That is a very good question. The police are claiming the 'computer' at the dry cleaners made a mistake. (For those of us in the computer biz, please hold your chuckles to a minimum). One clerk at the Cleaners said the computer was down, one said it was up.
However, there were 2 jackets.
The clerk had mixed up the items and someone else got DW's stuff and , I believe, refused to take it. Then the clerk noticed the mixup. This clerk, who has worked there for 12 years, couldn't even remember the address of the place.
The police had been told by DW that he took his items to the Twin Peaks (shades of Northern Exposure) Dry Cleaners, he gave them the receipt (yeah, he took his jacket in because it had Danielle's blood on it, BUT he gave the police a receipt so they would have no trouble identifying and picking up the jacket!), but the police said he didn't tell them about the visit to the dry cleaners. They also claimed they had to spend hours going to all the dry cleaners in the area hunting for the right one. (I could see them going to other DC's after they went to the one on the receipt, just in case he dropped something off somewhere he didn't tell them about, but that is not what they did).
SO, I would imagine that if there was an independent record, police confiscated it and put it with things like the BACKPACK that was found near Danielle's SCHOOL, the .22 LR bullet cartridge that was found in Danielle's room the SECOND time they searched it.
Since that record probably proved the jacket in evidence was at the dry cleaners BEFORE 02/01 and would exonerate DW, you can be sure you will never see it.
This is not correct. They found the receipt in his SUV and they got the name of Twin Peaks drycleaners from Det. Ott as he is a customer there and recognized the type of receipt they give. There is no evidence that Westerfield ever gave the police the name of the drycleaners.