BREAKING: BRENDA VAN DAM DANCED WITH WESTERFIELD: (Modern Day Westside Story?)7-9-02 Trial Watch

KFMB ^ | July 9, 2002 | KFMB

[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.

[cyncooper]

If DW did it he placed the body at Dehesa Sunday night. His accounting of his trip at that time really is questionable. Waiting to see the bug expert to see the evidence that the body came to be there after the weekend she disappeared.

[John Jamieson]

The body is a big unsolved mystery that was dropped like a hot potato. If we are told that it was not at Dehesa the whole time....where was it? There must be a lot of lab work we're not being told about because it doesn't fit the DW did it story. Was it in a frezzer? A lake? Alive?

Was this a ransome case gone wrong? What was that call to Brenda on the 16th about?

[Valpal1]

I was laughing, sorry you didn't get it.

[the-gooroo]

I couldn't believe it when the fingerprint expert said that he didn't find any of Danielle's prints in her own room! I believe when questioned on how this could be, he said someone may have cleaned the room. I think this is very good for the defense.

[Jaded]

I'd like to see the bug guy too. Today if it's convenient for Feldman.

[Karson]

On the night of 2/26 a tip was phoned in to LRC regarding re-searching the Dehesa area.

I want to know more about that tip. I also read that LRC was called before 911, when the body was found. Who phoned that tip in???

[MizSterious]

Thank you, Jacquej, and I agree with you whole-heartedly.

[jacquej]

Hey, Jude... MizSterious didn't "start the fire" of "discussing each other"... read back a bit. I really think you shoud re-direct your comments to another.

Unless, that is, you support the "hit-and-run" tactics used by some on this board...

[JudyB1938]

Why does EZBoard have to know all of that personal information? I refuse to give that much info to some unknown entity.

[John Jamieson]

Yes, DW certainly had time Sunday night to do it, if he was quick. Surely someone would notice a 35 ft MH along that road. Not exactly a stealth vehicle.

[Spunky]

somehow the dog scratch and cookie day tie in but I'm not clear how....help this dimwit out please.

All I know is I heard the CTV pundits say that the dog had scratched her two days before Danielle and her mother went to sell the cookies.

The indication was maybe this is how the blood got on the jacket and in the motor home. But Freepers have said Westerfield's motor home was not there at that time. So far nobody seems to know where the jacket might have been.

[Jrabbit]

I agree. Speaking for myself only, I am always glad to have Miz on a thread. And Fresno does bring some comic relief to threads that often, for some of us, get pretty brutal.

[MizSterious]

Well, as to how "new" they were to the swinging lifestyle, recall Denise's (can we say her name here without getting sued?) testimony that they "swapped" three years ago.

[Rheo]

They were keyed in on him before the porn....they were keyed in on him before the parents even told the "truth" about the swapping.

This case is tragic in every respect...justice for Danielle, an investigation that needs investigation, media exploitation and lies, the ruined life of man who is in all probability, innocent...the real killer of a little girl is possibly still out there...whose child is safe?

[Henrietta]

When I prosecuted there was a saying that police officers and long term prosecutors used when a new prosecutor would question bringing a case against a defendant "even if he did not do it this time, he did it sometime."

This is at the very heart of what is wrong with our criminal "justice" system. Sure, let's just lock everyone up. After all, we all jaywalked, shoplifted, drove recklessly, or threw a punch at someone sometime, didn't we? Okay, well, in a past life then....does that count?

Corrupt cops and prosecutors should get the death penalty. Then maybe they'd take their responsibilities seriously.

BTW, Goldenbear, my remarks are not directed at you; I'm sure you were one of the "good guys."

[Spunky]

The video tape of a dirty, clumsy, Danielle is so telling about the care the parents gave this little girl

Can you describe this video? Clothes, place, etc. I don't recall seeing anything like you have described.

[cyncooper]

Why do you think he was in the house for a minimum of one hour? That would be intriguing, but I haven't seen evidence of that----just the times of people arriving/departing the house?

Also, Danielle lived in her room and there weren't fingerprints all over. The fingerprint expert explained how prints are left and how it is possible to touch something and not leave a print. I think of my movements around my house and I am not putting my hands all over my furniture, nor do my husband or daughter. But the fingerprints on the door make sense if she would push or pull on the door as she opened or closed it.

[Rheo]

I think he was arrested on his birthday, 2/22..she was found 2/27...not sure when the arraignment was, if it was the same day as the arrest??

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Who, or what is LRC?

[jacquej]

I figure it is because they want to clog up your email with all kinds of ads... I have two email adddresses, one for friends and family, and one for junk mail. I give the junk mail adddress when filling out forms such as those on ezboard... then, I just download and delete the junk mail from the junk mail address... this gives me a sense of power in some small way

Try it, you'll like it...