Westerfield failed polygraph test badly
'Greater than 99%' chance he was lying, examiner says on tape
By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 9, 2003
Not long after he finished taking a polygraph exam last Feb. 4, David Westerfield sat in a police interrogation room and complained to an investigator about the collapse of his second marriage.
"Here I am working 60, 70 hours to support the family, give them everything that they want and I want, right?" he said. "The perfect wife with the perfect kids, perfect house, working toward the perfect boat, those kinds of things. And I have failed at that."
Audiotapes of Westerfield's polygraph exam reveal him to be a man consumed with failure – the failure of his 17-year second marriage in 1995, the potential failure of his design business, his perceived failings as a father and as a desirable spouse.
Then there was the matter of his most immediate shortcoming – his failure to pass the polygraph exam.
"You are somehow involved in the disappearance of Danielle van Dam," San Diego police interrogation specialist Paul Redden told Westerfield after administering the test.
"No, I'm not," Westerfield protested. "I'll take the test over again. ... I'm getting upset. I failed the test."
Redden spent several hours talking to Westerfield and administering the polygraph test, two days after Danielle was reported missing from the bedroom of her Sabre Springs home.
According to audiotapes released Tuesday by the District Attorney's Office, Westerfield scored so poorly on the exam that Redden cited a "greater than 99 percent probability" that Westerfield was lying about his lack of involvement in the girl's abduction.
As the audiotapes reveal, Westerfield's lengthy discussion with Redden played out as part clinical interrogation and part therapy session – a middle-age man reflecting on the disappointing state of his life.
Westerfield talked about how his second wife fell out of love with him and lost interest in him sexually. He complained about his mounting debts and his inability to pay his 2000 income taxes. He complained that he was "different" because he was the only single person in his neighborhood.
He said he was haunted by feelings of guilt because he cheated on his second wife and once struck his son in anger.
"If you were to ask me, do I consider myself emotionally stable, I don't believe that I am, to be honest with you," he told Redden at one point.
Throughout his interview with Redden, he repeatedly denied having anything to do with Danielle's disappearance. At one point, Redden asked what Westerfield thought should happen to the person responsible for such a crime.
"I think they should be taken out and shot immediately," Westerfield responded. "But . . . I know they'll get three to five, five to 10, or something, you know, like that. It's not a hard, fast rule. I think that people that hurt the innocent are bad people."
On Friday, Superior Court Judge William Mudd sentenced Westerfield to death, four months after a jury convicted him of kidnapping and murdering the second-grader, whose family lived two doors away.
During Westerfield's trial, the jury didn't hear evidence about the polygraph exam. The tests ordinarily aren't admissible in court, but police use them to help eliminate and develop suspects.
On Monday, Mudd ordered the public release of the audiotapes and numerous other items of evidence, transcripts and documents that have been under seal in the case. Transcripts of several closed-door hearings in the case, as well as numerous sealed motions, are scheduled to be released Monday but could be released as early as today.
In an interview yesterday, Redden said Westerfield was the only person who failed a polygraph test during the investigation into Danielle's disappearance. Both of the girl's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, passed the test, as did the four friends of the van Dams who partied with the couple on the night the girl vanished from her bedroom.
Westerfield's son, Neal, also passed the polygraph test.
Westerfield took the polygraph test on the day he returned from a meandering weekend journey in his motor home, a trip that took him to a state beach near Coronado and the Imperial County desert, among other places.
He hadn't been placed under arrest at the time, and took the exam voluntarily after giving police an explanation of his weekend whereabouts.
Before administering the test, Redden explained how the procedure would work. He explained that Westerfield would be hooked up to a series of tubes and wires measuring his breathing, perspiration, blood pressure and pulse.
Several times, Westerfield expressed skepticism at the reliability of the machine.
"I'm a mechanical guy, and I don't understand what it is or what it's doing," he said. "It makes me nervous, and I'm nervous already, and I'm sure that's going to screw it up."
The test involved Redden reading Westerfield a series of questions in groups of about 10. The questions included, "Is your first name David?" "During the first 45 years of your life, do you remember hurting anyone when you were drunk or angry?" and "Regarding the disappearance of Danielle van Dam, do you know her whereabouts at this time?"
"Did I pass?" Westerfield asked at the end of the test.
"No, you did not pass my test – and I don't think that surprises you," Redden said.
Redden walked Westerfield through the results, pointing out the readings that showed "a huge blood-pressure reaction" to the questions about Danielle.
Redden noted that several other people had already taken the polygraph and that "everyone up to this point has passed the test. The only person who is failing this test is you. And it's not even a question of maybe yes, maybe no."
At that point, Westerfield began asking whether he should get a lawyer. "I need somebody on my side," he told Redden. Westerfield later expressed the opinion that the test was obviously "flawed in some way."
"I've failed the test," he said, "and I don't know how to explain it, and that bothers me because now I look guilty."
Westerfield's son, Neal, also passed the polygraph test.
This bears repeating. Everyone else passed. But the Squeakies, of course, will claim he was framed.
"In an interview yesterday, Redden said Westerfield was the only person who failed a polygraph test during the investigation into Danielle's disappearance. Both of the girl's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, passed the test, as did the four friends of the van Dams who partied with the couple on the night the girl vanished from her bedroom.
"Westerfield's son, Neal, also passed the polygraph test."
Another assertion put to rest. The parents, the friends, and Neal all passed polygraphs
Boy was he ever wrong..