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.

[Greg Weston]

>>>Do you really believe that ?<<

I can't read his mind but it's a possibility.

[Spunky]

Dusek did not challenge the credentials of either entomolist as expert witnesses, so their testimony must be accepted as that of a knowledgable person in that field

I did not question whether they were expert witnesses or not. Rheo made the statement that there were only 9 entomologists. I corrected him and said that there were only 9 certified entomologists, of which Faulkner was not one of the nine certified. Just because he isn't certified doesn't mean he is not an expert witness.

[Rheo]

Dang...those pics from that site don't show up here...right click on it and show pic...see if that does it....I see it just fine w/IE.

[Politicalmom]

I am going to TELL YOUR WIFE!! (If I can figure out how to do that....)

[demsux]

Damn good find there, cyn

[Rheo]

Who you calling a him??:-)

[UCANSEE2]

See that you are getting emotional over this. Happens to everyone.

You trust the TV, the newspaper, Ken and John on the radio or whatever their names are, then you find out the BIASED (lied) the story to MAKE MONEY. They don't care if an innocent person goes to jail or is executed, as long as the MAKE MONEY OFF OF IT. If you think I am wrong, why are Networks itching to put an ELECTROCUTION on TV ?

IT SELLS!

The closer you are to the SITUATION, the less you can see of the WHOLE THING. No one blames you or is trying to say you are not intelligent.

What I am saying and others are is that maybe you have only gotten some very biased information to date.

The harder we work to help inform you , the harder you seem to resist. As another poster already said to you,

"Your dogmatic insistence as to his guilt does you no credit."

[Jrabbit]

Darn, would love to know about that phone call. Also would like to know if DVD messed up evidence on the alarm with his magnet trick.

[cyncooper]

"COULD SHARE A COMMON SOURCE" is light years away from "similar in every way."

Your argument is with the testimony,not me:

A: IN EVERY WAY THAT I COULD MEASURE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIBER TAKEN FROM THE NECKLACE AND EVERY CHARACTERISTIC I COULD LOOK AT, THEY WERE SIMILAR TO THE FIBERS THAT WERE FOUND IN THE LAUNDRY BOTH IN ITEM NUMBER 5, 6, 7, AND 9.

[Jaded]

Unfortunately, that is probably true.

[UCANSEE2]

It is a media tape

Thanks, Cyn. Gonna be an interesting day, no matter what it shows. Hopefully it will settle the DW issue, one way or another.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

I've clicked on the red x box and gone to properties. Once I enter the address and get the picture, it shows on the post. I have no idea how or why because I am a computer idiot.

[cyncooper]

Get over it.

And, my, aren't you pleasant.

[Travis McGee]

Oh yeah, and OJ had a double, an evil twin perhaps.

I think that an engineer knows what's on his computer in 100s of custom made files for easy access by category. Especially the CHILD RAPE VIDEO CLIPS.

You are really really reaching to say that somehow "somebody" downloaded 1000s of porno images and video clips and put them in custom titled files and DW never knew.

[UCANSEE2]

Good luck on that.

Hey, have you been following what Cyncooper has been saying? About the media tape?

[Rheo]

Darn, would love to know about that phone call. Also would like to know if DVD messed up evidence on the alarm with his magnet trick.

Me too!..And the colors in Danielle's multi-colored blanket...and where the magical appearing shell casing came from...and the source of the fibers found on Danielle but not in DW's environment..and why Feldman is bringing up the Pritchess? motion again....so many questions!!

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

I have a feeling that you haven't watched the trial.

[John Jamieson]

Travis be reasonable. Westerfield was worth a nice fraction of a million dollars (before he hired Feldman). If the man was the porno collector, you guys paint him out to be. If he really was a "Collector", you and I both know he would have thousands of dollars worth of high quality VHS and DVD porno, not a few free internet, lowres crappy videos, sitting in an evelope on a shelf, but a room devoted to his perverted ways. And if he did, it still wouldn't be "PROOF" he murdered anyone. You can't solve a murder with out determining the place, time, and method.

[connectthedots]

The defense should have made someone testify as to how long scent lingers...or did they already do that and I just missed it?

There was no scent in the MH, so why should the defense make someone testify as to how long a scent would linger. That would be more the job of the prosecution. One could safely assume the scent would last more than a few days and since there was no scent detected, Danielle could not have been in the MH at around the time she disappeared.

[JudyB1938]

That's what it does for me, too. I've been trying to figure that out about pictures for a long time.