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Latest Bug Expert Disputes Defense Theory

Witness Says Body Could Have Been Dumped As Early As Feb. 2

 

POSTED: 6:57 a.m. PDT July 30, 2002

UPDATED: 2:57 p.m. PDT July 30, 2002

 

SAN DIEGO -- A bug specialist testifying for the prosecution Tuesday said an analysis of insect evidence shows that Danielle van Dam's body could have been dumped along a road in East County as early as Feb. 2.

 

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M. Lee Goff, an entomologist and chairman of the Forensic Sciences Department of Chaminade University in Honolulu, testified that insects could have infested the 7-year-old girl's body anywhere from Feb. 2 to Feb. 12. Goff also cast doubt on the earlier testimony for the defense of entomologist Neal Haskell, who said he doubted the child's body was available to insects before Feb. 14.

 

Prosecutors called Goff on the 23rd day of the trial of David Westerfield. The 50-year-old self-employed design engineer is charged with murder, kidnapping and special circumstance allegations that could lead to the death penalty if he's convicted of killing Danielle. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.

  Westerfield's attorneys have argued that their client could not have placed Danielle's body in rural East County, because he was under close surveillance by police beginning Feb. 5. The second-grader was reported missing from her Sabre Springs home on Feb. 2. Volunteer searchers discovered her body on Feb. 27.

  Goff testified that he calculated when insects first infested the body using data provided by prosecutors and temperature data from two areas near the body site. His calculations showed that the body first became available to insects sometime between Feb. 2 and Feb. 12.

  Goff explained that his field, forensic entomology, estimates how long insects have been feeding on a body, not a time of death. He said cold nighttime temperatures could slow the development of the flies on a body. He said that ants could have the same effect by removing fly eggs from the cadaver.

  Last week, Haskell testified for the defense that insects could not have laid eggs on the body before Feb. 12. Goff disputed that analysis and said Haskell made a mistake in the way he used the temperature of a mass of blow fly maggots found in the body.

  "By doing this, he comes up with a shorter timeline," Goff said.

  Before testimony began Tuesday, Judge William Mudd told jurors that they would probably begin deliberations sometime next week. Mudd said prosecutors would call their final rebuttal witnesses Thursday or Monday. Because some witnesses aren't available, there will be no testimony Wednesday, he said.

  "It appears to me that next week you'll hear closing arguments and be in deliberations," Mudd told jurors.

  The judge also warned jurors that he might sequester them during deliberations. Monday he told county officials to come up with a plan in case that becomes necessary.

  Several jurors told the judge they are worried about the effect on their families if they were to be sequestered in a hotel during deliberations. Mudd said he was taking those concerns into account and doesn't currently plan to sequester them.

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