Daniel Burda, 41, has been sentenced to over four years in prison for his involvement in the death of Dennis Day, a former “Mickey Mouse Club” cast member from the 1950s.
Burda entered a no-contest plea to charges of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of a corpse.
Day, 76, had been trying to evict Burda, his live-in handyman, from his Phoenix, Oregon home when he disappeared in mid-2018. Prosecutors alleged that Burda caused Day’s death and subsequently misused his identity for financial gain.
Day’s remains weren’t discovered for nine months, hidden under clothes in his own home.
This delay has led to a lawsuit against the Phoenix Police Department by Day’s family, claiming emotional distress due to the department’s failure to find the body despite multiple searches of the property.
The lawsuit alleges that officers even stepped on the corpse during one search, causing fractures, but still didn’t locate it until a cadaver dog was brought in by Oregon State Police in April 2019.
The prolonged decomposition prevented medical examiners from determining a cause of death. The police department denies the lawsuits allegations, and a trial is scheduled for October in Jackson County Circuit Court.
Burda’s case faced numerous delays due to mental fitness evaluations and other legal challenges. He has also been sentenced to an additional two years for a separate burglary case, bringing his total prison time to just over six years.