Mourners Gathering At Site Where Danielle's Body Was Found: (Post van Dam News Here)

Union Tribune ^ | March 1, 2002 | Seth Hettena

[FresnoDA]

Mourners gather at site where Danielle's body was found

By Seth Hettena
ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 1, 2002

Associated Press

Mourners place flowers and a stuffed animal Friday, on the site under an oak tree where 7-year-old Danielle van Dam's body was found along Dehesa Road.

Associated Press

Andy Black looks over a memorial for 7-year-old Danielle van Dam after placing flowers Friday on the site where her body was found.

EL CAJON – Laura Davis said she felt drawn to the quiet patch of shade under an oak tree where searchers this week found the body of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

"The memory of her soul compelled me to come down here and say a last goodbye," Davis said Friday, cradling her 7-month-old daughter and wiping away tears. "To actually see the place where her innocent sweetness was lying under a tree." Davis, 26, added white flowers to a growing memorial of messages, bouquets, a pink teddy bear and a stuffed blue bunny that marks the place where authorities believe a neighbor dumped Danielle's body weeks ago.

Dental records confirmed Thursday that remains found by a rural roadside 25 miles east of San Diego were those of the little girl, who vanished from her bedroom Feb. 2.

The cause of death could not immediately be determined – and may never be – because of the body's state of decomposition, said Police Chief David Bejarano. Further tests were under way.

Danielle's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, said the unflagging efforts of more than 2,500 volunteers who searched a vast area stretching from the ocean to the desert left them with "an overwhelming sense of gratitude and closure."

"With love for an innocent child and for one another, the community has brought her back to us, and for that gift we offer our most sincere and heartfelt thanks," the van Dams said in a statement. "Even though the final outcome is horrible, we could not have imagined the rest of our lives without this closure."

A memorial service is expected later this month.

A neighbor, David Westerfield, 50, was charged Tuesday with murder, kidnapping and possession of child pornography. He has pleaded innocent and is being held without bond.

Authorities said they found traces of Danielle's blood in Westerfield's motor home and on an article of his clothing.

The self-employed engineer spent the weekend of Danielle's disappearance traveling in his motor home, stopping in the desert east of the city, authorities said.

A hunch led volunteers to the area – the remote road was one Westerfield might have taken the weekend Danielle disappeared, said Bill Garcia, a private detective who coordinated searches.

Nearby residents said they were unsettled by the discovery of Danielle's body so close to home.

"It kind of sickens us," said Charles O'Neill, 28, who lives about a mile away. "We've been driving by this road every day for the past month and knowing she's that close is something we never would have imagined."

[Mr Information]

Trial evidence was of one visit to that casino, and only one visit.

One visit doth not a frequent make.

[Mr Information]

Westerfield’s sole visit to the casino was on October 1 the previous year, so 4 months before the kidnapping. The body recovery site is not on the direct route from his home to the casino, and the dump site is hidden, so it's a stretch to conclude that he knew of the site's existence, or even was familiar with that area. The earliest mention of the casino which I found was after the body was found.

[Mr Information]

There was no evidence he was at the casino that night, nor did he ever claim he was.