Second week of long trial scheduled to resume

SAN DIEGO - The second week of what is expected to be a lengthy trial begins today in the case of People vs. David Westerfield, the 50-year-old Sabre Springs man who is accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam four months ago.

The trial of David Westerfield -- one of the most closely watched in San Diego County history -- could last up to three months.

Westerfield, a self-employed engineer, is charged with murder and kidnapping. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

The first witness called last Tuesday by prosecutor Jeff Dusek, was Julie Hennes, a Sabre Springs neighbor of Brenda and Damon van Dam. Hennes described the couple's panic when they could not find their daughter the morning of Feb. 2.

Two volunteer searchers testified about how they found the girl's body under a tree off Dehesa Road on Feb. 27.

A deputy sheriff called to the scene testified that Danielle's body was in an advanced state of decomposition and had been ravaged by animals and was missing a foot.

Dr. Norman ``Skip'' Sperber, a forensic dentist, testified that four of Danielle's teeth were missing. One eventually was found ``way in the back of the mouth, where the gum meets the cheek,'' he said. Sperber said it is common for teeth to fall out during decomposition.

However, no teeth were found at the scene, Sperber said. He explained that animals, who sometimes carry away human remains, normally leave teeth alone. Prosecutors theorize the loss of teeth shows Danielle could have been suffocated.

A nervous and occasionally tearful Damon van Dam admitted he initially lied to police about what had happened in his garage the night of Feb. 1, when two girlfriends of his wife, Brenda, arrived before a ``girls night out'' at Dad's Cafe.

The father testified that he initially didn't tell authorities that he had taken ``a puff or two'' from a marijuana cigarette the women were smoking. ``I didn't think it mattered,'' he said, ``and I didn't want to get in trouble.''

But van Dam said that after the officers told him they were only interested in finding his daughter, he was truthful with them.

Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne testified that the girl's body was so decomposed it was impossible to establish a cause of death. He estimated her time of death at anywhere from 10 days to six weeks.

Blackbourne also testified he checked Danielle's body for signs of sexual assault but found none, primarily because of tissue damage from decomposition and animal activity.

On Thursday, Brenda van Dam broke down when asked to name her children and give their ages.

Dusek asked the mother about the first of two ``girls nights out'' on Jan. 25 at Dad's Cafe with the two girlfriends.

The woman also testified about previous contacts with Westerfield, including when he bought her a drink at Dad's, and a visit to his house with Danielle and her younger brother to sell Girl Scout cookies.

While the children were playing in his backyard, she said Westerfield told her he was interested in her friend, Barbara Easton, who had caught his eye at Dad's.

On the second outing to Dad's, Easton walked right up to Westerfield and began talking to him, Van Dam told the court.

A little recap from Thursday's testimony

DAY THREE: June 6, 2002

Like yesterday, we heard from three witnesses, with a Van Dam between the two.

Dr. Blackbourne, the County Medical Examiner for San Diego, completed the testimony he began late yesterday afternoon. Sean Brown, the Bar Manager at Dad's, recounted his memories of Brenda Van Dam and her friends at the bar on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2002. For the majority of the day, though, Brenda Van Dam testified. We'll tell you about her testimony in a moment. But first...

Brian Blackbourne:
County Medical Examiner for San Diego

As you may remember from yesterday, Blackburn's testimony ended for the day with his cause of death findings. Although he could rule out a number of possibilities, he could neither prove nor disprove suffocation.

Today, on direct examination, Blackbourne testified to time of death. According to his findings, Danielle could have died at any time between 10 days and 6 -1/2 weeks from the date her remains were found, Feb. 27. This means that she could have died at anytime between Feb. 1, the date she was last seen alive, and Feb. 17.

On the cross examination, he was asked if extreme temperatures could effect the range of the time of death.

For those of you lucky enough to spend your winters in San Diego, you may recall that in mid-February we had a warm, dry Santa Ana blow in. The days were much warmer and drier than usual.

Blackbourne said that temperature and humidity (or lack of humidity) could effect his estimated range, but not by more than a couple of days.

Blackbourne also testified that he could not find any traces of sexual abuse on Danielle's remains. Although he carefully examined the mouth area, and pelvic region, it was impossible for him to determine if she had, or had not, been sexually assaulted.

The length of time between Danielle's death and her body being found, and the damage animals did, removed any possible evidence pointing in either direction.

Sean Brown:
Bar Manager and Head Bartender at Dad's

Late in the day, he testified that on both Jan. 25 and Feb. 1, Brenda, Barbara Easton, Denise Kemal, and Westerfield were at the bar. He said that at all times Brenda and her friends conducted themselves in an appropriate manner.

He said that Brenda did not drink a lot on either of those nights, and that she separated her cranberry and vodkas with glasses of water.

About Westerfield, Brown said that he stood at the end of the bar talking with his friend Gary for the better part of both evenings.

He said that Westerfield bought drinks for Brenda and her friends, and on Feb. 1, he also interacted with them, albeit briefly. According to Brown, Westerfield spoke to the women for about 20 seconds -- as though he simply told them a joke, and then moved on.

One interesting tidbit from Brown's testimony: Brown said that the police report of his statements following Danielle's disappearance, provided to him by the District Attorney's Office, was incorrect.

At the time of the interview, the officer taking his statement wrote that Brown said Brenda and her friends had been "partying hard" and "flirting with men." On the stand, Brown said that he had never said that to the officer and that the officer had exaggerated what really happened those two nights.

Brenda Van Dam:
Danielle's mother

After Blackbourne, but before Brown, Brenda was called to the stand. She testified for six obviously difficult, emotional hours.

From the very start, Brenda's grief after the loss of her daughter was apparent. When Jeff Dusek asked her the names of her children, she burst into tears and could barely say "Danielle."

Later in her testimony, Brenda was asked to identify the same photographs of Danielle's bedroom that had provoked tears from Damon.

She was so overcome by the pictures that Steve Feldman asked for an early recess so that Brenda could gather her emotions. Feldman's request was granted and the jury was let out. Just after the jurors left, Brenda began sobbing. As the public and media cleared the courtroom, Dusek comforted Brenda. She clung to him as she cried.

The reasons for Brenda's raw emotions were plentiful. The tape of the 9-1-1 call she placed the morning of Feb. 2, 2002 was played.

"My daughter is not her bed this morning... She's only 7.... She's not here... I don't know where she might be," she tells the police operator. "Oh my God," she repeats throughout the tape. "Oh my God."

During the call, she responds to the operator's questions, describes Danielle. When the operator asks about Danielle's hair, Brenda says, "It's brown, short hair... She just had it cut.... It's down to her shoulders."

Although unintentional at the time, her mention of Danielle's recent haircut adds credibility to the short time span in which Danielle's hairs could have been left in Westerfield's RV and caught in the lint from his dryer.

When the operator asks if there were any signs of a break-in, Brenda says that she found the side garage door open the previous night and that, later during the night, Damon had found the backdoor cracked open.

Like the comment about Danielle's haircut, Brenda's mention of the doors she and her husband found open at least suggest the possibility of an intruder.

The last thing the operator says to Brenda before processing the call is, "Think positive thoughts and everything will be okay. Okay?" If only that had been true....

Much of the testimony Brenda was asked to give focused on her activities and relationships with Barbara Easton and Denise Kemal.

Feldman asked, "Have you ever had a sex party at your house?"

Like Damon, she admitted to having had group sex with her husband, both women, and their male partners, although on different occasions. One of those occasions was Halloween 2000.

Like Damon, this admission came after several denials.

When Feldman asked her about the contradiction in her statements, Brenda said, "I don't consider that to be a sex party."

Brenda denied that Barbara Easton had gone with her to Damon's bedroom after the Girls' Night Out on Feb.1.

Instead, she said that Barbara disappeared into the master bedroom while she and Denise searched for the door triggering the blinking alarm light.

She denied having seeing Barbara and Damon kissing and snuggling in bed. And, she denied having gone into the upstairs bathroom with Denise Kemal.

Brenda denied having ever had sex with Rich Brady and Keith Stone, although she did admit that Brady had supplied the marijuana she, Barbara, Denise and Damon smoked the night before Danielle disappeared.

Frequently while on the witness stand, Brenda glared boldly at Westerfield. At other times she seemed to search his eyes for the answer to the question, Why?

Sometimes Westerfield met her glare, though he always seemed to break away quickly. Once, he even put his hand over his eyes as though to put a physical wall to stop the angry gaze.

What to expect Monday:

Monday there is a change in the trial schedule. Instead of starting the morning session at 9:00, it will begin at 9:30.

Rick Roberts will still begin hosting the Westerfield coverage at 8:30 AM, and he'll use the extra time to take your calls.

WESTERFIELD TRIAL TO RESUME TODAY

(06-10-2002) - Another week of testimony in the David Westerfield trial starts this morning. Last week we heard from several key witnesses.

Brenda and Damon van Dam took the stand to describe the events leading up to their daughter's disappearance. The medical examiner in the case testified about the condition of Danielle's body when it was discovered in Dehesa. And a forensic dentist talked about Danielle's missing teeth, indicating she may have been smothered.

Brenda and Damon van Dam's testimony is now out of the way, but all we've heard about David Westerfield is that he was at a bar a couple of times and bought some Girl Scout cookies.

"If you had to vote right this minute, you can't take the opening statements into consideration, just on the evidence you've heard, you have to vote not guilty," said LOCAL 8 legal analyst, Bill Nimmo.

Attorney Bill Nimmo expects the trial to now focus on the four people Brenda van Dam brought home from the bar the night Danielle disappeared, including two women that have had sex with Damon van Dam.

The jury has heard about them and Nimmo expects all four of them to take the stand soon.

"I would want to bring those people on if I was the prosecutor and I would want to show their whereabouts through the whole night to totally eliminate them as a possibility, because when you eliminate those four, then who do you have?"

Nimmo says from there, Dusek can start building his case against Westerfield, probably ending with the DNA evidence.

As for the defense, Nimmo says he's waiting for Steven Feldman to back up his opening statement that he's going to scientifically prove his client couldn't have killed Danielle.

"I heard those words and I'm interested in seeing what that is because that sounded pretty powerful," said Nimmo.

Nimmo thought he'd see at least a glimpse of Feldman's hand when medical examiner, Dr. Brian Blackbourne took the stand, but so far, nothing. He now thinks that testimony will probably come from one of Feldman's own witnesses.

Sources tell LOCAL 8 News that the prosecution may call as many as 75 witnesses.

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