Mystery bone found in cold case dig may not be human
By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published October 9, 2008 at 11:24 a.m.
Updated October 9, 2008 at 12:52 p.m.
Photo by www.daniceday.com
Danice Day with her two children.
Danice Day disappeared six years ago.
A bone found below a shed in Monte Vista appears not to be from a human, so may not be the hoped-for clue to solve the disappearance of a young mother in 2002.
Rio Grande County Sheriff Brian Norton said today that three doctors that looked at the bone said it looks like an animal bone to them. The final decision will be made after a radiologist looks at it at the El Paso County forensics lab, Norton said.
Rio Grande County investigators are still hoping the accidental discovery of a trapdoor -- below which not only the bone, but an old missing-person poster and old newspapers were found -- could help solve a 6-year-old missing-person case.
Danice Day was just 19, and the mother of two, when she disappeared in January of 2002.
Her boyfriend, Victor Braun, now 32, was a suspect and remains a "person of interest" in the case, Undersheriff Charles Chick said today.
Braun had lived with his parents in a house in Monte Vista at the time of Day's disappearance.
Recently, the new owners of that home decided to build a cedar fence and to move a shed or out-building from the yard, Chick said.
"They found a trapdoor in the bottom of the shed, and a place where it was dug out underneath."
When investigators took a look they found a hole 41/2 feet deep, five feet wide and eight feet long — what looked like a trash pit.
They carefully dug, shovel by shovel, and found empty alcohol containers, an old chair, Christmas lights, a poster on Day's disappearance and some old newspapers from that era, Chick said.
And then. "Sifting through, each shovelful, we actually found a bone," he said.
The Rio Grande Coroner couldn't tell if it was a human or an animal bone, so he brought it to the forensics pathologist in El Paso County.
They were hoping that if it was a human bone, further DNA analysis could help identify it.
Chick said the bone is three inches long and two inches wide, with an unusual curvature.
He said he is pursuing every lead in the Day disappearance.
"This is a care where we've got a family that is missing a daughter," he said.
Factors that could point to a homicide rather than a voluntary disappearance include the fact that when Day disappeared she left her two children behind, left her purse, her cell phone and her car.
This is not the first time an excavation provided hope of solving the case. In January, 2006, authorities dug at the site of a former gas station in Monte Vista and turned up a bone thought to be human, but it proved to be a false lead.
Since Day's disappearance, Victor Braun spent at least a year in jail and now is out on bond on numerous charges of burglary, theft and possession of cocaine. His list of charges goes back to 1994, when he was 18, and numbers in the dozens.
His father, Vern, is out on bond on numerous charges, including auto theft, Chick said.
Father and son live in a house in Monte Vista.
Day's two children were of two different fathers. The child she had with Braun is being raised by Braun, with help, Chick said.
Braun did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
Sheriff Norton said he is hoping the other things found in the pit can be helpful in the case. "We've been investigating since 2002. We're dedicated to getting some answers and locating her."
Rio Grande County often goes years between homicides, Chick noted.
"We're not going to give up on this," he said. "We're hard set on uniting this girl, one way or another, back with her family," whom he described as "wonderful people."
Chick urges anyone with information to call him at 719-657-4000.
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October 9, 2008
11:34 a.m.
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RJS07 writes:
Was the door frightened when it was trapped I wonder?
October 9, 2008
11:41 a.m.
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LadyBird112 writes:
Wouldn't you be?
October 9, 2008
11:46 a.m.
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happymike44 writes:
I hope this closes the case and brings peace to the long suffering victim and her family.
I wonder what possesses someone to murder another person.
I just hope this closes the door on this mystery and they get the killer or killers and lock them up for a real long time.
October 9, 2008
11:48 a.m.
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BigSky182 writes:
So investigators looking for a missing girl MISSED a trap door in a shed on the property where the prime suspect was living at the time?
No wonder only 1 in 3 murders are ever solved in Colorado.
October 9, 2008
12:11 p.m.
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Duckster writes:
This is what happens when you're a tramp who doesn't choose baby's-daddies wisely. 19 years old, with two kids by two different guys... sheesh!
http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/
October 9, 2008
12:11 p.m.
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infidel91 writes:
BigSky, why have you been withholding your astounding investigatory expertise from Colorado's law enforcement agencies all this time?
October 9, 2008
12:31 p.m.
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LeftyLady writes:
Grandpa and dad both sound like real winners. Now they're raising a third generation of repeat offender scum. A child raised in a family that has no respect for society, decency and law has little chance of ever being anything other than a criminal. How sad for these children.
October 9, 2008
12:36 p.m.
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BigSky182 writes:
Pardon me Infidel, but wouldn't it seem to you that looking in the stinkin shed should have crossed someone's mind during the investigation?
Talk about no brainers!
October 9, 2008
12:49 p.m.
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davies writes:
Look at those little dudes with their mom. I'd hate to have to meet my maker with her murder on my account.
October 9, 2008
12:56 p.m.
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danirobi writes:
someone needs to tell the News that their headline makes no sense. "Mystery bone found in cold case dig may not human"...should it be "...may not BE human?"
October 9, 2008
1:06 p.m.
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mtlgrl writes:
Maybe you should know the whole story before you start posting awful comments Duckster. I PERSONALLY knew Danice and she was one of my best friends. She was smart, vibrant and a wonderful mother. The derogetory words you called her are so out of your own ignorance and stupidity. She's a victim and one that all of us who knew her miss greatly. The media never involves all the facts of any story and we have been living with this for nearly seven years and it's ignorant and rude people like yourself that try to turn inoccent victims into vile people like yourself.
October 9, 2008
1:24 p.m.
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davies writes:
Shaggy: Small town, rural county, everybody knows everybody, so my guess is, the new owners knew (or somebody told them) that a murder suspect lived there previously.
As to why the shed wasn't searched before and the trap door discovered, that is a poser too; but maybe even though the guy was a suspect they didn't have any evidence to justify a search warrant. Anybody?
October 9, 2008
1:50 p.m.
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kris writes:
Doesn't matter what socioeconomic background you come from.... no one deserves to be murdered. Who are you people passing judgement on this young mother? Maybe you should hop off that cross of yours once in a while.
October 9, 2008
2:06 p.m.
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sweetater writes:
Duckster,
Hoping you are of the sterile population.
October 9, 2008
3:20 p.m.
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davies writes:
Kris writes:
"Maybe you should hop off that cross of yours once in a while."
Huh? Is this a reference to Jesus, who famously said: "let he among you who is without sin, cast the first stone"?
I don't see anything Christian about Duckster's or backspace's posts. Maybe you should ponder your anti-Christian bias there Krissy.
October 9, 2008
4:05 p.m.
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happymike44 writes:
This woman may have not used the best judgement.
But still no reason to make her murder acceptable.
No one deserves to be murdered and those poor little kids were deprived of their mother.
How does this benefit them in their emotional and physical up bringing.
She may not have been mother of the year,but still no reason for her to be murdered.
Now I am going to phrase this in a way all of you can understand.
She was someone's mother,sister and daughter and she will be missed by all who knew her.
This could have happened to anyone of our families and we all could be mourning the loss of someone we love.
The dirtbag that did this needs to be in jail for life.
October 9, 2008
4:52 p.m.
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sweetater writes:
Duckster, folks like you is why there are single moms!!!!
October 9, 2008
5:41 p.m.
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scootertrash writes:
Hey duckster, you are the reason there are lesbians.
October 9, 2008
6 p.m.
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platoro79 writes:
I'm from Monte Vista and knew of this young woman. She was really trying to turn her life around and was in the process of leaving the scum she was with. She was a waitress at a popular local restaurant and was very well liked. Victor and Vern Braun are well known drunken, drugging losers here who have recently been charged with multiple felonies including auto theft. We're all waiting for these two to go down!
October 9, 2008
6:23 p.m.
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Duckster writes:
Wow...so much hate and bitterness. I guess that the concept of personal responsibility goes right over your heads, and the theory that when you make stupid choices, you are defined by those choices and bound to the consequences.
A 19 year old with a litter of other guys' kids doesn't deserve to be murdered, but there's no denying that she put herself in that position due to her stellar and chronic bad judgment. And as far as her and the other single moms are concerned...here's an idea: don't flop into bed with every guy willing to buy you a Big Mac and/or lie to you and tell you how fat girls are attractive. One illegitimate kid is bad enough, but multiple welfare babies before she's even twenty? Come on... (And you know that she was on welfare just as well as I do. Let's not even argue that point.)
Again, pity that she's dead, but in life, we often reap the consequences of our choices.
http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/
October 9, 2008
7:54 p.m.
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thnksnw01 writes:
Ladybird112 and RJS07 and Duckster...I always read the headlines of RMN and until now have never made a comment. However the brainless comments you three made caused me to join. If you are that lonely and bored as to make fun of a tragic story you should try doing some volunteer work at a womans shelter...you may luck out and EVOLVE!!!
October 9, 2008
8:22 p.m.
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cpd writes:
"Can't we all just get along?"....Rodney King
October 10, 2008
11:26 a.m.
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sweetater writes:
Subsea,I know there are decent men out there without the mentallity of duckster,( I can tell by your postings you are one and would say happymike is also) I raised two very decent young men by MYSELF and without being a welfare mom,and may I say I have never been overweight either, I really think duckster should realize that sometimes young people male or female make bad choices as long as they learn from those mistakes they should be given credit, and not called a tramp. All the biterness Duckster, the tramp comment was BITTER