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.
The main purpose of a polygraph is to help the authorities look for suspicious answers and then grill the individual on those points. If they are lying and belive the machine indicates that they are lying, they often confess.
A polygraph is basically a confession tool and nothing else. I would never consent to take such a test because if you pass it, it does NOT exonerate you and if the result looks like you are nervous (and who wouldn't be in that situation) then it brings on the appearance of guilt. There is no benefit in taking a polygraph test.
Gum
When Darlie gets put to death, I think we all should go spray silly string on her grave site.
I'm convinced of Darlie Routier's guilt as well. The forensic evidence is solid. A few tidbits on that: bloody footprints in the house are hers and hers alone. The knife used to cut the screen where the intruder came in was found in the kitchen drawer with screen fragments on it. The window sill where the intruder came in still had dust on it, so nobody went through that window. The kitchen area was found to have been wiped clean of blood via the luminal (I think that's the right name) results. I'm trying to recall. . .I THINK the knife used to kill the kids was also one from the household?? I'm pretty sure that's correct. There tons more, but I can't recall all of it. Just as in the O.J. trial, we don't have to keep looking for the real killer - we have her behind bars on death row right now. . .
Regarding Darin, I really don't know whether he was a part of the terrible act. I think not, though. He adored Darlie and was very proud of her and bragged about his wife to a lot of people. I think he just stuck by her side. He probably still believes she didn't do it??? I don't know, you'd have to be pretty silly not to believe she did it. I think he just doesn't want to admit she did it. I find it strange that he stuck by her this whole time. I think he knows the truth and just doesn't want to admit his wife killed their kids? I can't believe he really believes that she is innocent. He's trying to convince himself maybe??
The only obstacle that I see right now is in overcoming the technical difficulty regarding the court reporter and the transcripts. I haven't followed that real close, but what I understand is that since those got messed up, the appeals process is hampered. She may end up getting out of the death sentence? They should probably try her again for the death of the other child. She was convicted only in the murder of the younger of the two. They chose that one because of the law protecting kids under school age against abusive parents, and that's why they went for the death penalty as I recall. . .
Kerrville? Small world. I was born at Gary AFB near San Marcos, Tx. And when I was 6 or 7 years old, I went to the Lions Club Camp for kids in Kerrville. That was a fun 2-3 weeks!
Same for taking the 5th Amendment. Why have rights if we are not going to exercise them?
Exactly! I would have been checking each room with gun in hand.
All I have to do is not post to you.
Very simple for both of us. I'm sorry it continued.
Have a good day...and I mean that.
Absolutely!
People are often intimitated by someone claiming: "They must be doing something wrong; they called a lawyer." (One response would be: "Do you think I should have called a florist instead?"
Different people handle their emotions differently.
Think back to the last funeral you attended. You see an entire range of emotional reations. I remember a few people who totaly lost it, and others that were just as close (if not closer) to the deceased that managed to stay fairly composed. Did the composed people love the deceased any less or have fewer emotions? No. They just handle their emotions differently. They shouldn't be suspect because outwardly they don't show the amount of emotions someone else thinks they should show.
Extreme emotion is also takes a toll on you. After a while many people just become numb as a defence against some emotion that is more than they can handle.
Because your name starts with W. Change your name to "AAA-Whey" and then you'll be first in line to post.
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