To: dread78645
Aren't ott and keyser the cops that tried to "visit" DW while he was in jail?
WTF were they thinking...he had a lawyer.
Rookie mistake, I think not.
839 posted on
08/15/2002 9:27:44 PM PDT by
demsux
To: demsux
That's them. These guys are all over the place. Krodg told me to look out for Wray, too.
To: demsux
Anatomy of a Murder pg. 4 of 5
The Police
At 2:30 in the morning on February 5, homicide investigators from the San Diego Police Department are standing outside David Westerfields house, preparing to go inside and search it. Sergeant Bill Holmes is one of the cops.
Sergeant Holmes, what are you doing here? a reporter asks.
Were here to relieve robbery, he says. Robbery detectives had also been assigned to Danielles case.
At 2:30 in the morning? Thats some pretty high-priced talent.
Holmes smiles. Thats the way they want it, he says.
Over the next several hours, Holmes and his crew search Westerfields house. Its easy to track their progress. They take dozens of pictures before dawn, and the flash from the camera lights up the windows in each room.
Sergeant Holmes, you werent here to relieve robbery, the reporter says to him when he comes outside.
Holmes smiles again. Well, we were. Kinda. Sorta.
Police arranged to have search warrants in the case sealed by the court, so the media couldnt find out what investigators took from Westerfields home. It was an extraordinary effort to keep the information confidential. And it was a spectacular failure.
Sources close to the investigation started talking about the van Dams lifestyle almost immediately. Then came reports of blood in Westerfields motor home, and child pornography on his computer.
The cops were furious, according to those same sources. The police department threatened to fire anyone who talked about the case. They were after the leaks, a source says.
Police acknowledge being angry over the leaks. Yeah, we were pissed off, says Steve Creighton, an assistant chief. But he says the leaks did not result in any large-scale internal investigation. Its not even a blip on the radar screen.
Two police detectives, Michael Ott and Mark Keyser, made big news for the department when they arrested Westerfield. Then they made news again, in a rather embarrassing way. Ott and Keyser attempted to visit Westerfield in jailwithout his attorney present. The police department reportedly reprimanded them.
Westerfields legal team started hammering Ott and Keyser, saying they had repeatedly violated Westerfields rights during the investigation. The lawyers released a memo from the district attorneys office saying the two detectives made false statements during another murder investigation two years ago. Westerfields lawyers used that memo in a legal maneuver
to review the personnel files of Ott, Keyser and 10 other police officers involved in the case for any reports of misconduct during their careers. Judge William Mudd ruled the defense could have information from the file of one unidentified officer.
I think its safe to say Ott and Keyser are the Mark Fuhrmans of the Westerfield trial, says a court insider, referring to the rogue cop vilified by the defense in the O.J. Simpson case.
The pressure of such a high-profile investigation was getting to the cops. The detectives are sick of it, a source says. Others say there were even references to the case as The Isle of the van Damned.
Creighton says he had not heard the detectives were sick of the case. But theyre tired, he says. Its a long and involved case, with a lot of long hours.
The San Diego Police Department continued to handle the case with the utmost of care. Chief David Bejarano himself went to the van Dams home to meet with the family when Danielles body was identified. Then he talked to reporters. But at a follow-up news conference downtown, it wasnt the police chief running the show.
It was District Attorney Paul Pfingst, who is running for reelection.
846 posted on
08/15/2002 9:35:36 PM PDT by
demsux
To: demsux
Oh yes. Some LE types were trying to say that he requested them. They'll go to any lengths.
850 posted on
08/15/2002 9:39:17 PM PDT by
Jaded
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