Mourners gather at site where Danielle's body was found
Posted on 03/01/2002 4:04:47 PM PST by FresnoDA
Mourners gather at site where Danielle's body was found
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 By Seth Hettena ASSOCIATED PRESS March 1, 2002
"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." |
You may be right. Just as long as the crosses and shrines serve as reminders and not distractions. BTW, I wonder what the liabilities are, if any, for a roadside cross or shrine?
Do you ACTUALLY think that the Van Dams are going to be "swinging" while all this attention is focused on them?? It's RIDICULOUS!!!
By all means, their lifestyle put their children in jeopardy.....playing cards with straight friends and "swinging" with strangers are really NOT in the same league.
Another interesting part was BVD stating they returned from the bar at 2:00 and the friends stayed "a few minutes and then left."
Sorry, but I have no info. on that interview....I live in CO., so I didn't even know they did that interview. That's a local to CA station, isn't it? I'm sure some FReeper might have the info. you're looking for.
1. Why have no grandparents, aunts or uncles of Danielle surfaced to say anything about this case?
2. The VD's have changed their stories about Westerfield many times, and the story that now mostly seems likely or believed, they could have denied if it made them too close to him, but I think that it makes them still NOT AS CLOSE as the facts were.
Where are the previous family and contacts, not just well meaning upper-class San Diegans, in the group helping the VD's and wishing them well? Are they ashamed? Do they think the VD's themselves will be charged with something?
Don't remember? That does not seen very emphatic to me. I would know, yes or no, if I danced with someone or not! Especially a suspect!
What would be surprising is if this was not the case! Something has been wrong from that very night they were out partying. The parents are indirectly culpable with their choice to subject these children to their lifestyle, even while the children were present in the home. That is beyond deplorable!
Listening to the inteview and the discussion of how they found Danielle missing in the morning, caused me to think about the scene. If westerfield had kidnapped her, he must have known they (and the police) would be looking for her. To wait until 9 am to leave would seem to be rather brazen, even for a killer.
Yeah, I remember this story. Then I remember something about the husband almost insisting to his wife she came home at a different time....then there's the newer info. that not only a couple women friends came over, but the guy who was at the bar.
Agreed. But, isn't there "proof" by neighbors, or whomever, that he did actually leave at that time? If he killed Danielle during the night or early a.m., I can't imagine he would leave her body in the motor home until his "scheduled" departure of 9:00 a.m. .....
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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.