Van Dam Case Witness Challenges Findings Of Defense 'Bug Expert': But...His Testimony Don't Add Up..

Union Tribune ^ | July 31, 2002 | Jeff Dillion

[FresnoDA]

Prosecution witness challenges findings of defense 'bug expert'

By Jeff Dillon
SIGNONSANDIEGO

July 30, 2002

Union-Tribune

Dr. M. Lee Goff

An insect expert testifying for the prosecution in the David Westerfield case said Tuesday that flies appeared to have colonized Danielle van Dam's body sometime between Feb. 1 and Feb. 14, far earlier than defense witnesses have estimated.

M. Lee Goff, an entomologist and chairman of the Forensic Sciences Department of Chaminade University in Honolulu, said his review of the crime scene photos, morgue photos, weather reports and other evidence suggest that Danielle's body was exposed to insects as early as Feb. 1 and no later than Feb. 14.

 

Judge says sequestering of jury possible SDPD criminalist Tanya Dulaney says none of the orange clothing from police officers she examined contained acrylic fibers. Cable-DSL / 56k SDPD detective Maura Parkga says she was actually wearing a red shirt while inside the Westerfield home. Cable-DSL / 56k SDPD sergeant and RV owner Bill Holmes says he thinks I-8 is the best route to Glamis. Cable-DSL / 56k Dr. Lee Goff says, using Singing Hills weather data, testifies that Danielle's body was dumped at the Dehesa site between Feb. 2 and Feb. 12. Cable-DSL / 56k Goff says data assumptions used by Haskell would create a shorter timeline for Danielle's post-mortem interval. Cable-DSL / 56k Goff says flies don't lay eggs on dry tissue. Cable-DSL / 56k The FREE RealPlayer plug-in is necessary to play RealMedia.

"We're working on an estimate. We're not running a stopwatch here," Goff said.

The defense has contended that there was no way Westerfield could have placed the victim's body where it was found in the East County community of Dehesa, because he was under close surveillance by police beginning Feb. 5.

Goff was called to the stand to rebut testimony from two forensic entomologists called by the defense who testified that Danielle's body could not have been exposed to insects any earlier than mid-February, nearly two weeks after Westerfield came under police surveillance.

Westerfield could face the death penalty if convicted of the kidnap and murder of Danielle. He also has been charged with possession of child pornography.

Danielle was reported missing from her family's Sabre Springs home on Feb. 2. Her body was found in a wooded area near El Cajon on Feb. 27 after a massive search drew national attention.

Westerfield, who lived two doors down from the van Dams, became an early suspect in her disappearance.

 

Insect evidence

When Danielle's naked body was found, investigators took extensive photos of it and its surroundings, then put bags over her head, feet and hands and wrapped the body in a sheet to preserve any evidence.

Law enforcement officials called in forensic entomologist David Faulker to study the signs of insect infestation on the body to try to gauge when Danielle had died.

But lead defense attorney Steven Feldman argued in his opening statement that scientific evidence would prove his client could not have killed Danielle. As it turned out, the prosecution never called Faulker to the stand and he was called by Feldman as a defense witness.

Early in the trial, San Diego County Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne testified that the girl could have been dead from 10 days to six weeks when her body was found.

Faulkner testified July 10 that his analysis of the life cycles of the insects found on Danielle's body showed it wasn't available to insects until sometime between Feb. 16 and 18.

On July 22, a second defense expert, Dr. Neal Haskell, testified that Danielle's body couldn't have been exposed to flies any earlier than Feb. 12.

 

Insect rebuttal

Prosecutors began rebutting the defense insect evidence on Thursday by calling Dr. William C. Rodriguez III, a forensic anthropologist for the Department of Defense, who testified that Danielle's body was in "an advanced state of mummification" that would have delayed insect infestation.

On Tuesday, Goff reiterated testimony about insect lifecycles presented by the previous experts: You can calculate how long a body has been exposed to the elements by gauging the age of the maggots – fly larvae – growing on the body.

Flies are quickly drawn to dead bodies and will lay batches of eggs on them. The development of the eggs into different stages of larvae and adult flies is then affected by temperature, humidity and other environmental factors.

Using charts of known development rates, a forensic entomologist can look at the age of maggots found on a body and, factoring in the weather, can calculate when the eggs they hatched from had been laid. Generally, the warmer the weather, the faster the insects develop.

Goff, author of "A Fly for the Prosecution: How Insects Help Solve Crimes," said he calculated the "post-mortem interval" date from the maggots on Danielle's body using temperature records and charts from a 2000 fly study.

He said Faulkner appeared to have made his calculations using a chart of insect development from a study that used 80-degree temperatures, far higher than the rates in the San Diego mountains in February.

Haskell appeared to have calculated his dates assuming that the activity of the "maggot mass" on the body would have raised the temperature of the mass, speeding up their development.

In both cases, Goff said, the other entomologists estimated that the maggots would have developed much faster than he did, giving a much later date for the exposure of Danielle's body to the elements.

Goff was scheduled to resume testifying – and to face cross-examination by the defense – after a lunch break.

 

Fiber evidence

DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune

San Diego Police Department Detective Maura Parga testifies during the trial of David Westerfield Tuesday.

None of the orange shirts worn by the investigators who searched David Westerfield's house after the disappearance of Danielle van Dam could have been the source of the orange acrylic fibers found in Westerfield's laundry and on Danielle's body, a fiber expert said today.

A series of shirts and other orange-colored items brought to the San Diego Police Department crime lab were made from either nylon, cotton or a polyester-cotton blend, criminalist Tanya DuLaney testified.

"Did the fabric of any of these items consist of acrylic in any manner?" assistant prosecutor Woody Clarke asked.

"No," DuLaney replied.

Prosecutors called DuLaney back to the stand in response to defense suggestions that investigators could have inadvertently cross-contaminated the two crime scenes with the orange acrylic fibers, which became a key piece of prosecutor evidence linking Westerfield with Danielle's body.

On June 25, police criminalist Jennifer Shen testified that an orange acrylic fiber tangled in Danielle's plastic necklace at the time her body was found was similar to orange acrylic fibers found in laundry inside Westerfield's home and on bedding in his bedroom.

On July 24, lead defense attorney Steven Feldman introduced into evidence several still images from television that showed police investigators wearing orange or orangish shirts as they entered and left Westerfield's house on Feb. 4 or 5.

In response, the district attorney's office identified all of the police and search-and-rescue personnel shown in the photos, collected anything orange-colored they were wearing at the time and gave the clothing to the crime lab.

That evidence consister of two orange long-sleeved shirts, an orange short-sleeved shirt, four reddish polo shirts, an orange rope, an orange strap, a black-and-red backpack, an orange hat and an orange dog vest, DuLaney said.

Under microscopic and infrared examination, none of the fibers taken from those items contained any acrylic material, DuLaney said.

 

Trial's end in sight

At the start of today's session, Superior Court Judge William Mudd told jurors that there will be no testimony on Wednesday, but that testimony will resume Thursday and could conclude on Monday.

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

The judge said that he had not yet decided whether to sequester the jurors during deliberations.

Mudd also warned jurors not to read or view any material about the Westerfield case or the Orange County kidnap-murder of Samantha Runnion, in which the girl's mother blamed a previous jury for failing to convict her daughter's accused murdered in a previous sexual abuse case.

"The fact is the case is not similar in any way, shape or form," Mudd said.

[demsux]

That goofy mascot of the SD Padres has long orange fibers all over it...maybe Mudd did it.

[mommya]

About that orange fiber from the wad of hair in the necklace - I wish they had been more specific about where it was found. I mean was it on the front of her neck - where it was easily seen - or was it at the back of the neck - under her hair - where it would not have been easily seen?

I really don't see how Shen was allowed to give the opinion that the fiber got there at or near the time of her death - did she consider that Danielle never took the neckace off - she said something about assuming grooming habits or something - she should not assume anything.

[hoosiermama]

I thought there was a dark orange and light orange fibers. DO I remember wrong?

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

I have to admit that I was a wee bit wrong about something.

Yesterday, upon seeing Goff, I said he looked like Colonel Sanders.

Well, he still resembles the colonel, but I've found a better look-alike.

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Then I realized that Jeff Dusek just might be related to this guy.

MR. GREEN JEANS

[clearvision]

I found some interesting comments in the transcript from Monday. It appears the prosecution will argue that DW destroyed evidence (this would mean someone likely committed the crime). The evidence mentioned is the dry cleaning of the jacket, the "missing" BLACK boots, Daniell's PJs and the items that contain orange and blue fibers! How can you claim someone destroyed something when you don't know what it is!

MR. DUSEK: 2.06 WOULD BE THE HIDING, DISPOSAL, GETTING RID OF, TRYING TO GET RID OF, THE BLOOD EVIDENCE ON THE JACKET, TAKING IT TO THE DRYCLEANER'S, TRYING TO CLEAN THAT UP. TAKING THE COMFORTER TO THE DRYCLEANER'S WHEN IT STILL HAD DOG HAIRS ON IT. THE MISSING COWBOY BOOTS THAT HE APPARENTLY WAS WEARING THAT NIGHT. THEY HAVE BEEN LOST, DESTROYED, CONCEALED. THE VICTIM'S PAJAMAS HAVE NEVER BEEN FOUND. THEY HAVE BEEN LOST, DESTROYED, CONCEALED. AND ALSO THE MATERIAL THAT CONTAINS THE BLUE AND ORANGE FIBERS, THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN FOUND OR LOCATED. I BELIEVE THEY'VE BEEN DESTROYED OR CONCEALED.

[Krodg]

Please say you're not adding porn to your site!!!!

[mommya]

I think there were a couple diferent kinds of orange fibers - but what you might be referring to is Shen descibing most of the fibers in question as bright orange - but she described the one found on the necklace as dull orange.

[Eva]

Oh, acrylic, much more common is sweaters, also, blankets and stuffed animals or dog beds. The sweater is beginning to look more and more likely. I know it had been discussed as red, but the shirts looked red to me, also. There seems to be some question about what color orange is.

[kayti]

"Do I rememember wrong?" Nope. But I believe they were described as 'faded' and 'bright'.

PS -- I didn't like your 'over ruling' judgment! Think I'll get an appeal?

[Jaded]

Um, not in this lifetime.

[pinz-n-needlez]

They never entered into evidence a photograph of that fiber in the hair mass, did they?

Not even a deteriorating polaroid like the sole picture of the drop of dna on the green jacket?

It would be very useful to see a context for that fiber and the surrounding tangle of hair. Oops, maybe that's why. /sarcasm

I agree, how on earth could she offer the expert opinion that it got there within a couple of days of Danielle's death?

[Jaded]

Per testimony there were no black boots. Dark brown or perhaps blackcherry which is a black-brown-burgundy depending on the light and what you're wearing it with.

[clearvision]

That is why I put the quote around "black". This is from Dusek on Monday 7/29. So he is still planning to say the black boots are missing even with that testimony.

[clearvision]

I can't find any testimony that dog hairs were found in the SUV. I don't know if that means there are none, or if they did not check. Seems strange that if the orange and blue fibers were from something used to carry Danielle that there would not also be the dog hairs in the SUV like those found with the other orange and blue fibers in the house.

[connectthedots]

A real detective can find these threads without being on a 'Ping List'.

[mommya]

No picture that I know of - Shen held the necklace up for the court and said approximately where she found the hair wad - but I think it was already off the body when she got hold of it - should be photos of it on the body somewhere.

[mommya]

When I first heard that the defense wanted the lesser charge thrown into the mix - I thought it was a no brainer - she was kidnapped as part of her killing - that a little kid could not consent - but I just saw this - and have reconsidered..........

MR. BOYCE: AND SHE COULD ALSO HAVE BEEN KILLED IN THE ROOM, TOO, IN HER BEDROOM. THERE'S BLOOD IN THE BEDROOM. I MEAN THOSE ARE -- I'M NOT SAYING WE ARE RELYING ON THOSE THEORIES, BUT THOSE ARE CERTAINLY THEORIES THAT ARE OUT THERE. AND THERE'S BEEN NO EVIDENCE AS TO WHERE, WHEN, OR HOW SHE WAS MURDERED.

If you think DW did it - he could have killed her in her room - and the prints/hair/fiber in the MH could have been from another time as well. They really have not shown where she was killed. So if he killed her first - in her room - then just took her dead body to dispose of - there really was no kidnapping - was there? Just thinkin.

[UCANSEE2]

There is no way you can allow testimony based on speculation like that to establish the *source* for a fiber.

That is exactly what the PROSECUTION is attempting to do. They have no facts, no proof, it is all speculation.

Tell me if I am incorrect.

[UCANSEE2]

But no matter, IIRC Danielle wasn't in uniform on the day they visited DW.

ANother of the GOOD GIRL SCOUT MOM B.S. stories goes down the tubes. IIRC it was rare for Danielle to ever have to wear her GS uniform. Too much trouble for MOM to go to.

[UCANSEE2]

P.S. In reading the testimony from BRENDA, she didn't deny that Danielle "DELIVERED" the cookies alone. Only that they took orders together. When asked about DELIVERY, she said something to the effect that ONE OF US delivered them.