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Westerfield On Trial (WEEK 1 Recap): Brenda Van Dam, Dad's Bar
KGTV 10 News-San Diego ^ | June 7, 2002 | KGTV

Posted on 06/06/2002 10:15:36 PM PDT by FresnoDA

Westerfield On Trial....WEEK 1 Recap....

 

Day 3: Brenda Van Dam, Dad's Bar

Mother Of Murdered Girl Breaks Down On Stand

Posted: 7:16 p.m. PDT June 6, 2002
Updated: 7:42 p.m. PDT June 6, 2002
SAN DIEGO -- No concerted effort was made between Brenda and Damon van Dam to withhold "lifestyle" information from police officers investigating the disappearance of their daughter, the mother testified Thursday.
Brenda van Dam was on the witness stand most of the third day of David Westerfield's kidnap and murder trial.

Westerfield, 50, is accused of abducting and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam and could face the death penalty if convicted. The child's mother reported her missing the morning of Feb. 2.

Brenda van Dam told prosecutor Jeff Dusek she disclosed to officers everything about her "open marriage" once they made it clear that it was important.

The mother said she didn't discuss her decision not to disclose information with her husband.

"I would have told (the police) anything they needed to get Danielle back," the mother said.

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Brenda van Dam said nothing else was taken the night Danielle was abducted.

"I wish they'd taken everything else but her," the mother said tearfully.

Earlier in the day, Brenda van Dam testified there were never any sex parties at her Sabre Springs home.

She later said that during a Halloween party last October, she and her husband had sex with a friend and her husband in the van Dam home.

Westerfield, a self-employed engineer, is accused of kidnapping the second- grader, killing her and dumping the body near rural Dehesa Road, where it was found more than three weeks after she disappeared.

Brenda van Dam broke down a minute into her testimony, when asked to name her children and give their ages, then later while testifying about a father-daughter dance Danielle was scheduled to attend with her father a week after she vanished.

Dusek asked the mother about the first of two "girls nights out" at Dad's Cafe in Poway with two girlfriends. Dusek asked if any men were invited to the Jan. 25 get-together at Dad's Cafe. Van dam said no.

"Was there a sex party at your house when you got home?" Dusek asked, hoping to pre-empt an anticipated defense attack on the mother during cross-examination.

"There's never been a sex party at my house," she responded matter-of-factly.

She also described previous contacts with the defendant -- she had said he bought her a drink at Dad's -- including a visit to his house with Danielle and her younger brother to sell Girl Scout cookies.

While the children were playing in his back yard, she said the twice-divorced Westerfield told her he was interested in her friend, Barbara Easton, who had caught his eye at Dad's.

On the second outing to Dad's, Easton walked right up to Westerfield and began talking to him, van Dam told the court.

Brenda denied dancing with the defendant on either occasion.

Earlier in the day, Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne was asked about the cause and time of Danielle's death.

The girl's body was so decomposed when found by a volunteer searcher that it was impossible to establish a cause of death, Blackbourne had said Wednesday.

Thursday, he estimated her time of death at anywhere from 10 days to six weeks before the body was found Feb. 27.

Blackbourne also said it was possible that air temperature could be a variable in judging when she died. That led defense attorney Steven Feldman to suggest that especially hot days in late February could have accelerated the decomposition process.

In his opening statement Tuesday, Feldman told the jury that Westerfield could not possibly have dumped Danielle's body after Feb. 6, because he was under constant scrutiny by the police and the media.

"Is it your professional opinion (Danielle) could have been alive Feb. 6?" Feldman asked.

"Based on my observations? Yes," Blackbourne said.

"Feb. 7?"

"Yes."

"Feb. 17?" Feldman pressed.

"Possibly, yes," Blackbourne answered.

"Depending on the weather conditions, Feb. 22nd?" Feldman asked.

"That's pushing it for what I can accept," Blackbourne said.

He also testified he checked Danielle's body for signs of sexual assault but found none, primarily because of tissue damage from decomposition and animal activity.

Wednesday, the child's father admitted he lied to police about use of marijuana in the garage of his house the night of Feb. 1 -- hours before his daughter turned up missing.

He also told the court that on prior occasions he engaged in sex with both of Brenda's female friends.

A bartender at Dad's Cafe in Poway characterized Westerfield as a "people watcher," but termed a police report on the behavior of Brenda van Dam and two friends inaccurate.

Sean Brown said he was at work as a bar manager on the two nights that have come up in testimony in the case: Jan. 25 and Feb. 1.

It was Feb. 2 that the Sabre Springs 7-year-old was discovered missing.

Westerfield would talk to a regular customer, "hang out" and watch people as they drank and danced, Brown said. The bartender said he never saw the defendant dance or play pool.

Brown said Westerfield would drink 16-ounce rum-and-cokes.

"I believe David had a few drinks," Brown said of Feb. 1. "He was feeling good. He'd taken the edge off. I don't believe he was drunk."

He said the same about Brenda van Dam.

"I don't think she was drunk," Brown testified. "She was in good spirits but was in control of herself. She wasn't slurring."

Under cross-examination by co-defense counsel Robert Boyce, Brown said a police report containing his statements on the behavior of Brenda and her two friends was inaccurate.

Brown testified he warned prosecutor Jeff Dusek about the discrepancy during the lunch hour -- hours before he testified.

The statement from police indicated the women were "flirtatious toward males" and "partying hard."

Brown testified that the women were having fun as girlfriends do. He said he never saw them act inappropriately.

Brown was dismissed as a witness as the court day ended.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: vandam; westerfield
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To: Karson
Strange is the understatement of the year!!...I had not heard about the pee pee dance, what is next??...
241 posted on 06/07/2002 10:14:41 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Doc Savage
BUMP for "most likely" to be true...if not proven...POST 162
242 posted on 06/07/2002 10:15:31 PM PDT by FresnoDA
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To: Karson
CNN.COM 3/11/2002

Investigators say Danielle was killed by Daniel Alan Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer who lived just two doors away. The motive was sex, they say. Searches of Westerfield's property revealed child pornography and spots of blood matching Danielle's DNA.

243 posted on 06/07/2002 10:16:01 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Karson
she sometimes slept in her younger brother's room. Why?

To hide from daddy...or others?

244 posted on 06/07/2002 10:17:50 PM PDT by nycgal
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To: Karson
Maybe Westerfield's blood is has very similar DNA to Danielle's.

Could Brenda have once been Brenda Westerfield, one of Daniel's ex's?

245 posted on 06/07/2002 10:21:36 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: John Jamieson
How similar is a child's DNA to his or her father's? Just curious...
246 posted on 06/07/2002 10:22:07 PM PDT by tetelestai
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To: Karson
I need to look that up. It's that sleepwalking thing. DvD went next door to ask the new neighbor if he's seen her because she sleepwalks. Why the heck didn't he ask David. He was there loading the RV. Or was DvD using that opportunity to throw a rag or two in the RV? Besides, is going to the bathroom really sleepwalking, I don't think so.

Apparently Danielle liked to sleep other places than her bed. Why did this child barricade herself in the bathroom as well? This is all to weird and sinister. Some of the stuff separately isn't that big a deal. It's just that there's all of it.

247 posted on 06/07/2002 10:29:27 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: tetelestai
Should be half mom, half dad, I think.
248 posted on 06/07/2002 10:29:58 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: John Jamieson
No. DW's first marriage was in the early 70's. Divorced 79, I think. Shortly there after married second wife. Married 16 years 2 kids, divorce 1996. Her name is not Brenda.
249 posted on 06/07/2002 10:34:07 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: Jaded
Was DW's girlfriends daughter, Danielle, ever questioned in regards to the bikini pics of her?
250 posted on 06/07/2002 10:36:12 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: nycgal; All
To hide from daddy...or others?

Thinking back to when my children were growing up, the only times they ever slept in each others' rooms was when they were afraid, such as bad weather etc..

When 2 of my daughters were small they "spent the night" with each other on Christmas Eve because they were afraid of Santa coming into the house during the night. But they didn't tell me the real reason until they were grown. I thought it was just a tradition with them. lol

251 posted on 06/07/2002 10:36:34 PM PDT by Karson
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To: Jaded
Apparently Danielle liked to sleep other places than her bed. Why did this child barricade herself in the bathroom as well? This is all to weird and sinister. Some of the stuff separately isn't that big a deal. It's just that there's all of it.

Exactly. I need to make a list of things that bother me about all this. The "sitting in the bathroom for a long time" is one of those things too.

252 posted on 06/07/2002 10:41:20 PM PDT by Karson
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To: Jaded
Brenda could have been the third woman for the later one, about the time Danielle was born?
253 posted on 06/07/2002 10:42:35 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Karson
Well, much as I loathe the VDs, I have to say my kids sleep in each others' rooms all the time. Some people just prefer to sleep with someone else. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a more sinister reason in this case.
254 posted on 06/07/2002 10:46:41 PM PDT by Politicalmom
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To: John Jamieson; All
Maybe Westerfield's blood is has very similar DNA to Danielle's.

The authorities took DNA samples from DW and the VDs, therefore they could determine if Danielle is not DvD's child if they wanted to. It would be very easy to do. I doubt they would tho with no reason to suspect it.

255 posted on 06/07/2002 10:47:59 PM PDT by Karson
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To: Rheo
Daniel's girlfriend had a daughter Danielle, and Brenda had a daughter Danielle. This is getting weird folks.
256 posted on 06/07/2002 10:49:37 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Karson
Just the names are enough to do it. Why are police not using his real name?
257 posted on 06/07/2002 10:51:13 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Politicalmom; All
... I have to say my kids sleep in each others' rooms all the time. Some people just prefer to sleep with someone else.

True. As Jaded has posted "Some of the stuff separately isn't that big a deal. It's just that there's all of it."

Did you hear Brenda when she said something about having to admit that "our poor dog is neglected" because they don't walk her often enough? I think it was more than their dog that was neglected and possibly abused... in more ways than one. JMO

258 posted on 06/07/2002 10:59:52 PM PDT by Karson
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To: John Jamieson
This is getting weird folks.

Yep, it sure is.

259 posted on 06/07/2002 11:02:27 PM PDT by Karson
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To: All
So, Detective Armstrong looked thru over 68,000 images from DW's 4 computers and a Palm Pilot and found no prepubescent child pornography.

So they have some animation cartoons (disgusting all the same), and downloads from websites showing "teens" but did not try to verify if those were in fact teens or over 18 gals that look young....didn't dust the zip drives or CD's for prints....gotta keep reading to see what they do have I guess.

260 posted on 06/07/2002 11:06:06 PM PDT by Rheo
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