Posted on 06/12/2002 6:18:11 AM PDT by FresnoDA
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:39 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
LOL!! Good question, Rheo. I tried to get mine deleted to eliminate the confusion, but then Frez's looked to be deleted. I barely figured that out and his thread reappeared. I'm dizzy too.
We ought to probably post on this one since there is more information here. Just a thought.
It may be that the Judge, or trial rules, prevent bringing up those issues.
Reading the trial transcripts again and they can't keep a story consistant but yet they are cleared and DW is targeted from the 2nd day based on a hose, sweat marks and he is cooperative....it sure would help if the investigators explained that they took these steps w/all of the neighbors and registered sex offenders.
sw
Thanks for the ping, Kim. lfs
SAN DIEGO ---- Two detectives testified Tuesday that David Westerfield cooperated with police during an initial search of his house and motor home, but sweated profusely on that cold February day.
The detectives ---- Johnny Keene and Maura Parga ---- said that they were sent to interview Westerfield because he was one of the few people who wasn't home when police made an earlier sweep of the Sabre Springs neighborhood where 7-year-old Danielle van Dam lived.
Westerfield, 50, is accused of stealing Danielle from her bedroom and murdering the second-grader. Prosecutors have argued that he committed the crime to satisfy a sexual desire for young girls. A twice divorced father of two, Westerfield faces the death penalty if convicted. He also is charged with a misdemeanor count of child pornography.
Westerfield lived two doors down from the van Dams.
For the first time since the trial began, Danielle's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, were allowed to sit in the courtroom. Over the objections of Westerfield's attorneys, Judge William Mudd said the couple could watch the proceedings because testimony regarding events they were personally involved in was over for now.
The couple quietly sat in the back row, holding hands through much of the testimony.
Brenda and Damon van Dam each spent several hours on the witness stand last week, answering intimate details of their lives and the events leading up to their daughter's disappearance. The couple also have two sons.
Westerfield's defense attorneys have emphasized the van Dams' admitted drug use and sexual relations with other couples, implying that their lifestyle choices put their children at risk.
In the second week of the trial, the focus is turning to Westerfield.
Most of the testimony on Day Five of the trial centered on Westerfield's interviews with law enforcement officers immediately after he returned from a rambling weekend trip that took him from the coast to the desert and back. A TV reporter who interviewed Westerfield the same day as the detectives also took the stand.
Jurors watched the brief videotaped interview, which shows a balding Westerfield joking with reporters about whether he should put on a hat.
On Tuesday, Keene and Parga described the first police interview with Westerfield after he returned from the weekend trip two days after Danielle disappeared.
Keene said that Westerfield gave a long narrative about where he went that weekend. He also said that Westerfield signed a consent form allowing police to search his property and vehicles. "He said he had no problem talking to us," Keene testified.
Keene said that Westerfield told him about his trip, which began in the early morning Feb. 2. Westerfield told Keene that he went to pick up his motor home, which was stored about eight miles from his home. Keene said Westerfield told him he then returned to his house in the motor home to stock up on groceries and fill the vehicle's water tanks.
Keene said Westerfield said that he took his motor home on a several-hundred-mile trek from Poway to Silver Strand in Coronado, back to Poway, out to several desert areas, including Glamis and Borrego, before heading back to Coronado on Sunday and then back to Poway on Monday.
Westerfield said he got stuck in the sand twice, Keene said. Once he was pulled out; the other time, he dug himself out.
Keene testified that Westerfield told him that at one point Feb. 2 he returned home to Sabre Springs to look for his lost wallet. Keene added that Westerfield said he noticed all the activity in his neighborhood, heard from a neighbor that Danielle was missing, and went to check his pool for her.
After that, Westerfield said he left for the desert, figuring one his neighbors had his business card if police needed to get a hold of him, Keene testified.
On Feb. 4, Westerfield said he again returned home.
Keene and his partner, Detective Parga, said they spent 10 to 15 minutes walking though Westerfield's house and motor home that day.
The detectives also testified about two things that struck them: how profusely Westerfield sweated while being interviewed, and a garden hose left strewn across the lawn.
When asked by defense attorney Steven Feldman if Westerfield's sweating might be a normal reaction to finding seven police detectives and the media outside your house after a trip, Keene answered, "Not necessarily."
Feldman also asked if Keene knew whether Westerfield took a heart medication that might affect his sweating. Keene said he didn't know.
Each detective said they also were struck by a garden hose sitting in the middle of Westerfield's otherwise near-perfect lawn.
"That told me that whoever left the hose out was in a hurry," Parga said. "It just didn't seem right."
In Westerfield's bedroom in his house and in his motor home, there were no comforters on the beds, they said.
Parga, who repeatedly described the inside of the house as "beautiful," said she saw a load of dirty tan bedding piled up on Westerfield's home dryer.
She said she started to examine the bundle, lifting up part of the linens, when Westerfield began directing her to the garage. Parga said she could see dirt on the bedding and Westerfield told her that was his desert laundry.
"At the time, I didn't know this was going to be important at a later date," she said.
Prosecutors have said that fiber evidence found on Westerfield's washer matches fibers found in Danielle's body bag. The attorneys also said that fibers found in Westerfield's motor home were similar to fibers from Danielle's bedroom.
Feldman then questioned each of the detectives about the possible cross contamination of evidence from the van Dam home to Westerfield's house or his motor home. Keene said he has never been in the van Dam home. Parga said she went into the van Dam home the day before she went to Westerfield's house and his motor home.
Parga said she thought she wore different shoes on each day, and under questioning from Feldman said she was asked to write a police report on the issue of her shoes.
Prosecutor Jeff Dusek then asked Parga whether she saw any detectives walking across the beds in Westerfield's home or motor home. She said she hadn't. Dusek asked her if she saw any detectives shaking their shoes over the sink in the motor home ---- where prosecutors say some of Danielle's hair was found. Parga said no.
Then he asked whether she shook her shoes over Danielle's neck at the recovery site. Parga said no.
Contact staff writer Kimberly Epler at (760) 739-6644 or kepler@nctimes.com.
6/12/02
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