The conclusion of the Kay Day murder case
Published on November 22, 2024
November 22, 2024
Melissa Chesmore, PRO
Weld County Sheriff’s Office
(970) 400-2809, Desk
mchesmore@weldgov.com
The conclusion of the Kay Day murder case
On the night of November 27, 1979, Evelyn Kay Day, 29, was found by co-workers in the back of her Datsun hatchback. The car had been parked near a water tower on West 20th Street, across from Aims Community College in Greeley, Colorado. Kay had been strangled with the belt of her jacket. Kay was employed as a business lab monitor at Aims and was last seen alive by students around 10:00 p.m. on November 26, 1979.
At the time of the investigation, Kay’s husband, Chuck Day, was the main suspect in her murder. Chuck maintained his innocence but remained a “person of interest” in the case. During this time, sheriff’s office detectives engaged in unconventional investigative tactics to try to get Chuck to confess to his wife’s murder. These tactics would be considered unorthodox at the time they took place, and more so by today’s standards of policing. For the sake of transparency, no current personnel at the sheriff’s office had anything to do with the anguish detectives put Chuck, and his family through.
The current administration of WCSO recognizes the suffering Chuck endured publicly and privately through the initial years of the investigation. We offer our sincerest apologies to the surviving family members of Chuck’s family as he passed away in October of this year.
Prior to his death, Sheriff Steve Reams met with Chuck at his home and apologized to him in person for what occurred and cleared him of all allegations.
In April of 2020, the Weld County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit began to review Kay’s case. Detective Byron Kastilahn was assigned to the case and among other observations, found that Kay’s autopsy included a sexual assault examination that showed the presence of unknown DNA.
On May 1, 2020, Detective Kastilahn submitted the DNA to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Laboratory for testing. In late August, CBI sent a report stating the DNA was a match in CODIS to James Herman Dye who had a history of sexual assaults and had been a student at Aims in the fall of 1979 when Kay worked there. Dye had also attended classes in a building which was next to where Kay had worked.
In 2021, Detective Kastilahn found James was living in Wichita, Kansas. In March of the same year, Detective Kastilahn and Detective Mark Geyer went to contact Dye along with the help of the Wichita Police and the FBI. The detectives obtained a statement from James and arrested him for the murder of Kay Day.
“I was glad to see the DNA evidence identified the real suspect and cleared Chuck Day’s name. It gives me hope that our other cold cases may receive similar breakthroughs needed to deliver the answers and the justice the victim’s families so rightfully deserve,” said, Detective Byron Kastilahn.
All individuals are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.