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...I really don't understand why it is abnormal to call 911 when your child is missing from her room

In the middle of the night, I'd agree. But this was at NINE O'CLOCK on a Saturday morning. And inspite of the claims by the Van Dams that they keep a close eye on their children there were at least two mentions in testimony by two different neighbors that one of the Van Dam children had to be rescued and another one of the Van Dam children had to be helped accross the street after chasing a ball. So the Van Dam children appear to run off by themselves unsupervised -- much like all children do periodically.

According to testimony there was a 10 minute interval between discovering Danielle was not in her bedroom (a seven year old sleeping at 9AM on a Saturday morning is completely unbelievable but that's an aside.) and the 911 call. Ten minutes ? That's a very short amount of time. In fact, its a suspiciously short period of time, in my opinion.

In fact, its a suspiciously short period of time, in my opinion.

It surely is. I truly believe that most parents would first scour the neighborhood since it was daylight and the child was old enough to walk out the door on her own.

If nothing else, one would not want to immediately think the worst.

But if that's not enough, Brenda volunteered a whole lot of information that seemed unimportant. However, it did serve to set up the scenario that would be the "story".

She made sure to mention that she had been out with friends and what time she had come home. Lots of specifics in a short period of time.

She had all of the "story" facts straight but struggled to describe her own daughter.

A few think her behavior was not strange at all, but most saw it as odd from day one and never saw it any differently as time went on.

The van Dams are as suspicious as can be and that has a lot to do with the interest in this case. Things have not felt right all along. Trying to put Westerfield into their house is proving to be difficult, yet one or both of them were there at all times....or so they say.

According to testimony there was a 10 minute interval between discovering Danielle was not in her bedroom (a seven year old sleeping at 9AM on a Saturday morning is completely unbelievable but that's an aside.) and the 911 call. Ten minutes ? That's a very short amount of time. In fact, its a suspiciously short period of time, in my opinion.

More reflection prompts me to add to this.

The Van Dam sons had to walk past Danielle's door to get downstairs. It just doesn't seem normal that a seven year old sleeps with her door closed or parents wouldn't check in on their children, whom they claim they are so watchful over, during the night or in the morning. I could understand if Danielle was at the age where young girls seem to suddenly discover they must have their privacy but this wasn't the case. Its apparent that several things just don't add up when reviewing the testimony about the events described inside the Van Dam home between 8:30 PM on Friday February 1, 2002 and 9:00 AM on Saturday February 2, 2002. More than 12 hours. Something is rotten in Poway.