[Bush2000]

THE CRIME SCENE was not secured or preserved. The police allowed the van Dams and Westerfield to remain in their homes while the evidence people were there, friends, family, press, etc., were allowed in and that destroyed the reliability of most of the forensic evidence.

IMHO, it doesn't matter all that much. The most damning evidence is the blood evidence that was reportedly found in Westerfield's RV and truck. Granted, it might establish another link to Westerfield but, assuming that the blood evidence is conclusive, he's going to the gas chamber...

[Lunatic Fringe]

assuming that the blood evidence is conclusive, he's going to the gas chamber...

Sorry to disappoint you, but California has executed only 6 people in 22 years.

But fret not! Gas chamber means he's in a nice, private protected little cell for life. But life in prison means he gets to be in the general population, and big house justice will catch up with him.

[CdMGuy]

The gas chamber went bye-bye a number of years ago. CA uses lethal injection, but executions are as rare as dinosaurs in CA. We have prisons full of death row inmates, but they are dieing of natural causes, mainly old age.

[MizSterious]

What if Westerfield did not act alone? There are other possibilities, but we must remember that he was with a friend when he met BVD at the bar that night, someone named "Gary." Wouldn't it be wise to get all of the evidence, and not just settle for the two drops of blood? What if "Gary" left fingerprints--but with so many people in and out of the house, they might have been smudged or even lost. That's just one possibility, but there are other good reasons why they should have taken greater care with the crime scene.