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.

[Rheo]

due to tight time constraints, they weren't tested.

[FresnoDA]

On "Crier Live" today a woman stated that when the body of a 7 year old girl was found but had not yet been identified as Danielle's, the Mrs. Van Dam, instead of rushing to the scene, went to get a massage (maybe also her hair or face done), and people could hear her laughing as she waited for word about the identity of the body. Strange behavior by a mother.

Wow...that was posted on the KFMB board months ago....a lot of people down played it...said it was Bravo Sierra...

seems the VD's are proving all of the "Urban Legends" TRUE...

• HARD CORE SWINGERS, Members of several exclusive invitation only clubs in the San Diego area. (See Union Trib article, post 3)

• BIG INSURANCE POLICIES ON THE KIDS ($100,000

• New BMW, just days after Danielle was buried/cremated

• Trip to Nordstrom's via LIMO for private sell with a bunch of gal friends for the Brenda

[Mrs.Liberty]

So there is this blue blanket missing, possibly, which they have no fibers from to match against fibers found on the body sheet, in DW's home and MH. A blue blanket that could have been taken from her room by the perp, yet there is no evidence of blue fibers in her room.

[Rheo]

took 15 hours to prepare her report of 7/2.......she spent time this last week to examine these..even tho she had a month from last report date.

[cyncooper]

Maybe, then why aren't they elsewhere in DW's house? Like the living room, his office and such.

Rheo, were these types of fibers found on his bedsheets upstairs or just the laundry room stuff?

[winodog]

I had a long day and just caught up with todays events. The amount of evidence that has been ignored is staggering. I just heard Feldman ask fibergirl if she researched blue fibers to see how popular they are. She said no. Then he asked her if she found a green fiber. She said she was only requested to examine blue and orange fibers.
I dunno if DW did it or not but every day we find out something else the Vd's lied about. Hmmmmmmmm.

[John Jamieson]

Add in Damon's new home theater system.

[UCANSEE2]

She testified that they could share a common source or not share a common souce..that they are not an exact match..only that they could share a source or not.

Man, what a statement. The MOON COULD or COULD not be green cheese.

What makes more sense is that the carpet fibers in a BLUE VAN (Damon's) would probably me made of the same material as carper fiber in a MOTORHOME, and very similar in color. DW's MH carpet was blue/gray ? Am I close ?

[Rheo]

2 fibers were tested of the 3 on coach........total number of fibers tested by infra red spectronometry for #163...14 were tested

[Rheo]

so of 46 fibers found..sounds like 14 were tested.

[Green]

I suspect that this case is so haphazardly put together because of how quickly it has gone to trial. Could be wrong, but this just happened in February and this is awfully quick to get all testing done and air tight case put together.

I think this in itself is the main reason defense insisted on early trial date.

[cyncooper]

Which leads me to believe that there is no missing blue blanket. The van Dams would have testified to such a blanket missing.

[Rheo]

I'm showing only 1 orange fiber was found on MB pillowcase....blue fibers (not sure if blue/gray) were found in washer, in dryer and laundry on top of dryer..total of 10 found

[pinz-n-needlez]

You're right, but if I remember the testimony correctly, the liver was intact. Isn't that kind of odd?

I know that Plains Indian Hunter/Warriors ate the buffalo liver first thing. Wouldn't hungry animals go for that nutritious organ before they settled down to gnaw away the left foot? (Thank you, James Michener's CENTENNIAL)

[John Jamieson]

"Early trial date" was actaully the standard schedule under CA law.

[FresnoDA]

BLUE PAJAMAS......in the picture below...note that The Brenda is carrying the "exact copy" of the Pajamas Danielle was wearing the night of the abduction.  The VD's stated that this was a Spare Set/Friends Set.....or something to that extent...if anyone recalls the interview...fire away.

Also, remember that DHP was present when the VD's talked about the Pajamas...and a Grandparent, Damon's or Brenda's stated, "These look like the Pajamas she was wearing that night....Damon then said very angry like....INTERVIEW OVER...."

Remember????

FDA

---

 

Neighbour 'killed missing girl, 7'
BY DARRELL GILES in Los Angeles

Charged following DNA and fingerprint evidence ... neighbour David Westerfield stands behind a glass as he listen to the judge during his arraignment in the case of the disappearance of seven-year-old Danielle van Dam. Photo below!

28feb02
A NEIGHBOUR has been charged with the murder of seven-year-old San Diego schoolgirl Danielle Van Dam – even though her body has not been found. David Westerfield, who turned 50 yesterday, also faced counts of kidnapping and possession of child pornography.

District Attorney Paul Pfingst filed a special circumstances attachment to the murder charge which means Westerfield faces execution if convicted. Danielle has been missing since February 1. Investigators believe Mr Westerfield abducted her from the bedroom of her parents' home and later killed her.

They revealed on Friday that DNA testing had uncovered traces of Danielle's blood on some of his clothing and in a campervan he took to the desert on February 2.

His fingerprints were also found in Danielle's bedroom.

"I must conclude that Danielle Van Dam is no longer living and was killed by her abductor," Mr Pfingst said outside court. The case has attracted national headlines in the US because Danielle's parents are "swingers" who belong to a partner-swapping club.

Reports said Brenda Van Dam was out with friends at a local pub on the night Danielle was taken. Her husband, Damon, was entertaining a friend at home.

The Van Dams have refused to talk about their sexual preferences, criticising the media for switching the focus away from the search for their child.

Westerfield has strenuously denied any involvement in Danielle's disappearance. But he has confirmed he was dancing and drinking with Mrs Van Dam at the pub on the night of February 1 and left before she did.

An extensive search that stretched from Mexico to the desert east of San Diego found no trace of Danielle.

Investigators became suspicious when he was the only neighbour of the Van Dams not present on February 2 for a wide search for Danielle.

It emerged he had gone camping and returned two days later.

The absence of a body creates a legal challenge, but the district attorney's office has successfully prosecuted four such cases, the most recent in August.

To try someone for murder without a body, prosecutors must establish a "reasonable probability" that the victim has died, said Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law in San Diego.

"It's nowhere near as hard as proving something beyond a reasonable doubt, but it's a lot more than just showing blood stains," Brooks said.

Westerfield, a divorced father of two grown children, has a 1996 conviction for drunken driving but no violent criminal history, police said.

[cyncooper]

All that means is that if carpeting from the same source is put in two different houses, for example, then examination of the fibers alone cannot say to a certainty from which house the fiber came. Now, you add in other evidence tying DW and Danielle together and it starts to seem non-coincidental.

[cyncooper]

Thank you. I knew you would have it.

[FresnoDA]

DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune

Brenda and Damon van Dam hold a brief news conference.

[Jrabbit]

Did BVD have the blue van at Dad's?