'Girls' Night Out' Focus Of Trial
Updated: 8:59 a.m. PDT June 11, 2002
Westerfield, 50, is charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. The defendant also is charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography and could face the death penalty if convicted.
The victim's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, discovered their daughter missing from her bed the morning of Feb. 2.
Denise Kemal, a friend of Brenda van Dam, testified Monday that she had gone to Dad's Cafe the night of Feb. 1 with Brenda and Easton.
Kemal testified that Brenda introduced Westerfield to her when they arrived at the bar and restaurant.
"I believe she said, 'This is my neighbor, Dave,"' Kemal testified.
Kemal testified that she had noticed Westerfield leaning against a partition at Dad's, watching her, Brenda, Easton and three others playing pool next to the dance floor.
The witness testified that the band had started playing -- that was at 10 p.m. -- when she saw Westerfield.
She told jurors Westerfield just stood against the partition after buying a round of drinks for her, Brenda and Barbara.
"I said to myself, 'Wow, that's creepy,"' the witness testified.
The testimony elicited by Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek appeared intended to show that Westerfield was spurned by Brenda van Dam and her friends in the hours before he allegedly kidnapped Danielle van Dam.
Kemal said she was called by Damon the next day and told that Danielle was missing. On her way to the house, she ran into Westerfield, who lived two doors down and across the street, as she pulled up to the van Dam home.
"He said, 'I can't believe what happened,"' Kemal testified. "I said, 'I know."'
"He said, 'Well, I left at 9 o'clock."'
Kemal told defense attorney Steven Feldman she had sex with Damon, and her husband Andy had sex with Brenda van Dam during a Halloween party at the van Dam home in October 2000.
Kemal said the van Dam children were not home that night.
"Later in the evening, you engaged in sexual relations, did you not, with your husband and Brenda van Dam and Damon van Dam, correct?" Feldman asked.
"No, that's not true," Kemal responded.
"So you never engaged in sexual relations with Brenda and Damon van Dam?" the attorney asked.
"Yes, I did, but with Damon," Kemal testified. "It was more of a 'swap.' Andy was with Brenda and I was with Damon."
Keith Stone, who joined the three women at Dad's, denied that he ever asked Brenda to "make something happen" with Easton.
Stone's friend, Rich Brady, Westerfield friend Garry Harvey and a friend of Harvey's, Yvette Wetli, also testified about the Feb. 1 "girls night out."
Last week, Brenda said "yes" when asked by Feldman if Stone had indicated he was "hyped up and excited" and really wanted to be with Easton.
"I had an interest," Stone confirmed Monday. "There was some bantering going back and forth between us."
He added that, when the women went outside the restaurant to smoke marijuana and listen to music, he kissed Easton once or twice.
He denied having taken Viagra, saying the subject came up during "barroom banter."
Both the prosecution and defense have concentrated on the outing to the Poway Road restaurant in an attempt to either build or destroy the credibility of Brenda and those who were with her.
In earlier testimony, it was determined that Brenda took Easton and Kemal to Dad's, where they ran into Stone and Brady. Eventually, the five of them returned together to the van Dam home.
Brady conceded that he gave Brenda an envelope containing a small amount of marijuana. The drug was smoked by the women on two occasions the night of Feb. 1. He said Stone never expressed interest in Easton to him. Harvey, a truck driver who lives in Fallbrook, revealed that he learned of Danielle's disappearance four days later. He said his property was searched twice the next week.