Westerfield trial TV coverage lures viewers with lurid details

The San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | June 7, 2002 | Robert P. Laurence

[MizSterious]

Westerfield trial TV coverage lures viewers with lurid details

Remote Control

Robert P. Laurence

June 7, 2002

TV is about pictures, and the David Westerfield trial has not been a pretty picture.

Carried live on four local stations, and on cable's Court TV, the trial's pictures have been drawn in words, words like "sexual penetration" "putrefaction," "animal activity" and "decomposition" used in describing what might have happened to the body of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam before and after her death.

To many, the pictures, again drawn in words, of adults engaged in spouse-swapping, group sex and pot smoking have been nearly as repugnant.

But just as many are finding the whole spectacle of kidnapping, murder, kinky sexuality and everyday middle-class suburbanites pursuing a lifestyle usually associated with memories of hippies of the 1960s morbidly fascinating. (Some may be looking at the folks next door with new curiosity.)

Decisions of local TV stations have varied according to the expected newsworthiness of whatever witness has been on the stand. All carried the testimony of Damon and Brenda van Dam, Danielle's parents, Wednesday and yesterday.

KUSI/Channel 51 has been the most dedicated, carrying all the testimony live, and airing a nightly hour-long wrap-up of the day's activities at 9 p.m. For viewers who don't subscribe to cable, KUSI has been the only place to watch the entire trial.

KGTV/Channel 10 has aired most of the testimony in the first three days of the trial. The coverage airs sometimes on Channel 10, and always on KGTV's all-news cable outlet on Channel 15. KFMB/Channel 8 and KNSD/Channel 39 have been choosier, often skipping the testimony of technical experts.

Wednesday's ratings favored KGTV and KUSI, and Nielsen totals of how many people have been watching TV during the day were up as much as 12 percent compared to last week.

Some of the technical testimony has been the most gruesomely fascinating, including the descriptions of County Medical Examiner Dr. Brian Blackbourne of the condition of Danielle's body when it was found, and his listing of which body parts had been gnawed by animals and which had not. (Blessedly, the courtroom camera has eschewed close-ups of the pictures of the child's body. Those would be too ugly to bear.)

Just as fascinating in the context of the grisly scenario was Brenda van Dam's description of the now-painfully mundane routine of selling Girl Scout cookies, the route she and Danielle followed as they walked house to house through the neighborhood, and her statement that the home of defendant David Westerfield "was the last house we went to."

For those who have made up their mind that Westerfield is guilty, Court TV is the place to go. Anchors Nancy Grace and Sheila Stainback have all but declared themselves witnesses for the prosecution. Both have ridiculed potential defense arguments before they've been made in court, and Grace described Westerfield at one point as "looking pretty pasty right now."

Grace yesterday waxed long and righteously indignant because Damon van Dam wasn't allowed to stay in the courtroom while his wife testified, bemoaning that he wasn't being allowed "closure," but ignoring the fact that California courts don't allow witnesses to remain in court while other witnesses testify.

Local anchors have remained neutral and objective, but speculation has not been entirely absent. Lawyer Milt Silverman, analyst for KGTV, yesterday said he was wondering whether Westerfield had "figured out ways to defeat those locks" on the Van Dams' home.

Still, the most memorable pictures we've seen so far in the Westerfield trial were those of yesterday morning.

The first was the stricken look on Brenda van Dam's face when she was asked how many children she has, and her long pause as she deliberately decided to include Danielle: "Three."

The second was of Brenda van Dam, sobbing and daubing a tissue to her eyes as she listened to a tape of her first 911 call, and heard her own voice tell the operator, "My daughter's not in her bed this morning. She's only 7...

"Oh my God! ... I don't know where she could be."

[Rheo]

The questions about the stains and beanbag, I found confusing. Where exactly was the stain in relation to the beanbag?

I took that to mean the underside of the beanbag...ms savage seemed hostile to me and was playing word games.....it was made to sound like underneath the bean bag, on the ground, there was a potential blood stain, but then it was established the stain was on the beanbag itself......is that just as confusing? :-)

[Uni-Poster]

Kewl, thanks!

[Rheo]

I'm still confused......there were supposedly 13 registered sex offenders in the neighborhood, yet DW is looked at hard because he took an RV trip that weekend and his hose was messy in his yard altho his house was clean inside??

No "evidence" had been found yet but somehow he became their main focus pretty fast, had they eliminated the sex offenders that quickly??

[demsux]

Here's something that has been going unsaid.

It is a FACT that DVD AND BVD AND "THE PIZZA CLUB" folks enjoy watching and joining in with people (other than just their spouses) having sex.

This is not "on-line" porn or magazines...this is flesh to flesh, touchy feely, intimate sexual relations amongst peers. To me, the fact that DW has some computer porn (not yet proven to be child porn), does not come close to the depravity of the VD circle of friends.

They are established sexual "experimentors" who use the ACT of sexual intercourse with people other than their spouses to further gratify themselves. How far would they go to further gratify themselves after "swinging" was getting dull and routine?

[Rheo]

Has it been determined what clothing DW had on at Dad's that night?....was it the jacket that had a drop of blood on the lapel, shoulder and neck?

[DWSUWF]

"...This is not "on-line" porn or magazines...this is flesh to flesh, touchy feely, intimate sexual relations amongst peers. To me, the fact that DW has some computer porn (not yet proven to be child porn), does not come close to the depravity of the VD circle of friends..."

I can see your point. 'Looking At Porn' and 'Engaging In Sex Orgies', although they are both catagorizable as irregular sexual activities, are nonetheless slightly different kettles of fish.

Among American males, 15 to 115, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't sneaked a peek at a dirty picture or two at some point...

And -in most cases- it has resulted in no serious, lasting damage to their personalities.

People who engage in sex orgies, on the other hand, are in the minority. And participation in activities such as this requires a much deeper commitment than sneaking a peek at a dirty picture.

"...They are established sexual "experimentors" who use the ACT of sexual intercourse with people other than their spouses to further gratify themselves. How far would they go to further gratify themselves after "swinging" was getting dull and routine?..."

Yes, some people tend to graduate from one level of a given activity to the next. It's often true among drug users and criminals, and must be equally true of sexual miscreants as well.

But -depraved as they are- the majority of swingers are probably not likely to 'graduate' all they way to sex-murder...

YES, I believe that a HIGHER PERCENTAGE of them are capable of such complete degradation when compared to their less perverse fellow citizens. I'm on record with respect to believing that. But I believe that most swingers tend reach a point where they become comfortable with a particular set of fetishes and then stick with that repertoire.

I don't think it was one of the 'regulars' that did it. The little girl was killed by a wild card, someone who they brushed up against who was a sexual predator of the first order.

If I were the detective in charge, I'd have gotten a list of their one night stands. I'd have asked the VD's for the names or descriptions of the ones who gave them the creeps, who were never invited back for 'seconds'.

Does the accused fit this description? I'm not sure. There seems to be an element of this in his relationship with the VD's. (from what I've read)

[cyncooper]

Brenda had been seeing him, probably been in the motorhome too. Also similar DNA.

Where are you getting "Brenda had been seeing him"? Also, "similar DNA" is not accurate. They can tell whose blood it is (and OJ's was defined as his, not his son's----I saw you think that was somehow not shown at that trial). They can differentiate between family members. It was Danielle's hair and blood found, not her mother's.

[spectre]

Cyn..they mentioned Mit DNA and specifically suggested the blood could have been Brendas, or the boys...Did not say it was exclusively Danielle's, only that it "could have been". (Or her Mother's or siblings).

Am I wrong? Anyone?

sw

[Rheo]

That is what I've gotten so far regarding the DNA but still have more to read.

In addition to Danielle's fingerprint they found in the MH, they also found Danielle L (DW's glfrnd dghter) and Jennifers...who is Jennifer, do we know?

DVD stated that Danielle could not open the back gate, but the brothers statement to police was thas she had in fact been able to and had gotten in trouble for opening it and going out front......has the discrepency been addressed yet?

[MizSterious]

Rheo, here's what we know about why they started looking at Westerfield so early--this is taken from a previous post. Others might be tired of seeing it posted so often, but new people come online all the time who haven't seen these. One of our Freepers likes to argue that it was "good police work," but these three statements suggest something very different:

First, there's this one:

Officer: During the course of our investigation, the resident here, his name came up, as someone who had contact with the family. We've talked to him. He is cooperating with us. He's talked to us yesterday, he's talking to us today. We had some things we wanted to check in his house. He allowed us to go into his home and we are doing some things to process the scene and possibly eliminate him as a suspect." Source

Second, there was an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune the same day, where another officer says something quite similar:

"This is a process of elimination," said Dave Cohen, a spokesman for the San Diego Police Department. "We have gotten some information and we wanted to take a little closer look at his vehicle and his residence." Source

And from one of the motions filed:

"Detective Alldredge's affadavit was relied on to establish probable cause for search warrants 2783D and 27818 to search Mr. Westerfield's home. 27813 for Mr. Westerfields clothes. In his affadavit, Alldredge misrepresented statements by Brenda Van Dam that were relied on to supply probable cause for the issuance of the search warrants. Because the affadavits were sealed, documents may only disclose the specifics of the misrepresentations in camera."

So, from this, it appears Brenda said something, but that Alldredge might have altered it or exaggerated it. Bottom line, it looks like someone did point the police in a certain direction.

[MizSterious]

I'm not really certain about that. We do know that he took some black slacks, a black shirt and a jacket to the cleaners. The jacket had a speck of blood on it, but we haven't heard if the other clothes did or not--and I suspect we would have by now. Just a guess. But we don't know if he wore those that night, if Brenda & co. saw him in those clothes or not.

[Jaded]

There have been various rumors that DW and BvD had an illicit relationship. It had been stated previously, that a neighbor and the gardener of a neighbor had seen BvD entering the RV on more than one occasion. If this is the case Feldman will bring it up.

Of the 3 spots on the jacket that tested positive for the presumptive test, only 1 of the spots matched Danielle's DNA. It is not clear if the jacket was kept in the RV or not. It has been stated elsewhere that the jacket was kept in the RV for bummin' around. Sure Feldman will get to that too.

It's gonna be a long summer....

[MizSterious]

It might not have been murder. It could very well have been accidental, either in the course of a rape or through some other means. Remember, this wee one was only 7.

[Rheo]

Thank you...I appreciate you all having patience with those of us that missed threads.

Figured someone had to have pointed pretty strongly in DW's direction....13 registered sex offenders in the neighborhood, people in and out of the VD home on the night in question....yet the police are on DW's computer already by Feb 4th??

[spectre]

I don't have the Prosecutions opening statement, but if memory serves me correctly, he skimmed over the word Mit..(the longer word), and then cited some figures pertaining to an astronoical possible match or mismatch.

I am not ruling out the Blood WAS Danielle's, but that the same blood could also have been Brenda's, is still possible.

I think it's been established the child did/could get out the back gate...

sw

[Rheo]

Do we know who this Jennifer might be?

[DWSUWF]

"...It might not have been murder. It could very well have been accidental, either in the course of a rape or through some other means. Remember, this wee one was only 7..."

If it was the accused, I imagine that it will develop that it was about sex, and that her death was incidental/unintended. I don’t see him as a serial killer. Goofy and kinky, yes, but not a psycho-killer.

If it was a predator that the VD's unwisely allowed into their home/lives, I believe that it will develop that it was entirely about killing, with the sex being peripheral.

[MizSterious]

There were actually quite a lot of potential suspects that had been "completely cleared" in about 13 1/2 hours--record time. There were the 13 registered sex offenders, 184 houses in the neighborhood, the people who attended the "pizza" party, and people who were at the bar watching Brenda dance the hootchykootch with the pool cue, the men, and the women--after which a general invitation was issued to join the "pizza" party when the bar closed. Either these cops do time travel, or someone's not being completely truthful about "completely clearing" all those people.

[Jaded]

Ex-girlfriend's daughter's friend.

[cyncooper]

A DNA specialist testified at the preliminary hearing that there was one chance in 25 quadrillion, or 25 followed by 15 zeros, that the blood found on carpet near the motor home's bathroom belonged to someone other than Danielle. There was a one in 4.9 billion chance that a blood stain found on a jacket that Westerfield took to the cleaners belonged to someone other than Danielle. The expert said she could not say how long the stains had been there.

Source: http://www.nctimes.net/news/2002/20020324/60950.html