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.
BTW I am not a police basher. I am related to a few. I worry when people and the police jump to conclusions. A grain of salt is always necessary.
Where did you hear this? I read the article re: porn found and it just says the alleged porn material was amongst the several bags removed. I say alleged because for all I know it was a Calvin Klein underwear ad using those young models that caused such an uproar.
Charges dropped against preschool teacher Police found discrepancies in evidence
A Palo Alto preschool teacher jailed three weeks ago on child molestation charges is now a free man.
David Carlson was released from jail Wednesday after the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office said all charges will be dropped against the 35-year-old San Jose man. "I knew from day one that he was innocent," said Kenneth Robinson, Carlson's defense attorney. "I am gratified that he's out of jail.
"It's been an ordeal for him," Robinson added. Although Carlson has been offered his job back, "it's too early for him to make any decisions. Emotionally, he's still in shock," his lawyer said.
Carlson worked for nine years at a preschool program for Palo Alto Community Child Care. The program was located on the site of Palo Alto's Barron Park School, but PACCC is not affiliated with the school district.
The Palo Alto Police Department actively pursued an investigation after a 4-year-old child at the preschool was believed to have been sexually molested by Carlson.
But this week, the police investigation hit a snag when some of the physical evidence came back from the lab with results that conflicted with the child's story.
"When we had overwhelmingly probably cause, we acted appropriately. When we discovered we had exculpatory evidence, we also acted appropriately," said Palo Alto Police Chief Pat Dwyer, who learned of the discrepancy this week.
"We did the right thing. But the case is still open and will continue to be open until we analyze all the evidence and investigate all the leads," he said.
"We're not on a witch hunt. This is not a case of someone going out and making the wrong call. We followed normal procedures, but given the current state of evidence, it is appropriate to dismiss charges (against Carlson)," Dwyer said.
Prosecutor James Cahan, a deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County, agreed. He said the arrest and subsequent dismissal were not a case of somebody doing something wrong, but that "everybody did something right."
"I was there yesterday when Carlson took the polygraph test. He passed," Cahan said. The test lasted more than an hour.
Cahan said the next step is to officially dismiss the case at the next court date on Tuesday, Feb. 5.
When Carlson was arrested three weeks ago, both family and friends rallied together in his support and set up a legal defense fund to help defray costs. Carlson's former supervisor at PACCC, Kristi Schonberger, said at the time of Carlson's arrest, "the community is shocked by the allegations against Dave."
Dwyer said he totally supports the actions of his department. "It's never happened before in my career (which spans more than 30 years) when someone was vilified in the press and then the charges were dropped," he said.
When this case is officially closed and every bit of evidence is analyzed, "I would be happy to sit down with Mr. Carlson and explain to him why we acted the way we did. As a preschool teacher, I think he would understand that," Dwyer said.
Dwyer is hoping the community will also understand. "We acted in the community's interest. And when we got conflicting evidence, we acted appropriately," he said
Sleepwalking child, an alarm blinking, and you don't check to see if the sleepwalking child walked out of the house! Negligence to say the least.
Well then he should have learned from the mistakes of others. The name Richard Jewell comes to mind, again. We should all be careful who we accuse while there is an ongoing active investigation.
It was the father who sah the alarm blinking. The mother was out and came home later. Neither one checked on the child
Therefore, Bill Clinton is not guilty and he also loves the military.
It seems pretty apparent that this wasn't simply a random abduction. Even if the parents aren't directly involved, most likely someone who knew of their lifestyle, patterns, and weaknesses took an opportunity to abduct the girl.
But I forgot that we are supposed to compartmentalize such issues, because what one does in one's bedroom isn't relevant. The Clinton Legacy continues to reap what it sowed.
Secondly, if anything happened to my children, I would be inconsolable. I would be a screaming, hysterical, wigging, despondent mother. I don't think I could go on TV. I wouldn't be able to mutter anything but blubbering in between sobs. My husband would have to be the strong one and speak out, but he is as emotional as me, so he probably couldn't do it either.
At any rate, just because you could be a blubbering idiot on TV when your child is dead in a ditch some where, or buried in a shallow grave, doesn't mean you want attention. Good grief! I wouldn’t be able to gain composer, and I question people who can.
Other pervs hang around playgrounds or at pools with still or video cameras taking pictures of little girls on swings etc. Are some of these "kiddie porn"?
This may be why Westerfield is not under arrest. "Gray Area" porn?
I took this lack of expression to indicate that they are not very connected emotionally to their daughter in spite of their protestations of love for her or they are not worried about her because they already know what happened to her. Even people who think they are "good" parents may not feel strongly about their children. They go through the motions of being caring people, but their hearts are not deeply touched. When something happens to that child, the parents search for the depth of feeling they know they are "supposed" to feel and don't. Sometimes their detachment is obvious. Sometimes they put on a good show and people don't see through it.
So those of us who are very engaged with our children can't imagine reacting the way these somewhat detached parents do. I know I wouldn't care about how my makeup or hair looked. My mind would be on my missing child. These parents might even believe they love their kids. Their lips were saying all the appropriate things, but their eyes and faces revealed little depth of feeling or even hidden feeling.
If the neighbor turns out to be innocent, it must still be acknowledged that his actions that day were bizarre. And I would imagine even the strongest amongst us who are determined to keep our feelings private would have a more difficult time of it than we expected during a devastating event like losing a child.
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