Courtroom images flickered across TV screens and the voices of lawyers asking questions echoed from radios Thursday in North County as the first week of the David Westerfield homicide trial ended.
There is even audio available over the Internet for the computer-savvy as the evidence unfolds in the kidnapping and slaying of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam of Sabre Springs during the first weekend in February.
"Everybody's glued to the Westerfield trial," said Detective Gene Burch at the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Encinitas Station. "It's all over the station here. It seems like it's captured the whole county."
At Ranch and Coast Escrow Inc. in Vista, radio sets were on quietly around the offices.
"She was a little girl," said Alicia Thompson, escrow assistant. "How can someone hurt a little girl?"
Thompson and Gena Evans, a receptionist at the escrow company, said workers there want to see how the trial plays out. Children being attacked, kidnapped or murdered is a major problem, she said.
The Westerfield case is a bigger news story, Evans said, "because there are a lot of spaces in between (the case) that aren't adding up."
At Evans Tire and Service Center in Poway, the TV set was off Thursday afternoon because there weren't any customers waiting for service. But the trial drew a lot of interest Wednesday, assistant manager Ruben Rios said.
"That's all they were watching yesterday," Rios said. "They were into it, too."
Even at the Vista jail, where TV programming is controlled, the inmates are watching small parts of the trial, said Lt. Doug Clements, jail watch commander.
"Everyone seems interested in the case, but I don't know how much actual interest they have in the trial because it doesn't affect them," Clements said.
At the San Diego County Sheriff's Communications Center in Kearny Mesa, dispatchers can watch the trial on television during their breaks, said Lt. Jim Duffy, watch commander. He said between calls dispatchers also glance at the silent televisions featuring closed captioning.
Duffy said he thinks the interest at the dispatch center, where the dispatchers routinely handle heartbreaking 911 calls and searches, is a combination of community and professional interest.
Not everyone is watching or listening, including Joan Bagnowski, an employee at the Escondido Antique Mall. "I'm not watching it because I just can't deal with all the graphic information regarding that poor little girl. Or her parents," Bagnowski said.
Two doors down Grand Avenue in Escondido, Lois Moore sat on a bar stool at Pounders Sports Pub directly across from the TV set.
"I kind of want to see somebody get in trouble on this so the rest of the predators on children will get a red flag," Moore said. "I want to see who wins."
Just outside the bar, Pounders customer Mike Henkel said there was just no way to escape the trial coverage.
"Everywhere you go, it's on," he said. "You can't get away from it."
Contact staff writer Jo Moreland at (760) 901-4085 or jmoreland@nctimes.com.
6/7/02
Whoda thunk it?