‘It Isn’t Over Yet’:SDPD Chief Bejarano talks about latest developments in van Dam Case

Newsweek-Website ^ | March 1, 2002 | NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

[Travis McGee]

According to the original fellow who went in their house to help with the reward and set up a website (Daniels? Forgot his name), inside the house Damon runs the show.

Outside the house he plays meek and fronts Brenda.

I see him as one shrewd, cold, calculating operator.

[Freedom2specul8]

I'll check back in when I return from errands..cya

[MizSterious]

A sociopath? Maybe she is. Not all sociopaths are serial killers. Actually, probably very few are.

[sneakypete]

Unless the perp was known to the family and the dog.

The dog had been operated on and couldn't bark. You know this from the first thread.

Mrs. VD lied about dancing with Westerfield.

No,she didn't. You ARE lying about this,though. Why?

[spectre]

"How do you rehearse grief"..

I don't know, why don't you ask Susan Smith?

sw

[MizSterious]

No, I don't know that the dog was debarked. In fact, later reports said the dog was not debarked.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

I think she just didn't care much

I've been searching for a gentle way to say this same thing. Regardless of whether she had any involvement in the circumstances leading to Danielle's murder or not, she "appears" to not be affected to the point that most of us imagine.

The husband is even worse. I have heard that Danielle was not his biological daughter. Is that right? Anyone ???

[MizSterious]

I am not lying, but perhaps you are guilty of not reading the later reports, so you can be better informed. Go to the San Diego Union-Tribune and read the articles. The dog was not debarked. Then please apologize.

[Naked Lunch]

• I think a parellel would be:

  If a father left his baby in a car, and someone came by and stole the baby, the father would be guilty of neglect, whether he left to buy a pint of pistacio ice cream, or to buy a quickie from a hooker. (assuming that he knows both actions take the same amount of time.) The fact that the baby is really victimized by the child-thief rather than the father, or whether the father is stricken with grief or not, is irrelevant to the facts of the neglect.

  Of course, the hooker-quickie story would bring on the media rush. As it has.

[nfldgirl]

They were both consenting legal adults.

It's (non)thinking like yours that ties directly to the moral decline we've seen in this country over the last 3-4 decades. YES, of course, they were both consenting legal adults! WHO GIVES A FLYING FIGURINE!!! In case it's never occurred to you before..."CHARACTER MATTERS!" With freedom comes responsibility and living one's life with a common sense of decency. Doing drugs and screwing strangers in your home with three small children sleeping near by is just downright irresponsible and shows an incredible lack of character and human decency. Just because they are "consenting legal adults" doesn't mean that those of us who don't approve of their behavior should just shrug our shoulders and look the other way!...(assuming, of course, that this is all true. And even if it's not, it still doesn't make it right for them or anyone else.)

[in the Arena]

If being cynical is a crime, I'm guilty.

Me too.

I have a beautiful six year old daughter, and the thought of poor Danielle being left unguarded for 11 hours while her so-called parents pursued their pleasures makes me want to SCREAM!!!!

I've been pacing the sidelines for this thread due to the amount of conjecture...but this statement by Travis spoke my mind...

I too have a daughter about Danielle 's age and everytime a situation like this arises the first thing on my mind is "where were the parents/guardians...?"

Obviously you cannot hover over your child 24/7, but you can take simple actions to safeguard their well being...

Anyone (with or without kids) that thinks it's just fine to leave children alone for 11 hours (no matter what you are doing) and does not hold the parents/guardians responsible is wrong, wrong, wrong...

An 11 hour absence is inexcusable...

[sneakypete]

The facts are this: 1. The VD's did not check on their children for 11 hours.

This is true,and unexcuseable.

2. It has been established that the VD's are sexual swingers.

Big deal. Or are you another one of the loonies that equate consensual adult sex with child rape and murder?

3. The alarm went off twice, father nor mother checked on children when the alarm went off. They have said so in the press.

Again,this doesn't mean anything. Chances are they had been having trouble with false alarms,and had the "notify" part of it turned off. They said earlier that the alarm came with the house when they bought it,and that they really didn't understand it.

4. The mother brought home strangers, allegedly to have sex with, possibly do drugs with.

So what? Would it have been any different if the father had brought home people from work and their spouses (STRANGERS!) for a Christmas party,and drank drugs like beer or vodka with them?

5. The father, joined them at 2:30 a.m. when mother brought home the strangers. Again, allegedly, to have sex.

Ohhhh! That "sex" word again! Kill them all!

6. The mother is very concerned about her appearance on television.

So what? Women are vain about their appearance,and people in shock or confused fall back on reflex actions.

7. The parents hired a public relations firm a la the Ramsey's.

WRONG! The PR firm is working for them for FREE,and it was John Walsh from America's Most Wanted who arranged it for the family. He did this because he remembered what a nightmare it was for him to deal with the media when his own son went missing and the murderer was arrested.

8. Westerfield, their neighbor, and the one charged with the crime, might have had sexual relations with the mother.

Yeah,and they MIGHT have had sex with George Bush,too. Maybe even with Richard Simmons? Or aliens from another solar system?

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

An 11 hour absence is inexcusable...

AMEN !!!!!

[Lucky]

#191 ?

[sneakypete]

Even on this thread we are admonished not to judge the parents.

Which is the correct thing to do,since they aren't suspects and the police don't think they had anything to do with it.

If not us, then who?

I dunno.How about the San Diego police department and the San Diego DA?

[Registered]

Mrs. VD lied about dancing with Westerfield.

No,she didn't. You ARE lying about this,though.

Actually, one could conclude that she was not telling the entire truth. She said that Westerfield was at Dad's when she got there. Then she says she "thinks" Westerfield danced with her friend. They both said they only knew Westerfield from waving as neighbors.

[Amore]

Again,this doesn't mean anything. Chances are they had been having trouble with false alarms,and had the "notify" part of it turned off. They said earlier that the alarm came with the house when they bought it,and that they really didn't understand it.

They understood it well enough to twice go and close the open door they knew they would find. Sounds to me like they understood it enough to know its significance.

[GSWarrior]

Great. Now I am accused of hastening the moral decline in this country.

My post was simply a response to a poster who was suggesting the murdered young girl was asking for it in the manner that Levy and Lewinsky asked for their fate. Sorry, it doesn't wash.

I have little sympathy for Levy, and even less for Lewinsky.

[nfldgirl]

No,this is just your beliefs based on your religious biases/views. You want them "punished" for having sex.

This is a ridiculous statement..."wanting them punished for having sex." I don't think that's true at all. Why in the world would anyone want to punish a husband and wife for having sex...with each other...with ONLY each other? Oh, if only that were the case though...that they were having sex only with each other AND by themselves. I don't think they're being "punished" at all. If they were being punished, they'd be arrested and jailed for child neglect by not protecting their daughter! And why were they not protecting their daughter? BECAUSE THEY WERE ENGAGING IN DEVIANT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR...spouse swapping...an orgy! And because of their DEVIANT SEXUAL behavior, they put their child at risk and ultimately created the situation wherein she was kidnapped and murdered. They'll probably feel for the rest of their lives as though they're being punished. (assuming all the "swinger lifestyle" stuff is true.)

[Valpal1]

Full Article Here dated 2-12-02

Asked on such programs as "Good Morning America" and "Larry King Live" about reports that they have engaged in spouse-swapping, the couple expressed regret that people would focus on anything other than their daughter's return.

While declining to directly address the validity of the rumors, they have dismissed any suggestion that their lifestyle could have been a factor in Danielle's disappearance.

"Absolutely not," they said when asked if the schoolgirl could have been seized by a stranger who might have gotten access to the family home during a swingers' party.

Police have repeatedly said they do not consider the parents suspects in the girl's disappearance -- officially considered a case of abduction -- though they point out that no one has been completely ruled out.

The van Dams said they took a lie-detector test at authorities' request and "passed it."

This is an older article, but it still points out a couple of things. They deny that Danielle could have been snatched during a swingers party. Refusing to directly address specific rumors seems like wisdom to me. They wanted to generate attention toward their missing daughter, not their alledged sex life.

And it has been very clear to me, that the police were on to Westerfield within the first 48 hours. Why may become clear when then the warrant justifications are unsealed come next Monday morning. Something tipped them in that direction, maybe as yet unknown interactions with BVD, but just as easily, the search dogs or phone tips about DW's cache of kiddie porn.

The parent bashing on the Danielle threads has been shameful.