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday the 3-inch-long fragment was found in a compartment below a trap door in the floor of an old shed.
The current resident at the home, once belonging to Vernon and Bonnie Braun, called the sheriff's office when the shed was being removed and a hidden compartment was found beneath it.
The adult son of the Brauns, Victor Braun, was living with Danice Lea Day, 19, when she mysteriously disappeared in January 2002. He told investigators she left "with friends," leaving behind her purse, car and clothing.
Victor Braun is still listed as a "person of interest" in the case.
Deputies said the El Paso County coroner will determine whether the bone is human and will try to get DNA from it.
Deputies said drug paraphernalia and empty liquor bottles were also found in the hidden space below the trap door.
A bone possibly linked to Day was discovered two years ago from a vacant lot in Monte Vista that was once occupied by a gas station owned by Vernon Braun. The bone was sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, but the analysis was inconclusive.
Day, a single mother of two children, worked at the Dos Rios restaurant in Monte Vista at the time she disappeared.
Monte Vista is 160 miles south of Denver.
Alamosa Courier:
http://www.alamosanews.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=9713
Bone found in MV 'dugout'
Wednesday, Oct 8th, 2008
A bone found beneath an old shed behind this home in Monte Vista is the latest potential break in the disappearance of Danice Day, 19, who went missing Jan. 9, 2002. The residence once belonged to Vernon and Bonnie Braun, parents of Victor Braun, a “person of interest’ in the case.
MONTE VISTA — Local authorities may have caught a break in the investigation of missing Monte Vistan Danice Day.
The possible break in the Day investigation occurred the first part of October when a homeowner in Monte Vista began to install a fence and found a structure that seemed suspicious.
Rio Grande County Undersheriff Chuck Chick said the current resident at a home once belonging to Vernon and Bonnie Braun called his office when a shed was being removed and a compartment was found beneath it. Chick said the shed had a trapdoor in the floor and that door led to a “dugout” that contained drug paraphernalia, empty liquor bottles — and a bone.
Chick said the bone is about three inches long and could be human, but the El Paso County Coroner will make that call.
Various newspaper articles were also found in the dugout, but they did not seem to be connected, Chick said, adding that the sides of the hole had fallen in and investigators had to dig into it.
The home was sold by Bonnie (Braun) Glover on Nov. 18, 2002.
Danice Day was 19 years old on Jan. 9, 2002 when she went missing from her home near Monte Vista.
Glover’s son, Victor Braun, the man Day was living with, told investigators that she had “gone out with friends” and hadn’t returned, leaving behind her car, purse, cell phone, clothing - and her two small children.
Foul play was suspected almost from the beginning, since relatives said Day would never leave her children behind and she did not take her purse with her.
Today, more than six years later, investigators are still following up on every possible lead.
Rewards are still available for anyone who will provide information as to the woman’s whereabouts. Phone Chick at 657-4000.