Naman Shrestha
In 2002, when Danice Day vanished into thin air after leaving work, her father was in a state of shock and panic. Soon, the authorities took over the case but couldn’t find anything concrete about the recovering drug addict until years later. Whether it is the events that led to her disappearance or the investigation that followed, Investigation Discovery’s ‘Disappeared: Daddy’s Girl’ covers all the intricate details of Danice’s case. Moreover, the exclusive interviews with her family and friends reveal the kind of impact she and her disappearance had in their lives.
Danice Day’s Remains Were Found at the Bottom of a Lake
A loving and caring daughter of Jorene and Rodney Day, Danice Leah Day was born on May 8, 1982, in the city of Laramie in Wyoming. As she grew up with her sisters Julie Flint and Jacqui Flint, her parents got divorced soon and her father got married for the second time, to Judy Day of Del Norte. Meanwhile, she attended Medicine Bow Elementary School and junior high and part of high school in Laramie. However, when she got pregnant with Joshua for the first time as a teenager, her father and stepmother moved her to Colorado along with them. She then completed her schooling at Delta School in Monte Vista.
Over the years, Danice had formed several close-knit bonds with friends from Wyoming as well as Colorado later. Not only was she good at computer graphics, but she was also “very artistic, very talented,” especially when it came to art. She was described as a positive and bright figure in the lives of her loved ones. During her teens, she also struggled with drug problems. Later in life, she got into a relationship with Victor Braun and brought a second child, this time a daughter named Kaylie, into the world. With the responsibility of her two children, she had a lot to look forward to. But on January 9, 2002, after completing her shift at the Dos Rios restaurant in Monte Vista in the afternoon, where she worked as a waitress, she disappeared and did not make it home.
The long and seemingly never-ending search for Danice went on for the next seven years until her remains were discovered in a barrel in a lake in Lyman Lake State Park in Arizona, in June 2009. It was only after a few months, in September 2009, that the DNA tests confirmed that it was Danice’s remains. This revelation caused the authorities to revisit the case and launch a murder investigation to find the perpetrator/s responsible for the death of Danice Day.
Danice Day Was Killed by a Loved One
When the authorities delved deep into the events of January 9, 2002, they found out that Danice’s relationship with Victor wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows as it also involved some domestic violence issues, as per reports. It was also reported that she returned home, where she lived with her boyfriend and her two kids, straight from work on the fateful day. Danice allegedly had been planning to end her relationship with Victor and move out with her kids, according to her family. So, when she reportedly told him that she had plans to go out with one of her male friends that evening, the couple got into a heated argument.
As per Victor, Danice left the house with an unknown person that evening, leaving behind most of her personal belongings, including her cell phone, purse, and keys, which seemed highly suspicious to her family as well as the authorities. However, since the detectives could not find any incriminating evidence against Victor or anyone else for that matter, the case slowly went cold over the years. After seven years of finding nothing, in 2009, the detectives got an opportunity to finally question Victor, who was arrested for burglary, drugs, and motor vehicle theft. In exchange for getting the opportunity to plead guilty to manslaughter and get dismissed of other charges, he revealed the location of Danice’s remains. Thanks to this information, they found her in the barrel at the bottom of Lyman Lake, as mentioned above.
Although the discovery of Danice’s body brought some form of resolution to her loved ones, her father Rodney Day said, “I have been waiting for 71/2 years to find out where my daughter was. Now I know where she is.” The police admitted that without the information provided by Victor, they could not have found the remains of Danice. One of the officials told the Valley Courier in Alamosa, “There were time problems. This is a 7-year-old case and without the cooperation of the suspect and his attorney, we probably would not have been able to locate Danice.” After the remains were recovered, Victor was charged with manslaughter in the 2002 murder of 20-year-old Danice Day. In his defense, he claimed that Danice allegedly died from a drug overdose, and in a state of panic, he made the decision to dispose of her body into the lake.
Victor Braun Walks Free After Serving His Sentence
During the trial of Victor Braun, his defense asked for a mid-range sentence from the court, given his alleged addiction issues and other circumstances. Despite that request, in December 2009, the judge handed him the maximum punishment there was for the manslaughter charge — 12 years of imprisonment, a fine of $1,000, three years of mandatory parole, and a fine of more than $7,000 for the burglary cases that were dropped as part of his plea.
While Victor expressed his regret for taking so long to come out with the information he had, Danice’s father and mother were still finding it hard to move on with their lives. Rodney Day said, “Every time I look at a picture of Danice, I have to think about what she’s been reduced to.” Danice’s daughter was being raised by Victor’s father, and her son was taken care of by his father in Missouri. After serving his time behind bars, Victor was seemingly released around July 2019 on parole. Ever since then, he has kept his private life under wraps and stayed away from the media.
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