Mudd Letters Opened To Public: Van Dam Jurors Continue to Mull and Ponder Westerfield's Fate! 8-15

Union Trib ^ | August 15, 2002 | Union Trib

[FresnoDA]

Letters to judge opened to public

SIGNONSANDIEGO

August 14, 2002

The judge in the trial of David Westerfield today allowed reporters to see court log entries of notes from jurors, as well as letters to the judge from the public about the murder of Danielle van Dam.

The letters from the public included a variety of theories about the case.

Jurors ask to review pictures, interview

One letter-writer sent the following theory to Judge William Mudd: "Danielle van Dam killed herself.''

A nearly illegible postcard with a Spokane postmark alluded to at least one ex-wife "with a drinking problem (who) lives in Spokane.''

 

DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune

Some of the folders of documents made public by Judge William Mudd.

The writer failed to indicate whether the reference was to ex-wives of Westerfield – who has been married and divorced twice – or someone else connected with the case.

The postcard was unsigned.

Another missive came from a man who referenced another high-profile murder trial – that of O.J. Simpson.

"The O.J. Simpson case was a miscarriage of the state's justice mainly because Judge (Lance) Ito was too lenient with the actors defending O.J.,'' the man wrote.

There was no news Wednesday afternoon about the status of deliberations, but Mudd announced he was holding a sealed hearing 9:30 a.m. Thursday to consider an unspecified defense motion in the case.

Wednesday was the fifth day of deliberations. The prosecution concluded its closing arguments last Thursday.

Westerfield is accused of kidnapping 7-year-old Danielle van Dam from her Sabre Springs home and killing her.

He could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of murder with special circumstances.

He has also been charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.

The log entries show that on Friday, the jury requested ``all available evidence of pornographic images'' and a photograph of a teen-age daughter of the defendant's ex-girlfriend.

[L,TOWM]

Hey, you keep infringing on my copyright! ;-^)


(I've been hanging around too many lawyers...of course too many is defined as 'x > 0' .)

[UCANSEE2]

Did anyone ever hear anything more on that shell casing?

All I heard was the it was in the police evidence LOCKER, and someone (with UNKNOWN initials) signed it out, then brought it back. The evidence person either didn't see or didn't recognize the person that checked it out, and didn't recognize Paul Pfingst's (I mean the person's) initials.

[KnutCase]

This is off the wall.....but I recall some years ago a Senate confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court nominee that involved porn. That nominee had rented porn videos and the police went to the video store WITHOUT warrant and asked the store for a list of titles that the nominee had checked out and they got that information from the store. I don't think he went on to become a rapist/murderer (name of Thomas, wasn't it?) Also, concerning same confirmation there was much discussion concerning a SINGLE hair on a Coke can....sort of like a SINGLE hair in a sink trap. Where am I going with this.....oh well, back to the Van Dam trial...nothing to see, move on folks...

[the Deejay]

Let's see......The pizza that fed 5,000 & the one
stick of pot that was shared by same. Yep. Makes
sense.

[the Deejay]

Closing statements are on the signonsandiego. I don't have
the stomach to read Doosuk's.

[demsux]

DW has only had a DUI, Isn't that amazing, the guy can't even drive home drunk, BUT he can "stealthily" move through the "pitch black" VD home while he's drunk.

[Politicalmom]

Only pot? You don't have a suspicious mind, do you?

[UCANSEE2]

Hey, you keep infringing on my copyright! ;-^)

Which one, the @$$hole one ?

[the Deejay]

I remember those Thomas hearings very well. I
watched them on C-Span. I felt as sorry for
Thomas as I do DW.

I've had a difficult time looking at DW for
some weeks now. He looks so depressed & almost
beaten. I do wonder what he's thinking.

[NatureGirl]

Ott, the guy who's already been in trouble with his department? What a coincidence!

[Yeti]

Hmmm, let's see, what could it be? Drinking, pot, sexual encounters? I would think it's a combo of all three.

Cocaine. Said it from the start.

[the Deejay]

Hell's bells. I've no idea what else they may have
flushed. LOL

[FresnoDA]

YOU HAVE BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED 
FOR A VD THREAD 666 AWARD.....

CONSIDER IT LUCK OR FORTUNE....but consider this as well....

Other murders in the San Diego area....
DATES ARE EERILY CONNECTED to the 666 award...
Click on linked Dates for reference! Something to consider?

 Mary Lou Olson, 10, headed for a drugstore in National City on Jan. 3, 1960. She was found dead nine days later, 13 miles south of Tijuana.

When she didn't return to her home on E Avenue, her father called police. Intense searching ended when a farmer found her body in a gully. She had been raped and suffocated. Her killer was never found.

 Patricia Lee Kuzara, 7, of Putney Road in Poway, was walking home from her baby-sitter's house the evening of Sept. 28, 1974. Her body was found in a field off Midland Road the next day. The day after that, the 40-inch-long piece of iron used to bludgeon her was found near Community Road. Her killer was never found.

 Leticia Hernandez, 7, disappeared while playing in front of her home on Bush Street in Oceanside on Dec. 16, 1989.

A search expanded to dozens of officers and 200 volunteers. The FBI checked hundreds of reported sightings of Leticia all the way to Florida.

It ended March 9, 1991, when a ranch caretaker found Leticia's skull off county Highway S16, two miles south of the Riverside County line. She had been dead about a year. Suspicion centered on a man who lived near the Hernandez family, but no arrest was made after a grand jury investigation.

 Crystal Anzaldi, 14 months old, vanished from her parents' bedroom at their 30th Street apartment in Golden Hill the morning of Dec. 8, 1990. An extensive search yielded no clues.

Seven years later, Crystal turned up alive in Puerto Rico, being raised by Nilza Gierbolini. She claimed that a man who had shared the Anzaldi apartment gave her the toddler, but he was never charged with kidnapping. Crystal was returned to her then-divorced father.

 In June 1991, a man lured a 4-year-old girl by offering her a dollar bill in the front yard of her Escondido home. She was found later, alone and crying, by a couple who gave police a description of a car nearby. Police arrested Garry Burr, then 35, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually molesting the girl.

 Laura Arroyo, 9, of Monterey Pine Drive in Chula Vista ran to answer the door on the night of June 19, 1991. Her parents later saw the open door. They checked with neighbors, then called police. The next day, two women found Laura's body three miles from her home at a Bay Boulevard industrial park. She had been beaten and stabbed. Her killer has never been found.

 Rasheeyda Wilson, 9, told her mother she was going to play outside their downtown San Diego residence at the Yale Hotel on July 15, 1991. Six hours later, her mother called police to report the child missing. Officers scoured the area, passed out fliers and broadcast her name from a helicopter. Rasheeyda has never been found.

 Amanda Gaeke, 9, never came home after riding her bike near her home on Landis Street in North Park on Oct. 3, 1991. Police searching door to door were not suspicious when David Allan Webb, 16, said he knew Amanda.

Her body was found 11 days later in a canyon five blocks from her home.

In May 1996, police acting on a tip arrested Webb, then 21. He had lured Amanda into his home, drugged her, raped her and hid her under his bed while he went to school. After 36 hours he strangled her, then dumped her body. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Satanic Ritual Days

• Fixed Ritual Days
  • Jan. 01 No name (SA)
  • Jan. 07 St. Winebald Day (DA, SA, EE)
  • Jan. 13 Satanic New Year (S1; Note 1)
  • Jan. 17 Satanic Revels (DA, SA, EE)
  • Feb. 01 Olmelc (S2)
  • Feb. 02 Candlemas, Satanic Revels (HS, DA (Note 2),SA, EE) DANIELLE VD
  • Feb. 25 St. Walpurgis Day (DA, SA, EE)
  • Mar. 01 St. Eichatadt (DA, EE)
  • Mar. 20 Equinox Feast Day (DA, EE)
  • Mar. 21 Spring Equinox (S2, DA, SA)
  • Apr. 21 to 26 Preparation for the Sacrifice (DA)
  • Apr. 21 to 29 Preparation time for sacrifice (SA)
  • Apr. 26 Grand Climax (EE)
  • Apr. 30 Beltane (NA, SS, SA, DA)
  • Apr. 30 Walpurgisnacht (SS, S2, NS)
  • Apr. 30 Solstice (UH, TH; Note 3)
  • May 01 Grand Climax (DA; Note 2)
  • May 01 Initiation Night (AS)
  • May 01 Beltane fertility festival (S2)
  • Jun. 20 No name (SA)
  • Jun. 21 Feast Day (DA)
  • Jun. 22 Solstice 1, Summer Solstice (NA, UH, S2, DA, EE)
  • Jun. 23 No name (SA)
  • Jul. 01 Demon Revels (DA, SA, EE)
  • Jul. 25 No name (SA)
  • Jul. 26 No name (SA)
  • Jul. 31 Lammas (HS)
  • Aug. 01 Lammas (SA, DA)
  • Aug. 01 Festival of First Fruits (S2)
  • Aug. 03 Satanic Revels (DA; Note 2, SA, EE)
  • Aug. 24 No name (SA)
  • Sep. 07 Marriage to Beast Satan (DA, SA, RR)
  • Sep. 19 No name (LL)
  • Sep. 20 Midnight Host (DA, SA, EE)
  • Sep. 20 to 23 Autumn Equinox (NS)
  • Sep. 21 Autumn Equinox (DA)
  • Sep. 22 Equinox Feast Day (DA, SA, EE)
  • Sep. 23 Fall Equinox (S2)
  • Oct. 13 Continuous High Holiday (SA; Note 4)
  • Oct. 29 All Hallows Eve (DA, SA; Note 5)
  • Oct. 31 Halloween (NA, SS, HS, HC, SA, S1, S2,DA)
  • Nov. 01 Halloween (EE)
  • Nov. 04 Satanic Revels (DA, EE)
  • Dec. 21 No name (SA)
  • Dec. 22 Solstice 2, Winter Solstice (NA, UH, S2, DA)
  • Dec. 22 Solstice Feast Day (DA, EE)
  • Dec. 24 Demon Revels (DA, SA)
  • Dec. 24 Grand High Climax (EE)
  • Dec. 25 Christmas (HC, MR, NS)

[UCANSEE2]

There was a rumor that LE's found trace evidence of COCAINE in the VD house. They were convinced by The retired policewoman and the PR team to 'ignore' it.

[KnutCase]

You have to give Thomas high marks for responding to every allegation. He did not back down or try to tap dance his way around things. I'm glad he is where he is today.

[iaf97]

Not uncommon while child still missing - exigent circumstances. Balance again rights of the state to apprehend criminal and protect victim and interest of the public with the rights of the suspect. The affidavit could later be unsealed and probably no real effect on DW's right to a fair trial.

[NatureGirl]

By his own hand..of course..(wink wink)

I've already predicted that on Refugee. That if it looks bad for the prosecution, or if it's going to appeal, a "despondent" DW will take his own life in his jail cell. That, or he'll have a mystery heart attack, like the guy who was close to the Clintons.

[small_l_libertarian]

Take your time - try to poke holes in it if you can.

[the Deejay]

Doesn't Cocaine cause bleeding from the nose? (This is what I've heard.) Then why is it Danielle was the one with the frequent bloody nose?

[the Deejay]

"You have to give Thomas high marks for responding to every allegation."

I did. And I'm glad he won.