2nd Bug Expert Bolsters Westerfield Defense: (Dusek Melting Down Before Juries Eyes!!)

SAN DIEGO -- The trial of David Westerfield resumed Monday with more testimony about insects, as defense lawyers tried to show that their client was not the person who dumped Danielle van Dam's body along a two-lane road in East County.

Before testimony began, Judge William Mudd warned jurors to ignore last week's murder of a young girl in nearby Orange County. Mudd said that the abduction, sexual assault and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion "bears no relation" to the trial of David Westerfield.

Westerfield's trial had been in recess since July 11 so the judge could take a previously scheduled vacation.

Westerfield, 50, lived two doors from Danielle, who vanished after her father put her to bed the night of Feb. 1. Searchers found the girl's nude body on Feb. 27 along a rural roadside east of San Diego.

Neal Haskell, forensic entomologist A forensic entomologist, testifying Monday for the defense, said Danielle's body could not have been dumped at the roadside before Feb. 12, according to his analysis of flies and larvae collected during an autopsy. The blow flies that were found on the body typically descend on a cadaver shortly after death, but it can take longer in cooler temperatures, entomologist Neal Haskell said. Based on his analysis of the temperatures in the area at the time, Haskell (pictured, right) put "the time of colonization" likely at Feb. 14 and no earlier than Feb. 12.

Prosecutors challenged the defense's weather data.

Haskell's testimony puts the time the body may have been dumped several days earlier than suggested by a previous defense witness, entomologist David Faulkner. The defense has seized upon the time of death, which could not be precisely determined, to suggest that the body was dumped at a time when Westerfield was under constant police surveillance.

Westerfield was put under observation soon after Danielle disappeared, according to police testimony. He was arrested on Feb. 22.

During Haskell's testimony about insects devouring Danielle's body, the girl's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, stared at the floor as they sat in the back row of the courtroom. It is the first time that Damon van Dam has been in court since Judge William Mudd banned him from the proceedings almost a month ago as a security risk. Mudd restored his trial privileges just before going on vacation.

Lawyers for Westerfield have said they expect to offer two to three more days of testimony.

No, it just isn't possible! The experts are right.

Dry areas are ideal for flies, no mold on their larvae, no competing insects...

Cold or frozen areas like Canada, however, not only have FEWER flies, but NONE while the cold lasts.

Just see how quickly they appear in clouds in the spring though, as soon as it is even 40 degrees!

And on Dehesa the daily highs were in the 65-to-80 range during the whole time Danielle was there.

While SD County is classified as desert, it is NOT the "barren" desert you keep trying to paint it. I have spent a lot of time at Camp Pendleton and at the Marine Corps base at 29 Palms. 29 Palms is the kind of desert YOU are describing. It STILL has flies. SD County has a lot of rainfall, especially at that time of year... and is quite lush and green. During the summer it gets brown in a lot of places, as does much of California as a whole. You are reaching far too much, methinks. And you are wrong. Learn some basic geography before you start making statements such as these.

BTW, the bug guy's logic is NOT circular; however your constant harping does bring to mind some round things... I am just not sure what.

It would screw the theory if :

A. flies are the same all over.

No, flys have to be the same all over. What got me looking this way is the remarks made by a canadian bug guy that there are times in the winter that the bugs theories don't work. I also was interested in a comment that the prosecutor seemed to get the bug guy to make that paraphrased "he knew the bugs were available because they were there". Everyone laughed at the dumb prosecutor for that comment but I wondered if he didn't want to set the stage for something else because he also wanted to call witness that would testify about the body.

B. El Cajon is not desert.

The newspaper article I read described it as one. In any case its not the label that matters but the bug population in the area and whether bugs behave the same when the conditions are very dry.

Avila was all over SD county, he had a phone in apt in Chula Vista, had a job in Temecula.

If he, with his known tendencies, did not at least show up to ogle the sights in connection with Van Dam/Westerfield, I will give my mouse a 2 week vacation.

My own judgment is that the DEFENSE in the Van Dam matter have a pretty good idea who did this, but it is NOT THEIR JOB to find criminals and prosecute them.

All Feldman's job is, is to obtain a result whereby the jury says the Prosecution has not proven that a crime was committed, or if it was that DW did it. End of chapter.

As a last resort, if I were Feldman, I might tell the judge in chambers who really did this crime and show him the evidence, if I were sure the jury was out for blood and hanging, ...and the judge would be duty bound to dismiss the charges IMHO at that point, no matter who was winning or how much time, money, and effort the trial had taken up.

Jaded - I think you were contemplating a missing piece of the puzzle regarding Brenda and/or Danielle having been in the MH in the past - well I keep thinking of Rich's testimony - talking about the MH - remebering when he heard Brenda and Damon talking about it......

A: YES. I'M SURE IT WASN'T A GROUP OR. . . LIKE I RECALL ONE TIME TALKING, THEY WERE TRYING TO GET THE MOTOR HOME STORED, NOT PARKED ON THE STREET.

So it seems like Brenda and Damon were somehow actively trying to get the MH moved off the street - but why - just an eyesore maybe - or was there more to it? I personally do not trust Brenda or Damon to tell the truth. What if the reason they wanted the MH moved is because it was more of an attractive nuisance - attractive to thier kids or dog - and a nuisance for them - cuz they had to keep track of the kids and the dog and keep them away from it.

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2nd Bug Expert Bolsters Westerfield Defense

Expert Says Fly Infestations Show When Danielle's Body Was Dumped