Posted on 04/25/2002 9:15:24 AM PDT by FresnoDA
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 25, 2002
A San Diego Superior Court hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. today for David Westerfield, the Sabre Springs man accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.
The attorneys involved in the case are prohibited from discussing it because of a gag order, but it is possible that prosecutors will announce whether they will seek the death penalty against the self-employed engineer.
His attorneys have insisted on Westerfield's right to a speedy trial, which is scheduled to begin May 17. He is being held in County Jail without bail.
After Westerfield's arrest Feb. 22, prosecutors filed special allegations in the case, accusing him of committing murder during a kidnapping, which gives them the option of seeking his execution if convicted.
District Attorney Paul Pfingst has a protocol on reaching a decision that usually takes several months; the case is reviewed by a panel of senior prosecutors. Defense attorneys also have the option of meeting with Pfingst.
It has been just over two months since the charges against Westerfield were brought, and because of the gag order it has not been possible to determine whether the panel made a recommendation or if Westerfield's attorneys met with Pfingst.
The district attorney makes the final decision. If he chooses not to seek the death penalty, Westerfield would face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Danielle's family lived two doors from Westerfield. Her parents reported her missing Feb. 2, and police quickly focused on Westerfield as the prime suspect.
Prosecutors said DNA testing proved that blood found on some of Westerfield's clothing and in his motor home was Danielle's.
Volunteer searchers found the girl's body Feb. 27 east of El Cajon in a stand of oak trees just off Dehesa Road. The cause of death has not been determined because of decomposition of the body, officials said.
Val, you're so busy!! I remember those days.. yikes!
I have had the draining sinus, cough for over two weeks. {{Sniff!)) it lasts that long? :(
I think he may have left and went to the VD home.
Whether he assaulted/killed Danielle, or happened onto a scene with Damon and Danielle, or whether there was an accident or drug OD involving Danielle, and Damon needed Libby's help before Brenda came home, I don't know.
The links seem to be that Libby had 'had' Brenda at some time and was supposed to again that night.
Damon and Libby were close friends.
Libby was some kind of financial broker. He may have worked previously at qualcomm with Damon.
Libby all of a sudden is handling the donations money, and directing activities of the Danielle Recovery Center. Libby may have been directing the Search teams, as well as Bill Garcia, the I'm a PI, just not a licensed one, and I am known for previous scams but these suckers keep putting me back on the lost child recovery centers. (this is a fact).
Maybe Garcia and Libby have some connection. Maybe brenda and Garcia have some connections.
LIBBY was the one that had motive (had a prearranged date with Brenda, and found her too busy), and one that had opportunity (his time has never been accounted for and his wife was 'out of town'.
If he would cheat on his wife while she was out of town with his best friends wife, what else would he do ?
If he did it, arranging to get a BMW for the VD's would be a good closing gift, wouldn't you say ?
You soo smart !!!!!
Thank you to everyone for their contributions, ideas, counter-ideas, even the spewing and jokes. What fun would life be if everything was AOK all the time.
My best to you all, until the morrow !
(M) To prove the special circumstances of kidnapping in subparagraph (B), or arson in subparagraph (H), if there is specific intent to kill, it is only required that there be proof of the elements of those felonies. If so established, those two special circumstances are proven even if the felony of kidnapping or arson is committed primarily or solely for the purpose of facilitating the murder.
Really y'all, I know it's a long thread which I just got in on the tail end of, but there are some basic things about a message board like this that should not be hard to remember.
And since I now know what post of mine you were referring to, I will say that it has been widely reported that one of the animations was of a child being raped. I believe it was referred to at the PH too, though I'm not positive. That animation would go to motive.
Section 207 is the portion of the code that defines kidnaping:
(a) Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, steals or takes, or holds, detains, or arrests any person in this state, and carries the person into another country, state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty of kidnapping.
(b) Every person, who for the purpose of committing any act defined in Section 288, hires, persuades, entices, decoys, or seduces by false promises, misrepresentations, or the like, any child under the age of 14 years to go out of this country, state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty of kidnapping.
(c) Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, takes or holds, detains, or arrests any person, with a design to take the person out of this state, without having established a claim, according to the laws of the United States, or of this state, or who hires, persuades, entices, decoys, or seduces by false promises, misrepresentations, or the like, any person to go out of this state, or to be taken or removed therefrom, for the purpose and with the intent to sell that person into slavery or involuntary servitude, or otherwise to employ that person for his or her own use, or to the use of another, without the free will and consent of that persuaded person, is guilty of kidnapping.
(d) Every person who, being out of this state, abducts or takes by force or fraud any person contrary to the law of the place where that act is committed, and brings, sends, or conveys that person within the limits of this state, and is afterwards found within the limits thereof, is guilty of kidnapping.
(e) Subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive, do not apply to any of the following:
(1) To any person who steals, takes, entices away, detains, conceals, or harbors any child under the age of 14 years, if that act is taken to protect the child from danger of imminent harm.
(2) To any person acting under Section 834 or 837.
JAHI TURNER'S MOTHER APPEALS FOR HELP
The mother of a 2-year-old boy who vanished from a Balboa Park playground issued an emotional plea on national television today for the return of her toddler. Clearly overcome with grief as she appeared on the ABC, NBC and CBS news shows, Tameka Jones appealed to viewers to assist in the return of her child. She was joined by Brenda Van Dam, the mother of murdered seven-year-old Danielle Van Dam. Brenda Van Dam said she was there to support the 18-year-old mother. Jahi's stepfather told authorities he left the boy with a woman and two other youngsters at a play area near 28th and Beech streets while walking a few hundred yards to get a soda at a vending machine about 2:15 p.m. Thursday. Jahi is a light-skinned African-American, about 30 inches tall and weighing 30 pounds. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a blue, long-sleeved T-shirt with a rendering of the ``Winnie the Pooh'' cartoon character on it, blue nylon pants with an orange drawstring and gray tennis shoes
By Preston Turegano
|
The disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam has been fertile ground for the news media.
Like soldiers on bivouac, newspaper and magazine reporters, San Diego's seven TV news stations, local radio news operations, TV crews from Los Angeles, and TV tabloids such as "Inside Edition" have been camped out near the van Dam home in Sabre Springs.
The press last mobilized on a local story en masse 11 months ago when shootings occurred within weeks of each other at Santana and Granite Hills high schools in East County.
Danielle's story has had TV-friendly aspects, thanks largely to the girl's parents, who have not shied away from cameras, and home video of Danielle romping in her home (hauntingly reminiscent of JonBenet Ramsey, the little girl found slain in her Boulder, Colo., home in 1996).
Last week, Brenda and Damon van Dam briefly came out of their home to acknowledge the press' role in the search for their daughter. On the air, one TV reporter described the scene as "a media frenzy." Four stations KNSD/Channel 39, KFMB/Channel 8, KUSI/Channel 51 and KGTV/Channel 10 carried the van Dams' noontime statement live.
The next day, "Jeff & Jer" of KFMB/FM 100.7 urged listeners to obtain and distribute fliers with Danielle' s photo. Down the hall from "Jeff & Jer's" studio, KFMB/AM 760 talk show host Rick Roberts dropped a bombshell Friday night by quoting an unnamed source in law enforcement who implicated van Dam neighbor David Westerfield in Danielle's disappearance, and who provided Roberts with detailed information about the van Dams' private life.
The nation's notice of Danielle was emphasized when Brenda and Damon van Dam talked to NBC's "Today Show," ABC' s "Good Morning America," CBS' "The Early Show," CNN's "Larry King Live" and Fox's "America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back." Each show featured the home videotape of Danielle, and a photograph of her posted on the Internet.
Three days before "America's Most Wanted" aired on Saturday, the van Dams gave local Fox affiliate XETV/Channel 6 a 20-minute "exclusive" interview on the 10 p.m. "Fox6 News" report. The interview wasn' t due so much to enterprise on behalf of reporter (and weekend anchor) Greg Phillips but more with XETV being an affiliate of a network that has a certain show.
XETV news director Alberto Pando said the van Dams asked "Fox6 News" to help in the search for their daughter by contacting "America's Most Wanted" and the station obliged. After Walsh interviewed the van Dams, they granted Channel 6's request for the one-on-one sit-down interview, Pando said.
In no way can Channel 6 be faulted for this. After all, CBS affiliate KFMB/Channel 8 capitalizes and cross-promotes "Survivor" on its news shows, and NBC-owned KNSD/Channel 39 has been doing the same with the Winter Olympics.
Phillips' interview was shown in bits and pieces during the hour-long evening newscast. At one point, he titillated viewers by saying, "After a short break, the parents of the little girl address rumors on the Internet and in the media that they' re both swingers, and if they believe those rumors are significant to the investigation."
Phillips deserves kudos for apparently being the first to go down a path other media outlets were avoiding.
But instead of asking the van Dams directly, "Are you swingers?" or "Are you members of a couples' husband-wife swapping club?" Phillips said, "You've heard the rumors. As there are in many cases that receive national attention, whether they are true or not, do they have any significance to the investigation in who may have kidnapped Danielle?"
Brenda van Dam answered by saying, "They have absolutely nothing to do with this investigation. Rumors are rumors. And I just pray they are not taking the focus off of finding Danielle."
Phillips followed up with, "No romantic involvement ever with Mr. Westerfield?"
"None," Brenda van Dam said. "Absolutely none at all."
Westerfield has been besieged by the media, too. TV cameras and reporters repeatedly have blocked his way every time he' s stepped in or out of his home. Early in the investigation, detectives twice searched Westerfield' s home. Once, they removed 13 bags of property, seized two vehicles and took him on a tour of the desert where he said he spent the weekend of Feb. 2 and 3.
During the Phillips interview, the van Dams praised John Walsh, host of "America' s Most Wanted." They called Walsh "a wonderful man" and "a great person."
Obviously, Walsh empathizes with the van Dams. In 1981, Walsh and his wife, Reve, were plunged into the national spotlight when their 6-year-old son, Adam, was abducted and later found murdered.
In the case of Danielle van Dam, it seems, at least by watching TV, that an entire nation is praying her story doesn't' t end the same way.
(Excerpt from article...)
..........Brenda van Dam admitted smoking marijuana, drinking and dancing with friends and strangers at a local bar a bar where she knew Westerfield, their neighbor, also planned to show up.
She and several friends returned to the van Dam house, where one of her friends was briefly kissed by Damon van Dam while they were on his bed upstairs.
Much of the parents' testimony focused on the little things they said seemed slightly amiss with their home security that night: Alarm lights flashed, a sliding-glass door was discovered open, an outdoor gate was found unlatched and their dog was whimpering.
Prosecutors say Westerfield kidnapped Danielle the night of Feb. 1 or the next morning to sexually assault her. Her nude, decomposed body was found Feb. 27 in a rural area east of El Cajon.
In an unusual move at a preliminary hearing, Westerfield's lead attorney, Steven Feldman, attempted to call witnesses and launch a defense against the charges to contradict the van Dams' testimony.
The attempt fizzled after Domnitz rejected some of Feldman's arguments and worked out a compromise to put several witnesses' statements into the record.
Feldman spent much of the hearing trying to question the van Dams about what he labeled their "swinging lifestyle" and the types of people that lifestyle might have attracted.
Feldman asked both parents about whether they had made statements about having recently become "swingers" couples who swap partners. The parents didn't directly answer the questions, usually because the judge decided most of the questions weren't relevant.
The defense attorney also asked whether Danielle had a habit of playing in the neighborhood unsupervised, or whether she'd ever sneaked out of the house.
Domnitz has issued a gag order prohibiting lawyers, police or witnesses from commenting, but several defense experts who have been following the case say Feldman probably will try to argue that Danielle might have sneaked into Westerfield's motor home, which could explain how her blood and fingerprints got inside.
(.......cont'd further.......)
.........By this time she'd consumed three cranberry-and-vodka drinks and a shot of tequila and a non-alcoholic energy drink, she said. (THE RED BULL DEFENSE!!)
Entering the house she noticed a blinking red light on the security alarm system indicating a door or window was ajar in the house. She later noticed that a garage door to the outside of the house was open. The group had opened the door earlier that night to let the marijuana smoke out, she said.
The garage has another door leading to the inside of the house, according to testimony. That door locks from inside the garage because they didn't want their children wandering into the garage when they were smoking marijuana, the parents testified. (Locks from the inside, again, just a happy normal family!!)
Meanwhile, Damon van Dam was up in his bedroom. After his wife, the two girlfriends and the two men came into the house, one of his wife's friends identified as Barbara went upstairs and Damon van Dam kissed her and rubbed her back on the bed, he testified..........
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