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Posted on 03/12/2002 9:19:13 AM PST by today
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Westerfield Preliminary Hearing
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By Harriet Ryan, Court TV
Asked by police to account for his whereabouts the weekend his 7-year-old neighbor vanished, David Westerfield broke into a sweat and offered police a long, convoluted alibi, a San Diego investigator said Monday.
Despite the chilly February morning, "Mr. Westerfield was sweating profusely under both armpits to the point the sweat rings were protruding out from his armpits several inches," sheriff's officer Johnny Keene testified during a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to try the 50-year-old engineer for the kidnapping and murder of Danielle van Dam.
The second-grader was abducted from her bedroom the night of Feb. 1. Searchers found her body Feb. 27 in a trash-strewn lot 25 miles from San Diego. Investigators recovered child pornography from Westerfield's home, two doors from the van Dam family, and have said the motive for her abduction was sexual.
Westerfield, who pleaded not guilty, looked drawn during the hearing and at times seemed to shake uncontrollably. At other points, however, he joked and laughed with his lawyers. Danielle's parents, Damon and Brenda van Dam, did not attend the hearing, which included graphic forensic testimony.
Keene's testimony gave insight into why detectives became suspicious of Westerfield and how they gathered enough evidence to search his property. Those searches turned up blood that matched Danielle's DNA.
But the first day of what is expected to be a three-day hearing also highlighted some of the difficulties prosecutors face in making a case against Westerfield. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified that weeks of exposure to wildlife and the elements left her body too badly decomposed for doctors to determine how she died and whether she was raped.
"A lot of the body was destroyed by animals," Dr. Brian Blackbourne testified. He said there were no obvious signs of trauma, like gunshot wounds or ligature marks, and "the deterioration of even the tissue that was there makes it difficult to determine a cause of death."
Under questioning by prosecutor Jeff Dusek, however, Blackbourne said that if Danielle was smothered with a pillow or otherwise asphyxiated, there would be no visible signs on such a decomposed body.
Officer Keene said he first became suspicious of Westerfield because he was the only resident of the van Dam's neighborhood not home the Saturday morning she was discovered missing. When Westerfield returned home Monday, Keene and other officers questioned him on his front porch.
According to Keene, Westerfield said he knew the van Dams slightly and had purchased Girl Scout cookies from Danielle two days before she vanished. The night of the disappearance, Westerfield told Keene, he had seen Brenda van Dam in a neighborhood bar and they had briefly discussed her daughter. Brenda commented that Danielle had a new dress to attend a father-daughter function and her husband was worried about his daughter growing up too quickly, Westerfield told Keene.
He also stated that, after his conversation with Brenda, he was under the impression that a babysitter was caring for her children, not Damon van Dam, as was the case.
The officer said Westerfield told him that he left the bar before Brenda van Dam.
"He told me that shortly after he got home, he went to bed," said Keene. The van Dams told police they went to sleep at 2:30 a.m. without looking in on their children.
Westerfield told officers that the next morning he left for the weekend in his recreational vehicle. The itinerary he gave was strangely peripatetic. He said he had started out for the desert, only to realize he'd forgotten his wallet. He then went to the beach, but then decided to go home, then back to the mountains, and then back to the desert. According to Keene, Westerfield ticked off 13 different destinations between Saturday morning and Monday morning. None of those trips, Keene testified, took Westerfield anywhere near the quarry area where Danielle's body was found.
Keene said Westerfield's hands were covered with small cuts, which he said he received while digging his RV out of the mud. Westerfield also allowed the officers to search his home and RV. He accompanied them through the house, pointing out closets and the trap door to the attic.
"In my opinion, he was overly cooperative," Keene said.
A neighbor of Westerfield cast some doubt on his account. Christina Hoeffs, who lives in the lot behind Westerfield's, said that when she woke at 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, his "house was closed up and every single blind was shut tight."
That never happened before, Hoeffs said, and she concluded Westerfield must have gone away. She also said that in the past Westerfield had painstakingly prepared his RV before going away, but that Friday he did not.
Also at the hearing Monday, San Diego Lt. Jim Collins said officers searched 200 homes and received 900 tips during the investigation. Defense lawyer Steven Feldman suggested Collins overlooked evidence possibly implicating the van Dams.
He quizzed Collins about dark spots on the van Dams' stair bannister and outside their garage. The forensic team, Feldman charged, identified the stains as potential blood. Collins said he was unaware of the stains, but was not directing the forensics investigation.
Feldman also pressed Collins about a vacuum cleaner Damon van Dam allegedly used the morning his daughter disappeared.
"Didn't it strike you as unusual that someone concerned about locating his daughter would vacuum up potential trace evidence," Feldman asked.
Collins said he did not discuss the vacuum with Damon van Dam and was not sure whether it was used.
Staying on topic, wonder if they will introduce this tomorrow?
sw
[T]raditional self-defense, is a complete defense to a charge of criminal homicide--murder or manslaughter--and, if credited by the trier of fact, results in an acquittal. The elements, or requirements, of that defense . . . are:
"(1) The accused must have had reasonable grounds to believe himself in apparent imminent or immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm from his assailant or potential assailant;
(2) The accused must have in fact believed himself in this danger;
(3) The accused claiming the right of self-defense must not have been the aggressor or provoked the conflict; and
(4) The force used must have not been unreasonable and excessive, that is, the force must not have been more force than the exigency demanded."
State v. Marr, 765 A.2d 645 (Md. 2001). Marr has a lot more to say about the law of self defense, so you should probably get a copy if you want to know the nuances of Maryland law. And of course, if you're really planning on shooting someone, consult a lawyer who practices criminal law in your state.
LOL..well, if I was I'm not anymore. This thread has been very interesting to me in a lot of ways..informative too. And, in the interest of staying on topic let me say that if this guy is the one I hope he gets the full treatment. But if what I hear about the parents is only one third true I hope they find their place in the court system too.
Danielle was reported missing from her family's Sabre Springs home on the morning of Feb. 2. Westerfield, 50, is accused of kidnapping the second grader from her second-floor bedroom and killing her. The child's badly decomposed body was discovered by volunteer searchers nearly four weeks later off a two-lane road in rural East County.
Lt. Collins was the first witness called by prosecutors in Monday's hearing. He testified about what he found when he went to the site where Danielle's body was discovered. He said he observed the nude body of a white child lying face up. He said the body was in an "advanced state of decomposition" and missing one foot.
When Feldman cross-examined Collins, his line of questioning implied that Collins wasn't in full control of the investigation. At one point, he asked Collins about blood stains that police found on the stairs in the van Dam home. Collins said he was not aware of the stains.
"Is it fair to say that the first time you are hearing of blood spots on the stairwell is today?" Feldman asked incredulously.
"I believe so," Collins answered.
Feldman asked if Collins knew about possible blood stains that investigators found outside the home on the pavement. Again, Collins said he was unaware of those details.
Feldman also asked Collins if he was aware that Damon van Dam had been vacuuming the house on the morning that Danielle was reported missing. Collins said that he was shown the vacuum cleaner when he arrived at the home, but he couldn't say what happened to the contents of the clearner or if it had been taken by police for analysis.
At one point, Feldman asked Collins if the police had ever considered Danielle's parents as suspects in the girl's disappearance. The judge would not permit Collins to answer that question.
During the hearing, prosecutors pointed out that Collins wasn't responsible for every detail of the investigation and that the evidence in the case was handled by another police lieutenant assigned to the investigation.
The next witness was San Diego County Medical Examiner Dr. Brian Blackbourne. He testified that he was able to determine that the manner of death was homicide because of the circumstances in which the body was found. But he said he was unable to determine the cause of death or whether Danielle was sexually assaulted because of the state of the corpse.
The hearing was adjourned for lunch until 1:30 p.m.
Westerfield, a self-employed design engineer, lives two doors away from the van Dam home. He became the early focus of the police investigation after he told police that he left the neighborhood for a weekend trip to the beach and desert on the morning that Danielle's disappearance was discovered. He was arrested days before the girl's body was found after police said that Danielle's blood was detected by DNA tests on his clothing and inside his motor home.
In addition, traces of DNA found on one of Danielle van Dam's garments in her room matched Westerfield's, police Chief David Bejarano said. He called the genetic evidence a "very, very strong link" between the defendant and the missing girl.
So far, investigators have not said what they believe might have motivated Westerfield -- a divorced father of two -- to take Danielle van Dam from her home and family.
Westerfield has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include murder with special circumstances. Prosecutors have not decided if they will seek the death penalty if Westerfield is convicted.
Few new insights into Danielle's death
SAN DIEGO, March 11 (UPI) -- A neighbor of David Westerfield's testified at the suspect's preliminary hearing Monday that the San Diego man had tightly drawn all of the blinds on his suburban home the night Danielle van Dam disappeared, but she and other witnesses offered little new insight into the disappearance and death of the gap-toothed blond second-grader.
Monday was the first day of a hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to try the 50-year-old Westerfield on charges of kidnapping and murder in the case that drew national headlines and prompted a massive month-long search. Westerfield pleaded innocent at his arraignment on Jan. 25, two days before searchers found the body.
San Diego police believe Westerfield slipped into the Van Dam home on the night of Feb 1-2 and made off with the little girl who had once sold Girl Scout cookies at his front door with her mother in tow.
Christina Hoeffs, who lives behind Westerfield, testified that she looked out her bedroom window after attending to her crying infant son at around 2 a.m. PST on Feb. 2 and noticed that his back patio light was burning while the house was "closed up."
"The light was still on and I noticed that the house was completely closed up. Every single blind was drawn," said Hoeffs, a part-time California Highway Patrol dispatcher whose husband is a CHP sergeant. "He doesn't usually close up his whole house like that."
Hoeffs did not see Westerfield or notice anything else unusual, but she said she felt compelled to tell police about the blinds several days later.
"On Saturday (Feb. 2), they were still closed because I looked over his fence to check his pool because I had heard there was a missing child," Hoeffs said.
With a somber Westerfield looking on in a light-colored dress shirt, Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek asked Hoeffs whether she found the closure of the blinds to be suspicious.
"It was unusual," she said.
Westerfield was considered a suspect early in the case and was arrested based on DNA evidence police and prosecutors believe links him to Danielle.
There were, however, no known witnesses who saw Westerfield either enter the Van Dam home or with Danielle in his company. Westerfield, who is twice divorced, has told police that he left town in his motor home early on Feb. 2 for a weekend at the Silver Strand State Beach that later turned into an unplanned drive out to the Imperial County desert.
One of two detectives who gave Westerfield's house a walk-through search after his return the following Monday said that the inside of the house was "immaculate" and that Westerfield seemed eager to show them around and offered to open various closets and cabinets as well as the trap door to the attic.
"In my opinion, he was overly cooperative," said Det. John Keene. "Typically, when you search people's houses, they don't point out places for us to search. They just stand back and watch."
Danielle's body was discovered Feb. 27 under a tree along a rural road in El Cajon, about 30 miles from the subdivision of Sabre Springs where Westerfield and the Van Dams resided in close proximity.
Dr. Brian Blackbourne, the San Diego County medical examiner, testified that the body was found in an advanced stage of decomposition and had been further damaged by insects and scavenging animals. The autopsy was, he said, unable to find any obvious injuries or signs of sexual assault.
"The deterioration of the tissue that was there makes it difficult to determine a cause of death that is anything less than a major, major trauma," Blackbourne said.
Defense attorney Steven Feldman attempted to use the lack of telltale clues on the body -- such as neck bruises and small petechial hemorrhages in the eye -- to conclude that Danielle had not been strangled.
"She did not have the injuries normally associated with strangulation," Blackbourne said.
Blackbourne also testified that he was unable to nail down a specific time of death, likely a plus for the defense since Westerfield was under the eye of the police within a few days of Danielle's disappearance.
"It was certainly consistent with the 3-1/2 weeks that she was missing," Blackbourne said.
Feldman also attempted to raise doubts about the accuracy and thoroughness of the collection of evidence both in El Cajon and in the Van Dam home. In his cross-examination of Police Lt. Jim Collins, Feldman questioned whether the crime scenes had been contaminated or if possible evidence had been lost in the shuffle.
Of particular interest to the defense were notations by crime scene technicians of possible blood spots around the property that might indicate that Danielle had been attacked in her home rather than quietly spirited away by her abductor.
Feldman also questioned whether a vacuum cleaner left out had indicated that Danielle's father, Damon Van Dam, had for some reason been cleaning the house on the day his daughter disappeared.
"Doesn't it seem unusual that someone worried about finding his daughter would vacuum up possible trace evidence?" Feldman said.
(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)
Source
I guess it's because Westerfield is the one they are talking about...still, the parents are far from ordinary.
Can't get past the deviant, vile sex life they led. Did they look for porno in their little house of horrors?
sw
sw
Yes, and I am still wondering why.
"Can't get past the deviant, vile sex life they led. Did they look for porno in their little house of horrors?"
I can only hope they have looked into this--but worry that they might not have. Or maybe turned a blind eye?
Meanwhile, here's another article on the day's events--
NEW INFORMATION DISCLOSED IN WESTERFIELD'S PRELIMINARY HEARING
(03-11-2002) - David Westerfield listened in court Monday as a police lieutenant graphically described the discovery of Danielle van Dam's nude body in a Dehesa grove.
Lt. Jim Collins of the San Diego Police Department was the first witness called in a hearing that will determine if the Sabre Springs man will stand trial for kidnapping and murder.
The county medical examiner, Dr. Brian Blackbourne was also on the stand describing the condition of Danielle van Dam's body after she was found in Dehesa and the process of the autopsy.
He testified that Danielle's body had no clothes when found and showed signs of considerable "animal activity."
Blackbourne said skin and muscle tissue was missing from many parts of her body. Also gone was her genitalia, which could make it difficult for prosecutors to prove a sexual motive in her death.
Blackbourne said he tried to find evidence of a sexual assault during the autopsy, but was hindered by the decomposition of the body.
The preliminary hearing began at about 10:20 a.m. Monday at the County Courthouse in Downtown.
The hearing began with Lt. Collins on the stand and Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman grilling him about the thoroughness of the police investigation. Collins was one of the first investigators at the Van Dam home on February 2, the day Danielle was reported missing.
One exchange involved blood found in the stairwell of the Van Dam home.
Another exchange between Collins and Feldman involved drag marks found in Dehesa near Danielle's body.
"It looked like somebody had been, had dragged something, whether it was – what appeared to be the body to me, dragging it into the underbrush," said Collins.
With regard to the Van Dam's residence, Collins stated that there were some drag marks outside, and some dirt along the sidewalk on the east side of the house.
Westerfield's neighbor, Christina Hoeffs, testified that she noticed two unusual things at the defendant's home the night the young girl disappeared.
Hoeffs, who lives behind Westerfield's house, told the court she went to bed at 10 p.m. and noticed a backyard light, which he rarely used, was shining into her window.
The light was still on after 2 a.m. after she tended to her crying infant son, she said.
"I got up and looked out to see why the light was on," Hoeffs testified. "I did notice the house was completely shut up. Every single blind was pulled completely shut."
She also said Westerfield's motorhome was usually on a cross street outside his home for a day or two before his trips to the desert. She testified that when she left her house at 4 p.m. on Feb. 1 and returned at 9 that night, she did not see the motorhome.
Detective Johnny Keene, the last witness of the day, said Westerfield had numerous small scratches on his hand and arm when he was interviewed on his front porch the morning of Feb. 4.
Keene told the court that, when first questioning Westerfield, he noticed "numerous" scratch marks on his hand and above his wrist.
Westerfield explained that he got scratched the previous day while digging his motorhome out of the sand along a narrow road in Borrego Springs, the second time the vehicle got stuck that weekend.
"In my opinion, he was overly cooperative," Keene added. "I've been doing this for 16 years. Typically, when we search people's houses, they don't point out places to look. Usually, they ask why we're searching their house."
Keene said Westerfield pointed to a number of places in his "immaculate " home where detectives might want to look, including a stack of boxes and a trap door to the attic.
As per Feldman's request, the judge admonished the witnesses not to watch TV, read the newspaper or listen to radio news so as not to influence their testimony. Source
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