WESTERFIELD TRIAL: Week Three - Day Four

San Diego Courtroom Trial | none

[NatureGirl]

Here's the new thread, all ready for Thursday.

Testimony recently discussed includes fingerprint evidence, as well as Westerfield's clean laundry. The Van Dam home was (strangely) devoid of fingerprints, except for a couple of latents that didn't match any of the pizza party people or, apparently, David Westerfield.

Westerfield's motorhome didn't contain any of his fingerprints, but did have one print from Danielle L. (the daughter of Westerfield's ex-girlfriend), Jennifer (a friend of Danielle L.), and a partial from Danielle Van Dam.

The prosecution said yesterday that they would be finished "in seven court days".

[cyncooper]

Don't 7 year olds lose lot's of teeth? Sometimes bleed from it?

Tooth or teeth were found in her throat. Coincidental loose tooth falling out at time of death? Unlikely. I would like to hear more about this. How many. If the tooth(teeth?)were deciduous and if they were, was it the normal time they would be expected to come out, etc.

[NatureGirl]

Add in the blood (some of her teeth were found in her throat

So, if I'm reading this correctly, you'd be saying that Danielle had to be alive in the motorhome. We're still looking at suffocation, right? If Danielle had her teeth knocked out, perhaps from being punched, there would have been trauma to the face as well.

So, let's say that DW smothered her with an object, with pressure hard enough to loosen teeth. DW picks her up to move her - there's the blood on the jacket. If her face was against the jacket lapel, how did blood get on the floor of the MH? And how did blood get on the curtain?

And what's more important - how did he get a live little girl into his SUV and into the MH - without anyone seeing her? If he had drugged her to keep her passive (say, so she could be bundled up in a comforter or something), drugs should have shown up in the autopsy.

[cyncooper]

I wasn't expecting (but was hoping) that they would find DNA evidence with the state her body was in. I wonder if they'll present an expert to give analysis of his scratches.

[cyncooper]

I can imagine ways of how blood got in the various places. But I really don't know. Nor do I know how she got from place to place or how it happened----yet.

[NatureGirl]

Tooth or teeth were found in her throat. Now, here's another one for someone with a better memory than mine. I remember listening to the ME testifying, and there was discussion about how the teeth fell out. What I can't remember is if he said it WAS possible that the teeth fell out due to the dehydration/mummification of the body, or if he said it was IMpossible for teeth to fall out under those conditions.

I wish I could devote more time to details like these. I hate not having a clear memory of things that I've heard.

[cyncooper]

Yes, I think those are good questions and I don't remember the detail either! Maybe I can do some transcript reading this weekend.

[NatureGirl]

Every day seems to bring a mass of questions.

I've got to go. It's stinking hot here, and I don't know how much sleep I'll get tonight.

Here's a link to what else I've been reading about this evening. FresnoDA would get the point ...LOL (sort of)

The Believers

[Jrabbit]

The blood on the MH comforter was DW's or matched his DNA. No DNA found on curtain. I don't know how that works. If tested positive for blood, isn't there DNA?

[fnord]

exactly! kinda like the pizza party, lol. and how did DW have the time to clean everything at the crime scene, hmmm?

[nycgal]

Did anyone post yet the significance of tests on Danielle's fingernail scrapings? There was no DNA found, more significantly, no DW DNA. So I would say it's virtually impossible that the scratches on DW's wrists came from a struggle with Danielle.

Wasn't PDVD wearing long sleeves while everyone else was wearing short sleeves when DVD was reported missing? I remember reading that on some of the threads.

[let freedom sing]

all this speculation on kids going in the MH has yielded exactly one set of prints from the neighborhood. And they just happen to be Danielle van Dam's. No other children from the neighborhood......too unlikely.

DW uses bleach after every... well. :-)

[John Jamieson]

The simple test for blood looks for Oxygen and is fooled by things like rust.

[Valpal1]

FYI. In the prosecution motion to compel discovery, it states that the defense refused all offers of samples for independent testing.

[BigBobber]

We may never know what happened. There are not enough clues. Between Damon steam cleaning the carpets and wiping the walls, neatnik Westerfield washing and wiping everything, and enough people with sordid details to hide and lie about, the trail is too faint.

Damon is still my lead suspect. He had opportunity and possible motive - rage, incest, or cover-up of accident. That stupid dog had something to do with it. It pee-ed or barfed, or chewed something up. Damon beat the dog to make it bleed. Perhaps Danielle came to dog's rescue and Damon went off on her, smashing in teeth and accidently killing her. Perhaps he threw her down the stairs. He was pumped up on beer and MJ.

Reminiscent of the Jeffery McDonald "Fatal Vision" case. His daugher wet in his bed and it set him off - he killed his whole family.

Damon got rid of the body before pizza gang came home. Then he steam cleaned the MB, where it happened. He was nervous about the stairs, too, because he cleaned those up the second night. The whole act about preserving Danielle's room because "something evil happened there" is just to throw LE off the path. Same with the magnet trick on the alarms and the open doors. Damon had to make it look like Danielle was taken from her room AFTER Brenda came home. That's the time when Damon has an alibi. After DW got fingered, Damon had to be sure the body was found, so he tipped off the searchers.

DW's actions are also very puzzling. I don't see his motive. Revenge for Brenda's bar snub? Child predator? Doesn't seem to fit. The blood specks on the jacket are very troubling, however.

[Valpal1]

CA has reciprocal discovery statutes. Although they give defense much more latitude. Nevertheless, the prosecution filed a motion to compel discovery on the part of defense, whose response was "we're still investigating".

[Valpal1]

The other problem is that one tooth was never found. Like the earing back and the pajamas, it is missing entirely, never located at Dahesa or elsehere. If the teeth fell out due to decomposition, why wasn't it found in her throat with the other one?

[Karson]

Is DW right handed or left handed? I know he sometimes takes notes during testimony but I've never noticed which hand he writes with. Does anybody know?

[Rheo]

We know they printed the windows and the corner cabinet as they obtained 4 latent prints..we don't know where the 2 UNiprints came from ...we also know they did not print the horizontal cabinet that runs the length of the bed, we know they did not print a kitchen cabinet, a 1st and 2nd pocket door, a drawer or the cab...we know they did not even ID the window prints as interior or exterior.

Jeff Graham went to the MH on 4/17 as he noticed the horizontal cabinet did not appear to have been powdered, also thought he could look for the earring back....while he was there, he did latents on the above surfaces that Savage/Lealcala didn't...he did recover 16 card impressions....unidentifable...and none as DW's...but prints so the surfaces were not wiped clean

My problem with this is not the lack of DW's prints but the fact the forensic specialist did not attempt to do more latents...why?

If the lack of prints in DW's MH means he wiped it down for sinister reasons, explain why BVD's prints were not ID'd on the doorknobs of the kids bedrooms, she shut the doors that night, why are her prints not on the garage door?..why are her prints not on the front door or MB door?..cuz they didn't print the front door or MB door.

I am just not going to say guilty yet...too many unanswered questions..would rather eliminate possibilities of innocence.

[Valpal1]

Well, some of the testimony kind of indicates he wasn't where he said he was Sunday evening/night. He could have been cleaning the MH then.

[Jrabbit]

Thanks for the blood/DNA info. Do you know if the hair evidence is over? I was waiting for the hair in the lint ball and on the body evidence. Also, the 2 long blond hairs on the medium size boxer shorts info. If these were tested and weren't Danielle VD will we just never know who they belonged to? Are you sorry yet that you answered my post?