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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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VideoAttorney Milt Silverman's Analysis Of Day 3
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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
I do remember that interview. Look for it on either the SanDiegoChannel or maybe the SD U-T site, signonsandiego.com. Check for the headlines about Klaas being in town; it will be around that same time.
301 posted on 06/08/2002 8:10:27 AM PDT by MizSterious
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To: MizSterious
I'm pretty sure BVD was on the stand. They went to side bar and Court TV went to commercial. She must have said something important to the case on that phone call. I guess we need to video tape the proceedings to try and figure these things out.
302 posted on 06/08/2002 8:25:18 AM PDT by Lucky
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To: MizSterious
This and the "eyes were green" are very telling comments..but may have been missed.
303 posted on 06/08/2002 8:25:51 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: Doc Savage
The way Westerfield looks at BVD makes me think that she led him on or had sex with him, and he is stunned that she is denying it.
304 posted on 06/08/2002 8:34:06 AM PDT by ethical
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To: John Jamieson
"They both passed polygraph tests." Kinda hard to believe with all the lies they have been caught in since.

Not really. Polygraphs are most likely passed by liars, people who tell the truth or are bad liars tend to fail them. That said a polygraph does not measure truth or lie, just breathing, heartrate etc. Liars seems to be able to give the polygraph what it wants more often than truthful people.

305 posted on 06/08/2002 8:46:22 AM PDT by ethical
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To: Lucky
I just checked the "running" transcripts over on Jameson's, and there was some mention of a wiretap: "Do you recall Dusek asking you about a phone trap on your phone?" The transcript shows an immediate sidebar, then the person taking the notes got knocked offline. Ouch. Maybe someone else was taking notes, so I'll keep looking.
306 posted on 06/08/2002 8:51:06 AM PDT by MizSterious
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To: John Jamieson
I really don't think that both of them being named Danielle means anything more than they were named Danielle. Not part of the puzzle, IMO.
307 posted on 06/08/2002 9:03:30 AM PDT by Jaded
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To: sbnsd
Story is all but one of the guests took a poly. The remaining guest lawyered-up and refused to take a poly. Guess is it's everybody's fave coach, Rich.
308 posted on 06/08/2002 9:05:08 AM PDT by Jaded
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To: MizSterious
I don't understand the "flusteration" part either. Did they not call 911 and report Danielle missing? Just where did the vD's think the police were going to start their investigation?

So was the "sleepwalking" statement to the next door neighbor the first seed planted but a better idea came up later,then "she only sleepwalked to the bathroom", to explain away the remark to the neighbor? Who gave them a better scenario for her disappearance?

Speculation only folks.........Silly questions running thru my head,per usual.

309 posted on 06/08/2002 9:06:14 AM PDT by BARLF
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To: MizSterious;RNMomof7;all
"...she walked away"

Add this comment to what I think I heard in the back-ground of the 911 tapes, of the kids yelling "she went outside, she went outside"...

Can anyone confirm what I just quoted from the 911 tapes?

sw

310 posted on 06/08/2002 9:10:44 AM PDT by spectre
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To: BARLF
The first "alibi" can be heard in the 911 tapes when Brenda told them the door was open...(something like that)...The sleep-walking came next with Damon telling his neighbor that she was known to sleepwalk.

Later, we find out, it was only to the "bathroom".

His description of her "potty-dance" in the midst of this "sleep-walking" experience, was about a lame as it gets.

sw

311 posted on 06/08/2002 9:16:18 AM PDT by spectre
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To: spectre
Oh my goodness!
312 posted on 06/08/2002 9:17:08 AM PDT by BARLF
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To: ethical
That seems to be a question that a number of people have. Will it be answered though, is anyone's guess.

The looks she's giving him, could wither anyone. It's almost like she knows he told something she didn't want out. Wonder what? The currents going on here are bizarre.

313 posted on 06/08/2002 9:17:43 AM PDT by Jaded
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To: RnMomof7
Oh, Mr. Feldman's server is working overtime these days.
314 posted on 06/08/2002 9:18:41 AM PDT by Jaded
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To: John Jamieson
"They both passed polygraph tests."

Depends what they were asked don't ya think?

315 posted on 06/08/2002 9:20:37 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: spectre
Is the dog a female? The kids may have been talking about the dog..that was often said by my kids of our dogs:>)
316 posted on 06/08/2002 9:22:06 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: spectre
#312 about hearing the kids in the back ground!

I missed PDvD's testimony regarding the potty dance. I can't help on the 911 tape because of a hearing impairment, background noise a big problem for me.

317 posted on 06/08/2002 9:24:06 AM PDT by BARLF
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To: Jaded
Perhaps future cases could be brought to FR for evaluation..*giggle**
318 posted on 06/08/2002 9:25:02 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: BARLF;MizSterious;Spectre; RnMomof7
Damon went to ask the new neighbor if he'd seen Danielle because she sleep walked. WHY didn't he walk a few steps further and ask David if he'd seen her as well. He was out there, loading his RV. Did DW see DvD and assume he knew something that happened the night before at Dad's? Why did DW really come back to the 'hood? Who was he meeting at the beach? Who stood him up?
319 posted on 06/08/2002 9:29:59 AM PDT by Jaded
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To: RnMomof7
Not a bad idea, Mom.
320 posted on 06/08/2002 9:32:07 AM PDT by Jaded
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