Posted on 07/10/2002 3:17:09 PM PDT by FresnoDA
By Kristen Green
STAFF WRITER
June 30, 2002
In the first four weeks of David Westerfield's murder trial, jurors were schooled in scientific evidence such as blood and DNA, fingerprints and fibers. Now they'll get a crash course in the life cycle of flies.
Westerfield's team of lawyers is expected to launch his defense this week, and lead attorney Steven Feldman has hinted that he will use insect biology to prove 7-year-old Danielle van Dam died after police and reporters began tracking his client's every move. That would mean Westerfield couldn't have killed the child.
"This would be very powerful evidence," said San Diego criminal defense lawyer Michael Pancer. "I can't think of what the state would say if this point were pinned."
Using forensic entomology, scientists can estimate when the girl died by determining the age of insects, generally flies, found on her body.
"They generally get to the body before police do, and they lay eggs," said Bernard Greenberg, professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The prosecution may call the same expert to the witness stand.
Because of the gag order in the case, no one can provide a timetable for witnesses, clarify facts or discuss strategy.
Feldman has raised the possibility that Danielle may have been killed up to two weeks after her mother reported her missing. Her body was dumped in a brushy rural area in East County.
"You're going to be convinced beyond any doubt that it was impossible, impossible for David Westerfield to have dumped Danielle van Dam in that location," he said on the first day of the trial.
Death's timetable
The jury has heard the prosecution's theory of Danielle's death from Dr. Brian Blackbourne, the county medical examiner. He testified that the girl's body could have been in the weeds along Dehesa Road 10 days to six weeks when it was found Feb. 27.
Forensic entomologists believe they can narrow that window of death, and coroners don't disagree.
Forensic entomology, the use of insects in legal cases, has gotten a boost in mainstream recognition from crime television shows such as CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," whose main character frequently uses insects to solve crimes. NBC's "Crossing Jordan" also has an insect expert, nicknamed "Bug," in the cast.
In the real world, the application of forensic entomology to crime investigations has become more common since it was introduced in the United States in the 1970s.
Insect biology has been used in a number of San Diego County cases, including that of Daniel Rodrick, who was convicted in 1997 of killing his wife. An entomologist's testimony helped narrow the time that the victim's body probably was dumped in Pala.
The reason attorneys frequently use entomology is that establishing the time of death is difficult for medical examiners, said San Diego insect expert David Faulkner.
"After 24 to 48 hours, things start to get pretty fuzzy," he said.
A medical examiner relies on three factors to make an assessment, Faulkner said: the amount and distribution of rigor mortis, the change in body temperature and the degree of decomposition. But after several days, rigor mortis dissipates and the corpse assumes the temperature of its environment.
Insects can give more specific information because they have a definitive development period that can be meticulously measured, said Faulkner, who collected insects during Danielle's autopsy and is listed as a potential witness by the prosecution and the defense.
He said his testimony will probably be more useful for the defense, but added the gag order prevents him from discussing his findings outside court.
Faulkner described the collecting of insects from a body as painstaking, similar to the collecting of other scientific evidence.
Generally, he said, forensic entomologists go where a body is found and remove insects from the corpse and areas under and near it. They frequently focus on flies, but also look at other insects, including ants and beetles.
Most of the insects are preserved with alcohol so they can be studied later, Faulkner said. Some of the larvae collected are placed in containers with a piece of liver so they can grow to adulthood, which enables scientists to identify each insect with certainty.
The scientists gather climate data, such as daily temperatures and precipitation measurements, for the time the victim was missing.
Weather is important because a fly's development varies according to conditions. Humidity and daytime highs help forensic entomologists better pinpoint the time flies complete a life cycle.
"The insects will tell you when the body was available to them," Faulkner said.
Fly's life and times
Expert witness Jason Byrd, an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., said making insects interesting to the jury is difficult.
Flies have a brief life span in warm weather, as short as 21 days. But they can live six months in colder weather.
They are attracted to the corpse's smell, and either lay eggs or deposit larvae. In about a day the eggs hatch into larvae, or maggots, which live on the dead tissue and develop quickly.
Depending on the species and temperature, eggs reach maturity, or the pre-pupal stage, in five to 12 days. From eggs, maggots feed on and then migrate from the body to form the pupal stage, similar to the cocoon stage of the butterfly.
After it leaves the body, a maggot shrinks in size, and the outer covering hardens into what looks like a miniature football. The adult fly develops in that football, called the pupae.
On average, it takes 14 to 24 days for the eggs to reach adult stage, depending on weather.
The longer a body has been left outside, the less precise an entomologist's estimated time of death.
A number of factors can delay insects from reaching a body. For example, burial in a shallow grave, strange weather or wrapping the body in a blanket can delay detection by insects for a few days.
"They'll get there, but they're not going to get there as quickly," said M. Lee Goff, one of eight certified forensic entomologists in the nation and chairman of the forensic sciences department at Chaminade University in Honolulu.
Danielle apparently wasn't wrapped in a blanket or buried in a shallow grave. However, Faulkner has described the weather in February as unusual.
Jurors in the Westerfield trial have heard powerful scientific evidence over the month the prosecution has been presenting its case. But their responsibility is to determine beyond a reasonable doubt whether Westerfield killed the girl, and the defense has not begun.
Witnesses for the prosecution have testified that DNA from a bloodstain on Westerfield's jacket and on the carpet in his motor home matches Danielle's. The victim's DNA was obtained from one of her ribs after the autopsy.
Jurors also have heard that a hair found on a bathmat in Westerfield's motor home could be hers, and DNA tests of a hair found in the motor home's sink drain matched her DNA.
Witnesses also testified that fibers wrapped around the victim's necklace matched fibers found in Westerfield's bedding and laundry, and an expert said two fingerprints found on a cabinet in his motor home were left by her.
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Kristen Green: (619) 542-4576; kristen.green@uniontrib.com
Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
If you listen to local SD news & talk, they don't seem as impressed with Faulkner's testimony. RR's reporterette & callers were saying that it's not the smoking gun that Feldman had claimed & others had hoped the Bug Guy would've been. Very few seemed swayed. Perhaps, it's just the call screener who let's through those who aren't impressed or convinced. What's that we always hear about media bias?
Does anyone know where DvD went to high school? We know he went to college in Gainesville but he lived in SE FL before college. Where in SE FL? Also, where in FL does Denise now live? Just curious ...
Slap my mouth. I am always saying David for Damon. Guess I need to start using the initial talk, DVD, then nobody will know I am thinking David. ;-)
First, CYN, nice comment. Your literary skills are admirable.
SECOND- Although those of us that believe DW is NOT GUILTY think FELDMAN won that one, and those that think DW is GUILTY think DUSEK won, the truth is that NEITHER WON.
[I was attempting to transcibe the testimony, and do so in a neutral manner. I.E. not making judgments, just trying to listen, summarize and write it down. Funny how that can change your perspective. Especially when you don't stop after you hear what you want, then ignore the rest.]
Depending on your viewpoint, and what other evidence you think is important or has been proven true, you could have taken this battle either way.
Feldman had the bug guy establish the body was THERE NO LATER than the 16th, and that due to lack of Beetle Larvae, MOST LIKELY could not have been there longer than that.
DUSEK established that the body could have been there BEFORE the 16th due to a margin of error, and that margin got pretty wide due to factors like unusual weather, lack of rain.
Other factors could counter it.
DUSEK introduced but did not prove that other factors (like the body being contained) could affect the timing determination.
IT really all depends on how the JURY perceived it. Doesn't matter what we know or see or think.
Just like the FIBER evidence, there was a lot of COULD,SIMILAR,LIKE, that to us meant they HAD NO ABSOLUTE PROOF.
Well, the bug guy stated his specialty was the FLY infestation.
The beetle grubs (the lack of them) was a factor to him, in that he didn't know why they weren't there, and couldn't explain it. THAT IS NOT PROOF EITHER.
So before we all go open a bottle of champagne and start celebrating, remember; IT STILL BOILS DOWN to what the JURY thinks MEANS SOMETHING.
Thank you.
Which trial have they been listening to? Faulkner clearly stated facts and conclusions from those facts that would force any reasonable person to decide it was impossible for DW to have disposed of the body. If he didn't get rid of the body, who did? Damon is looking more and more suspicious all the time.
SABRE SPRINGS ---- An optimistic Damon van Dam spent more than eight hours Saturday meticulously searching barren desert dunes and posting fliers at small businesses throughout east San Diego and Imperial counties in the hope of finding his missing 7-year-old daughter.
A search team from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department will look for Danielle van Dam in an area of Poway today.
On Saturday, shortly after dawn and well into the twilight hours, Damon van Dam and a high school friend drove a blue van across large sections of sun-dappled desert in areas such as Glamis, Ocotillo, Borrego Springs and Brawley. They handed out scores of fliers seeking help in finding Danielle, a Creekside Elementary second-grader who police say was last seen by her father Feb. 1 when he tucked her into bed at the family's home on Mountain Pass Road.
Police have said they believe the girl was abducted and that detectives have focused their investigation on a neighbor who lives two houses away. No arrests have been made, nor have any signs of Danielle surfaced.
Meanwhile, nearly 170 volunteers from the Danielle Recovery Center spent the day scouring the same desert locations for clues into Danielle's disappearance, coordinators said. The search efforts were being orchestrated from several locations, including the Glamis Beach Store, the Ocotillo Volunteer Fire Department and Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs.
"Although we are searching out here in the desert areas, I don't want people to stop searching San Diego," said Damon van Dam, who also spent part of Saturday recruiting more people to help search for his daughter.
Members of the San Diego County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team will search a northern area of Poway close to the van Dams' Sabre Springs home today, police officials said Friday.
The region, bordered by Espola and Poway roads, has not been searched, and police said last week that they have information that a search in that vicinity will be useful. They have not said why they waited until today to search that area and San Diego police Capt. Ron Newman declined to comment further on the planned search.
Damon van Dam was advised by police not to search the desert himself because crucial evidence discovered may be tainted as a result of his involvement with the case, his wife Brenda, 39, said Friday.
But Damon van Dam said Saturday he was traversing the desert with information about Danielle because it was an opportune time to reach throngs of people who are in the desert for the three-day Presidents Day weekend.
A neighbor of the van Dams, David Westerfield, 49, told reporters and police that he was in the desert the weekend Danielle disappeared. The neighbor has been questioned repeatedly by police, and investigators have impounded his motor home and taken several items from his house for analysis, police have said.
The number of volunteer searchers Saturday had dwindled substantially since last weekend, when the Danielle Recovery Center was established at the Double Tree Golf Resort in Carmel Mountain Ranch, coordinators said.
About 170 people are searching this weekend, a little more than half of the center's goal of 300 searchers. Last weekend, more than 400 searchers participated in the hunt.
"We are at the mercy of whoever walks through our doors," said Fiona Oberrick, a deputy director of the center. "We are so grateful for all of the selfless generosity of the hundreds of volunteers and donations from local businesses."
Oberrick said people returning to work last Monday and those with travel plans this weekend contributed to the decline in the number of searchers.
Marc Klaas, founder of the Polly Klaas Foundation, said the public may lose interest in the case if media coverage gradually declines.
Klaas said he believes people will be sympathetic to Danielle's disappearance and want to help if they see the little girl's face in the media frequently. "We need to create an effort to encourage people to come back on a regular basis (to volunteer)", said Klaas whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly Hannah Klaas, was kidnapped from her Petaluma home in 1993 and later found murdered.
His whereabouts Sunday are not accounted for. And the fact that he wasn't making a phone call while dumping the body is hardly a surprise.
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