In taped interrogation, Westerfield tells police 'my life is over'

San Diego Union Tribune ^ | January 7, 2003

[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.

[MeekOneGOP]

Westerfield wasn't railroaded, he's guilty as sin.

Right you are !!

Westerfield Arraigned

SAN DIEGO, CA - David Westerfield was arraigned in a San Diego court room Tuesday on charges he kidnapped and murdered seven year old Danielle van Dam. Danielle was reported missing February 2nd and hasn't been seen since. Westerfield pleaded not guilty to all charges. He remains in custody without bail.

complete story

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Danielle van Dam

[EllaMinnow]

Making an encyclopedia of porn...oh, brother!!!

[Freedom2specul8]

I know! LOL

[Freedom2specul8]

Don't forget the scratches on the arms..

[Amore]

Doesn't really tell me much since it's a 2d-hand report. But what it reports there that Rick Roberts said IS mostly true, even in that 2d-hand report.

They absolutely were NOT completely honest with the police (certainly, to begin with, and -- like others -- I'm still not convinced they ever DID tell the whole truth, but I guess now we'll never know). And they DID engage in wife swapping. We don't know how much, because Feldy was limited by the judge as to which incidents he could ask the VDs about.

[EllaMinnow]

Did you hear what Woody Clarke just said? Children as young as 5 and 6 in DW's porn.

[Freedom2specul8]

Yes...they swapped with friends not strangers but not on that night according to testimony. I need to back up for a second. The orginal question from SamAdams76 was "what was the reasoning behind so many people believing Westerfield was innocent?". I was just explaining why some people were pointing the finger at the parents and not DW. I'm not arguing the veracity of some of the rumors..some of which did turn out to be true. I wanted to clear that up if you were having doubts about me. :)

[Freedom2specul8]

No I was typing! Dern it..

[cyncooper]

Making an encyclopedia of porn...oh, brother!!!

Yes, "seeing what was out there...for free" (!!)

I'm surprised nobody has commented on his reasoning for the bent bathroom widow screen. My Court TV is not showing the same coverage you Easterners are getting.

Please comment when you get to his story about the window. I call it a mini Susan Smith moment.

[Freedom2specul8]

Going back..basically some of the rumors were true..but the timeline was off on some of it according to testimony. I suspect we'll hear more about when "what" happened this week when they release more documents.. maybe??

[EllaMinnow]

I will!

[Freedom2specul8]

I think some of the other folks are still pretty convinced he's innocent but are tired of defending their positions. ??

[Freedom2specul8]

Screen on..

he has a window cleaner..a guy broke it at least 2 yrs ago.

[EllaMinnow]

Yes, I just caught it.
"The window cleaner bent the screen. Just some black guy who wanders around cleaning windows..."

Oh, brother!!

[Freedom2specul8]

age of girl screaming: audio portion under age of 10

[Freedom2specul8]

Didn't they find binoculars in the bathroom or was that rumor proven false? I can't remember.

[cyncooper]

Yep, that's the story.

[EllaMinnow]

There was testimony that there were binoculars in the drawer of a dresser right next to the bathroom door.

[Freedom2specul8]

paraphrasing..Prosecution said it didn't matter if the little kids were actors or not. Is that right?

[Freedom2specul8]

Thnx...