Damon Van Dam Takes Witness Stand: Day 2 of Westerfield Trial

SAN DIEGO -- The tearful father of murder victim Danielle van Dam admitted under oath Wednesday that he initially lied to police about a few events at his home that led up to her disappearance.

Damon van Dam, 36, said police asked him what had happened in the garage of his home that night when two friends of his wife, Brenda, arrived before a "girls night out" at Dad's Cafe in Poway.

The father testified that he initially didn't tell authorities that he had taken "a puff or two" from a marijuana cigarette the women were smoking.

"I didn't think it mattered and I didn't want to get in trouble for that," van Dam told prosecutor Jeff Dusek.

But van Dam said that after the officers told him they were only interested in finding his daughter, he began to be truthful with them.

He said he also did not tell police about one of his wife's girlfriends, Barbara Easton, coming into his bedroom that night after returning from the outing.

"When they told me it was absolutely critical to know what happened that night, I told them everything that happened that night," van Dam said.

He said Barbara was on the bed with him, above the covers, for about five minutes as Brenda first went to the bathroom, then downstairs.

"I kissed (Barbara), snuggled her some," van Dam said. "I think I put my arm around her and rubbed her back."

Damon van Dam

In his opening statement Tuesday, defense attorney Steven Feldman said that initial lies from the van Dams threw the police investigation off track.

Much of the morning testimony in the David Westerfield trial Wednesday was designed to orient jurors to the layout of the van Dam house, by using a floor plan and photographs.

Van Dam described the upstairs hallway that led to bedrooms, and also told the jury of six men and six women what was in Danielle's room. One of the issues in the case is whether artwork posted on the doors of the bedrooms would help someone know which room would be hers.

He added that each of the children's rooms had night lights, but Danielle's was burned out, so he opened the drapes to allow light from the street into the room.

Shown a photograph of his daughter's door, van Dam began to cry as he described why a dog gate had been placed there.

"I asked that the room not be cleaned," he finally explained.

Earlier today, Dr. Norman "Skip" Sperber, a forensic dentist, testified that four of Danielle's teeth were missing when he examined her mouth.

One eventually was found "way in the back of the mouth, where the gum meets the cheek," he said.

Under questioning by Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek, Sperber said it is not unusual for teeth to fall out during decomposition.

The child's body was found near some dumped trash and under a tree off a road in Dehesa in East County.

However, no teeth were found at the scene, Sperber said. He explained that animals, who sometimes carry away human remains, normally do not bother with teeth.

In opening statements, the prosecution said the loss of teeth showed that Danielle could have been suffocated.

"NOBODY will convince me that a dog in such a situation would not go NUTS, waking up at least one of the boys in the process."

I have THREE little dogs, a pug, a bichon, and a maltese. Among the three of them, they bark quite a bit. Now, one thing I know about my dogs is that sometimes the smallest noise will set one or more of them off, and other times, they ignore sounds I would think would certainly set them off. They are simply not all that consistent about what causes them to bark and what does not. And these are three toy dogs that are big barking material. I am not at all surprised when a given dog does not bark at a stranger or when it does bark at someone it knows quite well. It just happens. Nobody can absolutely count on a physically dog either barking or not barking in a given situation.

I keep hearing so many conflicting stories about the dog, it makes you wonder if there is more than one dog! Today Damon couldn't even get the age of the dog right or even when they got the dog. He disagreed with what Brenda said at PH about when they got her and whether or not she could bark.

I thought I had read before something about the dog peed in Danielle's room and that's why they had the steam cleaner out. Today Damon said the dog doesn't pee in the house if they keep it shut up in a room, so normally they do. Huh?

Also, what was it about a dead dog across the road from where Danielle's body was found? When the searchers smelled the dead dog it occured to them they should be searching by smell as well as by sight? Huh??

Irene, no offense intended, but if they won't bark at intruder in your home. Get rid of all three and get one good dog.

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