BREAKING: BRENDA VAN DAM DANCED WITH WESTERFIELD: (Modern Day Westside Story?)7-9-02 Trial Watch

KFMB ^ | July 9, 2002 | KFMB

[FresnoDA]

WITNESSES SAY BRENDA VAN DAM DANCED WITH DAVID WESTERFIELD

(07-08-2002) - Three defense witnesses testified Monday that Brenda van Dam and David Westerfield, the man accused of murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, danced together the night before the girl was discovered missing.

"Mr. Westerfield and Mrs. van Dam were dancing," said Patricia LePage, describing the scene at Dad's Cafe and Steakhouse the night of Feb. 1.

Since the prosecution introduced hair and fibers found at the defendant's house and motorhome, the defense has tried to show the evidence could have been transferred in some other way, such as dancing.

The 50-year-old defendant would face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping and killing Danielle van Dam, who lived two houses away in Sabre Springs. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.

In testimony near the beginning of the trial, Brenda van Dam told the court she did not dance with Westerfield.

But LePage said van Dam rubbed her hips and chest against Westerfield during several dances together, recalling the movie "Dirty Dancing." That was just part of what LePage described as "frisky" behavior exhibited by van Dam that night.

LePage said she was in a smoking lounge at Dad's with her daughter, Cherokee Youngs, when van Dam came in and struck up a conversation with the younger woman.

"Well, she did ask my daughter if she liked girls," LePage said when asked to describe the conversation. Van Dam, she said, asked Youngs if she wanted to come to her house for a party later that night.

Youngs testified about the encounter last week.

Duane Blake, a fisherman who said he goes to Dad's a couple times a week, said he caught a glimpse of the defendant dancing with van Dam.

Blake confirmed an interview with the District Attorney's Office, in which he described their dancing as, "huggy, huggy." He testified he even thought Westerfield might be trying to pick up on van Dam.

Earlier Monday, another woman testified she saw Westerfield dance with Danielle's mother.

Glennie Nasland, who began her testimony last week, said she was on the dance floor and saw the pair turn toward each other while dancing with other people.

Nasland, who described herself as a friend of Westerfield, said she watched them for 20 seconds before they turned away again.

In other testimony Monday, Dave Laspisa said that going to the desert to look for friends, and without bringing an all-terrain vehicle, was not an unusual activity for Westerfield.

The witness, a self-employed Poway man, said he's known the defendant for 15 years and has camped with him near the Imperial County community of Glamis for 10 years.

The witness was one of several people who testified as the defense began to move away from what happened at a Poway night spot the night before Danielle was discovered missing Feb. 2 to Westerfield's weekend wanderings.

Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman asked Laspisa to explain why someone would avoid Interstate 8 while taking a motorhome to the desert. Laspisa said high winds and black ice were common on that route, which traverses altitudes over 4,000 feet.

Heather Mack, a security guard at Coronado Cays, testified that she saw Westerfield drive his motorhome into the exclusive neighborhood in the afternoon or evening hours of Feb. 3.

Mack said Westerfield smiled and waved at her as he drove past her security kiosk, but she never saw him again.

The witness told Dusek that she originally told a police officer that she "vaguely remembered" seeing the defendant's recreational vehicle.

Glen Seebruch, an engineering manager at Nokia, testified earlier that Westerfield called him the morning of Feb. 1 and told him he planned to go to the desert that weekend.

Feldman, told Judge William Mudd that his case may be completed by the end of the week.

Insect expert David Faulkner is expected to testify about how long the victim's body may have been in the East County before volunteer searchers found it on Feb. 27.

Feldman has said Westerfield would have had no opportunity to dispose of the body because he was under constant police surveillance from Feb. 4 until his arrest Feb. 22.

[RnMomof7]

Could be the defense has decided to call Barb? Could be the BVD gets that is was not DW or that he will get "off" and is angry , could be that Damon confessed to her finally.

Sooooooooooo why would Brenda be upset? Maybe her breasts are leaking ? I can not come up with a reason

[Lucky]

dna blood expert bribed?
like some medical examiners?
possibility?

[kcvl]

What is the Pizza party? I missed that part.

[hoosiermama]

Bribed? ----NO
Blackmailed?----YES! (possible drug use/or swinging)

[Jrabbit]

With all due respect, what are you talking about? You asked pyx to stay and you don't think it's trolling. Got it. What 3 threads? Did you ask Jim Rob to pull them? If not, why bring him up? Denise hasn't made the headlines or you only think political parodies are allowed and fun? By the way, I've been a lurker here for a long, long time. I know all about personal attacks and debating. Just because I've only recently begun to post doesn't mean I need to be schooled on the rules of polite discourse. Wanted to be clear on that. It's been brought up frequently, not just by you. If I'm wrong about your intent, I apologize.

[spectre]

Oh, the Pizza Party is where they bought one Domino's Pizza for their family of 5 to eat for dinner and invited at least 4 others to come back to their home for "leftovers"...LOL!

sw

[Jaded]

You mean the swinging-wife-swapping, sorry, not politically correct, I'll start again. Beg pardon.

You mean the swinging-spouse-swapping going on in the house/garage with reversed locks cloaked in we're eating leftover pizza and cookies bunch? Or the Brenda, Denise, Keith and Rich were downstairs and Damon (loving devoted husband of Brenda) was upstairs in bed rubbing, kissing and snuggling with Barb?

Pizza party- stealth code word for orgy.

[jacquej]

I am really curious as to how big that everlasting pizza was... I know about the loaves and fishes, but really am trying to figure out just how many people the biggest Dominoes pizza can feed!

[Jrabbit]

Actually, I think Feldman may dispute the blood evidence. It seems that there are numerous markers used in determining DNA and he had several questions about it.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Waitaminute...I thought it was a frozen pizza? No...wait...I thought it was 2 pizzas? From Dominos? From the supermarket? I have no idea...the vD's story has changed so many times, I can't keep track. Nope...nothing suspicious about them at all...

[juzcuz]

Mornin---

I read some of the the signon SD postings yesterday One of the posters said (something to the effect) that Brenda was in court yesterday and heard what was being stated about her, by the witnesses, and she was seen running down the hallway in a 'CRYING HISSY FIT' demanding to speak to Dunsick.

Either she was very unhappy with the way Dunsick was handling things...or maybe she was looking to rectify her tarnished image with Dunsick.

[ThinkingMan]

With 4 boys (3 old enough to eat pizza) my wife and myself, we go through two larges plus bread sticks and wings. SO- THAT MUST BE A HUGE PIZZA PIE! (Or maybe it was stuffed crust, those are a bit more filling)

[Jrabbit]

Damon even testified that maybe before going to the garage the ladies of the evening had some of the ever growing pizza.

[Lucky]

Good, it could be wrong.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

An even bigger pizza if you factor in the beer/pot munchies.

[kcvl]

I THOUGHT there was actually a PIZZA PARTY that I somehow missed! I didn't realize the it's the SAME pizza that was ordered for the WHOLE family. LOL!

[Valpal1]

Now prove that journal entry exists or ever existed. It has not been introduced into evidence, not has the man claiming to have seen it been called as a witness.

The journal entry is a hoax story made up by a huckster.

[Freedom2specul8]

What 3 threads? Did you ask Jim Rob to pull them? If not, why bring him up?

I have NEVER asked for a thread to be pulled. The threads I am referring to were literally about personal attacks, flaming, following Jim Rob's rules etc. In fact, Jim Rob himself posted at least 1 if not 2 of them. I'll try to find you a link to one of them....

It wasn't my intention to tell you the rules as if you weren't following them or something, sorry to have given you that impression....I was just addressing the trolling part of your comment and that I was trying to get pyx to stay..regardless of how pyx debated.

THis part of my statement "aside from the differences in our opinions and how we decide to handle tham, personal attacks vs respectfully disagreeing/debating"..refers to my stance on debates and that I prefer to handle disagreements differently than pyx.

[rolling_stone]

I wonder if BVD took offense to how she was characterized dancing and such?

[kcvl]