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TOW TRUCK DRIVER CLAIMS WESTERFIELD TALKING TO SOMEONE: Phone Records Trace Westerfield's Movements
KNSD NBC ^ | June 13, 2002 | KNSD NBC

Posted on 06/13/2002 4:28:33 PM PDT by FresnoDA

TOW TRUCK DRIVER CLAIMS HE HEARD WESTERFIELD TALKING TO SOMEONE!!!

Phone Records, Witnesses Trace Westerfield's Movements

Witnesses On Day 7 Show Movements

 

POSTED: 12:56 p.m. PDT June 13, 2002
UPDATED: 2:41 p.m. PDT June 13, 2002

 

SAN DIEGO -- The prosecution in the David Westerfield murder trial called on a cell phone company employee and several campers Thursday to verify the defendant's whereabouts the weekend Danielle van Dam disappeared.

A series of calls from Westerfield's cell phone in early February appeared to mirror his rambling motor home trip to the beaches of southern San Diego County and the Imperial Valley deserts, Verizon Wireless representative Greg Sheets testified.

But on cross-examination, Westerfield's defense attorney, Steven Feldman, sought to show that the cell phone calls were not a reliable record of Westerfield's locations that weekend. Under questioning by Feldman, Sheets admitted that the records don't give precise locations and don't identify the user of the phone.

Westerfield is charged with kidnapping and murdering Danielle. He could face the death penalty if he's convicted.

The prosecution also called a series of witnesses who were at Silver Strand State Beach on Saturday, Feb. 2. Westerfield said he drove his motor home to Silver Strand that morning.

Beverly Jean Askey of El Cajon testified that her family was already at the beach when a motor home that she later learned was Westerfield's pulled into a nearby space sometime before 10 a.m. It was a nice, sunny day she said, yet no one came out of the vehicle.

"He just pulled up, he pulled the front window closed and I never saw anyone again," Askey said.

Two other campers said they saw Westerfield's motor home and noticed that it appeared closed up.

Earlier, Angela Elkus, a resident of the Sabre Springs neighborhood where the van Dams and Westerfield lived, answered questions about the motor home. She said she had seen children playing around the vehicle three or four times when it was parked on the street, but she said they were mostly older children. She also talked about a visit to the van Dam home after Danielle disappeared.

  Elkus said she had never been to the home before, but she brought food over for the family on the Sunday after the little girl disappeared. She said that the family's dog appeared "scared, shy, confused and perfectly still" when she came in the house, and it did not bark, she said. Legal analysts say prosecutors want to convince the jury that a stranger could have come into the house and taken Danielle without the dog barking.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: vandam; westerfield
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To: spectre

Witnesses say Westerfield behaved strangely at campsite

Photo
Beverely Askey, left, and her daughter, Teresa Hastings, testified Thursday that David Westerfield behaved strangely at a beachside campground the morning Danielle van Dam was reported missing.

SAN DIEGO — A tow truck driver testified Thursday that he heard an unidentified voice near David Westerfield's secluded campsite the day after 7-year-old Danielle van Dam went missing.

"I thought I heard someone say something," said Dan Conklin who helped Westerfield pull his motor home from a dune outside the desert outpost of Glamis.

"Did you think you two were alone?" asked prosecutor Jeff Dusek.

"Yes," said Conklin.

The driver said that when he asked Westerfield if he had said something, "he responded either 'I didn't say anything' or ÔI wasn't talking to you.' I can't remember which."

With his testimony and that of several other witnesses Thursday, the prosecution suggested Westerfield kept Danielle in his RV for some time after her abduction the night of Feb. 1. Searchers found her naked body by a roadside Feb. 27.

Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer who lived two doors from the van Dams, maintains he had nothing to do with her murder. He told police in two separate interviews that he spent the days after she vanished meandering alone through southern California in his RV.

Westerfield said some of that roaming was a search for his misplaced wallet, but a park volunteer contradicted that assertion Thursday.

Donald Raymond, a retired superintendent who volunteered at the Silver Strand State Beach Park last winter, said Westerfield had his wallet Saturday Feb. 1 when he came to the office of the park campgrounds.

A ranger had refunded Westerfield $30 after determining he overpaid a camping fee, but Westerfield insisted the ranger was wrong.

"After being quite agitated about it, he pulled out his wallet and showed me three or four $20 bills," said Raymond.

"I've never had anyone be agitated about getting too much money back," he said.

Teresa HastingsOthers at the beach campground testified that Westerfield behaved strangely. Joyce Rodgers, who was in a nearby RV, said his motor home pulled into the parking lot Saturday morning between 10 and 11 a.m. with all its curtains drawn.

"Everyone we know that drives a motor home leaves them open, you know, for a better view of changing lanes," said Rodgers.

She and another camper, Beverly Askey, testified that as soon as the RV parked, Westerfield closed the curtain on the front dashboard, completely sealing off the vehicle's interior from view.

It was so unusual, Rodgers said, that she and her son-in-law began discussing "why did the front window get closed? Maybe he had a girlfriend. Maybe he had just been traveling and needed to rest."

While others biked and strolled in the bright sun, Westerfield remained in his RV. Askey and other motor home owners who testified said campers normally set up their sites by spreading a carpet, rolling out the awning and fixing jacks to the vehicle to prevent rocking. Westerfield, they said, did none of that.

Westerfield told investigators he stayed only a short time at the beach because the weather was bad. Defense lawyer Steven Feldman pressed both women about conditions at the water.

"It was beautiful. It was sunny. Cool, but sunny," said Askey's daughter, Teresa Hastings.

Park ranger Brian Neill, who initially returned the $30 to Westerfield, said the defendant did not immediately answer a knock on his RV door. Neill said Westerfield denied overpaying, but took the money. He did not go back into the vehicle until the ranger left, Neill said.

"He didn't move until you moved," asked Dusek.

"Yes, sir," said Neill.

But when Feldman asked the ranger if Westerfield "appeared to be concealing anything at all," he answered no.

The defense lawyer also grilled tow truck driver Conklin about Westerfield's conduct. Conklin said Westerfield seemed to be in a hurry and even rushed off without taking some wood blocks he apparently used as jacks. But, Conklin conceded, Westerfield was "more put-out than nervous."

The driver drew chuckles from the jury when he explained why he had refused to cooperate with a defense investigator. Westerfield, he said, still owed him $70 for towing him.

"They're getting paid," he said of the defense team. "And I'm not getting paid. I said, Pay me and I'll talk to you."

Jurors also heard Thursday morning about calls made to and from Westerfield's cellular phone the weekend of the abduction. According to records presented by Verizon Wireless representative Greg Sheets, Westerfield's phone placed seven calls, received two voice mail messages and checked voice mail twice. Other prosecution witnesses are expected to identify who Westerfield called, but Feldman suggested some of the calls were to his 18-year-old son, Neil.

Westerfield told police he returned to the Silver Strand between 7:10 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday night. Sheets read jurors records showing that a call from his phone at 7:33 p.m. traveled through a cell tower in Mira Mesa, 22 miles from the beach. According to Sheets, calls are routed through the tower closest to the caller's location. If there is congestion, the calls are bounced to the next closest tower.

The towers that relayed the rest of Westerfield's calls that weekend appeared consistent with his account of traveling to the desert in between trips to the beach.


261 posted on 06/13/2002 10:45:28 PM PDT by FresnoDA
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To: FresnoDA
I guess pickings were kinda slim! But I think it was a panic phone call from Barb.
262 posted on 06/13/2002 10:45:46 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: FresnoDA
You are so naughty!
263 posted on 06/13/2002 10:46:13 PM PDT by nycgal
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To: FresnoDA,all
Check out this dirtbag and post 25..

Rapist/Terrorist?

264 posted on 06/13/2002 10:46:39 PM PDT by rolling_stone
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To: FresnoDA
Do you wonder why WESTERFIELD pulled up stakes, and abandoned his campsite at Silver Strand

You're so bad. lol

I thought he said he left someplace because the people were "noisy" but now I wonder if I misunderstood him and he said "nosey"?

265 posted on 06/13/2002 10:46:57 PM PDT by Karson
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To: FresnoDA
He did say he didn't care for heavy women!!
266 posted on 06/13/2002 10:49:46 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: nycgal; all
Thanks nycgal for finding and posting that. I find it odd that Brenda thought it odd.
267 posted on 06/13/2002 10:50:41 PM PDT by mommya
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To: FresnoDA
Why do NONE of these witnesses dress properly for court? Massive Cleavage every where...
268 posted on 06/13/2002 10:52:13 PM PDT by Mrs.Liberty
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To: Rheo
correction.....he said he was not interested in a heavy woman.....(attaching facts to the above comment I made in jest...didn't mean to imply he was uncaring about heavy women..just not interested....hit post too fast)
269 posted on 06/13/2002 10:54:56 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: all
Just looking at this part again...what does it mean?

24 Q. I WANT TO SWITCH JUST FOR A MOMENT. 25 YOU MENTIONED TO MR. DUSEK -- MR. DUSEK JUST ASKED 26 YOU WHETHER YOU HAD GIVEN LAW ENFORCEMENT PERMISSION TO 27 TAPE-RECORD YOUR TELEPHONE. DO YOU RECALL THAT QUESTION? 28 A. I DO. 3852 1 Q. DO YOU RECALL AT SOME POINT IN TIME, AT LEAST 2 UNDERSTANDING THAT THERE HAD BEEN SOME FORM OF EITHER PHONE 3 TRAP, PHONE TRACE OR PHONE TAPS ON YOUR TELEPHONES? 4 A. NO. 5 Q. DIRECTING YOUR ATTENTION TO APPROXIMATELY THE 16TH 6 OF FEBRUARY 2002, DO YOU RECALL GETTING A TELEPHONE CALL, A 7 MESSAGE CONCERNING YOUR DAUGHTER? 8 MR. DUSEK: OBJECTION, HEARSAY, BEYOND THE SCOPE, THIRD 9 PARTY.

Could just be some whacko called them and said "I know where she is" or something?

Why does Feldman say approximately the 16th - he must know exactly if at all.

270 posted on 06/13/2002 10:56:24 PM PDT by mommya
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To: mommya
I guess her maternal instincts kicked in (for a couple of seconds) when she saw a perv getting close to her daughter. Too bad she didn't stay home that night and possibly prevent her daughter's murder.
271 posted on 06/13/2002 10:57:21 PM PDT by nycgal
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To: Rheo
Back to the ramp discussion...the article says wooden blocks. I guess that is where I heard the reference to wood.
272 posted on 06/13/2002 10:58:39 PM PDT by Jrabbit
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To: mommya
The warrant on the phone tap on one # was 2/12-3/30 and on the cell from 2/15-2/19...who would have known their cell #?.....let me know if my info is wrong...going on memory as to which number was which.
273 posted on 06/13/2002 10:58:55 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Jrabbit
Feldman asked him on cross if the ramps could be described as firewood...he said yes....so you heard right!
274 posted on 06/13/2002 11:00:52 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: FresnoDA; All
Beverly Askey says she saw Westerfield's motor home arrive at Silver Strand State Beach sometime before 10 a.m. on Feb. 2.

All these differing timelines are driving me nuts! First the VDs and friends and now all these other witnesses.

I'm confused. Maybe it will make more sense when I think about it tomorrow.

275 posted on 06/13/2002 11:01:19 PM PDT by Karson
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To: Rheo
Probably all the piza club, maybe Westerfield.
276 posted on 06/13/2002 11:01:22 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: Rheo
I'm not in the know about any warrants regarding VD phonetaps. Why would they be dated so specifically? Did they have to sort of renew them or something? I would've figured they'd tapped it from day one till who knows when.
277 posted on 06/13/2002 11:05:20 PM PDT by mommya
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To: mommya
just read that again....sounds like she knew permission had been given but not that it had actually been done....so phone was tapped, they were unaware...message was left regarding Danielle....prosecution objects...hmmmm
278 posted on 06/13/2002 11:05:34 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: mommya
I would have that from day one also that they would be tapped...perhaps they were and the warrants I read online were only those two and more exist for the 2/2-2/12,2/15....anybody know??
279 posted on 06/13/2002 11:07:19 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Karson
I think when DW's phone calls are identified his weekend wanderings will fall into place. Right now, looks like he was hung over and tired Saturday morning. Got up fairly early and headed to the beach. He naps there with curtains drawn until ranger wakes him up. Does he then realize Danielle is missing, from cell phone call or radio report? Leaves the beach and heads home to check his house and pool, and to pick up his credit cards. The neighborhood is a zoo by then, he realizes he will have not peace there so heads for the desert, where he gets stuck in the sand and spends the night. The next morning has to blow $150! to get towed. I would be pissed about that and want to hightail it out of there also. He's having a bad weekend and he just got rolled by Gomer Pyle the tow truck driver.

BTW, Gomer never got the rest of his money 'cause DW was under police surveilance or in jail ever since he got home.

On another topic, could DW be right about not overpaying at the beach? If he used aa ATM that weekend the bank would have the record and the DA would have it by now. Where would he get a $50? At Dad's? Those bills are not that common. The ranger did not see if DW had his wallet. The old timer is the only one who saw it and his credibility has to be low with the jury. BTW some people do not keep their bills in a wallet --- they use a money clip or leave bills loose in pockets. The wallet is used for ID, credit cards, etc. This could be why DW had cash that moring but no wallet.

280 posted on 06/13/2002 11:07:43 PM PDT by BigBobber
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