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Posted on 06/12/2002 9:15:23 AM PDT by Mediaeval
Outside David Westerfield's impeccably landscaped house, police searching for Danielle van Dam noticed a garden hose stretched across the grass, and it made them suspicious, according to testimony yesterday.
"That told me that whoever left that hose out was in a hurry," San Diego police Detective Maura Mekenas-Parga testified during the fifth day of Westerfield's trial on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 7-year-old girl.
The detective said she and her partner noticed the hose Feb. 3, but no one appeared to be home. A day earlier, Danielle had been reported missing from her Sabre Springs home two doors away.
Parga and her partner, Detective Johnny Keene, also testified about their first encounter with Westerfield in his driveway the morning of Feb. 4. He told the detectives he had just returned from a meandering weekend journey of several hundred miles in his motor home.
Sweating profusely despite the cool weather, the self-employed design engineer gave a detailed account of his whereabouts and let the detectives search his house and motor home, according to the testimony.
Parga said she smelled bleach in Westerfield's garage near his sport- utility vehicle, a black Toyota 4Runner, which looked "like it had just been through a carwash."
Piled on his washer and dryer was a load of laundry, including a comforter with dirt on it, she testified. Westerfield said it was laundry from his weekend trip to the desert, she said. Parga also testified that in the master bedroom, a comforter was missing from his bed.
Keene said Westerfield gave him a detailed account of his travels from the previous Friday night to the time of the interview. Westerfield never mentioned dropping off a load of laundry at a Poway dry cleaner, Keene testified.
Prosecutors have evidence that Westerfield went to a dry cleaner and dropped off several items, including a jacket with the girl's blood on it, according to testimony at a March hearing.
Westerfield also told Keene about his encounter with Danielle's mother at Dad's Cafe & Steakhouse the previous Friday night. Keene testified that without prompting, Westerfield said: "I could have sworn she had a baby sitter. I didn't know her husband was home with the kids."
Prosecutors believe Westerfield, 50, sneaked into the van Dams' house after leaving the bar that Friday night, kidnapped and killed the girl, then dumped her nude body off a rural road east of El Cajon.
The van Dams testified last week that Danielle's father had originally planned to be out of town on a snowboarding trip with his older son. Brenda van Dam said she told that to Westerfield when she and her daughter went to his house selling Girl Scout cookies the Tuesday before Danielle disappeared.
Damon van Dam's plans changed, and he was home the night his daughter vanished, according to the testimony.
Keene said Westerfield told him he left Dad's bar at 11 or 11:30 p.m. Feb. 1 and went straight home to bed. He told the detective he knew Brenda van Dam "in passing" and saw her in the bar that night.
Keene said Westerfield gave the following account of his subsequent weekend:
He woke up the next morning at 6:30 a.m. and decided to drive to the Imperial County desert. He drove his sport-utility vehicle to his motor home, which was parked eight miles away in Poway, then returned in the motor home, stocked it with supplies and left about 9:50 a.m.
When he realized he had forgotten his wallet, he drove to Silver Strand State Beach near Coronado instead. After paying for three days, he decided the weather was too cold and decided again to go to the desert.
He returned to his house that afternoon to look for his wallet, which wasn't in the house. By this time Danielle had been reported missing, and after a neighbor told him what happened, he checked his back yard to see if the girl had fallen in his pool.
Finding nothing, he got back in his motor home and drove eight miles to his SUV, where he found his wallet, and headed to the Imperial County desert 160 miles away.
He arrived in Glamis by 10 or 10:30 p.m., got stuck in the sand, slept the night in his motor home, was dug out the next morning by a stranger and drove scores of miles to several other spots, at one point getting stuck again in Borrego and digging himself out.
By that time it was 6 p.m., and he decided to head to Coronado. He doubled back, arriving at the beach by 7:10 p.m. and found the gates closed. He parked in a nearby lot, slept until 4 or 4:30 a.m., drove off, then slept for an hour in his motor home in Poway before retrieving his SUV and heading home.
He said he got back to his house at 8:30 that morning – about 50 minutes before Keene arrived for the interview.
Keene said Westerfield allowed police to search his entire house and his motor home that morning. The detective described Westerfield as "overly cooperative," pointing out places that the officers had neglected to look.
Westerfield's house was "immaculate," Keene testified. In the master bedroom, the only thing amiss was the lack of a comforter on the bed, Keene said.
"Mr. Westerfield apologized profusely for the room being such a mess," Keene said.
Westerfield attorney Steven Feldman raised the possibility that the two detectives or other officers might have inadvertently carried fibers from the van Dam residence to Westerfield's house and motor home.
He asked Parga whether she wore the same shoes the day she searched Westerfield's property as she did the day she visited the van Dams' house. Parga said she didn't think so but wasn't sure.
Prosecutors say blood, hair and fiber evidence link Westerfield to the girl's disappearance.
Alex Roth: (619) 542-4558; alex.roth@uniontrib.com
I suspect they're going to do an OJ, challenging the quality of the blood collected and how it was collected, not the blood evidence itself.
How many of you out there go to a bar, come home at 11:30, get up at 6:30, and just suddenly decide to go to the desert? I don't believe it.
When he realized he had forgotten his wallet, he drove to Silver Strand State Beach near Coronado instead
Huh?...How many of you forget your wallet and decide to just go ahead and take a trip anyway? I don't believe it.
He returned to his house that afternoon to look for his wallet, which wasn't in the house. By this time Danielle had been reported missing, and after a neighbor told him what happened, he checked his back yard to see if the girl had fallen in his pool.
Finding nothing, he got back in his motor home and drove eight miles to his SUV, where he found his wallet, and headed to the Imperial County desert 160 miles away.
How many of you, upon finding out your neighbors daughter was missing, would just drive off? Wouldn't you offer your help in finding a missing child?
Instead of just driving around aimlessly in the dsesert? I don't believe it.
He arrived in Glamis by 10 or 10:30 p.m., got stuck in the sand, slept the night in his motor home, was dug out the next morning by a stranger and drove scores of miles to several other spots, at one point getting stuck again in Borrego and digging himself out.
How many of you motor home drivers are dumb enough to get stuck in the sand? Twice? I don't believe it.
By that time it was 6 p.m., and he decided to head to Coronado. He doubled back, arriving at the beach by 7:10 p.m. and found the gates closed.
How many of you RV'rs don't know that most all State Parks are closed by 7:10pm? I don't believe it.
This guy is a pathetic sicko, and not even a very good liar.
So that's your complaint -- you prefer good liars? On what basis do you call him a "pathetic sicko", outside of being your general crankiness?
That one struck me as well. Experienced RV'rs aren't that stupid.
This statement makes me laugh! In a hurry, or just lazy. I'm constantly leaving a hose streched out across my lawn,
for a variety of reasons. Glad to see they have better evidence than this!
Well now, if I were going to fabricate a complete load of crap to tell police in an investigation I think I could do better than to make myself look like a complete moron.
And secondly, this little girls nude dead body was found dumped like so much trash on the side of a road- And Westerfield is certainly heavily implicated by the evidence. That makes him a PATHETIC SICKO in my book.... Have a good day
Good grief! If leaving your garden hose uncoiled on your otherwise impeccably landscaped property is enough to make you a suspect, I am in deep doodoo.
Why there hasn't been any piece of evidence yet presented that can't be very reasonably explained. Danielle visited Westerfields, she may have played in the motorhome, she may have cut her hand, she may have had a nosebleed -- which she is prone to.
The hair and carpet fibers could have come from a secondary contact -- at Dad's, by the cookie visit, by the investigators, by the news crews.
Before you hang a man, you HAVE to have things sewed up beyond any reasonable doubt. The evidence so far just does not rise above that.
Now one might allow a lesser grade of evidence if the man was known to be violent, known to have done this kind of thing before. But so far Westerfield only guilty of being older that the rest of the neighborhood, single, neat, and a motorhome parker.
Prosecutors have evidence that Westerfield went to a dry cleaner and dropped off several items, including a jacket with the girl's blood on it, according to testimony at a March hearing.
That one is a smoking gun....certainly a fair trial is in order and rightfully should be, but the above, and all the other evidence taken as a whole- I think he's guilty, guilty, guilty.
If say, the girl did cut her hand playing in his motor home, why did he end up with the dress? Did she go home and change and bring it back to him? I think not.
Why did he drop it off for dry cleaning? If innocent just return it to the girl's mother and tell her what happened.
Again, that and all the other evidence- I think this guy should fry.
Put me down as one vote for guilty.
My apologies, I stand corrected. Somehow I had in my mind that it was an article of the little girls clothing that was found at the dry cleaner.
He is as GUILTY as O.J., but without the benefit of playing the race card!!!
Better have nooses for the van Dams and crew.
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