THE OTHER VAN DAM STORY(New article from San Diego will have V.D. PR machine will be in overdrive!)

San Diego Online ^ | May 1, 2002 | Thomas K. Arnold

[vacrn]

It has also been verified that Damon had a $100,000 life insurance policy on Danielle. Not a rumor, Kim

Miz, I had heard this rumor, but don't see where or by whom it has been verified. Could you please direct me to the verification? Thanks.

[MizSterious]

Actually, no, I can't. From Oklahoma, the internet is very slow this morning, and it would take hours to search all the threads. Maybe Fresno knows where to find the original article? Some pages take as long as 10 minutes to load, one took half an hour earlier this morning. I haven't the patience to do that kind of searching until whatever it is clears up.

[Politicalmom]

HOW did I miss the info about the life insurance? How long have "we" all known this?

[FresnoDA]

I am on it...stand by....FresnoDA

[vacrn]

Do you remember if it was from a newspaper? Or mentioned on TV? Did they say if the boys were insured as well?

[vacrn]

Standing by....thank you

[spectre]

Well, what have we here?!

Lets put it together. Grandmother turns over the 2 year-old to stepfather, Mommie's at sea, boy turns up missing! Surprise!

Brenda van Dam was the first one on the scene, beating John Walsh and Klass to the punch. Walsh and Klass are breathing a sigh of relief, and Brenda's PR team must be having a fit! LOL!

But really, didn't the step-father look like an ad for Ralph Lauren? Who would have EVER suspected the guy?

Some of us did....shame on us?

sw

[spectre]

Some of the threads were "pulled" because of certain people who found the subject of the life insurance policy on the kid "offensive" to the van Dams image.

We let it drop after awhile...conditioning, I guess..:~)

sw

[FresnoDA]

Missing Girl's Family Offers $25,000 Reward

No Sign Of Danielle, No Arrests

 

POSTED: 12:28 p.m. EST February 11, 2002

UPDATED: 12:45 p.m. EST February 11, 2002

 

SAN DIEGO -- The parents of a missing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam announced a $25,000 reward during a press conference outside their home Monday morning.

The reward announcement follows a 10-day search for the little girl with still no sign of the second-grader.

During the press conference, Danielle's father, Damon said, "Our daughter's missing and we had nothing to do with it."

The mother, Brenda van Dam, said, "We pray for Danielle each night."

"We're very emotionally drained," she added.

	Van Dam Family Offers $25,000 Reward Family, Friends Staying Busy With Search

Damon and Brenda told authorities they last saw their eldest child when her father put her to bed about 10 p.m. on Feb. 1. They said they realized she was missing about 9 a.m. the next morning. Volunteers gathered Saturday at a motel near the van Dam home and searched a 25-square-mile area near Sabre Springs as well as a desert area in the Imperial Valley, Calif.

Searchers went to the desert because that's where a neighbor who police have focused on said he spent Feb. 2 and 3, when the girl disappeared.

The neighbor, David A. Westerfield, apparently took his recreational vehicle to an area near Glamis on the same morning the girl was reported missing.

While continuing to label Westerfield, 50, A "potential suspect" in Danielle's disappearance, detectives have twice gone through his home with service dogs. He lives lives two houses from the van Dams.

During those searches, officers carted off boxes and bags full of household items. In addition, police impounded Westerfield's sport utility vehicle and the motor home he took to the desert over the weekend.

Some of the items collected from Westerfield's home included child pornography, according to local news reports.

Westerfield (pictured, left) hired criminal defense attorney Steven Feldman, even though he has not been arrested or charged with any offense.

When reporters asked Westerfield outside his home last week if he knew where Danielle was, he shook his head, said no and walked inside.

Police have repeatedly said they do not consider the van Dams suspects in the girl's disappearance, which is officially considered a case of kidnapping, though they pointed out that no one has been completely ruled out.

[FresnoDA]

$24,000 Left In Van Dam Search Fund

Family Considers What To Do With Extra Cash

 

UPDATED: 3:05 p.m. EST March 25, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- Some $24,000 remains in a fund that was set up during the search for 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

Initially, the family expected to use donations to pay for search expenses, like posters and fliers.

After Danielle's body was found, the family Web site said additional donations would be used to pay memorial expenses. (That must be the new BMW M-3 with M standing for Memorial Edition!!) sarcasm/on!!

Close friends (uhmm...aren't all of their friends....uhmm...close....!!)  have suggested the van Dams take their time considering how the money will be used.

The funds could be used to pay for counseling for the family, and the van Dams are considering establishing a local foundation to conduct searches for missing San Diego children. (Great job, out of the blocks for the Jahi case.....excellent sleuthing by the VD's.....!!)

Meantime, the van Dams neighbor David Westerfield will be formally charged for Danielle's murder Thursday. His house on Mountain Pass Road was put up for sale last week. (Easy come....easy go....)

[FresnoDA]

hhmmmm......

Search foundation needs new base, manager

YVETTE URREA
Staff Writer

2/12/02

SABRE SPRINGS ---- Damon and Brenda van Dam told reporters Monday morning they were offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the return of their 7-year-old daughter, Danielle, who was abducted from her home Feb. 2.

"Somebody out there knows something they're not talking about. We're hoping this (reward money) will motivate them," Brenda van Dam said as she and her husband held up a large poster board with the information. "What we're doing is keeping in our minds that Danielle is alive and is coming home. That keeps us strong." (Who is the Damon trying to convince with this statement???)

J.S. LOVETT/Associated Press

Damon van Dam, followed by his wife, Brenda, carries a large poster with a photo of their missing 7-year-old daughter, Danielle. The couple on Monday announced a $25,000 reward for information regarding their missing child.

---

The reward money will come from family resources, she said.

A $10,000 reward fund offered by the Millennium Children's Fund still stands, according to the group's founder Douglas Pierce. He said Monday that despite some reports that he does not have the money, he can get the money if it is needed.

San Diego police investigators have investigated 250 tips from people who said they might have information in the case, including reports of possible sightings and theories from psychics, but none have led detectives to the girl or to an arrest yet. Detectives are still following up on some of those tips, San Diego Police spokesman Dave Cohen said.

Danielle was last seen by her father, Damon van Dam, when he tucked her and her brothers into bed Feb. 1. The next morning she was gone. Detectives have been focusing part of their investigation on a neighbor who lives two doors down from the family, but have not called him a suspect. They have impounded his motor home and a number of boxes of items from his home.

As the 10th day of the search began, the van Dams said they were finding it increasingly difficult to cope with Danielle's abduction.

"It gets harder every day," her mother said. Damon van Dam added, "It's hard but we're holding onto the hope."

Brenda van Dam said she has been praying every night with her 5-year-old and 9-year-old sons for Danielle's safe return. The boys, she told reporters, were curious about the things their parents are doing to try to bring their sister back and asked a lot of questions.

At Monday's press conference, Brenda van Dam said they need more volunteers for the search center. Later that morning they went to the Doubletree Golf Resort ---- the temporary headquarters for the Laura Recovery Center Foundation operation, which is setting up search parties for the Creekside Elementary second-grader. The nonprofit Texas-based organization was formed in 1997 to help families find children who were abducted by strangers.

As of 11 a.m. Monday, the group had only 30 volunteers. That's down from 300 on Saturday and 200 Sunday, said volunteer Jody Maes. The decline in searchers was attributed to the start of the work week.

Bob Wacutt, with the Laura Recovery Center Foundation, said they will be leaving for Texas on Wednesday. They were training San Diego volunteers to take the helm and carry on the search effort.

"It will be in the hands of the community, where it goes from here," he said.

Maes said they are looking for a new base for operations and hope to have one by next weekend. She said they would need one to two rooms, with at least two phone lines, to keep the center going in the area of Sabre Springs.

The new center also could use office and printing supplies, cellular phones and cash donations.

Wacutt said it is difficult to try to estimate in square miles how big of an area they have searched since Saturday, but they are concentrating on a 25- to 35-square-mile area around Danielle's Mountain Pass home.

He said volunteers have not complained despite hot and rugged conditions because they know they have an important task.

Wacutt said also that they have had a lot of people request to search in the desert for Danielle but they would only be able to use experienced desert hikers if they tried to go to that area.

Susan Wintersteen, a family friend and volunteer, said they are organizing a 10 a.m. event Saturday at South Creek Park near Danielle's school in an effort to involve children who want to help.

Children will be able to tie pink and purple ribbons in the park and take some to tie at their homes. The ribbons remind people that Danielle, who loved the colors pink and purple, is still missing, Wintersteen said.

Contact staff writer Yvette Urrea at (760) 901-4076 or yurrea@nctimes.com.

[Amore]

Thanks for the latest article. Although someone here thought the people quoted were not very well informed, it sounds like the majority of them have a pretty good handle on the basics. And, unlike here, several seemed to feel like I do -- that the VD's swinging lifestyle contributed to her being snatched by DW. However, it wasn't until the next-to-last person commented (Corinne) that anyone mentioned the alarm panel and open door -- while several people said they didn't see anything wrong with the parents not checking on their kids once the kids went to bed. As a general proposition, that's true, but not under these circumstances, with Damon finding an open door late at night!

[demsux]

Have you ever wondered why demon is always wearing long sleeved shirts...scratches, tatoo's, etc?

[FresnoDA]

hhmmm....haven't seen this before......FDA  Written from the VD apologist point of view....

Julie A. Sullivan is BellaOnline's Current Events Host

 

Body Is Identified As Belonging To Danielle Van Dam

 

The nude body of a female child, which was found decomposing in a remote desert area east of San Diego on Wednesday, has been positively identified as being that of the missing little girl Danielle Van Dam.

When the body was first discovered, authorities said that it was a high probability, that the remains would definitely be that of Danielle. As there were no other missing children reported in the area during the time of the little girl's disappearance.

An autopsy was performed on the body on Thursday, and it was also firmly established, that the remains were indeed those belonging to Danielle Van Dam. This was done by an identification made through both a comparison of dental records and X-rays obtained from the body. The exact cause of death has not been determined yet, because the body was in a decomposed state, but tests will be pending to determine how the child died.

Even though it has been said that Danielle's body was burned, this is something authorities refuse to talk about or confirm, considering the poor state that the remains were found in. So this is one unanswered question to add to the list, as is the motive for her murder, and the manner in which she met her death.

A day before the identification was officially made, law enforcement officials and the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, inferred that the body was more than likely that belonging to 7-year-old Danielle Van Dam.

Little Danielle was found missing on the morning of February 2nd, just only hours after being put to bed by her father, which was on February 1st. The circumstances surrounding the child's abduction are as much a mystery, as are the actual events in question, which led up to her murder by her suspected kidnapper David Westerfield. Only the accused party knows what transpired with regards to the kidnapping and killing of the child. As there were no real witnesses to either of the crimes.

Westerfield has plead innocent to having any connection to the kidnapping and death of the little girl. Despite the reality of very damning blood evidence found in his motor home and on an item of his clothing. He also said that on the night of Danielle's disappearance, he was in the same bar as the child's mother, who was present there with some of her friends. Damon Van Dam was at home with Danielle and her two younger brother's on that fateful night.

Danielle Van Dam is survived by her mother Brenda and her father Damon. In addition to her two little brothers as well. The little girl's parents were devastated with grief at the news that the body was indeed that of their precious daughter. But at least this knowledge brings them some closure, instead of not ever learning her whereabouts or her fate, which is something hundreds of missing children across the United States face every day. Sometimes these missing children cases are unsolved and remain that way for years. At least Danielle won't be another statistic of a baffling missing children's crime.

Brenda Van Dam was quoted as saying, "love conquers all evil," and it will in the case of David Westerfield. Who will most definitely face justice for the untimely demise of so beautiful and young a child as Danielle was. If there is a God in heaven, he will also pass sentence on Westerfield too, who will stand before him on Judgment Day as well. No crime goes unpunished, and in a special case like this, the suspect will either get life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Which is his just reward for robbing the Van Dam's of their only little girl. So in this case, no punishment is enough to compare with what the Van Dam's have been forced to lose. My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the family of this murdered little girl. Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with all of you in your hour of need. I certainly feel your loss, as well as your anger, for the taking away of such a wonderful blessing as Danielle most obviously was. No child should have to be made to suffer what Danielle endured. It just isn't fair. So Westerfield should pay the ultimate price, if it is proven, that he is in fact Danielle's assailant. Murdering a child isn't only heinous, but it's inhuman, as children are indeed innocent and gifts from God. No one has the right to take their lives away. Not for a second....

[FresnoDA]

ewww..I think you are correct...I will search for short sleeve pictures...

[FresnoDA]

Westerfield to Stand Trial

SAN DIEGO (AP)--After three days of testimony, a judge ordered a man accused of killing a 7-year-old girl whose body was found along a rural road last month to stand trial.

The girl's mother, Brenda van Dam held back tears as she testified Thursday at a preliminary hearing for David Westerfield, 50, who has been charged with kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography. He has pleaded innocent.

"I have reasonable cause to believe that Mr. Westerfield is guilty," Judge H. Ronald Domnitz said in issuing his decision.

Under cross-examination by the defense, van Dam, 39, at times grew frustrated and repeatedly said she couldn't recall details about events surrounding her daughter's disappearance from the family's home Feb. 1.

"I've been through a lot," she said.

Van Dam recalled meeting Westerfield when she and her daughter, Danielle, went to his home in their north San Diego neighborhood to sell Girl Scout cookies last year.

She testified that she had little contact with the twice-divorced engineer until earlier this year when she ran into him at a local bar while she was out with two girlfriends.

Days later, she went to Westerfield's home with Danielle and one of her sons to again sell cookies, she said. As the children explored the home, van Dam said she chatted with Westerfield.

He said he often hosted "adult parties" and barbecues and invited van Dam and her husband.

She said she thought it odd Westerfield mentioned "adult parties."

"I didn't know what he meant by that," she testified.

Under cross-examination by the defense, van Dam, 39, at times grew frustrated and repeatedly said she couldn't recall details about events surrounding her daughter's disappearance.

"I've been through a lot," she said.

Van Dam said she and her two girlfriends met on Feb. 1 and shared a marijuana cigarette in van Dam's garage before going out.

The girl's father, Damon van Dam, 37, testified he also smoked marijuana with the women in the garage, but went back inside to play video games with their sons while Danielle read a book.

Under cross-examination, he acknowledged that he did not tell police about the marijuana in the initial interviews after Danielle's disappearance.

The three women returned to the bar where she had seen Westerfield the weekend before. She said they saw Westerfield again, he bought drinks for them and later watched them play pool.

At one point, van Dam said she and her friends went to her truck in the parking lot to smoke the rest of their marijuana cigarette.

The three returned to van Dam's home, meeting up with two male friends there. She noticed that a light on the home's alarm panel indicated a door was open; they found a side door on the garage ajar.

After eating pizza, the friends left and Brenda and her husband, Damon, locked up the house and went to bed about 2:30 a.m. without checking on the children.

Later that night, Damon van Dam awoke to go to the bathroom and found that a sliding glass door at the rear of the house was open. "I assumed in my state of drowsiness that one of the other people in the house had left it open," he said.

They discovered Danielle was missing after getting up.

Van Dam said she was "frantic" and the couple searched throughout the house, and the Jacuzzi in back, "places you would never want to look."

[Jaded]

Here's a question that was raised elsewhere. Makes one wonder, does it not?

Police lifted prints from Jahi's apartment to check prints at the park...police had to wait to get Danielle's prints from her mumified dead body. Why? why not lift them from her room?

Yeah, interesting isn't it? Maybe Danielle's room was wiped clean? All this talk of DW cleaning so hard to hide evidence... did he "supposedly" stop and clean the bedroom for prints while putting away the dirty underwear?

Just a new item to ponder while we await....

Mental image....transmitting....DW in stealth black costume, accessorized with black or camo apron that holds cleaning supplies (excludes oxyclean) and dust rags....

Me thinks not. I guess SDPD decided he needed a rest and could use a new life.

[Jaded]

Is there a site that we can get updates of todays preceedings live or streamed?

[FresnoDA]

I agree with you Amore...the "letters" were an interesting perspective, from "the locals" in SD....

[FresnoDA]

Grandpa Ganja: 70 and Still Smoking
by Sarah Sabalos LaSpaluto

Evan Keliher isn’t your stereotypical pot smoker. He’s never been arrested, doesn’t smell of patchouli and apparently suffers no lack of motivation. The 70-year-old Marine veteran of the Korean War taught school for 30 years, earned a doctorate in education and has authored a dozen books. His stage play, Sandwiched Light, will be performed at La Mesa’s Lamplighter Theatre in May.

Keliher’s only problem—a case of glaucoma that began in his 20s—has made him a vocal proponent of medicinal marijuana. His book, Grandpa’s Marijuana Handbook: A User Guide for Ages 50 and Up, challenges the established case against pot, calling it beneficial to ill and healthy people alike. Lists of facts and fallacies notwithstanding, the book is often remarkably funny and accessible.

“My purpose was to let people know, for once, the truth about something,” says Keliher. “Marijuana is not a harmful substance. It does work as medicine for many people. There’s just no reason for it to be illegal, and really no reason for anyone to be in jail over it.”

Keliher, who’s been an almost-daily user since 1967, opines that the government has a vested interest in its war on drugs. “The politicians use it for political reasons, and people make money from it,” he says. “They’ve had this drug war for years, and they never win, and it never changes... I just want
to educate people, especially old-timers. Marijuana works for so many people that seniors all over the country could benefit from it.”

And as the book points out, marijuana is 100 percent fat-free.

---

....could this fella be a relative or "close" friend of the VD's????  hhhmmmm.....LOL