Dry cleaning receipt was key in Westerfield case, court records show
KIMBERLY EPLERStaff Writer
SAN DIEGO ---- Sheer chance often plays a pivotal role in criminal investigations.
Such was the case with David Westerfield, the 50-year-old Sabre Springs man on trial for kidnapping and murdering his 7-year-old neighbor, Danielle van Dam.
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Search warrants released Monday show that one of the detectives on the case used the same dry cleaner as Westerfield. Because of that, he was able to identify the origin of a dry cleaner's receipt, dated Feb. 4, taken from Westerfield's vehicle just two days after the girl turned up missing.
A search of the business, Twin Peaks Cleaners in Poway, provided what the prosecution would later call the "smoking gun" in the case: a green windbreaker that experts testified had a small drop of Danielle's blood on the shoulder. The defense never explained the blood.
Meanwhile, jurors finished Day 3 of deliberations in the nationally watched child-murder case. Testimony lasted eight weeks, closing arguments three days. No notes or requests for testimony to be read back were reported from the panel of six men and six women. Jurors' deliberations are scheduled to continue today.
Outside the downtown San Diego courthouse, media trucks and day tents continued to line the streets as reporters grasped for daily tidbits to broadcast. New journalists arrive daily from all over the country to wait for the verdict.
"Camp Westerfield" was sent into a tailspin early Monday morning when one network anchor reportedly said on national television there were rumblings of a verdict. This was before jurors even arrived at the courthouse.
The only development in the case Monday was the release of San Diego Police Department search warrant affidavits that outline a request to search Westerfield's dry cleaners and a long list of items they removed from his house, car and dry cleaners.
The 40 pages of documents also include a request for a "trap and trace" device to be put on the van Dams phone to find the location of incoming calls ---- with their permission ---- and what appears to be a request for Westerfield's phone records.
There was nothing in the search warrant affidavits that hadn't been touched on in the trial.
Police suspicion turned to Westerfield because he was the only van Dam neighbor authorities were unable to contact in the days after Danielle was discovered missing on Feb. 2.
When Westerfield returned to his Sabre Springs home two days later, police were waiting. In a search of his black Toyota 4Runner, police found the dry cleaner receipt, which had no business name.
Police spent a day canvassing dry cleaners in the area, until a detective realized that the receipt was from the same business where he takes his dry cleaning, according to a search warrant affidavit.
The search warrant request also states Westerfield admitted not being up front about going to the cleaners the morning of Feb. 4 after he returned from his trip. Originally, Westerfield only told police he went to the cleaners that afternoon, according to court testimony.
The prosecution's case against Westerfield was built largely on fiber, fingerprint, blood and hair evidence found in Westerfield's house, car and motor home. Westerfield's defense team turned the spotlight on Danielle's parents, saying their admitted marijuana smoking and sex with other couples might have put their children in danger.
Danielle's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, described Westerfield as an acquaintance whose name they didn't know until right before their daughter's disappearance. Westerfield's attorney insisted whoever took the girl must have been familiar with the couple's house.
Contact staff writer Kimberly Epler at (760) 739-6644 or kepler@nctimes.com.
8/13/02