Mourners Gathering At Site Where Danielle's Body Was Found: (Post van Dam News Here)

Union Tribune ^ | March 1, 2002 | Seth Hettena

[FresnoDA]

Mourners gather at site where Danielle's body was found

By Seth Hettena
ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 1, 2002

Associated Press

Mourners place flowers and a stuffed animal Friday, on the site under an oak tree where 7-year-old Danielle van Dam's body was found along Dehesa Road.

Associated Press

Andy Black looks over a memorial for 7-year-old Danielle van Dam after placing flowers Friday on the site where her body was found.

EL CAJON – Laura Davis said she felt drawn to the quiet patch of shade under an oak tree where searchers this week found the body of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

"The memory of her soul compelled me to come down here and say a last goodbye," Davis said Friday, cradling her 7-month-old daughter and wiping away tears. "To actually see the place where her innocent sweetness was lying under a tree." Davis, 26, added white flowers to a growing memorial of messages, bouquets, a pink teddy bear and a stuffed blue bunny that marks the place where authorities believe a neighbor dumped Danielle's body weeks ago.

Dental records confirmed Thursday that remains found by a rural roadside 25 miles east of San Diego were those of the little girl, who vanished from her bedroom Feb. 2.

The cause of death could not immediately be determined – and may never be – because of the body's state of decomposition, said Police Chief David Bejarano. Further tests were under way.

Danielle's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, said the unflagging efforts of more than 2,500 volunteers who searched a vast area stretching from the ocean to the desert left them with "an overwhelming sense of gratitude and closure."

"With love for an innocent child and for one another, the community has brought her back to us, and for that gift we offer our most sincere and heartfelt thanks," the van Dams said in a statement. "Even though the final outcome is horrible, we could not have imagined the rest of our lives without this closure."

A memorial service is expected later this month.

A neighbor, David Westerfield, 50, was charged Tuesday with murder, kidnapping and possession of child pornography. He has pleaded innocent and is being held without bond.

Authorities said they found traces of Danielle's blood in Westerfield's motor home and on an article of his clothing.

The self-employed engineer spent the weekend of Danielle's disappearance traveling in his motor home, stopping in the desert east of the city, authorities said.

A hunch led volunteers to the area – the remote road was one Westerfield might have taken the weekend Danielle disappeared, said Bill Garcia, a private detective who coordinated searches.

Nearby residents said they were unsettled by the discovery of Danielle's body so close to home.

"It kind of sickens us," said Charles O'Neill, 28, who lives about a mile away. "We've been driving by this road every day for the past month and knowing she's that close is something we never would have imagined."

[crystalk]

You are forgetting that I have never claimed that any great knowledge of home layout or floor plan would have had to exist...I never claimed it couldn't have been a stranger, for the latter could never have found his way around.

I have never said it (on some such basis) could NOT have been a stranger:

I have only said that it WASN'T! --And since you apparently feel it is Westerfield that is guilty, you are really agreeing with me instead of disagreeing, unless you buy the original VD line that they did not know him.

I want them to say he was never in their home with their consent. I want them to say he was never there that night with their consent. This they continue not to do.

[MizSterious]

He has a smart lawyer, and no doubt a lot of his firm will be working on this. I'm sure they've thought of a lot of this on their own, and will come up with a lot more that none of us ever dreamed of. And, I'm sure they'll have access to evidence we don't know about yet. Stand by, though, for the media blitz with this trial. The DA might prefer it that way, given his run for office, and in any event, it will be hard to stop. People will soon be appearing on the "talk" shows that until now have remained quiet.

[nicmarlo]

Very interesting and valid points. I, too, am not so sure about the neighbor's guilt. I was talking to a DA friend of mine about this case last night. He isn't up to speed on all the info. on this...he's busy working on the disappearance of a woman and her daughter from our town. He wouldn't say any details, but it's suspected that the father/husband had something to do with it.

What he did say was interesting, however. First, of course, the immediate family is always the prime suspects of children gone missing/killed. Second, from his personal experience, those who are strongly religious give them more reasons to suspect wrongdoing than someone who doesn't go to church everyday. I was surprised and asked why. He answer was compelling. These people who do this are sick monsters. They go to church as a way of relieving their guilt. He said everytime a church member is accused of sexual molestation, etc., the whole congregation shows up in support of the molester....and refuse to believe anything bad about the person; he said this even has occurred when the accused admits doing the deed....the church support doesn't waiver. I thought that interesting, as it goes against what my own impressions were/are of regular church goers.

[Freedom2specul8]

Here's a potential defense..

The perp has had a secret, dark passionate love affair with the van dams. The deep bond started when Damon and the perp found out they were both engineers. Damon and the perp asked a willing Brenda to fetch lotsa women and men for all-night orgies with complete strangers picked up at various bars around town. Fake names were always used in case they had common friends or family members. Their hot passionate relationship went downhill when one of the couples brought home with Brenda were minors....17 yrs to be exact. The Perp found out their real ages and started to blackmail the van dams because their all night love fests were always in their specially equipped Garage. The Van Dams didn't take their crazy neighbor seriously enough and wound up rejecting his love advances and told him to never bother them again. The Perp couldn't handle the rejection so for revenge, he took it all out on their unknowing, unsuspecting, innocent little child. Unbeknownst to the perp, the van dams, who could car less wallowed in their new found international attention. The perp ASSUMED that harming their child would be the perfect way to get back. He studied child porn, gathered materials to make this the perfect crime. But, he messed up. Since his only relationship with them was all about sex..he had no clue about their real lives and what would really truly hurt them.

[FresnoDA]

BTTT!!

[Freedom2specul8]

You are right, unless for some reason....all publicity ceases. That would be very strange..

[FresnoDA]

	Danielle Intensity aided Danielle case

Painstaking process crucial to investigation

Danielle
van Dam

By Joe Hughes and Elizabeth Fitzsimons
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

March 2, 2002

The first hours were key.

Without the successes that came in the initial stages of the Danielle van Dam investigation, authorities say they still could be looking for a suspect, a body and many more answers in the abduction and slaying that captured the nation's attention.

Within hours of receiving a frantic 911 call from Danielle's parents the morning of Feb. 2, police knew the 7-year-old Sabre Springs girl did not wander off.

Detectives determined she had been kidnapped after she had been put to bed, although they will not say what led them to conclude that so early. Immediately, they sealed off Danielle's pink and purple bedroom to preserve a critical crime scene.

They called for technicians from the San Diego Police Department crime lab, which devoted 16 forensic specialists and criminalists during the next few weeks to the painstaking and methodical process of documenting the scene, collecting evidence and then poring over it for clues.

It was the most intense investigation in recent memory, authorities said. At its zenith, well more than 100 officers, detectives and technicians were assigned to the case.

A core of 40 detectives followed up on more than 600 tips. About 15 plainclothes detectives worked surveillance. Officers from the FBI, El Cajon and Chula Vista police departments, the state Department of Justice and the Sheriff's Department assisted.

The cost has not been tabulated; the investigation is not over.

Tiny bits of evidence

From the start, investigators were hopeful. A rule among crime scene investigators is that criminals, no matter how careful, always leave something behind and always take something away.

Police will not detail what they found. Technicians were looking for hair, fingerprints, fibers and footprints, experts in the field said. Equipped with chemicals and gadgets, technicians can spot blood a killer may have tried to clean up. They can raise fingerprints that dusting could not.

The chemicals, such as the cyanoacrylate found in Super Glue, adheres to the moisture in fingerprints. A chemical such as Ninhydrin can lift prints off porous surfaces, such as paper and clothing.

"If you treated a piece of paper with Ninhydrin, put it in a humidity chamber where the air's a little warmer, that combination will turn the fingerprints purple," said Mike Wasowicz, a Chicago-area investigator who teaches forensics collection and crime-scene processing.

Forensic specialists can spot fibers and human fluids when they don goggles and cast light altered through a range of filters from ultraviolet to infrared. Depending on the type of light used, body fluids, invisible to the naked eye, will glow.

"Being thorough in a case like this is absolutely critical," said San Diego crime lab manager Mike Grubb.

The time-consuming process is crucial not only to developing leads in the case, but for prosecuting those responsible.

"You can't go back and recreate that scene," said Michele Morgans, a major crimes evidence technician for the Oceanside Police Department. "You need to make sure it's documented so you can present it to a jury who's never been there."

Outside the crime scene, police searched nearby homes, hoping to find Danielle alive.

Dogs, aircraft and volunteers scoured canyons and sewers, checked culverts and probed water tanks. Police phoned the parents of each of Danielle's 39 classmates at Creekside Elementary School.

Late that first day, police had talked to all but a few of the neighbors.

One of them, David Westerfield, 50, soon became the focus of their case.

Westerfield grabbed investigators' attention because of his weekend wanderings and incongruous stories about where he had been in the hours and days after Danielle's disappearance.

He told authorities he had seen Danielle's mother, Brenda, at a Poway bar the night before her daughter was found missing.

Investigators learned Westerfield was seen at a campground near Coronado in his motor home not long after the search for Danielle began. Then he left for the Imperial County desert.

"His time line never made any sense, the inconsistencies were glaring," a detective said.

Lie detector tests

At first, Westerfield was cooperative. He allowed bloodhounds to search his house. He traveled with detectives to the Glamis dunes where he said he had spent the weekend and where his motor home had become stuck in the sand.

But investigators' suspicions grew.

Both the van Dams and Westerfield submitted to lie detector tests a few days after Danielle disappeared, police said. Authorities said the van Dams passed the test.

Westerfield failed, they said.

Officials would not be specific about the questions posed but said the parents and Westerfield were asked about where Danielle was, whether they had abducted the child and whether they had killed her.

From those early contacts, detectives were able to persuade a judge to issue seven warrants needed to search Westerfield's house, motor home, sport utility vehicle, computer and the cleaners where he took some belongings.

Investigators twice searched Westerfield's home for traces of Danielle's blood and the Mickey Mouse earrings she wore before she disappeared. Police carted off boxes and bags from Westerfield's house.

Within days of Danielle's disappearance, an encampment of reporters assembled in the neighborhood. They watched as evidence technicians filed in and out of the van Dam and Westerfield homes.

"It's not at all uncommon for us to revisit a crime scene two or three times, and it sort of perks people's eyes and ears up to see us going back to the scene," said Grubb, the crime lab manager.

Dr. Henry Lee, chief emeritus of the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory, has investigated thousands of crimes and testified in the O.J. Simpson trial. Lee said police had to establish a connection between Westerfield and Danielle after they concluded the van Dams did not know Westerfield well enough to consider him even an acquaintance.

"You link the victim to the suspect," he said.

Danielle's blood

Plainclothes detectives watched Westerfield's every move for nearly three straight weeks, following him down the street to his mailbox, to fast-food outlets, the post office and later to his attorney's office.

On Feb. 7, police obtained a warrant to search Twin Peaks Cleaners & Shirt Laundry on Pomerado Road, where Westerfield had taken two pillowcases, a comforter, a comforter cover and a jacket for cleaning the Monday after Danielle disappeared. Westerfield went back that same afternoon and dropped off pants, a sweater and a shirt, court records show.

Before Westerfield could pick up the clothes, police seized them.

On a jacket, investigators found a drop of blood, according to court records. DNA strands were extracted using tools powerful enough to pull them from a blood sample the size of a pinpoint.

Police are certain the blood is Danielle's.

"It's safe to say there's no one else on Earth who has the same (DNA) profile of Danielle van Dam," Grubb said.

Lee, of Connecticut forensics, said investigators can tell whom the blood belongs to and how long it has been there. They look at the spot's shape and condition, and try to calculate the velocity with which it landed.

"The location of the stain and the condition of the stain can give us a lot of information," Lee said.

Police also found what they said is Danielle's blood in Westerfield's motor home.

Westerfield was arrested Feb. 22, hours after the DNA analysis was concluded. He pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography on Tuesday.

Volunteer searchers found Danielle's body Wednesday at a place in Dehesa used as a roadside dump. Because of decomposition, officials said they were not able to determine a cause of death after a four-hour autopsy Thursday.

At least six crime lab technicians will be poring over hundreds of pieces of evidence during the next several weeks. Detectives still are seeking answers to several questions.

Among them:

 When was Danielle taken from her upstairs bedroom?

 Where was she taken immediately after she was abducted?

 How did she die?

Police say they believe Westerfield entered the house through an unlocked sliding glass door. They have found no signs of forced entry.

Though San Diego police Chief David Bejarano said it was not known if Danielle was sexually assaulted, detectives believe that was the reason for the kidnapping.

"The motive is sex all along," a detective said. "That's the only motive."

[spectre]

Thank you for your thoughts.

Interesting profile.

Sort of like the one I heard about "alcoholics" taking tons of vitamins and working out at gyms...thinking these actions will have a counter effect on the damage the alcohol is doing to their body.

sw

[crystalk]

I doubt that in a crime of this sort, one's status as a church member or attender would have much to do with it. Probably both persons who have never attended in their lives, and those who go every week, would have about an equal chance of being victims.

But I DO think that the swinging lifestyle here is responsible for about a 100-timesing of the risk vs their neighbors and peers who do not engage in this sort of thing.

As to the 17-yr-olds, and possible attempt of the VD's to get rid of Westerfield --this needs Occam's Razor. The VD's IMHO were lying about Westerfield almost before their daughter was even missing, and continue(d) to obsess about him and make statements true or false, arguing over a dance or not a dance, a jacket or not a jacket, ...not likely if he were just a pest, a former acquaintance they were trying to shove away, at the time this happened.

Looks more like things had just ARRIVED at cooking temperature, IMO, if such elaborate timeline and do-we-know-him lies (or apparent lies anyway) had to be constructed...

[nicmarlo]

I also seem to recall different versions of the friends coming home to the VD's. The first statement I believe she made was that she brought home 2 lady friends who only stayed about 15 minutes....then that story changed to include a guy and for a longer period of time, I think. Also, I seem to remember reading there was a disagreement between the husband and wife about what time she did come home from the bar....he insisting it was another time (earlier?) than she had originally said.

[nicmarlo]

BTW, I only brought up the church thing because there's been talk about the VD's renewed interest, from what I've read, about attending an Episcopal church?

[nicmarlo]

actions will have a counter effect on the damage

Yeah, that's true; also, they know they're doing damage, but refuse to believe what they're doing is doing damage. If they take vitamins, then perhaps they can dsplace blame by believing that the damage is from taking the wrong kind of vitamin if it isn't having the desired effect?

[Freedom2specul8]

We all just want to absolute, unadulterated truth. We as tax paying, hard working citizens (and God fearing humans) deserve that. I am simply praying that the rumors proved unfounded.

I'm sure you guys realize that some people are more social than others...and busy bodies can make mountains out of molehills. It could be this swinger thing is just that. But if it's not, and they went to church while living that kind of a lifestyle, then chalk two more hypocrites up in the sexual deviants tally marks. People can and do give Christians a bad name. :(

[sneakypete]

So why didn't they send out an all points bulletin to search for Westerfield?

Most likely because there is a VERY good chance a trail judge would find they had insufficient evidence to get a search warrant at that time,and throw out the search and all the evidence found during it. That's assuming they could even find a judge willing to give them a search warrant allowing them to run a mobile crime scene lab through the motor home at that time.

[Luis Gonzalez]

More than likely, the van Dams are under strict instructions from, among others, the District Attorney, the police, and John Walsh, not to discuss particulars of the incident.

There is a trial coming up, and the least amount of verifiable information that's floating out there, the better for the prosecution.

[Freedom2specul8]

Not all judges believe in time is of the essence. Many cops have to work on the judge's schedule.

[Freedom2specul8]

More than likely, the van Dams are under strict instructions from, among others, the District Attorney, the police, and John Walsh, not to discuss particulars of the incident.

Exactly!! I've been saying that for 2 days.

[sneakypete]

I want them to say he was never in their home with their consent. I want them to say he was never there that night with their consent.

The mother has already said this. She said the only time she had met the man before was when she was going door to door with Danielle to sellGirl Scout cookies. I'm sure she had seen him outside cutting his grass,washing his car,etc,etc,etc,just as normal neighbors see each other.

[MizSterious]

Yes, lots of changing stories. But if I dare to call them lies, someone always howls, so I'll just say they really change their stories a lot. The VDs have a lot of supporters here--not just for their (alleged) grief, but also their lifestyle.

[sneakypete]

??? Have you gone over to the "dark side"? That sounded like some soap opera plot.