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Running transcripts of Van Dam hearing: SDPD describes scene where Danielle was found! (Graphic)
Union Trib ^ | March 11, 2002 | Jeffrey J. Rose

Posted on 03/11/2002 4:56:10 PM PST by FresnoDA

Watch a few of the recap videos for a flavor of the days event, if you missed the wire to wire coverage......

Officer describes scene where Danielle was found


Police lieutenant, medical examiner testify at hearing for Westerfield


SIGNONSANDIEGO

Updated 3 p.m. March 11, 2002

SAN DIEGO – A preliminary hearing for David Westerfield, charged in connection with the kidnap and murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, opened Monday morning with testimony by a police lieutenant who described the scene where the girl's naked, blackened body was found off Dehesa Road.

"I saw the body of what appeared to be a young child, in an advanced stage of decomposition, on her back," said police Lt. James C. Collins.

Collins said that although parts of the unclothed body had decomposed so much that the tissue had disappeared, he noticed the body was wearing a plastic choker necklace and an earring in its left ear identical to those Danielle was wearing the evening she disappeared on Feb. 1.

There were drag marks in leaves on the ground near the body, Collins said.

"It looked like somebody had dragged it into the underbrush," he said.

Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman, asked Collins whether he was aware of blood found by forensic investigators on the stairwell inside the van Dams' home and on concrete outside the garage. Collins, who headed the investigation into Danielle's disappearance, responded that he was not.

Feldman also asked Collins about drag marks found near the home, and Collins responded that he was aware that drag marks had been found near a sidewalk there.

San Diego County Medical Examiner Brian D. Blackbourne, the next to testify, said a lot of the body had been destroyed by animals and the remaining parts were severely decomposed, with the skin "mummified."

Blackbourne testified that the condition of the body was consistent with having been dead for the 3½ weeks Danielle was missing, but under questioning by Feldman later admitted he could not pinpoint the time of Danielle's death and in fact she could have been killed as late as Feb. 10 or later.

Much of the body's tissue was missing, he said, as was its left foot. An autopsy found that the organs of the chest were mostly intact, and fluid and air were found in its lungs, he testified.

Blackbourne testified that in the autopsy he looked for evidence of sexual molestation but was hampered by the body's poor condition.

The cause of death could not be immediately determined, Blackbourne said.

"The deterioration of even the tissue that was there makes it difficult to determine a cause of death unless a major, major trauma was the cause," he testified.

Although he could not immediately determine a cause, Blackbourne said he could determine that the death was a homicide based on the circumstances of Danielle's disappearance and discovery of her body.

The body was found by volunteer searchers Feb. 27 about 25 feet from the north side of Dehesa Road, about a mile east of Singing Hills Country Club and about 1½ miles west of Sycuan Casino.

Westerfield, a 50-year-old neighbor of Danielle's, pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping and possessing child pornography at a court hearing Feb. 26. If convicted, Westerfield could face the death penalty.

Testifying Monday afternoon at the pretrial hearing was Christina Hoeffs, a dispatcher for the California Highway Patrol whose home is behind and above Westerfield's.

Hoeffs said that after she got up to attend to her infant son around 2:30 a.m. Feb. 2, she went back to her bedroom and through her window noticed all the window blinds at the rear of Westerfield's home were shut tight. She said she also observed an outside back light remained on that she had first noticed was on at 10 p.m.

"I did make a note of it because he doesn't usually do that," Hoeffs said. "I've never seen the blinds shut completely tight on every window in his home."

The blue-eyed, 7-year-old girl was last seen when her father, Damon van Dam, put her to bed around 10 p.m. in their Sabre Springs home the night of Feb. 1. She was discovered missing the next morning, spurring a hunt that involved hundreds of volunteers.

Investigators believe Danielle was kidnapped from her bedroom and taken to the Silver Strand near Coronado by Westerfield, who then drove sometime on Feb. 2 to the desert.

Neither Damon nor Brenda van Dam, the girl's mother, attended Monday's hearing, which was broadcast live on local television stations.

Norman D. Sperber, a forensic dentist, also testified Monday on the condition of the body's teeth and how he identified the body through comparison with dental records.


 Union-Tribune reports were used in compiling this story


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: vandams; westerfield
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To: wonders
I just read that he traveled regularly for his job..you might find more info through here...I linked to the news stories that Fresno has been posting. :) I'll update it in a day or two. (News Excerpts)
41 posted on 03/11/2002 6:38:58 PM PST by Freedom2specul8
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To: FresnoDA
"What Feldman did, was expose that she could remember nothing, days before, or days after, but this one night, she carved out of the year 2002, to remember everything an unsuspected neighbor did?"

Is one more likely to remember the ordinary and routine or the extraordinary and odd?

42 posted on 03/11/2002 6:40:44 PM PST by Bonaparte
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To: wonders
I think the Newsweek article said she's 39.
43 posted on 03/11/2002 6:41:34 PM PST by MizSterious
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To: golitely
Do you know where the van Damme family lived when they were in Arizona?A little girl who resembled their child was missing several years ago.She told her mom she heard the ice cream man's bell and took her bike only a few houses from home and never was seen again. It was so bizarre and sad. I would suppose the police in Arizona have made or dismissed any connections,but one never knows.
44 posted on 03/11/2002 6:42:00 PM PST by saradippity
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To: golitely
I think the Newsweek article said she's 39.

Thanks. Either some hard livin' or the photos are really cruel.

45 posted on 03/11/2002 6:45:16 PM PST by wonders
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To: saradippity
Good question, but no, I haven't a clue where in AZ, or when. I have often thought, though, that for both Westerfield and the van Dams, someone should look into the question of whether similar crimes (molestation, etc.) might have taken place in other places they've lived (at the time they lived there). Probably, the police already have.
46 posted on 03/11/2002 6:49:39 PM PST by MizSterious
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To: wonders

alt

Uhmmm, I say Hard Living....


47 posted on 03/11/2002 6:52:43 PM PST by FresnoDA
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To: FresnoDA
And you base your belief on?
48 posted on 03/11/2002 6:56:46 PM PST by Freedom2specul8
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To: FresnoDA
Thanks for the heads up!
49 posted on 03/11/2002 6:58:04 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: FresnoDA
I'll withhold judgment. Sun damage is quite possible, considering where she's lived. Also, too much make-up can make things look even worse, especially in humidity. And photos really can be so mean, and the woman was distraught at the time.
50 posted on 03/11/2002 6:59:50 PM PST by wonders
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To: BunnySlippers
Bunny-I had to read that entire transcript and I'm not even sure what I was reading half the time! But for some reason, lol, it got me! What I don't get is house cleaning ol DVD was busy doing--that freaks me. And did DOGS go thru the Van Dam's home? I don't know....something about the parents. Now I am wondering if they all weren't drugged up and something really vile got out of hand!
51 posted on 03/11/2002 7:04:17 PM PST by Republic
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To: Alamo-Girl
Defense attacks van Dam police investigation
 
 
by NBC 7/39 News Staff
David Westerfield
SAN DIEGO, March 11 –    The attorney for the man accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam questioned the police investigation of the crime during the opening day of the preliminary hearing Monday morning.
 

Attorney Steve Feldman asked a number of pointed questions of chief police investigator Lt. Jim Collins that appeared to be laying the groundwork for discrediting police methods and casting suspicion on Danielle's father, Damon van Dam.

Danielle was reported missing from her family’s Sabre Springs home on the morning of Feb. 2. Westerfield, 50, is accused of kidnapping the second grader from her second-floor bedroom and killing her. The child’s badly decomposed body was discovered by volunteer searchers nearly four weeks later off a two-lane road in rural East County.

Lt. Collins was the first witness called by prosecutors in Monday's hearing. He testified about what he found when he went to the site where Danielle's body was discovered. He said he observed the nude body of a white child lying face up. He said the body was in an "advanced state of decomposition" and missing one foot.

When Feldman cross-examined Collins, his line of questioning implied that Collins wasn't in full control of the investigation. At one point, he asked Collins about blood stains that police found on the stairs in the van Dam home. Collins said he was not aware of the stains.

"Is it fair to say that the first time you are hearing of blood spots on the stairwell is today?" Feldman asked incredulously.

"I believe so," Collins answered.

Feldman asked if Collins knew about possible blood stains that investigators found outside the home on the pavement. Again, Collins said he was unaware of those details.

Feldman also asked Collins if he was aware that Damon van Dam had been vacuuming the house on the morning that Danielle was reported missing. Collins said that he was shown the vacuum cleaner when he arrived at the home, but he couldn't say what happened to the contents of the clearner or if it had been taken by police for analysis.

At one point, Feldman asked Collins if the police had ever considered Danielle's parents as suspects in the girl's disappearance. The judge would not permit Collins to answer that question.

During the hearing, prosecutors pointed out that Collins wasn't responsible for every detail of the investigation and that the evidence in the case was handled by another police lieutenant assigned to the investigation.

The next witness was San Diego County Medical Examiner Dr. Brian Blackbourne. He testified that he was able to determine that the manner of death was homicide because of the circumstances in which the body was found. But he said he was unable to determine the cause of death or whether Danielle was sexually assaulted because of the state of the corpse.

The hearing was adjourned for lunch until 1:30 p.m.

Westerfield, a self-employed design engineer, lives two doors away from the van Dam home. He became the early focus of the police investigation after he told police that he left the neighborhood for a weekend trip to the beach and desert on the morning that Danielle’s disappearance was discovered. He was arrested days before the girl’s body was found after police said that Danielle’s blood was detected by DNA tests on his clothing and inside his motor home.

In addition, traces of DNA found on one of Danielle van Dam's garments in her room matched Westerfield's, police Chief David Bejarano said. He called the genetic evidence a "very, very strong link" between the defendant and the missing girl.

So far, investigators have not said what they believe might have motivated Westerfield -- a divorced father of two -- to take Danielle van Dam from her home and family.

Westerfield has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include murder with special circumstances. Prosecutors have not decided if they will seek the death penalty if Westerfield is convicted.


52 posted on 03/11/2002 7:06:28 PM PST by FresnoDA
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To: Republic;golitely;spectre;Amore;Travis McGee;BunnySlippers;Doughtyone;Hillary's Lovely Legs...

 

Breaking News.....

Accomplice found in Van Dam residence......

Damon and Brenda shocked!!!!!

 

alt

"We had no idea.  We got it for a wedding gift.

This is absolutely shocking.  We heard the sounds on previous

occasions.  It would just start running, and travel around our house.

Sucking up everything in it's path!  We simply can not go on!!!"

alt

Suspected Vacuum, which unexpectedly sucked up critical evidence. 

Only to have it's bag discarded!!!


53 posted on 03/11/2002 7:13:56 PM PST by FresnoDA
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To: FresnoDA
~PREVIOUS VAN DAM THREADS~
54 posted on 03/11/2002 7:20:36 PM PST by Freedom2specul8
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To: FresnoDA
~FREEPERS INVESTIGATE, NEWS AND QUESTIONS~
55 posted on 03/11/2002 7:23:31 PM PST by Freedom2specul8
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Preliminary Trial Offers Additional Details
Trial Expected To Carry On For Several Days
Posted: 6:19 p.m. PST March 11, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- A scratched-up David Westerfield was "overly cooperative" when detectives questioned him two days after 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was discovered missing, according to preliminary hearing testimony Monday.

Detective Johnny Keene said Westerfield had numerous small scratches on his hand and arm when he was interviewed on his front porch the morning of Feb. 4.

Keene was the final witness on the first day of the hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the girl's accused killer on to trial. "In my opinion, he was overly cooperative," Keene said. "I've been doing this for 16 years. Typically, when we search people's houses, they don't point out places to look. Usually, they ask why we're searching their house." Keene said Westerfield pointed to a number of places in his "immaculate" home where detectives might want to look, including a stack of boxes and a trap door to the attic.

Westerfield also led detectives to a Poway "mountaintop" where he stored his motorhome and accompanied them to the Northeastern substation in Rancho Penasquitos for what turned into a stay of about eight hours, Keene said.

Keene also told the court that, when first questioning Westerfield, he noticed "numerous" scratch marks on his hand and above his wrist. Westerfield reportedly explained that he got scratched the previous day while digging his motorhome out of the sand along a narrow road in Borrego Springs, the second time the vehicle got stuck that weekend.

Keene also said Westerfield was "sweating profusely" as they spoke, even though it was a cool morning and they were standing in the shade.

The 7-year-old was reported missing the morning of Feb. 2 from her home in Sabre Springs. She was last seen when her father, Damon, put her to bed the night before.

Westerfield, 50, lived two houses away and fell under suspicion after he returned from a weekend trip to the desert.

The twice-divorced father eventually was arrested in the case and pleaded innocent to murder, kidnapping and misdemeanor child pornography in connection with the second-grader's disappearance and death.

The self-employed design engineer was arrested when lab tests showed Danielle's blood on his clothing and in his recreational vehicle.

Westerfield, dressed in a gray suit, sat nearly motionless in his seat with his hands folded in his lap. But he shed his jacket and tie as testimony continued into the afternoon.

Earlier, San Diego police Lt. Jim Collins said Danielle's body was nude, in an advanced state of decomposition and missing a foot when it was found Feb. 27 under a tree near Dehesa Road in El Cajon.

"I saw a body of a young female," Collins told a hushed courtroom. "There was an advanced state of decomposition. She was laying on her back. Her head was facing a tree. Her head was turned to the east. The torso was in an advanced stage of decomposition." "Were any parts missing?" prosecutor Jeff Dusek asked. "Yes," Collins said. "One of her feet was missing."

Later, Chief Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne testified that Danielle's body had no clothes when found and showed signs of considerable "animal activity."

Blackbourne said skin and muscle tissue was missing from many parts of her body. Also gone was her genitalia, which could make it difficult for prosecutors to prove a sexual motive in her death.

Blackbourne (pictured, right) said he tried to find evidence of a sexual assault during the autopsy, but was hindered by the decomposition of the body.

Asked how long van Dam had been dead, Blackbourne responded, "It's certainly consistent with the three-and-a-half weeks she'd been missing."

He testified that the manner of death was homicide, and that the cause of the child's death is still to be determined, pending additional testing.

Westerfield's defense lawyers focused on the uncertainty over when and how the girl died. Under cross examination, Blackbourne said the autopsy found she had died between two weeks and three-and-a-half weeks before she was found.

Attorney Steven Feldman suggested that Danielle could have died after Westerfield was under 'round-the-clock' surveillance or after he was arrested on Feb. 22.

Feldman also suggested Danielle's father, Damon, might have destroyed evidence by vacuuming after she was reported missing.

Feldman also said crime scene investigators found blood on the stairs and garage of the van Dam home, but he did not provide further details.

Westerfield's neighbor, Christina Hoeffs, testified that she noticed two unusual things at the defendant's home the night the young girl disappeared.

Hoeffs, who lives behind Westerfield's house, told the court she went to bed at 10 p.m. and noticed a backyard light -- which he rarely used -- shining into her window.

The light was still on after 2 a.m. after she tended to her crying infant son, she said.

"I got up and looked out to see why the light was on," Hoeffs testified. "I did notice the house was completely shut up. Every single blind was pulled completely shut."

"Had you ever seen that before?" Dusek asked.

"No," Hoeffs replied.

She also said Westerfield's motorhome was usually on a cross street outside his home for a day or two before his trips to the desert. She testified that when she left her house at 4 p.m. on Feb. 1 and returned at 9 that night, she did not see the motorhome.

Defense attorney Robert Boyce will continue his cross-examination of Keene tomorrow morning.

In an interesting twist, Keene is the brother-in-law of Lupe Dailey, the woman whose husband was convicted in her murder, despite the fact that police never found her body. Before the discovery of Danielle's body, prosecutors had used the Dailey case as an example of successful murder conviction without a body.

At the end of the hearing -- expected later this week -- Superior Court Judge H. Ronald Domnitz will decide if there is enough evidence to try Westerfield on the charges that potentially could carry the death penalty if he is convicted.


Points to ponder - says he was scratched up digging out his stuck motorhome. Will the guy who towed him out, verify or contradict that story.

The other blood found in Danielle's home, whose is it? That was very "explosive" new info.

Don't know what to make of the vacuuming. I can't figure out when it was done. Friday? Saturday. Was he cleaning up from a party, or was he cleaning up after investigators. They make a mess, but you'd think they'd vacuum themselves for evidence.

BTW, I vacuum all the time after putting my kids to bed. That's not strange at all. Heck, I used to vacuum them to sleep as babies in a chest or backpack. Vacuuming/cleaning after kids are down is normal procedure in my home. Especially after movie dvd and popcorn.

Info about condition of body ends all speculation that she was put there much later by accomplice after DW's arrest. Looks like she was there the entire time. Drag marks at body site likely to have been done by animals dragging her farther into brush, but not necessarily. Drag marks at residence, velly interrresting.

Raped or dragged struggling from own home, and no one wakes up? The two younger boys could have slept through anything, mine certainly does. But the Dad? Only under influence of drugs/alcohol. Was the dog shut up with him in the master suite desperately trying to wake him up, staggers down stairs, lets dog out, back in, shuts warning lights off(?) and staggers back to bed, noticing nothing?

I've got lots more speculating to do. These are starters.

56 posted on 03/11/2002 7:24:31 PM PST by Valpal1
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To: Valpal1, all
The ME could not tie down time of death to more than 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 weeks, said she could have been alive on 2/11...

One of drag marks was 5'4" in length, one on or near sidewalk SE corner of VD house, one SW exterior corner of fireplace, blood stain on concrete adjacent to garage, potential blood spots on stairwell.......cut to floor plan....whoops the pics & floorplan are gone...!!!!

57 posted on 03/11/2002 7:34:40 PM PST by rolling_stone
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To: rolling_stone
The ME could not tie down time of death to more than 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 weeks, said she could have been alive on 2/11.

When did DW go under 24/7 surveillance and what was the arrest date

We need to develop some timelines

Also did I read ME testimony that he believed the spot to be where she was originally placed. Did they ask if they thought/could tell if she had been "stored" elsewhere before being placed where she was?

58 posted on 03/11/2002 7:39:17 PM PST by Valpal1
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To: Valpal1

SOURCE???????


59 posted on 03/11/2002 7:40:41 PM PST by FresnoDA
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To: FresnoDA, Valpal1
Don't tell him ! He wouldn't give us the website for his transcript! LOL!

Val, I'm reading..

60 posted on 03/11/2002 7:43:52 PM PST by Freedom2specul8
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