Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Original Mouseketeer Dennis Day (76) was murdered in his home

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    3,753
    Rep Power
    0

    Exclamation Original Mouseketeer Dennis Day (76) was murdered in his home

    https://kobi5.com/news/perplexing-di...eketeer-93291/

    PHOENIX, Ore. ? Six months ago, a Phoenix man mysteriously disappeared.

    ?It?s not just a feeling? something had to have happened,? said Allie Jensen, Dennis Day?s neighbor.

    It?s a case police, neighbors, and friends say they?re still trying to wrap their heads around.

    Last July, the 76-year-old, Dennis Day, vanished.

    ?I miss our conversations, I miss swapping vegetables with him over the fence,? said Jensen.

    Police say Day was last seen on his driveway saying he was going to visit friends, but that?s the last anyone ever saw of him.

    ?I keep the file on my desk all the time,? said Lt. Jeff Price, Phoenix Police Dept. ??waiting for that one call to come in.?

    Lt. Price says the former actor and Mouseketeer was living with his partner of over forty years.

    They had with a third roommate whose name appears in a letter supposedly written by Day, later found at a neighbor?s home after he disappeared.

    ??that basically said that the roommate had assaulted him on an occasion,? said Lt. Price.

    However, Lt. Price says there?s no evidence to support that.

    Day?s car also went missing eventually found by police along the coast with two people inside who were unfamiliar to Day and his partner. And again, police say it didn?t lead anywhere.

    ?There was no evidence of a crime there, there was no evidence of a crime in the car,? he said.

    With no new leads or tips, police say it?s possible Day left voluntarily.

    ?If he is out with some friends or family somewhere, it would be nice to just contact him and see if he is okay,? said Lt. Price.

    But neighbors? aren?t convinced.

    ?When I found out his dog had been found roaming the streets? that was the moment that I said oh, no,? said Jensen.

    If you have any information about the case, you?re urged to contact the Phoenix Police Department.
    A Former Mickey Mouse Club Actor was reported missing.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    3,753
    Rep Power
    0
    http://www.newser.com/story/271807/e...ia-battle.html

    (Newser) – Despite a dementia diagnosis, Ernie Caswell noticed when his partner of 46 years failed to visit him in the hospital last summer. It was out of character for Dennis Day—an actor and original Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club, per the Mail Tribune—who rarely left Caswell's side. Day "doesn't even leave his house to travel anywhere," his niece, Denise Norris, tells NBC News. "The last time he left his town was [to] come to his mother's funeral. And that was 12 years ago." Yet Day, of Phoenix, Ore., hasn’t been seen since Caswell filed a missing persons report last July. Members of Day's extended family, who last visited in June 2017, only learned he was missing after a January news report. Police then told Day's sister that a roommate reported he'd left to visit friends. Nelda Adkins says Day's car was left behind, along with the pets he loved "like children."

    Still, the car was later found along the Oregon coast, but "there was no evidence of a crime," Lt. Jeff Price tells KOBI. He says there's also no evidence to support a letter in which Day supposedly accused the roommate of assaulting him "on an occasion." Searches of his home, a nearby graveyard, and a creek have failed to turn up any sign of the former Mouseketeer, whose bank accounts and credit cards haven't been used. As he didn't use social media and had only a prepaid cellphone, it's difficult to glean more. "We're just kind of lost with what to do, or how to find him," Norris tells NBC. "He's not the type of person who would just disappear. Especially with his significant other being in the hospital—he was very dedicated to him." Caswell has since moved to an assisted living facility. Adkins says he recognizes friends and is "doing well," considering. (Read more missing person stories.)

    http://mailtribune.com/news/top-stor...ng-mouseketeer

    PHOENIX -- Friends of 76-year-old Phoenix resident Dennis Day have stepped up their efforts to locate the onetime Disney Mouseketeer, who has been missing since July.

    On July 15, Day told his husband, Ernest Caswell, that he was going to visit friends. Uncharacteristically, he left his dog and cat behind and hasn’t been seen since.

    His husband, whom he’s been in a relationship for 46 years, now suffers from a degree of age-related memory loss. Friends say Caswell’s hospitalization seemed to trigger a crisis, leading to Day’s departure. More than a week later, his car was discovered on the Oregon coast, being driven by persons unknown to Day’s friends. The driver told police that Day had given them permission to use it. No forensic evidence was found in the vehicle to suggest any struggle or foul play had occurred.

    Day, an original Mouseketeer from 1956-57, is a veteran actor, dancer, and long-time entertainer and director for the California Renaissance Pleasure Faires & Dickens Fair. He was hired by Disney Studios for the original Mickey Mouse Club. Later, Dennis worked with then-developing Theatre La MaMa in New York City, before returning to California. Living in Los Angeles, then San Francisco, he worked for the producers of the Renaissance Pleasure Faires and Dickens Christmas Fairs, from the late 1960s into the 1980s.

    Day and Caswell moved to Oregon in the mid-1980s. Day made and sold his own line of wine jellies and worked seasonally for Harry & David.

    Anyone with knowledge of Day’s movements or whereabouts is asked to contact Lt. Jeff Price of the Phoenix Police Department at 541-535-1113, ext. 309, or the Anonymous Tipline at 1-888-960-6450.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    3,753
    Rep Power
    0
    https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019...useketeer.html

    Here is more on Dennis Day

    Police have found a corpse in the southern Oregon home of missing Mouseketeer Dennis Day.

    On Thursday, Phoenix, Oregon, police asked Medford death investigators to examine a body found at 510 Pine St., a home belonging to Dennis Day, one of the original members of TV’s “The Mickey Mouse Club.” Day was first reported missing last summer.

    Authorities have yet to publicly identify the remains or release more details about the circumstances under which they were found.


    Day, 76, appeared on “The Mickey Mouse Club” during the show’s original 1950s run. He was first reported missing July 15 by his husband, who suffers from memory loss and was in the hospital at the time. According to missing persons reports, Day “uncharacteristically” left his dog with a friend on the day he disappeared. His car was found at the Oregon coast July 26.

    But the investigation didn’t pick up steam until December, when Day’s family was told of a local news report about the missing persons case.

    In February, “Dateline” spoke with Day’s family members -- including his sister and original performing partner Nelda Adkins -- who voiced their displeasure with what they called a “poorly handled” investigation.

    “We are devastated," Day’s niece Denise told the NBC news program. “We had no idea anything was happening, and six months into it, we figured it out. We should have been notified.”

    Friends and relatives helped set up the Help Us Find Dennis Day Facebook page.

    On Friday, reporters from the Medford Mail Tribune spotted an Oregon State Police Forensics truck outside Day’s home. According to a post from niece Denise Norris, the activity around the home followed a police search Thursday.

  4. #4
    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    21,600
    Rep Power
    21474874
    A body found in April at the Oregon home of Dennis Day, an original Disney Mouseketeer who disappeared 11 months ago, has been identified as the missing man, state police said Thursday.

    The human remains found at Day's Phoenix, Oregon, home were identified by the Oregon State Medical Examiner's office, although they were unable to use dental records or DNA because of the condition of the remains, according to a press release from the Oregon State Police.

    There was no word on the cause of death, nor whether it was the result of foul play or accident. The state police investigation remains ongoing, the press release said.
    Dennis Day as an original member of Disney's Mickey Mouse Club in the mid-1950s.

    Dennis Day as an original member of Disney's Mickey Mouse Club in the mid-1950s.

    Day's niece, Janel Showers, confirmed the death on the ?Help Us Find Dennis Day!? Facebook page the family set up.

    "Our family would like to take this time to share with you that the remains found in Dennis and (husband) Ernie?s home have been officially identified as our beloved Brother and Uncle, Dennis Day. The cause of death is under investigation by the Oregon State Police so we will not be making any comments or answering any questions at this time," the post said.

    "Our family is truly thankful to the Oregon State Police for helping to bring closure to our family so that we can finally lay Dennis to rest. We love you Brother & Uncle Dennis!"

    The body was found April 5 but at the time police did not say where or how long it had been there, nor how it might have been missed during previous searches.

    Day, 76, a Mouseketeer with Disney's Mickey Mouse Club for two years in the mid-1950s, had not been seen since July 2018, when he vanished from Phoenix in rural central Oregon.
    Dennis Day and Ernest Caswell on their wedding day in 2011.

    Dennis Day and Ernest Caswell on their wedding day in 2011. (Photo: Picasa via Phoenix, Ore., Police)

    He left behind his beloved cat and dog and his partner of more than 45 years, Ernest Caswell, who suffers from dementia-related memory problems and had been hospitalized after a fall and then transferred to assisted care.

    In part due to Caswell's medical problems, there was a two-week delay in reporting Day's disappearance to police; his family was not notified until six months later and only heard about it on local news reports.

    Eventually, Day's ramshackle home and property were searched along with local cemeteries and canals, to no avail, according to Lt. Jeff Price, second-in-command of the tiny Phoenix police department.

    Day's car was found about 200 miles away on the Oregon coast in the possession of two strangers who claimed Day let them borrow it. It was impounded by state police and later searched, but there was no sign of foul play, Price said.

    Day's sister, Nelda Adkins, 75, of Coalinga, California, feared the worst when she talked to USA TODAY in February.

    "The way it looks now, unless we find a body, we're not going to find him," she said.

    Day was once among the most famous child performers on American television, dancing and singing on millions of black-and-white TVs across the nation, wearing the iconic mouse-ear beanie and sweaters emblazoned with his name.

    Caswell and Day moved to Oregon in the 1980s and eventually married. Caswell could shed no light on the case except to say that Day told him he was going to visit friends on the day Caswell fell and had to be hospitalized.

    Adkins last saw her brother when she visited in the summer of 2017, when he seemed fine although he was taking care of the ailing Caswell.

    "He was alert, he was healthy, he was fine," Adkins said. "(Police) are trying to portray him as a reclusive, demented person, but in one year's time you can't become that way. My mother died of Alzheimer's, I know the process. When you're taking care of someone, you don't visit, you don't go out, so, yes, you're 'reclusive.'"
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...ed/3428263002/
    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
    lol at Nestle being some vicious smiter, she's the nicest person on this site besides probably puzzld. Or at least the last person to resort to smiting.
    Quote Originally Posted by nestlequikie View Post
    Why on earth would I smite you when I can ban you?

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    GA girl living in NY
    Posts
    3,837
    Rep Power
    21474855
    https://www.tmz.com/2019/06/07/origi...hoenix-oregon/

    Dennis Day -- an original Mouseketeer on "The Mickey Mouse Club" -- was found dead just over 2 months ago but his body was too decomposed for authorities to ID him ... until now.

    Day's family confirmed Thursday it was his body cops found in his Phoenix, Oregon home back on April 4 ... which is highly suspicious and mysterious, because cops had previously searched the home and found nothing.

    The 76-year-old went missing last July 15, and there was an extensive search, which included combing his home. Police say it's unclear how long the body had been there, or how the body was missed during previous searches. They're not saying if there were signs of foul play. They had not been able to identify the body back in April because the condition of the remains was severely degraded, which rendered DNA and dental records unusable.

    Dennis was originally reported missing by his partner of more than 45 years, who lives at a care facility. He says he got worried after Dennis hadn't visited in weeks.

    Authorities say Day's family didn't find out about his disappearance until 6 months later when they saw a report on the local news. Adding to the mystery ... his car was found about 200 miles away along the Oregon coast with 2 strangers in the car claiming he'd let them borrow the car.

    State police impounded the vehicle and continued investigating for a cause of death.

    Dennis was a 12-year-old actor when he first signed on as a Mouseketeer in 1955.

    As an original member of the Mouseketeers, he reportedly modeled prospective costumes for Walt Disney and appeared in publicity photos for the TV show. He last appeared on the show in 1957. He tried his hand at theater in NY and was later a drama teacher in California.

    Dennis was 76.


  6. #6
    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Somewhere Over the Rainbow
    Posts
    7,226
    Rep Power
    21474861
    Far be it for me to laugh at a death thread, but Dennis Day was a MOUSEketeer, not a MUSKeteer (see thread title). Disney, not Dumas.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •