Mousketeer actor’s body found at his Oregon home

Mousketeer actor’s body found at his Oregon home
A police car in a file photo. (Mira Oberman/AFP/Getty Images)
4/9/2019
Updated:
4/9/2019

The human remains of one of the original Mouseketeers, Dennis Day were found. He had been missing since July 2018, said the Oregon State Police.

The yet to be identified remains were found on April 4 in Day’s home in Phoenix, Oregon, according to Medford Mail Tribune. The police haven’t explained how the remains were found.
Day, who was 76, appeared in the original show “The Mickey Mouse Club” of the 1950s—he was a Mouseketeer. He was reported missing on July 15 reported Oregon Live.
According to KOBI-TV, it was reported that he told neighbors he would head out for a few days, and “uncharacteristically” left his dog with a friend the day he disappeared according to WSBTV.

The incident was largely unknown until December when Day’s family was told about the case.

In February, his family, which included his sister and original performing partner Nelda Adkins talked to “Dateline,“  they complained that the investigation was ”poorly handled.”

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

Day’s friends and relatives set up the Help Us Find Dennis Day Facebook page.

Missing 15-Year-Old California Girl Found Dead, Homicide Officials Investigating

After missing California teen Samantha Bustos was found dead in Los Angeles County, sheriff’s officials have launched a homicide investigation.
They said she was found dead on March 25 near Dominguez Hills industrial park in Compton, California, about three days after she was last seen, reported KTLA.

The station, citing investigators, reported that the 15-year-old girl was found face down and hidden in the bushes.

Bustos also suffered a “traumatic” injury to her upper body before her death, said officials, without elaborating on the injury. Her cause of death also wasn’t released, pending an ongoing investigation.

Sheriff’s department officials are now trying to obtain surveillance video footage from a business near where her body was discovered.

Susan Lainez, her cousin, said she was with friends on the afternoon of March 22 in Compton, but she never made it back home.

“They believe it happened sometime Saturday evening,” said Andy Miller, executive vice president at the National Retail System, a business located near where she was found, according to KTLA.

“I got a call early this morning that they had found a body on the perimeter of the property,” Miller also said. “We’re cooperating with the police in every way possible. They asked for [security] camera footage over a period of time.”

By midnight on March 23, her cellphone had been shut off after repeated calls were not answered. She was officially reported missing by her family on March 24, officials said.

“Day and night, we drove around everywhere looking for her and nothing,” said Bustos’s uncle, Junior De Jesus, in the KTLA report.

“It’s very devastating to be dealing with this,” De Jesus added to ABC7. “My heart breaks right now. It’s heartbreaking. It’s bad.”
“They found her and I don’t know what to say. I don’t have words,” Blanca Bautista, the girl’s mother, told NBC Los Angeles.

Her mother said she was last seen in a white Jeep with two young men.

“They just hurt her, that’s what he said. They hurt her bad,” Bautista said, without elaborating.

“I had contact with her best friend, she was asking me if she came home,” Victor Lopez, Bustos’s cousin, elaborated to ABC7. “We couldn’t find her and we started looking for her Saturday morning.”

Bustos’s grandmother said she was a good student and had a lot of friends while warning other young people to be careful, according to the ABC affiliate.

No suspects have been identified in the case.

Anyone with information about her case can call the sheriff’s department at (323) 890-5500.

Her family set up a GoFundMe page to pay for funeral expenses, saying, “We ask for your support to raise funds for her funeral expenses. We appreciate any donation. No donation is too small. Thank you.”
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.