Free Republic

As part of the VLA nascent disk and multiplicity survey (VANDAM for short), the researchers mapped the radio waves leaking out of a dense cocoon of dust about 600 light-years away that contained a whole nursery of young stars. The VANDAM survey allowed for a census of stars younger than half a million years old called Class 0 stars – mere babies in star terms – and stars a little older between 500,000 years and 1 million years, called Class 1. Combined with data on the shapes of the surrounding cloud of dust, the scientists found 45 lonely stars, 19...

(KGTV) - The California Supreme Court Monday upheld the conviction and death sentence for David Westerfield, the man found guilty of killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam in 2002. Young Danielle was reported missing from her Sabre Springs home on Feb. 2, 2002, and her disappearance led to a search that spanned all of San Diego County. Investigators gathered enough evidence to arrest Westerfield, a neighbor of Danielle and her family, for her disappearance and death on Feb. 22. Five days later, Danielle’s badly decomposed body was found along Dehesa Road in Harbison Canyon. In August 2002, Westerfield was found guilty...

<p>Antioch (AP) - - Police in Antioch are searching for a 12-year-old girl who left home early this morning with two men in their 20s.</p> <p>Investigators say they don't know if Holly Messick went willingly - or if she's been kidnapped.</p>

SAN DIEGO – The District Attorney's Office spent nearly $270,000 prosecuting David Westerfield, including thousands for DNA analysis and expert witnesses, it was announced today. Westerfield was sentenced to die for the February 2002 killing of 7-year- old Danielle van Dam. The former Sabre Springs resident and neighbor of the victim is now on death row at San Quentin. According to figures the District Attorney's Office released, more than $35,000 was spent on experts for Westerfield's trial, and more than $146,000 on DNA analysis. More than $62,000 was spent on a telephone survey and a jury questionnaire review.

<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) Child killer David Westerfield told detectives interrogating him after the disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, ''My life is over,'' and he asked the detectives to leave him alone with a gun.</p> <p>A newly released videotape of the interrogation, conducted three days after Danielle was reported missing, shows Westerfield sitting in a small room fielding questions from two detectives, who pleaded with him at one point to admit to the crime and tell them where to find the girl.</p>

Early last month, Dave Laspisa, a Poway businessman, opened his mail and discovered a holiday card from his old friend David Westerfield. "Greetings of the Seasons," the card announced, and inside was a handwritten note of thanks for Laspisa's support. Van Dams file lawsuit against Westerfield During the past year, Laspisa has been fairly vocal in his belief that Westerfield, his camping buddy, had nothing to do with the murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. "Please know that I was not involved in the death of this child," Westerfield wrote. "I'm saying this to you not to solicit more help...

SAN DIEGO — A jury has already recommended convicted child killer David Westerfield be given the death sentence in the February 2002 kidnap and murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. On Friday, Judge William Mudd is scheduled to decide his fate. If Mudd follows the jury's recommendation and sentences the 50-year-old engineer to die by lethal injection, Westerfield would be the 617th inmate on California's death row. The judge could opt to sentence Westerfield to life in prison without parole, an option legal observers said was unlikely. In motions filed last week, prosecutors said there was no justification for anything...

SAN DIEGO – The parents of murdered 7-year-old Danielle van Dam sued her convicted killer, David Westerfield, on Thursday, one day before a San Diego judge was expected to sentence him to death for the harrowing crime. Damon and Brenda van Dam seek unspecified damages in their San Diego Superior Court lawsuit against Westerfield, the 50-year-old engineer who was found guilty in August of snatching Danielle from her bed and killing her. Westerfield, a twice-divorced father of two who lived near the van Dams in Sabre Springs and bought Girl Scout cookies from Danielle just days before her February abduction,...

When a person goes in search of enlightenment, it's usually good advice to avoid an Internet chat room. And yet it was a random posting on the Internet that led to a key piece of evidence in the David Westerfield case. At a luncheon in Mission Valley yesterday, prosecutors Jeff Dusek and George "Woody" Clarke told a number of anecdotes – some of them funny, others poignant and revealing – about what happened behind the scenes in the most publicized criminal trial in San Diego County history. The luncheon was organized by the San Diego Crime Commission and about 100...

Defense lawyers in van Dam case ask for new evidence, delay of sentencing SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lawyers for the man convicted of kidnapping and killing Danielle van Dam requested Thursday that his sentencing be delayed and prosecutors hand over evidence they believe could show the 7-year-old girl wasn't kidnapped. If that were the case, David Westerfield would not face the allegation that made him eligible for the death penalty. Danielle vanished from her bedroom on Feb. 1. Her body was discovered along a rural road nearly a month later. A jury recommended that Westerfield be put to death for...

The judge in the David Westerfield case said yesterday that he has decided which prosecution witnesses will be allowed to testify at the penalty phas e of the murder trial, but he refused to be specific. Superior Court Judge William Mudd made his announcement following a closed-door hearing with the lawyers. He didn't identify the witnesses or the nature of their testimony. He simply said some prosecution witnesses "will testify, others will not". Westerfield was convicted last week of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. She was discovered missing from her bedroom Feb. 2; her body was found more...

I just heard this at noon.

<p>A jury Wednesday found David Westerfield guilty of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, whose nude body was dumped near a desert road last winter.</p> <p>Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer, sat slightly trembling, his face impassive, as the verdicts were read and the jurors were polled individually on each count.</p>

JUST ANNOUNCED, WESTERFIELD GUILTY IN VAN DAM CASE.

David Westerfield Verdict in 7-year-old Danielle Van Dam murder .... Guilty !

Discovery hearing set as jurors deliberate for ninth day SIGNONSANDIEGO August 20, 2002 A request by the prosecution in the David Westerfield kidnap-murder trial to obtain more evidence or information, originally scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. hearing, has been vacated. Word of the hearing's cancellation was relayed to media representatives shortly after 10 a.m. today.The subject of the discovery motion filed by lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek was not disclosed. No reason was given for the hearing's cancellation.Today is the ninth day of deliberation by jurors. Today's deliberating session began at 9:07 a.m., according to a public information officer.Westerfield, 50, is...

Letters to judge opened to public SIGNONSANDIEGO August 14, 2002 The judge in the trial of David Westerfield today allowed reporters to see court log entries of notes from jurors, as well as letters to the judge from the public about the murder of Danielle van Dam. The letters from the public included a variety of theories about the case. Jurors ask to review pictures, interview   One letter-writer sent the following theory to Judge William Mudd: "Danielle van Dam killed herself.'' A nearly illegible postcard with a Spokane postmark alluded to at least one ex-wife "with a drinking...

SAND DIEGO, CA -- August 13, 2002 -- At approximately 8:45 AM this morning (PDT), two slices from a Thomas’ English Muffin entered the toaster and have yet to emerge. Onlookers, camped around the toaster on the west side of the kitchen, have been waiting impatiently, casting insults at this valiant duo. "I can’t believe it’s taking this long," said Mrs. Margarine. "This is an open and shut procedure that should be completed in just a few minutes." "I guess English muffins can be just as thick as broccoli stocks," declared Berry Jelly, a sweet preserve for the past six...

Jury's time Jurors will resume deliberations Monday in the capital case of David Westerfield, who is accused of killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam DAY TWO: FRIDAY, AUG. 9, 2002 12 noon ET    Jury enters jury room. 2:30 p.m. ET    Jury goes home for the weekend. DAY ONE: THURSDAY, AUG. 8, 2002 1:10 p.m. ET    Jury begins deliberating. After two months of testimony, the capital murder trial of David Westerfield is in the hands of the jurors, who began their deliberations following more than two days of closing arguments. 2:50 p.m.   Jury sends a note to the...

Jurors in the David Westerfield trial began deliberating yesterday after hearing a final statement from the lead prosecutor, who beamed a photo of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam onto the wall and urged the jury to focus on the physical evidence. Finishing closing arguments in the two-month murder trial, prosecutor Jeff Dusek called a blood spot on Westerfield's jacket the "smoking gun." And Dusek imagined what Danielle might tell the jury if someone could bring her back to life "just for a moment" so she could answer the question, "Please tell us who did this to you." "I've already told you,"...