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.

[cyncooper]

I'd say that DW has something orange in his home

Not anymore.....

[John Jamieson]

It was DW that paid a million dollars for his $3.50 porno collection.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Not if he's smart. Not seeings as how he got arrested in part because he had lights on and lights off in his house, that he had blinds up and blinds down, that he was a clean freak and that he was untidy.

Not to mention the fact that he doesn't have a house any more, Feldman does. I doubt he owns a car, a savings account or any stocks or bonds, either.

[cyncooper]

To clarify my #75 : Also, Feldman wants a 2nd option for the jury of first degree premeditated

That is Feldman wants the first degree charge as a second option to felony murder, nobody is asking for "2nd degree" from what I understand. Judge still said "no".:)

[John Jamieson]

You noticed too. When the going gets tuff, the tuff go for the fibers that may or may not have a comon source.

The only reason the prosecution can't prove DW did it, is they claim the perp went and destroyed all the evidence on them! The dog (or bugs) ate my homework approach..... therefore he must be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Spunky]

That is Feldman wants the first degree charge as a second option to felony murder, nobody is asking for "2nd degree" from what I understand. Judge still said "no".:)

Oooooopppppppppppssssssss! My mistake.

[John Jamieson]

You think Dusek would tell you if it was sitting in plain sight?

Did he tell you the picture of the "identical bed" was in a flyer sent to every house in SD? Intellictual honesty is not the prosecutions job, and they'll gladly tell you that. (Defense neither)

This is literally, a flight to the death.

[John Jamieson]

The only reason these inconsequential fibers are being brought up is that the prosecution doesn't have any good evidence of how, where, when, and who. It's all a BS case.

[Spunky]

PH- 3/14 pg 547 16 A BECAUSE I NEEDED TO KNOW WHERE THEY WERE AT 17 ALL TIMES. 18 Q HOW LONG HAD THAT RULE BEEN IN EFFECT?19 A SINCE THEY KNEW WHAT RULES WERE. I MEAN --20 Q DID THEY COMPLY WITH THAT RULE?21 A YES.22 Q HOW DO YOU KNOW?23 A BECAUSE I'VE NEVER FOUND THEM ANYWHERE THAT 24 THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN.

PH -3/14 pg498-499 20 Q WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YOU GAVE HIM THE PHONE 21 NUMBER?22 A I BELIEVE WE WALKED OUT FRONT. HE STARTED 23 TALKING ABOUT A PLACE CALLED INCAHOOTS AND HE WANTED 24 ME TO GO THERE, I THINK WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAS SOME 25 KIND OF SPECIAL NIGHT. THAT'S WHY I'M THINKING I 26 SOLD COOKIES ON TUESDAY. HE SAID, "DON'T FORGET TO 27 WEAR YOUR BOOTS TO INCAHOOTS." 28 DANIELLE AND DYLEN WERE PLAYING ON THE Page 4991 ROCKS AT THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE NEXT TO HIM. AND I 2 KEPT ASKING THEM TO GET OFF THE ROCKS BECAUSE I 3 DIDN'T WANT THEM TO SPREAD THEM OUT AND FOR THE 4 NEIGHBOR TO HAVE TO CLEAN THEM UP. THEN WE WALKED 5 HOME. 6 Q DID MR. WESTERFIELD SAY ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR 7 PESTERING THE KIDS TO GET OUT OF THE ROCKS? 8 A I CAN'T REMEMBER.

So much for the kids never being where they shouldn't be.

[John Jamieson]

Now that Dusek's career is over, will Feldman be a good sport and give him a starting job in his practice? ................ Nah.

[Dave_in_Upland]

Did I miss something today, or is the date based on the beetle activity still unrefutted? Unless that evidence is challenged all the miscalculations in the world won't make a difference.

[John Jamieson]

All 3, or is it 4 bugsperts agree.....DW couldn't do it.

Dusek throws the taxpayers money away again.

William Wallace suffered less than Goff did today.

You really missed it. Exciting as a 200 to zip ballgame.

[bolthead]

It appears that Goff tried to skirt the beetle issue. He said something to the effect that if beetles don't find easy food, they go looking elsewhere. Didn't want to address the issue that Falkner brought up about delay in beetle activity.

[Jrabbit]

He made 5 math mistakes on his calculations. Big uh-oh

[pinz-n-needlez]

And I doubt that any of them were in Westerfield's favor. I hope Dusek paid him a lot of money for his testimony. It might be a while before any one else calls him to testify.

[is_is]

If DW had something that matched the fibers....don't you think that the DA could have confirmed this thru his son who lived at the house 50% of the time OR....maybe the X-Girlfriend who lived in the house up until when???

I know why they can't confirm it....because they never saw anything matching those fibers!!!

Or maybe DW stopped at Walmart on the way home from dads and bought some cheap blankets because he knew he was going home and sneak across the street and into a house he had never been in before and find Daniell's room bring her outside back across the street kill her and he KNEW he would need something to wrap her in.....sarcasam/off

[Stiv]

Interestingly, last night I was reviewing Tanya Dulaney's testimony from July 9. I ran across a revelation she gave on cross-exam. She was not able to identify a source, but from my understanding of her testimony she says the blue fibers are NOT carpet fibers but could be apparel fibers.:

4 Q. DID YOU MAKE ANY EFFORTS TO DO THE RESEARCH TO5 DETERMINE SO YOU COULD TELL THE JURY HOW COMMON THE FIBER WAS?

6 A. WELL, I KNOW THAT THE MAJORITY OF NYLON THAT IS7 PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES IS CARPET, AND THAT ABOUT TEN TO8 18 PERCENT IS APPAREL. AND IF THIS IS AN APPAREL FIBER -- IT'S9 DEFINITELY NOT A CARPET FIBER. IF IT'S AN APPAREL FIBER, THEN10 IT COULD BE RELATIVELY COMMON, YES.

"I know that the majority that is produced in the United States is carpet, and that about ten to eighteen percent is apparel[sic]. And if this is an apparel [sic] fiber -- it's definitely not a carpet fiber. If it's an apparel [sic] fiber, it could be relatively common, yes.

Get out the ropes, it's hanging time! This makes President Clinton's spin on the words "sex" and "is" seem quite forthright. Just what, Cyn, do you think this tidbit says, and just where is the "revelation" you're referring to?

[gigi]

"If she's a specialist and this is evidence, why can it not be "26 fibers found in the washer, 64 found on top of the washer, another 53 found in his laundry, and 17 found in the bedding"? Did she just get tired of counting, or did she look at a little baggie in which tiny fibers were collected and make a "best judgment" estimate of the numbers? I would think precision would be a little more impressive than generalities. But that's just me."

Thats a good question. Why is 50 - 100 ect. She should have an exact #.

[dread78645]

You have learned HTML so you can now have colored text.

The prosecution rests. ;-)

Defense claims that #2 pencil with the Minnie Mouse eraser is much more legible on her Big Chief writing tablet.

Motion to stike Crayola.

[dread78645]

As one poster said, "They police don't arrest you if you aren't guilty".

Hey !

(read the last paragraph of my profile)