[FresnoDA]

How sad.....

[FresnoDA]

LEGAL EXPERTS DISCUSS VAN DAM CASE

( 02-25-2002 ) - It's been 24 days since Danielle van Dam has turned up missing. And now, a suspect is behind bars, but searchers are no closer to finding the little girl.

Hundreds of volunteers spent the weekend searching around Borrego Springs and Pine Valley. On Friday, the Van Dam's neighbor, David Westerfield, was arrested.

Lab tests found the child's blood on Westerfield's clothing and in his RV. He now faces kidnapping and burglary charges. The self-employed engineer will spend his 50th birthday in jail on Monday.

On Sunday night, a fundraiser was held in Rancho Bernardo. Diners who brought flyers into the Rancho Bernardo Souplantation had 20 percent of their bill donated to search efforts.

Suspect David Westerfield is set to appear in court this week. But local experts say, without a body, there is no evidence that Danielle has been killed. Many fear the 7-year-old will never be found.

“The single most important factor in determining the homicide of a missing body case is the uncharacteristic or the uncanny disappearance,” said Deputy District Attorney Dan Goldstein.

Goldstein was able to convince a jury last August to convict James Dailey of killing his wife Lupe, even though her body was never found.

“We found out he had made threats, that he said he was going to kill Guadalupe and that nobody would ever find her body,” said Goldstein.

Besides a motive, Goldstein said there was other circumstantial evidence that pointed to Dailey's guilt.

“In the James Dailey case, he had a motive. There was an acrimonious divorce going on and he wanted custody of his kids. There were inconsistent statements, and an alibi that failed,” said Goldstein.

“When you see a prosecutor of a case where there’s no body, they have strong circumstantial evidence and they have a motive,” said Defense Attorney Kerry Steigerwalt.

Steigerwalt says a motive is necessary in a murder trial to convince a jury to convict if a body hasn't been found.

And if David Westerfield were to go to trial for the disappearance and murder of Danielle van Dam, Steigerwalt says right now there is no motive.

“What is the motive here? We’ve seen in the press there were all kinds of bags of pornography taken from the home. Is that a motive?” said Steigerwalt. “It sure seems to me we're lacking motive. I mean we can stretch, we can hypothesize, we can believe that it was this cause or that cause. But there's no real motive here.”

Detectives handling this case admit no motive has been established yet. However, new evidence or information may turn up as court proceedings go ahead.

[LurkedLongEnough]

if Westerfield were to plead guilty immediately to the kidnapping and burglary charges, his attorney might be able to argue double jeopardy if a murder charge were brought later.

Doesn't seem like double jeopardy to me - murder would be a different charge, wouldn't it? Doesn't "double jeopardy" refer only to being charged/tried for the same crime a second time?

[MeekOneGOP]

How sad.....

Yes.

I thought they had to have a body to prosecute for murder? I guess I'm mistaken?

[homeschool mama]

Incredibly sad.

[village idiot]

And why aren't the police beating the bejeezes out of this guy and getting some info as to where he dumped her body?

[2Jedismom]

Authorities said DNA tests found Danielle's blood in Westerfield's motor home and on a piece of his clothing. Additional evidence was discovered on a piece of the girl's clothing in her bedroom.

Any clue as to what the additional evidence is?

[Blood of Tyrants]

I say start shooting off body parts until he tells where the body is.

[ethical]

I am wondering how Westerfield knew where the childs bedroom was. The father was there and awake to the wee hours of the morning. Did he know where her room was because he had engaged in swinging with the parents? Had they engaged in that activity that night together? It does seem like there are some gaping holes. I wonder if he appears so calm because he knows the parents are involved and their involvement was primary, his secondary?

[Tennessee_Bob]

Just found out how close this hit to home. Turns out that this is just down the block from where my aunt and uncle used to live, and that Westerfield was a patient of my cousin out there.

[SLB]

The DA office needs to move carefully. There was a case in Louisville invovling a Mel Ignato who dated a girl named Brenda ?Sue Shaeffer. She was reported as missing and he was the prime suspect. There was a witness, but reliablity was questionable at best. The trial was moved because of the pre-trial publicity and he was acquitted of the murder. Due in part I feel to the judge threatening to keep the jury sequestered in a motel over Christmas. Anyway, a couple of years later a carpet layer was installing carpet in the house Ignato used to live in and guess what - pictures of Brenda being sodomized and brutally strangled were found in a heating duct. He thought they were unable to link to him, but pictures of his gentilia were compared to those of the male in the pictures and they matched. However, he could not be charged with murder again. He was charged with lying to the FBI and served 5 years. He is no waiting trial on state charges of lying to the local police. Sad but true, he got away with murder.

BTW, I work with Brenda's younger brother.

[nothingnew]

Bejarano said during a news conference Friday that police "believe without question that DNA evidence links Mr. Westerfield to Danielle's disappearance."

That DNA stuff IS real good evidence....but...

Any fingerprints found?...oops. I forgot!.... If a certain judge and a whole lot of lawyers have their way, fingerprints won't be admissable evidence anymore...any thoughts out there?

FMCDH

[BaBaStooey]

SDPD Press Confrence on CNN right now.

[Salvation]

Bump this story.