Dennis Day: Missing Disney Mouseketeer Was Apparently ‘Reclusive’ Ahead of Disappearance

Dennis Day, one of Disney’s original Mouseketeers during the 1950s, was “reclusive” in the days before his disappearance in July 2018, police said.

Phoenix, Oregon Police Lt. Jeff Price told Fox News he discovered during his investigation that Day, 76, and his husband Ernie Caswell rarely left their home and had few friends.

“His sister doesn’t like it when I say he [and his husband Ernie Caswell] were kind of reclusive,” Price told Fox News Friday. “They didn’t leave the house. They have friends, but not that many. They weren’t social and if you saw the house you would see that they didn’t leave the house. It’s in very bad shape — very, very poor shape.”

Day was last seen on July 15, 2018, and his car was found about 200 miles from his home 11 days later. Two people driving the care were “unfamiliar” to Day and Caswell, Price said. However, there was “no evidence of any crime or any evidence that Dennis was in the vehicle,” he said.

Day’s disappearance was first reported by local NBC affiliate KBOI in January. At that time, Price said Day and Caswell were living with a third roommate. He said police found a letter at a neighbor’s home in which Day supposedly claimed the roommate “assaulted” him, but they found no evidence to support that.

Although Day has not been seen in eight months, it was not until KBOI‘s report that his family heard about his disappearance. His sister Nedla told NBC News a family member saw the report and contacted them immediately in January.

“I called Phoenix Police Department the very next day, and we’ve been working on it ever since. The whole family got in on it,” Nelda said.

She explained that Caswell reported Day missing after he stopped visiting him at a hospital where Caswell was being treated for dementia. Caswell was also the only family member on record, which is why Phoenix police did not contact his other family members who live in California.

“Ernie was in the hospital at that time, and he realized Dennis hadn’t come to visit him in a few weeks,” Nelda explained to NBC News. “So he had someone from the hospital call the police and report Dennis as missing.”

Price told Fox News that Day allegedly told Caswell he was visiting friends two days before Caswell reported him missing. Price said Day’s live-in handyman said Day left on his own.

The lieutenant also said the handyman claimed Day showed signs of having an illness, but Price said there was no evidence.

“I don’t know of any medical conditions that Dennis has or had at the time,” Price explained. “All I know is that the live-in handyman, he believed that Dennis was starting to show some dementia. That’s coming from somebody who himself has some mental issues, mental health issues… I don’t have any confirmation that there are any medical issues on Dennis.”

On Friday, police told KBOI that a body was found at Day’s home during a search Thursday. The family was informed, but the identity of the remains has not been determined.

Photo credit: Facebook/Denise Woolsey Norris