Father of slain girl testifies
KIMBERLY EPLERStaff Writer
SAN DIEGO ---- A sometimes tearful Damon van Dam took the witness stand Wednesday in the trial of his daughter's accused murderer and admitted he initially lied to police about his drug use the night his daughter disappeared.
He also testified that he previously had sex with both of his wife's friends who came over that night in February.
 Dan Trevan/AP Photographer |
| Damon van Dam, father of Danielle van Dam, rubs his eyes while testifying in David Westerfield's murder trial in San Diego court. Westerfield is accused of the kidnapping and murder of 7-year old Danielle van Dam in February 2002.
Forensic dentist Dr. Norman "Skip" Sperber testifies about victim Danielle van Dam during the murder trial of David Westerfield in San Diego court. |
Van Dam, a software engineer, said he was not immediately forthcoming about smoking marijuana that night because he was afraid of getting into trouble and he didn't think his relations with the women were relevant to Danielle's disappearance. He said he later told police everything.
"Since realizing the magnitude of the situation, I've opened my private life up and given every detail possible to get my daughter back and now to get justice for her," Damon van Dam said.
David Westerfield, 50, is accused of kidnapping Danielle, 7, from her bedroom the first weekend of February and murdering the Sabre Springs second-grader. The self-employed engineer faces the death penalty if convicted of the charges.
He also faces a misdemeanor of possessing child pornography. Prosecutors say the pornography shows Westerfield's motive for the alleged crime.
During the second day of the trial, jurors also heard testimony Wednesday from the forensic dentist who identified Danielle's body and the medical examiner who declared her death was a homicide, but was unable to determine a cause of death. The medical examiner also testified that he was not able to rule out the possibility that Danielle was suffocated.
Westerfield's defense attorney, Steven Feldman, attacked the credibility of Danielle's parents and questioned their lifestyle and the caliber of the company they allowed in their home the night their daughter disappeared.
Brenda van Dam waited in the courtroom hallway during the day's testimony. Judge William Mudd has ruled that the couple will not be able to sit in on the trial until they no longer are needed as witnesses. Mudd told Damon van Dam on Wednesday that he would be notified when he could be a spectator at the trial.
On the stand for more than three hours, Damon van Dam ran through the events of that evening from the time he got home from work to the early morning hours when his wife and her two friends returned from a girls night out. At times during his testimony, his voice cracked and he began to cry.
Under questioning from Feldman, Damon van Dam admitted having had sex with his wife's friends, each time with his wife present, and once with one of the women's husbands present.
On the night Danielle was last seen, Damon van Dam said he only "snuggled" with one of the women after she, the second woman and his wife came home from the bar. He said they kissed a few times while lying on his bed.
Damon van Dam also testified about waking up twice that night, the first time around 2 a.m. to the sound of his dog whimpering. Under questioning from Feldman, Damon van Dam said the dog was behaving strangely. He said the second time he woke up was between 3:15 and 3:30 a.m. Damon van Dam testified that he saw a light flashing on his alarm system, which meant a door or window was open. He said he found the back sliding glass door slightly ajar, closed it, and went back to bed.
Damon van Dam said he didn't think anything of it and didn't check the children. The next morning, Danielle was gone.
Damon van Dam testified that he and Brenda van Dam frantically searched for their daughter after his wife found her canopy bed empty when she went to wake her in the morning. He said they checked under the stairs, in the Jacuzzi, anywhere Danielle might be. Then he ran up the street and drove around the block. Brenda van Dam called 911.
"We both were trying to think of the next place to look, just running around, shaking," Damon van Dam said.
The day's other two witnesses dealt with trying to find out what happened to Danielle, whose body was found nearly four weeks after her parents reported her missing.
One, forensic dentist Dr. Skip Sperber, testified that he was able to identify the body found under a tree in the rural East County as Danielle's by comparing X-rays he took with dental records made while she was alive.
He also testified that four of her upper front teeth were knocked out. One was found in her mouth. The three others are still missing.
The prosecutor's theory, as presented in opening arguments Tuesday, is that Westerfield kidnapped Danielle to satisfy a sexual fantasy for young girls, then suffocated her by placing something, either a hand or a pillow, over her nose and mouth. They said her missing teeth are evidence of how she was killed.
Sperber testified that the front teeth are often lost in decomposition, but because the body was found face up, the teeth would have been in the area. He said it was unlikely an animal had taken the teeth because they have no real nutritional value. Other parts of her body were missing.
Jurors were shown 11 more photographs of Danielle's decomposed body during the testimony. Some were close-ups of her mummified face. Others showed her decomposed torso. Several jurors looked like they were having a difficult time with the photographs. One was visibly shaken.
Sperber said it was possible decomposition or some sort of trauma that knocked out the teeth, or a combination of the two. Under questioning from another member of the defense team, Robert Boyce, Sperber said any ideas he had about what happened to the teeth would be speculation.
He did say that Danielle had large crowns, or the white portion of the tooth, and slightly short roots, which would make it easier for her two front teeth to be knocked out.
The last witness of the day was the county medical examiner, Dr. Brian Blackbourne, who conducted the autopsy on Danielle. He said he was not able to say exactly how Danielle died, but was generally able to rule out gunshot wounds, a stabbing, poisoning, strangulation or disease because there were no sign of such traumas to the body.
Blackbourne said he could not rule out suffocation as a cause of death, but it was unlikely to leave any telltale signs, especially on such a decomposed body.
"There's no real positive finding one way or the other," Blackbourne said.
Testimony will resume this morning with Blackbourne returning to the stand. The trial is expect to last up to three months.
6/6/02