Dennis Day, one of the original Disney Mouseketeers, has been missing since last July, according to Oregon police.
According to a local NBC affiliate, Day was reported missing by his longtime partner Ernie Caswell. The 76-year-old was last seen in his driveway, saying he was going to visit friends. His car was found along the Oregon coast with two people inside who had no connection to Day.
“Ernie was in the hospital at that time, and he realized Dennis hadn’t come to visit him in a few weeks,” Day’s sister Nelda Adkins told Dateline. “So he had someone from the hospital call the police and report Dennis as missing.”
“I keep the file on my desk all the time,” Lt. Jeff Price of the Phoenix Police Department told the affiliate. “…waiting for that one call to come in.”
Day was cast as one of the original Mouseketeers in Disney’s “The Mickey Mouse Club” in 1955 at the age of 12. He stayed on the program for two seasons before exiting in 1957.
“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,” Day’s niece Denise Norris told Dateline. “We are worried. [We] just need answers. We love him. We’re just kind of lost with what to do, or how to find him.”