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.
Us courteous posters have to stick together. If you don't toe the "Van Damnation party line" on this thread, you're in for heavy ridicule.
Just today, "Ilbay" and "cyncooper" are getting smacked around. Many who think DAW MAY be guilty have given up and left the thread; not needing the abusive treatment.
It is truly fascinating to observe how RUMORS become virtually FACT-like. How 1 3/16th inches of blood morphs into 3/16th inch, with the quick omission, of one digit, for example.
At a time when many people lease vehicles, a Toyota van gets replaced by a BMW. Do I KNOW the van was leased? No, I don't. But the regulars don't know one way, or the other, either.
I DO KNOW leases expire, even on Toyotas. Yet based on the smallest "clue" they conjur another chapter in some sinister story.
What to make of the regulars' reaction to the BMW? Does it just reinforce the "party line" agenda, that all things VD are by definition evil? Envy (subconscious)?
The blue van is not useful, for finding Danielle's hair, DNA, fibers and (small traces of) blood in it would be expected, just as paint from it under her nails could be expected, yet the speculation persists.
The regulars on this thread are not at all representative of a jury. The regulars are a "self selected" group of folks. Their predominent characteristic is NOT objectivity.
Possibilities include:
1. DAW killed her, or
2. Someone from VD family & friends killed her, or
3. Some other person killed her, or
4. Danielle wandered around for 14 days, eventually collapsing and dying along Dehusa Rd. (giving bug man credit, for TOD)
The largest amount of evidence points to DAW. Three more days of testimony will be in the minds of the jury, before they deliberate.
I don't like the idea of an innocent man getting convicted, but my intuition is that at least one juror will hold out for conviction = Hung Jury. I do not expect a conviction for murder. Would they retry DAW? Most likely yes.
In spite of the regulars, based on just what is known today (not what is speculated or hoped for) it is highly improbable the VDs or friends will be implicated. If further investigation takes place, who knows what facts will be uncovered?
I don't believe there is a statute of limitations for murder (they eventually convicted Skakel). Will one of the regulars write a book about the "Sabre Springs Mystery?" Complete with REAL proof about the "real killer?" Takers?
I'll probably get smacked around (again) for just what little this note reflects.
After all, I once not only drove a BMW, but I owned it outright, after five years of payments. At the time I bought it, I did drink alcohol, did not use drugs, did read Playboy, did not swing, had been on vacations and business trips overseas, owned two houses, danced in nightclubs, lived in California, seldom went to church, and was a diehard Reagan Republican.
That made me guilty of something, for just about everybody posting on this thread, so I quit drinking and dancing in nightclubs, and sold a house (which also generates a Trust Deed transaction, along with many other normal things, like trusts) and leased a different vehicle. I've almost covered my tracks.
If I was on the jury, I would wait until all of the evidence was presented, before deciding. Not being on the jury, I'll nevertheless wait. I will evaluate and weigh the items of evidence, individually and in overall combination.
And Lawson claimed that all the child porn came from someone using a hotmail account? Point this out for me. I don't think you can.
Westerfield is scum for not only doing what he did to Danielle but for dragging his son into this as well. What a piece of human waste.
Answer yes to these? Give me your address then.
True. And I know that it bugs "David is innocent..." weirdos that their is not one single solitary shred of evidence that this happened in this case. It doesn't stop some scumbags from pushing that "Danielle was sold into porno by parents" and other such disgusting crap. Do you denounce this sort of thing MizSterious??
Too bad none of their DNA matches up like Westerfields does.
Maybe they will in this case. The forensic use of bugs has to be VERY imprecise. Flies don’t just lay eggs on day one which hatch on day two, etc. etc. Other flies also lay eggs on day two, day three, day four … they are probably still laying eggs on day twenty-one, when the flies from the first eggs are matured. By day 25, the first generation flies are laying their own eggs.
Pick a maggot off the dead body … you can say when the egg was laid. You cannot say it was among the first eggs laid on the body after death.
Yeah just like Henry Lee was used by the prosecution hundreds of times. Then came OJ! Then Lee got "used" ha!
Much ado about nothing
The DNA fits...Westerfield fries.
No, it was Mit DNA from Danielle's Mother that matches, which meant it could have been Danielle's or her Mothers...or brothers. Not Westerfield's DNA (put on broken record here).
Too bad the LE didn't find any prints or evidence of DW in Danielle's room or home..then I would have been positive he did it.
Dave Westerfield must have been so drunk and sweaty that his hands just glided over everything he touched..no prints explanation, LOL!
And it's really too bad that Damon pulled a Mr. Clean and vacuumed his home prior to calling the LE. He must have also made sure that Danielle's room was clean too...Isn't it just a bit ODD that none of HER prints were in there either? Her OWN room? Can you just imagine the frantic "wiping down of that room" prior to calling 911 that morning. No wonder Brenda was out of breath!
Doesn't matter, they WILL convict him...Greg.
But I'll make a prediction. Because of the many people involved that evening, and because Damon can't control himself, we WILL know the truth about that night. No TWO people can keep a secret.
sw
Yeah sure.
The two remaining Van Dam sons are the real losers here. Not only do they have to deal with the loss of their only sister, but now, it looks like Mom and Dad are separating. Those two little boys really need some stability in their lives, and unfortunately, their parents are selfish and only thinking of themselves..
sw
sw
Guess Feldman doesn't know about the "mit" thing. Maybe you can contact him before it's too late.
Tell us, Greg..what is so WEIRD about DW?
sw
I'll wait for the "big finish" when Dusek's explains to us, (as promised) just how Westerfield was able to pull this crime off and how he actually accomplished the "almost perfect crime"...NOT!
So again, what's WEIRD about Westerfield?
sw
And apparently don't think much of it at all. Call Feldman up and tell him to get on the ball or something.
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