What's Wrong With This Picture?
First we know that he is smart. He holds several patents and is an engineer. He has no history of deviant nor criminal behavior. So one of two things is true. Either he waited until the ripe old age of 50 to become a deviant and a murderer, or he has been that for a long time, but he is so clever and so good that he has never been caught or even suspected until now. So it is probably safe to assume he is not a total idiot. Let's keep that in mind.
Now first the motive. The article in the Union on Saturday said a San Diego detective said it was always about sex. And we are off and running.
So now on that Friday night, Feb 1, DW goes home around 10:30 pm. At this point he is going over to get Danielle for the purpose of sex. Either this is a spur of the moment decision or he has been planning it for some time. OK, again assuming he is not an idiot, he waits for the lights to go off in Danielle's house. He surely takes a flashlight, perhaps some burglary tools and something to subdue Danielle with, since when she wakes up, she will very likely resist and make noise, waking up one or more of the other 3 people in the house.
Now something else we can conclude about DW. He has really big brass ba&&s! He is going to go into a house occupied by 3 children and their father and a dog, any of which might hear him, yell and wake up the father. In that case DW will at least be recognized and then he is screwed. Police, embarrassment, illegal entry, the whole neighborhood will find out, jail time and on and on. He is going into a house that he has not been in before and he is going to go upstairs in the dark to get a seven year old girl out of bed, and carry her to his house without waking anyone and, take a chance that the dog won't care. He is going to do this, all the while knowing that the mother could come home any minute and he would be caught for sure that way too. Remember, he is not an idiot, or is he?
Then after he carries her out of the house, he has to go past another house and across a street to get to his house. If anyone in the neighborhood who happens to be driving home, they will surely see him. And again, if the mother comes home, which she is expected to do, at that particular time she will surely see him as well. Any of these likely occurrences happen and it is all over for DW. Still he presses forward. All the while, carrying not only Danielle, but his flashlight, the burglary tools and what ever he used to subdue Danielle with so she couldn't make any noise. (drugs, duct tape, etc.)
Now back up. When he gets to Danielle's house he finds the back door closed but not locked. If the VD's are like most homes with security systems, they most likely have one of those signs warning potential criminals and hopefully deterring them from entering. Surely DW saw such a sign, and he must assume that if he opens the sliding glass door, the alarm will go off if it is set.
He would have no idea whether or not it was set. But what the hell, he decides to take a chance and open the door anyway. Just feeling lucky, huh? Are we sure he is not an idiot or just has a death wish. I wonder what he planned to do if the door had been locked?
OK, we know from the wonderful reporting in the Union, that generally pedophile are not killers, but on the whole, only kill when the child threatens to expose him. Well in this case he has to start out a killer, because there is no other way for him to go through with it without being exposed. He has to plan to kill her from the get go.
So now he manages to get her to his house without being detected. He must keep the lights out. Why? Because he knows that any minute the mother will arrive home. And being a good normal mother, she will check on her young children before she goes to bed. And when this happens, she will discover Danielle missing and call the police, who will come out, search the neighborhood, and surely knock on any doors of any house in the neighborhood that has a light on. Can you picture DW talking to the police at the front door, while Danielle jumps up and down in the background with her hands and feet bound and duck tape across her mouth? Of course he takes the chance that the police will not bring dogs which would surely pick up her or his fresh scent and the trail from her house to his regardless if a light is on or not. And then they would want to search his house that night.
Stevon V
(This is a fascinating scenario/review by a Union Trib poster. Several interesting points)
So now he manages to get her to his house without being detected. He must keep the lights out. Why? Because he knows that any minute the mother will arrive home. And being a good normal mother, she will check on her young children before she goes to bed. And when this happens, she will discover Danielle missing and call the police, who will come out, search the neighborhood, and surely knock on any doors of any house in the neighborhood that has a light on.
And that is the real crux of the Damon and Brenda VD story. How would the perpatrator "know" that the VD's would not do a random "bed check" of the children while they are padding around the house, between the hours of 1:30 A.M. and 3:30 A.M. when they VD's went to bed???
Unless.........oh yeah, no unsubstantiated rumors.....FresnoDA
Unless.... the perp is intimately familiar with the normal activities/proceedings within that household, aka a resident of the household or a relative.
Very little in that essay makes any sense, yet it is the story we're supposed to believe.
Uh don't try to fool people by using common sense and logic, and remember investigators are supposed to collect facts not make them.../sarcasm>
If he walked into the house undetected, where are his fingerprints on the doors that he opened? If he wore gloves or somesuch so as not to leave behind finger prints, why would he take the gloves off and leave a "print" in her room?
Too many questions there! I have wondered too, why did he not wear gloves (there are claims his fingerprints are on Danielle's bedroom door). Who did he think would investigate the crime, Barney Fife? The only scenario I can think of that he would take these kinds of risks is if he was totally out of his mind on drugs or drink. And if that happened, I can't believe no one heard or saw anything.