Accused's son downloaded porn, expert says
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By Jeff Dillon July 3, 2002 At least some of the pornographic images found on David A. Westerfield's computers appeared to have been downloaded by his college-age son, a computer forensics expert testified in the kidnap-murder trial this morning. A detailed analysis of the files on Westerfield's computers showed that someone accessed images on explicit sex Web sites such as "Teen Dreamer" and "Lesbian Bordello" at about the same time someone was retrieving e-mail from David Neil Westerfield's Hotmail account. Marcus Lawson, a private computer forensics expert hired by Westerfield's defense attorney, showed the jury print-outs of what he saw using the EnCase analysis program. "A considerable number of these screen prints involve bondage scenarios with women in ropes or like that," Lawson said at one point. In a cross-examination interrupted by the noon lunch break, prosecutor Woody Clarke questioned the thoroughness of Lawson's analysis and suggested David Westerfield could have given one of his computers to his son as a hand-me-down. Westerfield is accused of sneaking into the van Dams' Sabre Springs house on Feb. 2 and abducting 7-year-old Danielle, then killing her and dumping her body off rural Dehesa Road near El Cajon. Today was the 16th day of testimony in the case and the 18th overall day of court activity since the trial began on June 4. A police expert testified last week that about 85 of an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 sexually explicit images found on computers and storage disks in Westerfield's possession appeared to depict underage girls. Westerfield also is charged with possession of child pornography and prosecutors have suggested that his possession of "questionable" images of bondage and rape show his motivation for kidnapping Danielle.
Computer evidenceLawson, a former Secret Service, Customs Service and Drug Enforcement Administration agent, said Feldman hired him to analyze the contents of copies of four hard drives, three ZIP disks and two CD-ROMs taken from Westerfield's house for evidence related to the case.Lawson said he used a computer forensics program called EnCase to sift through deleted files, temporary Internet files and other data. San Diego police had not used EnCase in their analysis. The computer files showed that David Neil Westerfield, known as Neil Westerfield, had used a Hotmail account with the address of DNWest@hotmail.com as his return address in correspondence, Lawson said. Neil Westerfield's age has not been disclosed at the trial. So when someone was logging on to Hotmail.com to check or send e-mail through that account, it was most likely Neil Westerfield, Lawson said. And that suggests it was probably Neil Westerfield using the computer when Web sites were accessed at or near the time his e-mail account was accessed. There were no signs that the computer's clock had been reset or changed to alter the reported times that files had been created or altered, Lawson said. Neil Westerfield's e-mail account and some of the sexually explicit Web sites were accessed on one of the computers around 4:50 p.m. on Feb. 4 two days after Danielle's disappearance while David Westerfield was being interviewed by police interrogation specialist Paul Redden. Neil Westerfield's e-mail also was checked around the time the computers were used to access Web sites offering "fresh teens," images of bestiality, "extreme Asian bondage," schoolgirls and similar material, Lawson said. The images on three ZIP disks and two CD-ROMs found stashed behind some books in Westerfield's office appeared to have come from Neil Westerfield's computer because they shared the same last access date, Lawson said. But under cross-examination by Clarke, Lawson said he couldn't be sure whether or when the files on the ZIP disks and CD-ROMs were downloaded from the Internet. Lawson said he also had not noticed that file names for many of the porn images began with the letters IEA just like many of David Westerfield's business files. Clarke suggested that Westerfield could have been the original user of Neil Westerfield's computer, giving his son an older, slower computer after buying a new one for himself. "Or the other way around," Lawson replied.
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I still think Damon and 'friend' have something to do with Danielle's death...not Westerfield.