 Neighbour 'killed missing girl, 7'  BY DARRELL GILES in Los Angeles 28feb02 A NEIGHBOUR has been charged with the murder of seven-year-old San Diego schoolgirl Danielle Van Dam – even though her body has not been found. David Westerfield, who turned 50 yesterday, also faced counts of kidnapping and possession of child pornography. District Attorney Paul Pfingst filed a special circumstances attachment to the murder charge which means Westerfield faces execution if convicted. Danielle has been missing since February 1. Investigators believe Mr Westerfield abducted her from the bedroom of her parents' home and later killed her. They revealed on Friday that DNA testing had uncovered traces of Danielle's blood on some of his clothing and in a campervan he took to the desert on February 2. His fingerprints were also found in Danielle's bedroom. "I must conclude that Danielle Van Dam is no longer living and was killed by her abductor," Mr Pfingst said outside court. The case has attracted national headlines in the US because Danielle's parents are "swingers" who belong to a partner-swapping club. Reports said Brenda Van Dam was out with friends at a local pub on the night Danielle was taken. Her husband, Damon, was entertaining a friend at home.The Van Dams have refused to talk about their sexual preferences, criticising the media for switching the focus away from the search for their child.
An extensive search that stretched from Mexico to the desert east of San Diego found no trace of Danielle. Investigators became suspicious when he was the only neighbour of the Van Dams not present on February 2 for a wide search for Danielle. It emerged he had gone camping and returned two days later. The absence of a body creates a legal challenge, but the district attorney's office has successfully prosecuted four such cases, the most recent in August. To try someone for murder without a body, prosecutors must establish a "reasonable probability" that the victim has died, said Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law in San Diego. "It's nowhere near as hard as proving something beyond a reasonable doubt, but it's a lot more than just showing blood stains," Brooks said. Westerfield, a divorced father of two grown children, has a 1996 conviction for drunken driving but no violent criminal history, police said.
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Westerfield has strenuously denied any involvement in Danielle's disappearance. But he has confirmed he was dancing and drinking with Mrs Van Dam at the pub on the night of February 1 and left before she did.