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.

[cyncooper]

RR and River discussing the secret home videos.

River describing some videos shown in court that showed a minor child (real girl) in a sex act with a man.

One of the secret videos DW made had him re-enacting or duplicating the act depicted, although with an adult woman. Judge Mudd did not allow the homemade video because it involved consensual, adult sex.

This can reasonably lead one to conclude "whose porn was it".

[EllaMinnow]

Thanks for the updates. Some of us are interested.

[cyncooper]

Thanks for the updates. Some of us are interested.

You are welcome!

I turned off RR, though, so if you see any more articles they are much appreciated.

[EllaMinnow]

I'll post the documents as soon as they are online.

[EllaMinnow]

And here's a link to the first one up.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/documents/030113pretrial.pdf

[Rheo]

We know that DW didn't lie about getting stuck twice...Ott and Keyser almost did and they saw the holes and wood at the second place he got stuck.

He also had them pull over so he could show them where he stopped and made something to eat.

They left for this reinactment at 4am..the search warrant was served at 2:38am...he was still in the car with Ott and Keyser...so that hotel room they got him was only used for an hour or so.

They returned to police headquarters at 6pm..with DW...which is the video we saw of their interrogation.

NO wonder the man is a blubbering idiot.

[BunnySlippers]

When did he lie? On four lie detector tests, specifically when asked about Danielle, her disappearance, and her whereabouts. Is that enough lies for you?

And yet he looks at River with suspicion ... Yet there are far more reasons to look at DW more of a jaundiced eye.

[Rheo]

It appears the hotel was after the reinactment, not the am of 2/5....so where did dw get to sleep until 4am, if at all.

[EllaMinnow]

He was sleeping plenty on the reenactment, that's for sure.

[Valpal1]

What really bothers me, UCAN, is that you claim to have watched (some) of the interview tapes, yet you continue to portray DW as an innocent/tricked/naive/just being helpful citizen being victimized by dishonest LE.

What you completely ignore in the LE motive/behavior is a very real, very missing 7 yr. old girl and her distraught family in their minds at all time, and the desperate desire of recovery. They don't know for sure if she's actually dead, or just badly injured and slowly dying somewhere. Fact is, Danielle could have died of slow internal hemoraghing/exposure laying nude and unconscious in the cold February weather. The cops don't know and miracles can happen, if they could just get DW to talk ASAP.

What I see is an anxious, talkative, equivocating, dissembling, lying man, who knows he has done something very wrong and is trying to find a path that deflects fault/harm from himself.

[cyncooper]

Sean Hannity thinks DW basically confessed (most people do) on the just released tapes.

Will he be accused of merely listening to what the media tells him to think?

[BARLF]

Well cyn. I just have to step in here and remind you OTT and KEYSER put lots of words out to the public and apparently in their reports(if that is being reported on now). Fact is the desert trip DW took with these two Detectives was not taped. This is the kind of misinformation, done for a purpose, to be sure, that made me skeptical.

OTT and Keyser produce a taped conservation made on the desert trip? Be sure to ping me if you find that tape.

[cyncooper]

OTT and Keyser produce a taped conservation made on the desert trip? Be sure to ping me if you find that tape.

I never claimed there was a tape. Am I understanding you to state that I made such a statement?

I did not. There was a report made of the trip, though, and if I have to decide on who is more credible I choose Keyser and Ott.

[cyncooper]

Not that there is any evidence of DW denying their characterization of his words and demeanor, either. Their report stands alone.

[cyncooper]

What I see is an anxious, talkative, equivocating, dissembling, lying man, who knows he has done something very wrong and is trying to find a path that deflects fault/harm from himself.

Exactly. Long after the failed polygraphs he is offering to take another test.

In an earlier post I wrote that the female officers practically had to push him out the door, he did not want to quit talking--and he was well aware of his rights. He knew he had the right to be silent or his words could be used against him.

[EllaMinnow]

But he kept thinking that he could outsmart them.
It is so obvious to anyone who listens to the tapes, especially the post-polygraph interview with Cramer and Parga.

[BARLF]

Mercy! Why are you so defensive with me?

I am not claiming you said there was a tape!!! I said if you find one ping me. Simple, I say what I mean. I had read a long time ago there was no taped conservation on the desert trip..........I was wanting to make sure that was right, if there was a tape I needed to be informed.

My point is/was, OTT and KEYSER could say anything they wanted to, claiming DW said. They cannot prove he said it because there was no tape.

[Jaded]

Authorities convinced body is Danielle's

SAN DIEGO, Feb 28, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Floodlights mounted on the ladder of a fire truck illuminated a clump of trees outside San Diego Wednesday night where the remains of a little girl were found by a volunteer search party that had been looking for 7-year-old Danielle van Dam….

… The discovery could be a disaster for David Westerfield, who was arrested last Friday and faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

San Diego County prosecutors had indicated they were willing to consider a plea bargain for Westerfield if he led them to Danielle's body.

Although no such deal has been yet proposed on the record, Deputy District Attorney George "Woody" Clark indicated on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that there was still a chance Westerfield could avoid the death penalty by revealing where Danielle's body is located.

"I think that's something that anyone would consider," Clark said.

Danielle disappeared the night of Feb. 1 from her home in a suburban neighborhood two doors away from Westerfield's home. There has been no sign of her since, however Westerfield was arrested last Friday after DNA tests allegedly identified bloodstains on his clothing and in his motor home as coming from the girl….

---

[EllaMinnow]

There's no tape of the reenactment, but here's a link to the polygraph and interrogation tapes, in case you missed them last week.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/index.html

[EllaMinnow]

Did you read yet about Stealth Ninja Dave's vision of a Stealth Ninja - dressed in black, naturally - stealing Danielle from her room?