Posted on 02/09/2002 6:53:27 AM PST by crypt2k
Suspect's travels included Imperial Valley, Silver Strand
Police continued yesterday to investigate the alibi of David Westerfield and tried to make sense of the kidnapping suspect's wanderings from desert to beach to desert again after the disappearance of his 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam.
Westerfield, an avid camper who has come under intense police scrutiny, drove his motor home to Silver Strand State Beach near Coronado on the afternoon of Feb. 2, apparently after leaving the dunes in the Imperial Valley desert, where the vehicle had been stuck in the sand, officials said yesterday.
Silver Strand park rangers said Westerfield mistakenly paid for four nights instead of the two he intended to stay. He left after a ranger knocked on his door and gave him a refund.
Danielle has been missing from her Sabre Springs home for eight days. She was last seen when her father put her to bed about 10:30 p.m. Feb. 1. Westerfield, who has not been arrested and who friends say is incapable of doing harm, told police he left in his motor home the next morning for the desert and the beach.
Silver Strand rangers said Westerfield arrived at the $12-a-night oceanfront campground Feb. 2. A ranger knocked on his motor-home door to refund the overpayment between 3 and 3:30 p.m., and Westerfield drove off about 20 minutes later.
Westerfield appeared to be alone in the motor home, though rangers did not go inside the vehicle and did not see or hear a child. He did not seem nervous, said Chief Ranger John Quirk.
"There was nothing suspicious about it," Quirk said. "He sounded grateful they'd given him the money back."
Westerfield told police he decided to leave after paying for two nights because "he didn't know anybody down there. He decided to go to the desert where his friends were," an investigator said.
It is not clear to what desert he returned.
Police said they find it curious that earlier that same day, Westerfield, a frequent desert camper, became stuck in the sand in an area most campers know to avoid. Some campers told police they watched as Westerfield continued down a sandy stretch and remarked that he was sure to get stuck.
"He knows the desert real well. What's he doing out there?" an investigator said.
Investigators have been in the Imperial Valley for the past several days. They returned yesterday by helicopter because shifting dunes from a sandstorm Sunday could have covered up clues, and detectives wanted to take an aerial look in a search for possible grave sites or other evidence, one detective said.
"The wind can blow for 15 minutes and you won't see a thing," said Dan Conklin, a towing service owner who pulled Westerfield's motor home from the dunes south of Glamis on Feb. 2.
Yesterday morning, Conklin led members of the news media south from Glamis down a dirt road a mile and a half south of state Route 78, where he said Westerfield's motor home was stuck. There, he hiked up a dune and pointed east to a half-square-mile plot where investigators concentrated their search Thursday.
Conklin said that before noon Feb. 2, Westerfield hiked to an encampment of off-road enthusiasts and told a man he was stuck. That man went to Conklin's business and directed him to Westerfield.
Westerfield was alone and without an all-terrain vehicle or dune buggy when Conklin found him trying to dig out his motor home, which had sunk into the sand up to its frame.
Conklin said he was immediately suspicious, and that he saw a long line of footprints that stretched from the motor home off into the distance. He said Westerfield told him he had been stuck since morning.
Police first showed an interest in Westerfield on Monday when he returned from his weekend trip. Detectives initially said they talked to him because he was the only person in the neighborhood they had not contacted over the weekend.
His house was one of the first of more than 200 Sabre Springs homes that officers searched with the aid of police dogs. Police later returned with a search warrant.
During that Tuesday search, investigators seized Westerfield's motor home and a sport-utility vehicle. They took 13 containers of property from his house and had him retrace his weekend in the desert.
At one point, police dispatched a plumber to the Westerfield house to assist in their search. It was not known what task the plumber performed.
Police are still awaiting results of DNA tests. Undercover detectives also continue to track Westerfield's every move.
As they did Thursday, undercover detectives yesterday followed Westerfield as he drove from his home to the offices of his attorney, Steven Feldman, in San Diego's Golden Hill neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Danielle's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, continued to make appearances on several television news broadcasts, where they again pleaded for their daughter's safe return.
The Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children, a Texas group that is joining the effort to find Danielle, launched its first searches yesterday.
From a command post at the Doubletree Golf Resort in Rancho Peñasquitos, the organization sent several groups looking for the girl, said Bob Walcutt, the center's executive director. Searches were conducted by air over the Anza-Borrego Desert, on the ground in east Poway and in an area southeast of Beeler Canyon Road and Pomerado Road, and by car along Scripps Poway Parkway, Walcutt said.
Nearly 150 people turned out last night at Danielle's school, Creekside Elementary, to coordinate efforts for a more extensive volunteer search effort today.
Rightfully declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1937, that's what happened.
I can understand that certain meds could dull emotions. However, if emotions are dulled then why would the mother be so concerned about her hair and makeup before going on camera? Strange, huh?
In addition, I do realize that some folks aren't heavily emotional folks. BUT! When your child is abducted and most likely in a shallow grave somewhere you'd think *some* emotion would appear. It's only human.
I was once pulled over for "going through a red light" in Buena Park, California. I had a friend driving two cars behind me. (The cop didn't know this.) I entered the intersection when it was yellow, not red. The cop was parked in a gas station, watching the intersection. His view of me was obstructed by a big truck (I think a 4-wheeler), so he couldn't actually see what color the light was when my car entered the intersection. I was in the first lane, the truck was in the second lane (lane closes to the curb). I fought the ticket. The cop lied under oath about which lane my car was in, he said I was in the second lane, the lane actually occupied by the truck. I had my friend come to fight the ticket. He saw when I entered the intersection it was yellow. But since the cop lied, I had my witness refute the cop's testimony about where my car was. The judge threw it out. And this was just over a moving violation. If a cop is going to lie about that kind of trivial incident......(and I do know of others), it makes me cautious is all I'm saying.
Worth repeating. Thank you.
Now, notice the word "think". On the average, it would be more normal for the Mother to say something like " I KNOW someone took her out of her bed...they would have HAD too."
When a person says "I think"...it's like saying "I think I left my sunglasses on the counter, but I'm not really sure"..
Why isn't she SURE?
The house was unlocked, so the neighbor just happened to wander in to abduct the child? He must have been checking every single night, till ONE night, eureka! The door is unlocked! .... Naahhhh.
sw
We have something similar going on in our town. A mother and daughter (about 6 years old) disappeared on 11/13/01. They are still missing. There have been some recent developments, however. Apparently, they have suspected the husband/dad all along, but had no proof. But his behavior has been sending red flags throughout the community. One initial report: Hope is Eternal for Man Whose Family is Missing
Recent developments: he's been caught stealing from his employer (after being under surveillance since his family's disappearance) and just tried to commit suicide:
Father Admits Stealing
It really is hard not to look at parents as suspects, sometimes, even though I could never do anything to ever hurt my kids; it's unimagineable.
And even worse, they frequently go after those they know are NOT guilty, because they need a conviction. After all, if too many crimes went unsolved, people would start questioning why the police have so much power, and why they can't seem to solve crimes with the power they are given.
It's real simple: Wanna search? Get a warrant.
Ranger, this guy's attitude is apparently infected by Wifey's. Wifey is a federal cop. Bug and Wifey apparently believe that any citizen who uses his or her constitutional rights as a shield must have something to hide. Unfortunately, this attitude is common to JBT LEO's and those who live with them. EVERYONE is a criminal to these types (except themselves and their thug colleagues, of course; they are the saviors of law and order...).
BTW, thank you for your service to our country.
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