Posted on 07/08/2002 10:23:15 PM PDT by FresnoDA
WITNESSES SAY BRENDA VAN DAM DANCED WITH DAVID WESTERFIELD
(07-08-2002) - Three defense witnesses testified Monday that Brenda van Dam and David Westerfield, the man accused of murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, danced together the night before the girl was discovered missing.
"Mr. Westerfield and Mrs. van Dam were dancing," said Patricia LePage, describing the scene at Dad's Cafe and Steakhouse the night of Feb. 1.
Since the prosecution introduced hair and fibers found at the defendant's house and motorhome, the defense has tried to show the evidence could have been transferred in some other way, such as dancing.
The 50-year-old defendant would face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping and killing Danielle van Dam, who lived two houses away in Sabre Springs. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.
In testimony near the beginning of the trial, Brenda van Dam told the court she did not dance with Westerfield.
But LePage said van Dam rubbed her hips and chest against Westerfield during several dances together, recalling the movie "Dirty Dancing." That was just part of what LePage described as "frisky" behavior exhibited by van Dam that night.
LePage said she was in a smoking lounge at Dad's with her daughter, Cherokee Youngs, when van Dam came in and struck up a conversation with the younger woman.
"Well, she did ask my daughter if she liked girls," LePage said when asked to describe the conversation. Van Dam, she said, asked Youngs if she wanted to come to her house for a party later that night.
Youngs testified about the encounter last week.
Duane Blake, a fisherman who said he goes to Dad's a couple times a week, said he caught a glimpse of the defendant dancing with van Dam.
Blake confirmed an interview with the District Attorney's Office, in which he described their dancing as, "huggy, huggy." He testified he even thought Westerfield might be trying to pick up on van Dam.
Earlier Monday, another woman testified she saw Westerfield dance with Danielle's mother.
Glennie Nasland, who began her testimony last week, said she was on the dance floor and saw the pair turn toward each other while dancing with other people.
Nasland, who described herself as a friend of Westerfield, said she watched them for 20 seconds before they turned away again.
In other testimony Monday, Dave Laspisa said that going to the desert to look for friends, and without bringing an all-terrain vehicle, was not an unusual activity for Westerfield.
The witness, a self-employed Poway man, said he's known the defendant for 15 years and has camped with him near the Imperial County community of Glamis for 10 years.
The witness was one of several people who testified as the defense began to move away from what happened at a Poway night spot the night before Danielle was discovered missing Feb. 2 to Westerfield's weekend wanderings.
Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman asked Laspisa to explain why someone would avoid Interstate 8 while taking a motorhome to the desert. Laspisa said high winds and black ice were common on that route, which traverses altitudes over 4,000 feet.
Heather Mack, a security guard at Coronado Cays, testified that she saw Westerfield drive his motorhome into the exclusive neighborhood in the afternoon or evening hours of Feb. 3.
Mack said Westerfield smiled and waved at her as he drove past her security kiosk, but she never saw him again.
The witness told Dusek that she originally told a police officer that she "vaguely remembered" seeing the defendant's recreational vehicle.
Glen Seebruch, an engineering manager at Nokia, testified earlier that Westerfield called him the morning of Feb. 1 and told him he planned to go to the desert that weekend.
Feldman, told Judge William Mudd that his case may be completed by the end of the week.
Insect expert David Faulkner is expected to testify about how long the victim's body may have been in the East County before volunteer searchers found it on Feb. 27.
Feldman has said Westerfield would have had no opportunity to dispose of the body because he was under constant police surveillance from Feb. 4 until his arrest Feb. 22.
Thanks so much, Rheo. I've been following, all along, but IMO, it wouldn't have been fair to have posted, when I knew I couldn't stick around to back up an opinion.
With you and so many of the longtime VD posters still here though, it's like coming home.
FDA/LOL!!!
You could for sure be right about that and I hope not! Count me out if it does happen. :( We'll have to get someone to post a weekly summary thread for those of us who can't ''stick'' with it! Can't wait to know what feldman went all the way to the scotus for!!
That was struck down by the Supreme court.
I'll start it..
Green acres is where I'd rather be
Farm and animal loving is the life for me
Land and love spreading out,
so far and wide
Keep Manhattan,
just give me that down south countryside.
New York is where I'd rather stay
I get allergic smelling hay
I just adore a highball or two
Darling, I love you,
but give me more brew
Here's a excerpt that addresses your hypothesis. If Brenda and David follow the regular pattern it would have been David who got them into it and Brenda who keeps them there. That regular pattern as described in the article is consistent with Brenda's "gay club" trips, and her "Girl's Night Out", I think. Here it is:
WOMEN DRIVING MOVEMENT NOW "Women are more liberated. They're the ones who are driving this movement today," said Dr. Ted McIlvenna, president of the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco.McIlvenna, who is 70, a former United Methodist minister and not a swinger himself, has studied sex clubs for more than 25 years and began tracking swingers 12 years ago.
Generally, McIlvenna said, it's the man who wants to try swinging and the woman who wants to go back. "The woman might like the stuff that's going on, but her family-forming behavior kicks in," McIlvenna said. "She likes the sense of community. The man is simply going to get laid."
No one should be asked to be put on a pedestal...we are all equals on this forum.
sw
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