Heartbreaking details of original Mickey Mouse Club stars gruesome death revealed in new lawsuit

The family of one of the original Mickey Mouse Club stars has accused officials of being negligent and damaging his dead body in a new $2.2 million lawsuit. 

Dennis Days badly decomposed body was found under a pile of clothes in April 2019 after he was initially reported missing in July 2018 by his husband, Ernie Caswell. 

His remains were left in his home for nearly nine months before the local police called in the the Oregon State Police who ultimately were able to find him. 

The original Musketeers killer, 41-year-old Daniel Burda, was sentenced to just over four years in prison after entering a modified guilty plea earlier this year. 

But members of Days family - including sister, nieces and nephew - have now accused Phoenix Police Department of negligence during the investigation. 

Day (PICTURED)  was last seen walking down his driveway on foot, saying he was going to visit friends

41-year-old Daniel Burda (PICTURED), a registered sex offender with a lengthy rap sheet, was sentenced to just over four years in prison after entering a modified guilty plea earlier this year

The lawsuit also accuses Lieutenant Jeffrey Price of stepping on his body and causing multiple postmortem skeletal fractures. 

Erin Gould, a lawyer representing Days family told Jackson County Judge Tim Barnack during trial: I believe the evidence will show that Lt. Price stepped on Days body.

For a period of nine months from Mr. Days disappearance, defendants failed to adequately search the Pine Street premises despite substantial evidence that a dead body was inside, including multiple complaints from neighbors and the Meals on Wheels delivery person that a smell of death was emanating from inside the house, documents read.

The family further added that Price never contacted them in the six months after Caswell, who suffered from dementia and was unable to contact them himself, lodged a missing persons report. 

Officials have also been accused officials of telling the killer to leave Days home on two different times in July 2018.  

Day, an actor, was cast as an original Disney Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer in 1955

The filing states they once saw battle wounds on Burdas hands and forearms but took no action other than asking him to leave. 

The family is seeking monetary damages from Phoenix police and Lt. Price on claims of tortious interference with a corpse, infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress on grounds that the state of Days remains prevented the Jackson County District Attorneys Office from determining a cause of death. 

DailyMail.com has reached out the Phoenix Police Department for a comment. 

Friends, neighbors and police in Phoenix, Oregon, started looking for the 76-year-old former Mickey Mouse Club cast member after he was reported missing by Caswell, in late July 2018.

But, it wasnt until one of Days relatives, who also lives in Oregon, saw a local news report in early January that the rest of his California-based family was alerted to the fact that Day had vanished. 

Day (left) and Caswell (right) were partners for 46 years. Caswell suffers from dementia and was unable to give police Days familys contact info at the time he went missing

The relative saw it on the news broadcast and called us immediately, Days sister, Nelda Adkins, told Dateline in late February.

I called Phoenix Police Department the very next day. The whole family got in on it. 

Adkinds said that police told her that Caswell had reported Day — an actor who got his big break after being cast on the Mickey Mouse Club cast alongside Annette Funicello in 1955 — missing six months prior. 

Caswell had been in the hospital at the time, receiving treatment for dementia, when he realized Dennis hadnt come to visit him in a few weeks and asked a hospital staffer to call police, Adkins said. 

Days sister Nelda Adkins (pictured with Day) said that she and her brother didnt speak too often, so it was not unusual that she hadnt heard from him in several months

Day (front row, far right) appeared in the first two seasons of the Mickey Mouse Club. He was part of the original cast, alongside Annette Funicello (front row, far left)

Days California family wasnt notified at the time because Caswell couldnt remember their contact information. 

Adkins said that although she and her brother were close as children — even auditioning for the Mickey Mouse Club together — they didnt speak to each other often as adults, so it wasnt a surprise that she hadnt heard from him in several months. 

Days car on July 26 was found at the Oregon coast. A missing person report said Day had uncharacteristically left his dog with a friend on the day he disappeared.

Soon after, members of Days family spoke with television news show Dateline, saying the investigation into Days disappearance had been poorly handled.

Day was born in 1942. After moving to California, he began performing at age 6. When he was 10, he was among the first group of children hired for the Disney show.

Day and Caswell moved to Oregon in the 1980s.