Posted on 01/08/2003 9:24:19 AM PST by 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.
But when? At what point during the various timelines?
DW susposedly said "we" when talking about the desert trip. Was that "we" interview taped or straight from Ott or Keyser mouth? I hear it said that Ott & Keyser didn't testify and of course we know they didn't at the trial but they sure did testify to the media everything they wanted to testify in court.
Amounts to gossip but media printed it as gospel,even tho they knew there was no documentation proving anything DW said on that desert trip.
When I went home on vacation this summer for the first time by myself in years...I was saying WE instead of I when talking to someone...habit.
I haven't gotten to the part in Keysers testimony yet where DW talks about the vision..just Ott's....Keysers must be in the part coming up as it was not in the first portion released...hopefully, it is there or Ott made a prounoun error too.
If only Brenda had looked in on Danielle after returning home from the Bar Danielle would be alive today and Ole Dave would still be rotting in jail. Dusek says that where DW was when the pizza gang returned to the van Dam home after the party at Dad's. Right?
Isn't that sad?
Redden has not been qualified as a civilian polygrapher...did do it in the military.
DW was given 2 sets of tests with 2 charts each..(equaling the 4 poly's)....he always refers to it as the poly exam with 4 charts..(just to clear up those that may be thinking he was taken in and strapped down 4 different times..doesn't matter but that is the record)....after failing the 4 charts..dw requests to take the poly again...he is refused for that night.
Damon's poly was in the afternoon of 2/3.
I'll post as I find anything.
DW requested to stay in house tho while search was on...he was told no by Sgt Holmes.
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