BRENDA van Dam ON WITNESS STAND.....NOW!!

San Diego Channel ^ | March 14, 2002 | ABC

[FresnoDA]

BRENDA ON WITNESS STAND.....NOW!!

[FresnoDA]

BREAKING!!!!!!!

Westerfield Preliminary Hearing To Resume

Danielle van Dam's Parents May Testify

Posted: 5:19 p.m. PST March 13, 2002
Updated: 8:28 a.m. PST March 14, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- The preliminary hearing for David Westerfield is set to resume at 9 a.m today.

The hearing was in recess Wednesday so the judge could deal with other cases. There is speculation that one or both of Danielle's parents will testify today.

Westerfield is accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

In two days of testimony, prosecutors outlined the key evidence against Westerfield. Police evidence technicians testified about finding Danielle's blood on the carpet of Westerfield's motor home and on a jacket he had taken to a dry cleaners, 10News reported. Danielle's fingerprints were also found in the motor home.

Meanwhile, the family and close friends said goodbye to Danielle Wednesday, in a private service in Rancho Penasquitos.

The public will have a chance Saturday to pay tribute to Danielle van Dam at a memorial service at La Jolla Shores.

The public memorial will be held at 10 a.m. The location reportedly was chosen because of the 7-year-old's fondness for beaches.

Because of limited parking at La Jolla Shores, a shuttle bus will be provided from the Torrey Pines Glider Port from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

That memorial service will also air live on NewsChannel 15 and TheSanDiegoChannel.com.

[Registered]

Watch it LIVE!!!

[Registered]

Very defensive posture.

[nicmarlo]

Keep us posted, Fresno.....no t.v. here at work. Thanks. What is the intent of Mrs. VD testifying about? Her whereabouts, etc.?

[FresnoDA]

Danielle case touches many

Girl's death, family's ordeal resonate nationwide

By Kristen Green
STAFF WRITER

March 14, 2002

They showed up day after day to scour the most desolate parts of the county for Danielle van Dam. They sent 12,000 sympathetic e-mails to her family.

And when they learned she was dead, they grieved for a 7-year-old girl they'd never met, wiping tears from their cheeks and solemnly laying roses in the dirt where her body was finally found.

Danielle's disappearance devastated her family and friends. But it also touched thousands who knew her only by her picture, yet followed each development in the search and now are fascinated by television coverage of the prosecution of the man accused of kidnapping and killing her.

But why do total strangers feel so connected to this little girl?

"We've all had children that age," said Rose Cady of Rancho San Diego, who recently visited the Dehesa Road memorial to Danielle.

People relate to her – whether they live in a neighborhood similar to her Sabre Springs suburb or remember clearly when their nieces and nephews were second-graders. But there are also more complex reasons they brought stuffed animals to her memorial or volunteered to search for her.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, people are looking for ways to reach out to their community. Also, parents feel connected to Danielle because they put themselves in her parents' shoes, said Rebecca Klatch, a professor of sociology at the University of California San Diego.

"It just stirs up so much to feel you cannot protect your own children even in the safety of your own home," she said. "It shakes the foundation of people's beliefs."

Others wanted to believe that families like Danielle's – a white, two-parent family living in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in a house with an alarm system – are immune from this kind of violent crime, said Mary L. Obata, a San Diego marriage and family therapist.

"Bad things aren't supposed to happen to them," said Obata, adding that she wonders whether Danielle would have gotten the same media coverage if she were poor or from a different racial or ethnic group.

Steve Morris, who led a search team one Saturday afternoon, lives with his 5-and 9-year-old daughters in a Chula Vista neighborhood similar to the van Dams'. Morris, a vice president at Bumble Bee Seafoods, realized it could have just as easily been one of his daughters who was kidnapped.

"I was thinking if something like that happened to one of my girls, I'd want every man, woman and child looking," he said.

Others have been inspired by the way the Sabre Springs community came together to try to find Danielle. Seeing the van Dams' friends and neighbors organize search parties made people want to get involved, said Pilar Placone-Willey, a San Diego marriage and family therapist.

People drove from as far away as Oregon to participate in one of the largest searches in San Diego County history.

"Ordinary people took the matter into their hands. The momentum built up to where we all felt like we were responsible for looking for her," said Placone-Willey, who was planning to go out with searchers before Danielle's body was found.

During the three weeks Danielle was missing, it was nearly impossible to get through a day without hearing about her. Interest in the case was widespread online as well, with a Web site about her disappearance getting more than 2.5 million hits.

"How could you not have some feeling for someone who had just an obscene, tragic thing happen?" said Roger Meldahl, who visited Danielle's memorial last week with relatives from Minnesota.

After her disappearance, Danielle made the evening news nationwide, and was an important story in local newspapers.

After TV stations played a video montage of Danielle speaking Spanish and hanging out at home, people began to feel like they knew her, Klatch said.

"It made her very real," the professor said. "She was all over the place. People could identify with her more."

Now several local TV stations have made the unprecedented decision to broadcast live the preliminary hearing for David Westerfield, the van Dams' neighbor who is accused of killing Danielle. The hearing enters its third day today.

"There's an incredible amount of interest in following this case," said Mike Stutz, news director of KGTV, Channel 10.

Media experts say stories about children being harmed always tug at Americans' heartstrings.

"There's something particularly poignant about the death or disappearance of a particular child," said Roy Peter Clark, a teacher at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Clark said he and his wife spent a few quiet moments thinking about Danielle when her body was found.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, people also wanted to get more involved in responding to tragedy around them.

"Maybe our humanity has been woken up," Placone-Willey said.

Private investigator Bill Garcia, who oversaw nearly 250 search volunteers over three days in East County, said people seemed more willing to help out in their community.

"It made people realize life is fleeting and you don't know what's going to happen from one day to another," he said.

Asem Gailani was touched by Danielle simply because she was a little kid, he said, tears filling his eyes.

A Muslim, Gailani said his religion teaches that children are innocent and don't have enemies.

In his job as a cabdriver, he passes the site where Danielle was found, and he said he always stops to say a prayer for Danielle. "We all came from you and we all have to go back to you," he prays.

"I wanted her to know we all love her," Gailani added, wiping tears from his eyes with his jacket sleeve. "She's in my heart. I will never forget her."

[Registered]

"I don't remember..."

[Registered]

Cranberry Vodka. Brenda's drink of choice. Ick.

[FresnoDA]

Brenda does not remember if she danced with anyone....

Brenda does not remember if she spoke with Westerfield....

Hillary Clinton defense??

[StarFan]

Thanks for the heads-up.

[mewzilla]

What doesn't she remember?

[mewzilla]

Thanks for the answer. And it leaves me speechless.

[FresnoDA]

Didn't play pool....

Met NO GUYS at Dad's....

Denise and Barbara accompanied Brenda back home, to Sabre Springs.

When she got home, Denise and Barbara got in their cars, and went home.

 

[cynicalman]

Who is asking the question????

[Registered]

Selling Girl Scout cookies...invited in, Brenda asked to see Kitchen.

[nicmarlo]

Her story today is........just another story.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I thought Brenda spoken to Westerfield and he asked her to set him up with her friend, so she told him to meet her at Dad's on that Friday night.

[Mrs.Liberty]

But didn't she tell John Walsh she spoke with him after he bought drinks?

[Registered]

Danielle and Dillon, both selling cookies with mom.

[FresnoDA]

Now back to selling the Cookies.

Brenda and Danielle went into the kitchen of Westerfield.....

Brenda liked the decorations in the Kitchen.....

How quaint.....

Dillion, the son was with them in the house as well.......

[StarFan]

He's asking whether she noticed comforters in the house. I wonder where he's going with that one?

[nicmarlo]

the son was with them in the house as well.......

That's a new one.

[Registered]

Kids wanted to explore the home, were allowed to see the pool out back by themselves...Okay'd by Brenda. Dillon wanted to go upstairs. Said no.

[FresnoDA]

Kids went outside to look at Westerfields pool.  That left Brenda and DW alone in the house for a couple of minutes.

 

[nicmarlo]

How come she REMEMBERS this, and nothing about dancing?

[HoHoeHeaux]

They were talking about the first time they met at Dad's..Not the night Danielle disappeared. That night hasn't been brought up yet.

[~Kim4VRWC's~]

danielle STAYED in the house with mom.

[mewzilla]

Did they ever check Westerfield's house for BVD's or DVD's fingerprints I wonder?

[cynicalman]

WHO IS ASKING THE QUESTIONS??????

[sharktrager]

She wasn't drinking when she sold cookies.

[Registered]

Told Westerfield she would introduce him on that Friday night at Dad's.

[StarFan]

Asked for her and hubby's name and number on a piece of paper because he has adult parties and BBQ's and would like to invite them.

[Registered]

Westerfield invited Brenda to an adult party and bbq.

[nicmarlo]

I have gone drinking....and I could remember who I danced with....especially if it was the night before my daughter was taken.

[FresnoDA]

While Brenda and DW were alone, they talked about "why didn't you introduce me to your girl friends".  DW gave Brenda his business card.

Brenda invited DW to go to Dad's that weekend.  She told DW that Damon and older kid would go snowboarding that weekend.

She would try to get a babysitter, and if she was at Dad's, she would introduce DW to her girl friends.

Then he asked Brenda to write here name and phone number on a piece of paper......

She did....

[StarFan]

When asked why she gave him her name and number, she said she didn't know why she did it -- was being nice.

[spectre]

Whoops, two threads. Brenda uptalks so much,that I don't know if she is answering a question, or giving one.

She goes into a strange mans house, in the kitchen. She was "being nice" about writing her name down for him....

Did you all catch the beginning of her testimony where she said "Danielle bit her fingernails. She bites her fingernails"....Scratch that!

sw

[FresnoDA]

Brenda says that DW has never been to their house....EVER!!

[sharktrager]

Maybe she drinks more than you do. I know I had nights in college that are hazy at best.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

This case, and the moms testimony, is just too bizarre...when the entire story is known it will surely be a doozie.

[nicmarlo]

She wasn't drinking when she sold cookies.

She's lying......her stories have changed so many times...drinking adult beverages does not impair your memory that badly....she seems to "remember" who she brought home with her and how long they were at her house.

[~Kim4VRWC's~]

He's asking whether she noticed comforters in the house. I wonder where he's going with that one?

Proving that blood could not have dripped on the comforter that day.

[Registered]

Adult parties, she called the hubby about the Westerfield "invitation".

[nicmarlo]

not catching testimony here, spectre, just relying on you all to provide info......no t.v. to watch here. This is incredible what she's saying.

[sharktrager]

I don't doubt she's lying, but it still is easy to understand why a night in a bar would be harder to remember.

[LibertyGirl77]

Others wanted to believe that families like Danielle's – a white, two-parent family living in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in a house with an alarm system – are immune from this kind of violent crime, said Mary L. Obata, a San Diego marriage and family therapist.

"Bad things aren't supposed to happen to them," said Obata, adding that she wonders whether Danielle would have gotten the same media coverage if she were poor or from a different racial or ethnic group.

What a hateful, racist witch. It's clear she takes pleasure in the fact that a white child was victimized and murdered. I don't think anyone searching for this little girl cared whether she was black, white or purple. What kind of a sick, twisted individual thinks this way?

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Adult party = double speak for swing party

[xJones]

How'd they get from Girl Scout cookies to adult parties?

[~Kim4VRWC's~]

It was an orgy, spectre must be sure of it! LOL~

[dougherty]

How come she REMEMBERS this, and nothing about dancing?

I was wondering about that as well. She seems to have a selective memory.