Plea deal 'minutes away' when body found

San Diego Union Tribune ^ | September 17, 2002 | J. Harry Jones

[cyncooper]

Redden asked him if he was ever invited to the vd's, then Dusek paints an answer that he wasn't invited as evasive.

No, Redden asked him if he'd every been IN the vd's house and he responded with the "wasn't invited" phrase. I'm not saying you must infer, therefore, he was being clintonesque, merely pointing out that the question was not as you stated.

Also, I have seen several people now say that Dusek said he didn't have to prove ANYTHING. That is incorrect, as well. He had a burden of proof to meet, which he obviously accomplished.

[sneakypete]

None. Zip. They are nullities until and unless they can confront their own gross failings toward their child.

And what would their failings be, O' "Ozzie and Harriet one"?

They should not be treated unkindly or shunned.

We half agree here. No,they shouldn't be treated unkindly,but there is nothing wrong with people shunning them because they don't approve of their lifestyle. You don't HAVE to approve of anybody's lifestyle to have sympathy for them when they lose a child.

Heedless self-indulgence was and is their core problem. Why encourage it?

Unlike the self-indulgence displayed every day by cops who use their badge and the power of their office to dominate and abuse their fellow citizens,right. OOOPS! Sorry! I forgot. They aren't fellow citizens,are they? They are "civilians",right? AND,"It's for their own good". Gotcha.

Their selfish, self-indulgent, heedless, sordid lifestyle was destroying the little girl psychically, emotionally, and spiritually before Westerfield kidpapped, abused, and murdered her.

' Oh,HorseHillary! She was a little girl,and she knew no more about her parents sex lives than you knew or know about the sex lives of YOUR parents.

Only hedonist atomists (and there are many who infest FR) would deny that. Only hedonist atomists believe each person's behavior choices are hermetically sealed off from the rest of civilization, that they can be as "nasty as they wanna be," and still live in a secure, clean, and pleasant society.

I see. We would all be much better off if we kept our mouths shut,and just followed orders. Think maybe you could use your influence as a overseer to get us some of those nifty little Mao jackets?

Society is secure and pleasant only to the extent that there is a majority of decent and self-disciplined people who work hard to keep it that way.

I find the fascism of you and your "let's kick their doors in,and kill them if they resist! After all,they are lawbreakers,or we wouldn't be kicking their doors in and killing them,right" pals a LOT more repulsive than anything the Van Dams have done.

The filth dwellers freeload off the efforts of the moral and self-disciplined.

Oh,yeah.No mental and emotional problems on display here! Maybe we could send them off to labor camps to teach them a little self-disclipline,right?

I ache for Danielle when I think of the many times she must have been lying in her bed, acutely aware of what mom and dad and various strangers were doing just scant feet away.

Having a "Oprah moment" there,are you? One thing is for sure,there is nothing wrong with your imagination. I'm betting you can (and DO) picture it in your head,in full color and in stereo sound.

It sickens me that her parents would be so surpassingly callous and heedless.

You DO know your own parents had sex,right?

[cyncooper]

I ache for Danielle when I think of the many times she must have been lying in her bed, acutely aware of what mom and dad and various strangers were doing just scant feet away.

I'll be a van Dam defender here and point out that your statement here is not supported by any known fact, as the testimony is that when they engaged in the reprehensible behavior of swapping partners it was when the children were out of the house. Also, they engaged in this repulsive behavior with people they knew, not strangers.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Redden also asked him, either before or after if he had been in it if he had been invited there.

Dusek said in closing he didn't have to prove how she got dead or how dw kidnapped her, or something like that. (I don't have the transcript here.) But he said to the jury he didn't have to prove.....

I don't plan to rehash the whole case here. Ditter asked about my thinking and I told him/her where I was coming from.

I am perfectly content that you agree with the jury's conviction.

[Ditter]

I am truly sorry that you & a few others are suffering over the fate of what the majority of us consider, a piece of human waste. I really am.

[pinz-n-needlez]

thank you.

[Freedom2specul8]

THANKS TO REDLIPSTICK for finding this article:

http://www.760kfmb.com/personalities/rick_roberts/index.php
(09-17-2002) -

Barbara Easton: Mystery Woman
by David Gotfredson, LOCAL 8 News

"Forward." "Sexually aggressive." "Pretty loaded." "Intoxicated." "Toasted." "Nice." "Touchy-feely." "Grabby." "Really loose with the guys." "Kind of cute." "Fun chick."

These are just a few of the descriptions of Barbara Easton made in open court during the trial of convicted murderer David Westerfield.

Last month, a jury found Westerfield guilty of killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam in early February, and dumping her body off Dehesa Road in the East County.

Barbara Easton never took the witness stand during Westerfield's trial, even though she was one of four party guests who returned to the van Dam home on the night little Danielle disappeared from her bedroom.

Easton had been out partying with Danielle's mother, Brenda van Dam, and another friend, Denise Kemal, at Dad's Café and Steakhouse in Poway on the evening of February 1, 2002. The women ran into David Westerfield as they drank and danced, and eventually returned to the van Dams' Sabre Springs home with two other male friends.

As it turned out, Easton would be the only member of that party who would not be called as a witness in the murder trial.

To date, Easton has not spoken publicly about the events of the night Danielle went missing.

We caught up with Easton in her Clairemont office where she works as a loan consultant with a mortgage brokerage firm. She was listening to coverage of the Westerfield trial on the radio at the time. The verdict in the guilt phase of the trial had been announced just two hours earlier. Easton was still smiling.

"When I heard the verdict, I jumped for joy," Easton said. "Justice has been served."

Tall and slender, Easton, 46, is easy to talk to. She is guarded about the details of the van Dam murder case, especially when television news crews come knocking at her door. She would not speak on camera.

Since Danielle's death, Easton says reporters and tabloid news organizations have relentlessly pursued her for an interview.

"I've been offered $20,000 from the National Enquirer. And, I've been talking to Phil Donahue's producer," she told us.

Despite the monetary offers, Easton says she has no plans to sign any lucrative book deals or speak to the tabloid press.

"I wouldn't want to profit off the death of a beautiful little girl," she said.

Easton had been under subpoena by both the prosecution and the defense as a potential witness in the case. So, why was she never called to testify?

"I've been doing a lot of praying," Easton joked.

In fact, Easton believes she was never called to the stand because of her attitude toward investigators working the case. Easton apparently took issue with some of the questions she fielded about her personal life.

"I gave the police a statement. I was cooperative but I kind of copped an attitude with the officer. I got in the guy's face," she said.

When an investigator from defense attorney Steven Feldman's office came calling, Easton said she did not reply.

"I never returned her phone calls. That's why the defense never called me to the stand," Easton said.

Still, Easton claims she has gone out of her way to do everything asked of her by law enforcement.

"I've taken three lie detector tests and had my fingerprints taken up to my elbows," she said.

As it turned out, prosecutor Jeff Dusek did not need Easton to take the stand to prove his case.

"We didn't call her for the same reason the defense didn't call her. There was nothing to be gained from her that we didn't already have," Dusek said shortly after the jury recommended a death sentence for Westerfield.

Easton is painfully aware of the fact that the other Dad's Café partygoers had to testify under oath. Soon after Easton's former neighbor Denise Kemal testified that she had smoked marijuana in the van Dam's garage, Kemal was fired from her job as a flight attendant.

"That was totally unfair," Easton said. "Denise worked really hard to get that job because of her size. They didn't want to hire her because she was too short."

Easton has supported Brenda van Dam and her husband Damon from the beginning.

"The van Dams are the victims here. Too bad David Westerfield didn't have to take the stand," Easton said in a telephone interview shortly after the preliminary hearing.

Easton follows live coverage of the Westerfield trial on KFMB/AM 760, and listens to outspoken radio talk show host Rick Roberts on the same station.

"At first, I didn't like (Rick Roberts) and some of his opinions about the lifestyle issue. But then I started listening to him more and more," she said.

Barbara Easton is divorced with no children, according to court records. She and Denise Kemal were next-door neighbors before Kemal left her husband and moved out of state.

Denise Kemal filed for divorce on January 31, 2002, one day before the "girls' night out" party at Dad's.

Andy Kemal, Denise's ex-husband, still lives next door to Easton in the same Tierrasanta complex. He and Damon van Dam met at several years ago at Qualcomm, where they both worked.

Damon van Dam testified he had sexual intercourse on at least one occasion with both Denise Kemal and Barbara Easton. One of those occasions was Halloween 2000, when Damon van Dam and Andy Kemal swapped wives, according to court testimony.

Easton would not comment on the lifestyle of the van Dams, except to dispel the rumors that Brenda van Dam may have had some sort of relationship with Westerfield prior to the kidnapping.

"Scout's honor," Easton said. "There was nothing going on between them."

Of her own behavior that night at Dad's --one patron, Yvette Wetli, testified that Easton tried to reach down Wetli's blouse to retrieve an ice cube -- Easton seemed unabashed.

"I've got nothing to be ashamed of. I was dirty dancing. Big deal. I'm an adult," Easton said.

Asked whether she would ever return to Dad's café, Easton said she has not been back since the night Danielle disappeared. She doubts she will ever return.

"Right now, people don't recognize me," she said. "I'm just laying low, going to work everyday and doing my job. I've gone to great lengths to keep my face off of television and I plan to keep it that way."

David Gotfredson: (858) 459-7555; mailto:dgotfredson@kfmb.com

[John Jamieson]

Thanks for the link red. She didn't say much.

[truth_seeker]

My biases may be blinding me to some big truth...

Hint. The "big truth" is that Westerfield murdered Danielle.

Your bias is of your own choice. Your admission could be the first step in your recovery.

[John Jamieson]

This was discussed extensively on courtTV, those lawyers didn't seem as sure of themselves as you are. DW wasn't even charged with rape, that question could not have been before the jury. You should get your facts straight before you expound on your opinions.

[HamiltonJay]

Only because the poor girls gentalia had been eaten away by wild animals by the time her body was found. Your continued defense of this bastard is amazing... No wonder evil exists as much as it does in this world, so many people can look it straight in the eye and see nothing.

[marajade]

Sometimes people with book smarts have no common sense... Maybe you're afflicted?

[marajade]

Your post #560... what a pervert....

Society is lucky he is behind bars...

[marajade]

"That juror Jeff appeared gay to me too, which would account for his vehement statement that the VD's lifestyle was not relevant. Clearly it WAS relevant in that their lifestyle had obviously attracted DW's attention and interest, plus it opened up other possibilities as to other people who had access to Danielle."

You know what they say: only the sick are attracted to the sick...

[marajade]

"I think we convict about 1 innocent man for every 100 guilty ones."

With your superior intellect explain in detail as to why you think this is true...

[EllaMinnow]

Come over here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/752877/posts?q=1&&page=401

[marajade]

"DW wasn't even charged with rape, that question could not have been before the jury."

Because the body was too degraded... Come on, the man sexually molested that child before killing her...

[John Jamieson]

Based on reading about lots of bad guys. It's just my guess, I doubt that anyone knows the exact number. Would would your guess be?

[John Jamieson]

I know terrible evil was done in this case. The question is who did it (which the jury has decided) and in my mind, who helped him? The best explaination for the totallity of the evidence is that others were involved. My best guess is that it was Brooke L. Rowland. What's yours?

[John Jamieson]

Oh, I manage to get through the day very well, thankyou. My common sense is probably just as good as yours.

Why do need feel the need to attack people that have a different view than you do?