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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: John Jamieson
CNN.COM 3/11/2002 Investigators say Danielle was killed by Daniel Alan Westerfield

Maybe it is just the source that got it wrong?...or have you seen it elsewhere?

261 posted on 06/07/2002 11:08:09 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Rheo
What are you reading, I'm bored.
262 posted on 06/07/2002 11:08:56 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Politicalmom; Jaded; All
Did we ever hear anything else about a wiretap and phone call on 2-16-02? The judge called a side bar about it and Court TV cut away. I would love to know what that was about.
263 posted on 06/07/2002 11:10:35 PM PDT by Karson
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To: Rheo
Twice on the Web as "Daniel Alan" and several times as Daniel mixed in with David.
264 posted on 06/07/2002 11:10:37 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Karson
Seems like Feldman asked Brenda if she knew her phones were tapped, or suspected they were? I don't remember the date, but he might have said it.
265 posted on 06/07/2002 11:14:00 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: John Jamieson
Transcript Regarding porn

They are discussing the images....all from 1999 except for two, 12/01

266 posted on 06/07/2002 11:14:46 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Karson
Anybody remember that?

I remember it very clearly. I thought it was so weird at the time.

He was acting as if it was almost cool that he had been around or personally knew two other men who had experienced the same thing. It was bizarre !!!!

267 posted on 06/07/2002 11:17:31 PM PDT by Southflanknorthpawsis
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To: Rheo
I believe she will be a witness for the Defense. Pretty sure don't quote me though. I don't have the witness list. There are suppose to be 70 people on the witness list though.
268 posted on 06/07/2002 11:17:36 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: Karson
"Police were also given approval to search Westerfield's house and to record phone calls to and from the van Dam residence. The van Dams granted permission for the traces."

"The judge had given defense attorney Steven Feldman a chance to request that certain portions of the warrant and supporting documents be withheld."

269 posted on 06/07/2002 11:19:20 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Southflanknorthpawsis
Thought it was a son of somebody he worked with.
270 posted on 06/07/2002 11:19:30 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: Jaded
Do we know how old she is.....Danielle, DW's girlfriends daughter?
271 posted on 06/07/2002 11:20:09 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Rheo
Update on pics. It was the mother's camera and a pool party(not adult) at DW's. The mother e-mailed him the pics to print.
272 posted on 06/07/2002 11:21:16 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: John Jamieson
The VD's were either still in FLA or in Dallas when she was born. They've not been in SD that long.
273 posted on 06/07/2002 11:22:51 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: John Jamieson
Danielle was the 28th most popular girls name in the 90's. A little lower in the pecking order in the 80's. Not a biggie.
274 posted on 06/07/2002 11:25:04 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: Jaded
So, those pics of her....with her legs spread altho wearing a bikini, weren't even taken by DW but probably by some teenage boy?
275 posted on 06/07/2002 11:26:30 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Rheo
Not like the media really worries about accuracy.
276 posted on 06/07/2002 11:26:40 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: Rheo
Had to re read that......if those pics were that bad, why did the mom want them printed?
277 posted on 06/07/2002 11:27:55 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Rheo
It's possible. Could be the mother and she just pointed to get the whole body in the picture. I'm sure we'll get the specifics.
278 posted on 06/07/2002 11:29:25 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: Rheo
Probably 14-15 ish by now.
279 posted on 06/07/2002 11:30:13 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: Jaded
Thought it was a son of somebody he worked with.

That may be what it was. I just remember it and the John Walsh thing. It was as if he had joined some celebrity class or something.

280 posted on 06/07/2002 11:30:41 PM PDT by Southflanknorthpawsis
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