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Defense could pin hopes on insect life..Westerfield Trial Breaking News: BUG EVIDENCE QUESTIONS!!
Union Tribune ^ | July 10, 2002 | Kristen Green

Posted on 07/10/2002 3:17:09 PM PDT by FresnoDA

Defense could pin hopes on insect life


By Kristen Green
STAFF WRITER

June 30, 2002Warble fly: pupa and adult


In the first four weeks of David Westerfield's murder trial, jurors were schooled in scientific evidence such as blood and DNA, fingerprints and fibers. Now they'll get a crash course in the life cycle of flies.

Westerfield's team of lawyers is expected to launch his defense this week, and lead attorney Steven Feldman has hinted that he will use insect biology to prove 7-year-old Danielle van Dam died after police and reporters began tracking his client's every move. That would mean Westerfield couldn't have killed the child.

"This would be very powerful evidence," said San Diego criminal defense lawyer Michael Pancer. "I can't think of what the state would say if this point were pinned."

Using forensic entomology, scientists can estimate when the girl died by determining the age of insects, generally flies, found on her body.

"They generally get to the body before police do, and they lay eggs," said Bernard Greenberg, professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The prosecution may call the same expert to the witness stand.

Bots in the throat of a caribouBecause of the gag order in the case, no one can provide a timetable for witnesses, clarify facts or discuss strategy.

Feldman has raised the possibility that Danielle may have been killed up to two weeks after her mother reported her missing. Her body was dumped in a brushy rural area in East County.

"You're going to be convinced beyond any doubt that it was impossible, impossible for David Westerfield to have dumped Danielle van Dam in that location," he said on the first day of the trial.


Death's timetable
The jury has heard the prosecution's theory of Danielle's death from Dr. Brian Blackbourne, the county medical examiner. He testified that the girl's body could have been in the weeds along Dehesa Road 10 days to six weeks when it was found Feb. 27.
Forensic entomologists believe they can narrow that window of death, and coroners don't disagree.

Forensic entomology, the use of insects in legal cases, has gotten a boost in mainstream recognition from crime television shows such as CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," whose main character frequently uses insects to solve crimes. NBC's "Crossing Jordan" also has an insect expert, nicknamed "Bug," in the cast.

In the real world, the application of forensic entomology to crime investigations has become more common since it was introduced in the United States in the 1970s.

Insect biology has been used in a number of San Diego County cases, including that of Daniel Rodrick, who was convicted in 1997 of killing his wife. An entomologist's testimony helped narrow the time that the victim's body probably was dumped in Pala.

The reason attorneys frequently use entomology is that establishing the time of death is difficult for medical examiners, said San Diego insect expert David Faulkner.

"After 24 to 48 hours, things start to get pretty fuzzy," he said.

A medical examiner relies on three factors to make an assessment, Faulkner said: the amount and distribution of rigor mortis, the change in body temperature and the degree of decomposition. But after several days, rigor mortis dissipates and the corpse assumes the temperature of its environment.

Insects can give more specific information because they have a definitive development period that can be meticulously measured, said Faulkner, who collected insects during Danielle's autopsy and is listed as a potential witness by the prosecution and the defense.

He said his testimony will probably be more useful for the defense, but added the gag order prevents him from discussing his findings outside court.

Faulkner described the collecting of insects from a body as painstaking, similar to the collecting of other scientific evidence.

Generally, he said, forensic entomologists go where a body is found and remove insects from the corpse and areas under and near it. They frequently focus on flies, but also look at other insects, including ants and beetles.

Most of the insects are preserved with alcohol so they can be studied later, Faulkner said. Some of the larvae collected are placed in containers with a piece of liver so they can grow to adulthood, which enables scientists to identify each insect with certainty.

The scientists gather climate data, such as daily temperatures and precipitation measurements, for the time the victim was missing.

Weather is important because a fly's development varies according to conditions. Humidity and daytime highs help forensic entomologists better pinpoint the time flies complete a life cycle.

"The insects will tell you when the body was available to them," Faulkner said.


Fly's life and times
Expert witness Jason Byrd, an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., said making insects interesting to the jury is difficult.
Flies have a brief life span in warm weather, as short as 21 days. But they can live six months in colder weather.

They are attracted to the corpse's smell, and either lay eggs or deposit larvae. In about a day the eggs hatch into larvae, or maggots, which live on the dead tissue and develop quickly.

Depending on the species and temperature, eggs reach maturity, or the pre-pupal stage, in five to 12 days. From eggs, maggots feed on and then migrate from the body to form the pupal stage, similar to the cocoon stage of the butterfly.

After it leaves the body, a maggot shrinks in size, and the outer covering hardens into what looks like a miniature football. The adult fly develops in that football, called the pupae.

On average, it takes 14 to 24 days for the eggs to reach adult stage, depending on weather.

The longer a body has been left outside, the less precise an entomologist's estimated time of death.

A number of factors can delay insects from reaching a body. For example, burial in a shallow grave, strange weather or wrapping the body in a blanket can delay detection by insects for a few days.

"They'll get there, but they're not going to get there as quickly," said M. Lee Goff, one of eight certified forensic entomologists in the nation and chairman of the forensic sciences department at Chaminade University in Honolulu.

Danielle apparently wasn't wrapped in a blanket or buried in a shallow grave. However, Faulkner has described the weather in February as unusual.

Jurors in the Westerfield trial have heard powerful scientific evidence over the month the prosecution has been presenting its case. But their responsibility is to determine beyond a reasonable doubt whether Westerfield killed the girl, and the defense has not begun.

Witnesses for the prosecution have testified that DNA from a bloodstain on Westerfield's jacket and on the carpet in his motor home matches Danielle's. The victim's DNA was obtained from one of her ribs after the autopsy.

Jurors also have heard that a hair found on a bathmat in Westerfield's motor home could be hers, and DNA tests of a hair found in the motor home's sink drain matched her DNA.

Witnesses also testified that fibers wrapped around the victim's necklace matched fibers found in Westerfield's bedding and laundry, and an expert said two fingerprints found on a cabinet in his motor home were left by her.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kristen Green: (619) 542-4576; kristen.green@uniontrib.com

 

Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: 180frank; damonvandam; westerfield
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To: UCANSEE2
Dusek is digging a hole for himself. The jury must be wondering why they are being put through this torture. Feldman made his point that the lack of beetle larva establishes that DW could not have disposed of the body and Dusek is merely asking speculative questions regarding the time-frame for the disposal of Danielle's body.

Feldman will ask one question that will seal the deal, "Mr. Faulkner, have you ever examined a body and not detected beetle larva withing 21 days?" The answer will be "No" and that is all the jury will need to hear.

21 posted on 07/10/2002 3:55:00 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: John Jamieson
"THE BUGS DON'T LIE!"

Unlike a good deal of the prosecution witnesses have done.
(Just an observation.)


22 posted on 07/10/2002 3:55:19 PM PDT by the Deejay
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Going over weather factors. What weather info source did he use. Did he use it to adjust factors, did he use minute by minute updates, etc.

Did hot/cold change calculation? YES.

HUmidity affect fly activity? Very little is known if that affects them.

Asked same question different way. Getting same answer.

Asking if rainfall affects flys.

YES. Rain would affect emergence of pupae.

Lack of rain would affect. They wait to emerge. Until it is suitable.

Rain, food, even light/lack of .

IS DUSEK STALLING? How's the weather?????????????

Going back to the Civil War now.

23 posted on 07/10/2002 3:55:38 PM PDT by UCANSEE2
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To: bvw; Henrietta
We do NOT haven an answer as to
1. why there was no fluid/rot underneath the body...there usually is. This is why there was less odor AND bugs.
2. why was the body mummified? Dry air?
3. No rainfall can delay insect activity on the body...the bugs will sit in the dirt and wait until rain or change in light/dark cycle or rain.
24 posted on 07/10/2002 3:57:01 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: UCANSEE2
Lack of rainfall played a factor? Could skew factors.

Based on weather data, could that impact effect on body. YES.

Showing CALENDAR now that bug guy filled out during break.

Someone else take over. I havtopee.

25 posted on 07/10/2002 3:57:17 PM PDT by UCANSEE2
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To: UCANSEE2
HOLD IT!! You are on duty!!! : )
26 posted on 07/10/2002 3:58:22 PM PDT by Politicalmom
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To: winodog
"I am now convinced of two things.

1. DW did not place the body.

2. Some people can spin anything."


PLUS, it appears the body had been fridged or frozen and then dumped.


27 posted on 07/10/2002 3:58:24 PM PDT by the Deejay
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To: connectthedots
Maybe he's trying to prove there were LESS insects cuz of the mummificaton, no rainfall and what few insects were there were being victimized/eaten by some flies.
28 posted on 07/10/2002 3:58:54 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: connectthedots
Feldman will ask one question that will seal the deal, "Mr. Faulkner, have you ever examined a body and not detected beetle larva withing 21 days?" The answer will be "No" and that is all the jury will need to hear.

I agree completely. Dusek is struggling too hard and he's drawing nothing that won't be wiped out on redirect.

He better shut up soon and allow redirect before court ends today. If he drags it out, the jury will likely see through it.

He is one of the worst prosecutors I have ever watched.

29 posted on 07/10/2002 3:58:54 PM PDT by Southflanknorthpawsis
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
No, just watching the threads..I'm relying on youse guys to 'splain it all to me! :~)
30 posted on 07/10/2002 4:00:01 PM PDT by Henrietta
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To: connectthedots
I think Feldman knows Dusek is going on too long, maybe annoying the jury, so he has been short and to the point with his witnesses. Good stratigizing!!
31 posted on 07/10/2002 4:00:02 PM PDT by gigi
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To: Politicalmom
Mummification can be sped up by low humidity, wind...

Highest temps pointed out on chart.

Lows were higher than normal.
32 posted on 07/10/2002 4:00:17 PM PDT by Politicalmom
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To: UCANSEE2
DOES THE BEETLE problem have to do with the fact they were sitting in the dirt WAITING for the right conditions?
33 posted on 07/10/2002 4:00:39 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: gigi
I think he is trying to drag this out, so Feldman doesn't get to re-direct before the break.
34 posted on 07/10/2002 4:00:56 PM PDT by Politicalmom
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To: All
I would just love to hear an honest plain spoken opinion of this witness of when the body was left there - I'm thinking he'd stick with the 16th - 18th.
35 posted on 07/10/2002 4:02:23 PM PDT by mommya
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To: Southflanknorthpawsis
Note to Dusek -
You can't make chicken salad out of chicken s**t!
36 posted on 07/10/2002 4:02:52 PM PDT by gigi
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
My first post...I apologize in advance for any screwups. The Bug Guy seems like calmest and most knowledable witness so far. This may open dorr wide open for reasonable doubt...if so...police may have to go back to Square One. It seems to me that in most child kidnappings the parents are usually lokked over with a microscope First...then on to other possibilities. If this is so why didn't LE advise Van Dams not to dispose of anything that could have a bearing on the case....I.E., a blue van?? Carpeting?? Clothing?? I don't know where I'm going with this...just wondering.
37 posted on 07/10/2002 4:02:53 PM PDT by KnutCase
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Sounds like this body was dried out high on a mountain, low humidity, warm temps, lots of sun, and then moved to Dehesa and placed under the tree.

If you think DW dumped her over the first weekend then someone else had to move the body to Dehesa after 2 weeks.
38 posted on 07/10/2002 4:02:55 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: the Deejay
OR she was alive much later than previously thought.
39 posted on 07/10/2002 4:03:05 PM PDT by Politicalmom
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To: Henrietta
Ok..ucansee2 is doing a great job catching details..
40 posted on 07/10/2002 4:03:13 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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