[FresnoDA]

Police: Hair Like Danielle's Found In Westerfield's Sheets

Testimony Comes On 12th Day Of Trial

 

POSTED: 11:07 a.m. PDT June 24, 2002

UPDATED: 1:10 p.m. PDT June 24, 2002

 

SAN DIEGO -- A San Diego police criminalist said Monday that hairs similar to Danielle van Dam's were found in David Westerfield's bed sheets and in lint thrown in the defendant's trash can.

	Danielle van Dam Murder

Criminalist Tanya DuLaney (pictured, right) testified that a blond hair similar to Danielle's was found in a bottom sheet from Westerfield's bed.
"I observed one human hair that was similar to Danielle's," DuLaney testified.

The witness said she found two similar hairs on the top sheet. She said she also found three human head hairs in lint that appeared to have been removed from the defendant's dryer. DuLaney said she sent the hairs to an outside laboratory for genetic testing.

Prosecutors have not yet revealed whether a DNA analysis or other tests have confirmed if it was in fact Danielle's hair.

DuLaney testified that she also found 18 short animal hairs in the lint. She said that visual analysis of the dog hairs showed that they were all similar to the hair of the van Dam's dog, Layla. The animal hairs were sent to a veterinary genetics laboratory at the University of California at Davis, she said.

In Westerfield's motor home, DuLaney said she found carpet fibers that may have come from Danielle's bedroom. She said that her initial findings were based on visual examination of the fibers, and analysis by an outside laboratory confirmed that the fibers were similar.

DuLaney's testimony comes on the 12th day of testimony in the trial of Westerfield, who is accused of kidnapping and killing the 7-year-old girl in February.

Danielle, whose family lives across the street and two doors down from Westerfield's house, was reported missing from her second-floor bedroom on Feb. 2. Her badly decomposed body was discovered by volunteer searchers along a two-lane road in rural East County on Feb. 27.

Earlier, San Diego Police Department criminalist David Cornacchia testified that a blood-like stain found on a pajama top belonging to Danielle van Dam tested positive for blood. He said an area of discoloration on the left sleeve of a long-sleeved shirt belonging to the 7-year-old also tested positive for the presence of blood.

Last week, experts testified that hair and blood found in the defendant's motorhome and blood found on his jacket belonged to the victim.

[shezza]

The witness said she found two similar hairs on the top sheet. She said she also found three human head hairs in lint that appeared to have been removed from the defendant's dryer. DuLaney said she sent the hairs to an outside laboratory for genetic testing.

Prosecutors have not yet revealed whether a DNA analysis or other tests have confirmed if it was in fact Danielle's hair.

But isn't the testimony we're just now hearing confirming that although the hairs appeared similar to Danielle's, upon lab examination they were proven to NOT be from Danielle?

[spectre]

"One hair that was similiar to Danielle's"...

Shame on the prosecution...I'm embarrassed for them.

sw