Van Dams' Lifestyle Focus Of Third Day Of Hearing
Updated: 7:48 a.m. PST March 15, 2002
With that, David Westerfield, 50, will stand trial on charges of kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography, after a three-day preliminary hearing.
"There's no question. He will be held to answer," Domnitz said in ruling there was enough evidence to hold Westerfield for trial.
Westerfield could face the death penalty if convicted. That decision will be made later by District Attorney Paul Pfingst.
The twice-divorced defendant lived two houses down and across the street from Danielle. He fell under suspicion after returning from a trip to the desert the weekend she disappeared.
Brenda and Damon van Dam reported their second-grader missing the morning of Feb. 2.
Her partially decomposed body, lying face-up, was discovered by volunteer searchers the afternoon of Feb. 27 off a road in Dehesa, in San Diego's East County.
The defendant will be back in court March 28 for arraignment and to get a trial date.
Van Dams' Lifestyle Focus Of Third Day Of Hearing
Brenda van Dam testified that a few days before her daughter's disappearance, she gave Westerfield her name and phone number after he told her he hosted "adult parties" and barbecues.
The mother testified that Westerfield mentioned the "parties" as she, Danielle and her son, Dylan, were leaving his residence after selling him four boxes of Girl Scout cookies.
Brenda van Dam said she wrote her name and her husband's on a piece of paper and gave it to Westerfield.
"He said, 'I have adult parties and barbecues,'" the mother of three testified.
Under cross-examination, van Dam told defense attorney Steven Feldman she immediately called her husband Damon after Westerfield told her about the "adult parties."
She denied making the call out of disbelief because she didn't realize there were others in her neighborhood engaged in the "swinging" lifestyle.
She also denied telling Damon van Dam about Westerfield's "adult parties" because she was new to the "swinging lifestyle" herself.
Domnitz stopped the witness from answering when Feldman asked her to explain a "swinging lifestyle."
Instead, the judge asked her: "Do you know what a swinging lifestyle is?"
"Yes," she answered.
Earlier, van Dam (pictured, left) cried as she testified that a night filled with drinking and pot smoking was followed by a morning of "total chaos" after she found her daughter's bed empty.
Van Dam described how two of her friends, Barbara and Denise, arrived at her home about 8 p.m. on Feb. 1.
She described how she, her friends and her husband went into the garage to smoke marijuana -- locking the door to the house from the inside -- while her two sons played video games and Danielle wrote in a journal.
The mother said she and her two friends then went to Dad's Cafe, a Poway restaurant and nightspot, where they had gone a week before and seen Westerfield.
On the night of Feb. 1, van Dam said Westerfield bought her and her friends drinks. She testified that she drank several alcoholic beverages, plus a shot of tequila, played pool and danced for several hours when two male friends showed up.
"Did you dance with Mr. Westerfield?" Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek asked.
"No," van Dam said.
Attorneys on both sides agreed that two other women who were at the bar that night told police that they actually saw Brenda van Dam dancing alone with Westerfield.
Brenda van Dam said the women and two male friends smoked more marijuana in the parking lot outside.
"Any sex?" Dusek asked.
"No," van Dam said.
"Any kissing?" Dusek asked.
"No."
"Did you get involved in any kissing?" Dusek pressed.
"No," she said.
The five then returned to the van Dam home, she said, where the mother noticed a security light blinking, meaning a door or window was open. That door turned out to be the one leading from the garage to a side yard.
Van Dam testified that she asked her husband if everything was OK when he had put the children to bed and was told "yes."
"I had no reason to check on them," she said of her children.
Van Dam testified that the guests stayed for about 20 minutes before leaving.
She said the next morning she went downstairs to find Damon with their sons, but no Danielle, who was a late sleeper. Then two children she had agreed to babysit arrived.
"I went up to her room," van Dam said.
"What did you find?" Dusek (pictured, right) asked.
"An empty bed," she answered tearfully.
"Did you see Danielle?" Dusek asked.
"No," she said, crying more.
Becoming "frantic," van Dam said she rushed to Damon and they searched the house inside and out before calling 911.
Officers arrived and told them to remain outside until investigators arrived, she said.
"Before I knew it, it was total chaos," van Dam said. "There were people on the street. Our neighbors were looking for Danielle."
Early in her testimony, van Dam said she and Westerfield would wave back and forth at each other, as she did with other neighbors, but only had more substantial contact five or six times.
"I didn't know his name until Danielle and I went to sell Girl Scout cookies," she said.
When she first took the stand, van Dam tried to choke back sobs and forced herself to speak. When asked if the door to Danielle's bedroom was decorated, she blurted out: "She has pink and yellow hearts and flowers!"
Then, just as suddenly, she calmly described the decorations in detail.
Van Dam regained her composure after Dusek asked about Danielle's recent trip to the dentist and how she wore plastic "jewelry."
The defense wanted to know more about the woman's drug use and drinking habits.
Van Dam told Feldman she had used marijuana 30 times in the past, and that she couldn't tell the difference between "good" stuff and "bad."
She told Feldman she doesn't consider herself to have a "drinking habit."
Damon van Dam (pictured, left) testified that he took a couple of "hits" from a marijuana cigarette before his wife and her friends left for the night on Feb. 1.
He said he tucked his children into bed about 10 p.m., then went to bed himself a short time later.
The father said he woke up when his wife, her female friends and two men returned home at 1:55 a.m.
Van Dam said Barbara jumped on his bed, they kissed and he "caressed her back." Then, minutes later, they went downstairs with the others, who were eating leftover pizza.
He said that about an hour after he and his wife went to bed, he woke up to go to the bathroom and saw a red light illuminated on his home security system.
The witness said he went downstairs and closed a sliding glass door that was ajar. Van Dam said he assumed that one of his wife's friends had opened the door because they were smoking.
"I didn't check on the kids," van Dam told Dusek. "I didn't think there was any reason to."
On cross-examination, van Dam admitted that he didn't initially tell police that he had smoked marijuana, or that Barbara had jumped into bed with him.
He told Feldman that he had a relationship with the woman.
"I made a decision that I didn't believe it was relevant," van Dam said.