Posted on 01/08/2003 9:24:19 AM PST by TomB
In a videotaped interrogation with San Diego police detectives four days after Danielle van Dam was kidnapped, an exhausted David Westerfield says "my life is over," seemingly coming close to an admission that he murdered his 7-year-old neighbor.
"As far as I'm concerned my life is over, the life that I had, the life that I was living is over," Westerfield says in the interrogation conducted the evening of Feb. 5, 2002. Danielle was last seen the night of Feb. 1.
"But you can't blame anyone but yourself, Dave," answers one of the police detectives.
"And I have no problem with that," Westerfield replies.
In the tapes released Tuesday, Westerfield admits "unusual" sexual encounters with his wife, denies anything improper about his alleged use of binoculars to watch neighbors and says the child pornography found on his computer was simply something he downloaded along with a lot of other pornographic images and that he had no sexual interest in children.
Superior Court Judge William Mudd agreed Monday to unseal the videotape along with hundreds of pages of transcripts, documents and recordings in the Westerfield case, as well as transcripts of police interrogations and court hearings conducted in secret.
Some of the material – audiotape and videotape of Westerfield being interrogated during the early stages of the investigation – was released Tuesday afternoon.
The remainder of the material, which ranges from transcripts of closed-door court hearings to motions regarding potential evidence, will be released Monday, Mudd ruled.
The ruling Monday came three days after Mudd sentenced the former design engineer to death for kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, his neighbor in Sabre Springs.
Monday's court hearing came in response to a request by The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has been seeking access to the information for months. The San Diego-based 4th District Court of Appeal has ruled that Mudd must release the information.
The San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists made a donation to the legal costs.
Westerfield, who attended Monday's hearing, is scheduled to be moved within days to death row at San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco.
During earlier court appearances, Westerfield was always dressed in civilian attire, but he appeared in court Monday in a green jail jumpsuit. He sat in a holding area so he couldn't be filmed by a television camera.
In the tapes from signonsandiego...which are apparently not as up to date as what Rick is playing.
Doing what? Defending my position. Asking questions. Proving when someone is lying about statements about a particular post?
I believe that each of us has our own interpretation of things, especially ones that have no concrete evidence to support them. DW's responses to questions. Can you actually tell me that you can tell whether he was lying or not from listening to his answers ?
The newspaper article states that Redden told DW he failed. I believe that the veracity of this is still being discussed. You believe that Redden is telling the truth and that DW lied. OK.
I am not ready to accept that DW lied based on this news article. Nor on hearing them tell DW that on tape. Since it is a known trick they use, it begs the question, is that what they were doing.
I have only heard the first session. I still want to hear them all.
Keep up the good work. I hope you understand. I am suspicious of all the crazy things that have gone on in this case. Too many for me to just believe the police did GOOD work and lucked out. Too many unanswered questions. When the main investigators on the case are PROVEN LIARS, I question their results. When they are conveniently not allowed to testify, I question their results.
DW may well have done this. I still don't believe he did. I think there is evidence that show the possibility he could have done it or been involved.
Had I been on the jury, I don't think I could have been satisfied with the guilty verdict. Considering I wasn't on the jury, therefore don't have all of, and only, the knowledge they were given during the trial, I can't say whether my opinion would have been the same , if I had been on the jury.
I think there is room to question what has gone on and whether the police got the real killer. I would hate to think the real one got away. That is my main concern.
As is mine.
Rick Roberts just read Damon the riot act when he called in to request that Rick not read Brenda's statement....will be interesting to hear this.
We make our judgements and debate this subject based on all the aforementioned particulars. It is no wonder there is so much controversy.
You believe Jury of One, Douglas Pierce, and unposted.com.
I had seen DP's website and the story of the diary. I thought there was some validity to the story of the diary and his visit to the VD's. I believe there is some validity to his visit. The diary I no longer believe. I don't place much value in DP's website and haven't for a while.
I don't know what unposted.com is and have never been on it.
Things like DW showed the graph to DW and showed him where it showed negative results and linking it to which questions they were about helps. Keep up the good work. I accept that kind of proof.
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