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

NBC/San Diego ^ | July 22, 2002 | NBC/San Diego

[FresnoDA]

2nd Bug Expert Bolsters Westerfield Defense

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

 

POSTED: 6:58 a.m. PDT July 22, 2002

UPDATED: 2:28 p.m. PDT July 22, 2002

 

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.

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.

[Jaded]

The RV was confiscated by SDPD on 2/5 or 2/6. The SUV, as Toyota Forerunner was impounded and returned with a gift. SDPD attached at tracking device before they returned the SUV. DW couldn't even go to the bathroom with out LE knowing.

[VRWC_minion]

I thought that's what you might have been getting at, but, as I said before, the "pizza gang (four, non resident adults)" were nearly the last visitor's to be in the VD home, prior to print dusting and there was not a trace of any of those four, anywhere in the house.

Doesn't that boost your doubt that Danielle could have been in RV for a few minutes playing ? If four visiting adults left no prints how did one visiting girl leave any ?

Also, while DW's MH had many prints lifted from it, none of his own showed up in the area that was dusted. We know he was in his MH that weekend and because of all of the other prints lifted, we know he didn't wipe the surfaces clean of prints.

How do we know he didn't wipe some surfaces ?

Not to say it's not possible, but frankly, I find it easier to accept that she could have ventured into the MH on a previous occasion, than to imagine that, if DW had her held captive there, that he would have left her hands free to be touching anything.

I find it more likely that he didn't know she touched the cabinet in the bedroom than she happened to leave one and only one print while playing.

That's JMO though and it's apparent that you already have a well established opinion of your own.

My opinion is two days old and was based on the responses you and others have given me so far regarding the physical evidence. I cannot reconcile the probability that three (maybe four) remote things happened on a visit to play. The lack of fingerprints, the presence of a hair with a root in the trap and blood or blood like substances present. The chances of that occuring while she played is extremely remote. My guess less than 1% chance.

Add to that the defense has not presented one person/kid that can vouch than any child was ever in there and I cannot do anything but accept that she was in the RV right before she died.

If you can give me a reason that makes sense why these things would happen in a short visit then maybe I would change my mind about the physical evidence. Even if one person came forward to testify that yes, the kids did sneak into the RV ? I would have evidence that contradicts what this physical evidence indicates.

[John Jamieson]

He said he got there shortly after 7, but he couldn't have made it before 8 or so. He said he stayed until 3 or 4am and started back to Poway.

[Jaded]

16 print cards that Jeffrey Graham got on 4/17 when he returned to the RV to get more prints. Also he testified that he did not dust the entire RV for prints. Check the UT site 6/20 and 7/10, he testified twice.

[TamiPie]

Why was the VD's SUV fitted with a tracking device?

When they impounded the RV, that's when then found the fingerprints, fibers, hairs, blood stains, etc...., right?

If the bug experts are correct, then my humble theory is that MAYBE Westie kidnapped her, had his way with her in the RV, then gave her to someone else and THEY killed her.

[VRWC_minion]

And what physical evidence is that?

I feel like a broken record. See above post from me.

[crypt2k]

I wonder if the dead dog found near Danielle was taken and studied for maggot infestation.

Was an autopsy performed on the dog? Were toxicology tests ever performed on Danielle?

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

All this talk about weather conditions in San Diego is making me laugh.

I live here and our weather is rarely extreme. Dehesa Rd. is not like Death Valley or even like Palm Springs. Our temperatures vary somewhat from the coast to inland areas and the most extreme would be the mountains in winter.

El Cajon is not the desert and this whole talk of desert is very misleading to people that don't live around here.

[mommya]

VRWC - I was going to congratulate you for that great find - but when I went to the link I wondered who wrote it - so I went to the original site - did you? Bizarre. Found out who wrote the stuff and went to Amazon to see if I could find out what kind of guy this DR.Kenneth V. Iverson is - dunno much yet - but here's one of the reviews of this book that this stuff comes from....

Don't waste your money on this one ....,

July 27, 2001

Reviewer: A reader from Cardiff UK

This was a very disappointing book, particularly considering the good reviews it has obtained. The author bores his audience throughout with his stilted academic prose and the scholarship is weak, sometimes to the verge of pseudoscience. The section on premature burials is pure fantasy and many references are distorted or misquited to fit Iserson's preconceived theories. This book may well suit would-be morticians, but has little to offer any serious scholar.

I need to know more about this guy before I accept what he says as fact - let me know if you find anything else to support this stuff.

[VRWC_minion]

Allow me to 'clue' you in. It would be totally against the PATTERN demonstrated by the SDPD to have asked the kids that question. Anything information/evidence that would have ruled out DW as the perp was PURPOSELY IGNORED or DISCARDED.

Was the defense lawyer under the same obligation to ignore and avoid investigating ?

[John Jamieson]

You you be concerned about upgrading cars if your daughter had just be murdered? He bought a BMW and got rid of the van.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

Angie might work as Cherokee's mom. Shirley MacLaine might be better though.

[bvw]

Whether you are a broken record or not can't be said, but that the recording needle did miss your vinyl completely is truer.

[VRWC_minion]

Then maybe Dusek should get the expert from Canada to come testify. Is that Canadian expert from Vancouver?

My prediction-The Hawaian bug guy is going to turn the other bug guys upside down.

Read my posts and link regarding this guy above. I know they are long but you will see that this guy thinks outside the box.

[EllaMinnow]

It was established that it was not there.

It has been established that it was never there between November of last year and that Saturday morning in February.

[VRWC_minion]

BECAUSE IT WASN'T AN EXTREME ENVIRONMENT

Did you miss this

Desert climates with low humidity not only decrease or obliterate fly and maggots activity, but can also halt other forms of decomposition. Very dry climates may cause a body to naturally mummify, converting its skin and tendons to a leathery and parchment-like wrapping surrounding the bones, while the organs decay by autolysis and putrefaction. Paradoxically, heavy rainfall also slows fly activity, including egg laying. Maggot activity, however, continues-but with fewer maggots.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

I know they are long but you will see that this guy thinks outside the box.

May well be less convincing to the jury. I doubt the unconventional is what they are seeking.

[VRWC_minion]

.

Desert climates with low humidity not only decrease or obliterate fly and maggots activity, but can also halt other forms of decomposition. Very dry climates may cause a body to naturally mummify, converting its skin and tendons to a leathery and parchment-like wrapping surrounding the bones, while the organs decay by autolysis and putrefaction. Paradoxically, heavy rainfall also slows fly activity, including egg laying. Maggot activity, however, continues-but with fewer maggots.

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