BREAKING: BRENDA VAN DAM DANCED WITH WESTERFIELD: (Modern Day Westside Story?)7-9-02 Trial Watch

KFMB ^ | July 9, 2002 | KFMB

[FresnoDA]

WITNESSES SAY BRENDA VAN DAM DANCED WITH DAVID WESTERFIELD

(07-08-2002) - Three defense witnesses testified Monday that Brenda van Dam and David Westerfield, the man accused of murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, danced together the night before the girl was discovered missing.

"Mr. Westerfield and Mrs. van Dam were dancing," said Patricia LePage, describing the scene at Dad's Cafe and Steakhouse the night of Feb. 1.

Since the prosecution introduced hair and fibers found at the defendant's house and motorhome, the defense has tried to show the evidence could have been transferred in some other way, such as dancing.

The 50-year-old defendant would face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping and killing Danielle van Dam, who lived two houses away in Sabre Springs. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.

In testimony near the beginning of the trial, Brenda van Dam told the court she did not dance with Westerfield.

But LePage said van Dam rubbed her hips and chest against Westerfield during several dances together, recalling the movie "Dirty Dancing." That was just part of what LePage described as "frisky" behavior exhibited by van Dam that night.

LePage said she was in a smoking lounge at Dad's with her daughter, Cherokee Youngs, when van Dam came in and struck up a conversation with the younger woman.

"Well, she did ask my daughter if she liked girls," LePage said when asked to describe the conversation. Van Dam, she said, asked Youngs if she wanted to come to her house for a party later that night.

Youngs testified about the encounter last week.

Duane Blake, a fisherman who said he goes to Dad's a couple times a week, said he caught a glimpse of the defendant dancing with van Dam.

Blake confirmed an interview with the District Attorney's Office, in which he described their dancing as, "huggy, huggy." He testified he even thought Westerfield might be trying to pick up on van Dam.

Earlier Monday, another woman testified she saw Westerfield dance with Danielle's mother.

Glennie Nasland, who began her testimony last week, said she was on the dance floor and saw the pair turn toward each other while dancing with other people.

Nasland, who described herself as a friend of Westerfield, said she watched them for 20 seconds before they turned away again.

In other testimony Monday, Dave Laspisa said that going to the desert to look for friends, and without bringing an all-terrain vehicle, was not an unusual activity for Westerfield.

The witness, a self-employed Poway man, said he's known the defendant for 15 years and has camped with him near the Imperial County community of Glamis for 10 years.

The witness was one of several people who testified as the defense began to move away from what happened at a Poway night spot the night before Danielle was discovered missing Feb. 2 to Westerfield's weekend wanderings.

Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman asked Laspisa to explain why someone would avoid Interstate 8 while taking a motorhome to the desert. Laspisa said high winds and black ice were common on that route, which traverses altitudes over 4,000 feet.

Heather Mack, a security guard at Coronado Cays, testified that she saw Westerfield drive his motorhome into the exclusive neighborhood in the afternoon or evening hours of Feb. 3.

Mack said Westerfield smiled and waved at her as he drove past her security kiosk, but she never saw him again.

The witness told Dusek that she originally told a police officer that she "vaguely remembered" seeing the defendant's recreational vehicle.

Glen Seebruch, an engineering manager at Nokia, testified earlier that Westerfield called him the morning of Feb. 1 and told him he planned to go to the desert that weekend.

Feldman, told Judge William Mudd that his case may be completed by the end of the week.

Insect expert David Faulkner is expected to testify about how long the victim's body may have been in the East County before volunteer searchers found it on Feb. 27.

Feldman has said Westerfield would have had no opportunity to dispose of the body because he was under constant police surveillance from Feb. 4 until his arrest Feb. 22.

[UCANSEE2]

So where are DW's boots? What's that all about?

(1) I don't know.
(2) I don't know.
Not a lot of help, am I?

[jdontom]

Comment #904 Removed by Moderator

Comment #905 thru #914 posted by Spunky......What gives

Did your mouse pointer freeze on Post

I needed a little brake after reading thru post #903. LOL

[Spunky]

.."shocking new revelations about the Van Dams"...

Tuned in just now. Have they already talked about the "shocking new revelations?"

[BunnySlippers]

I think that's pertinent -- how many people in the whole swing set -- yet the Judge has refused to allow it. And I am pretty sure Damon has his own collection of porn, which includes "child" porn. Why? Because porn is a part of that lifestyle.

How do you know that porn is part of that lifestyle? You are surely not a swinger so ...

How many acts of "swinging" have the Van Dams engaged in in the last 24 months?

[cyncooper]

What about those same type of fibers being found in DW's laundry and MH? Does that connection between Danielle and DW give you pause?

[Politicalmom]

How many times has Westerfield looked at "child porn" in the last 24 months?

[spectre]

You are missing Shawn Hannity unloading on the Van Dams for having "Dark, Evil People" into their home that night.

He says it's irresponsible and puts your children in an area of vulnerability...

Colmes of course, sides with the flaming LIBERAL...Guess Wendy knows that Westerfield is a Republican?

sw

[NatureGirl]

You have no information/evidence that no investigation was done

Let me ask you a question, then - and your opinion on this is fine by me.

Jahi Turner's stepdad claimed that the boy had been taken from a park. The mother had already shipped out. Their apartment was sealed off for ?what? a week - as a possible crime scene.

The Van Dams had people in vacuuming their house within a couple of days of the LE being there. They never had to leave their house. Their child, as far as the charges in this case go, was taken from the house not abducted from a park.

How serious an investigation do you think was done on the Van Dams? I guess we could say that Jahi Turner didn't live in an upscale neighbourhood, and was black to boot, so SDPD felt it was more important to focus on his family (with intensity) first. I guess we could also say that maybe Jahi's stepfather acted in a "suspicious" manner, but then, didn't the Van Dams hide information from the police (until Barb spilled the beans)?

I'd really like to know (as I think many here would) why two abductions would be treated in such an opposite fashion.

[spectre]

Yes, it's stuff we already know. They're "shocked" and we "Knew"..:~)

sw

[hoosiermama]

BIAS

[UCANSEE2]

SO, I guess you are about through.

[NatureGirl]

Nice pic of the blanket. Wonder if an old-ish blanket would shed lots of fibres?

[cyncooper]

Testing takes time

It can. And then again, some of the testimony today was about analysis performed one week ago today! Feldman can get his own tests done (he won't) before the trial resumes.

[winodog]

I have a funny feeling Wendy Murphy posts here on Fr to these threads under a alias.

[jacquej]

John Jamieson, you raised ten!!!!!

I bow to you, and praise your hard work. God bless you and your children. I have been blessed with only four, and He reclaimed one early by my timeline, at 21 years, but I do not question His infinite wisdom.

How I wish I had been blessed with a few more of these lovely blooms of our love... How I wish... but am grateful for your blessing, you lucky guy!

[NatureGirl]

How many times has Westerfield looked at "child porn" in the last 24 months?

Hey! I was going to ask that! Well, there was that screenshot of access to "Teen Dreams" on Feb. 4th - oh, wait. DW was with the police then, wasn't he? And the police didn't have a warrant to search the computers until Feb. 5...Every question brings another question.

[hoosiermama]

Do I remember correctly there is a source (like a library) where material can be matched..... detect the dye, use, origin etc of fabric....FBI or CIA? Or is that just something I read in fiction?

[NatureGirl]

Who me?? Oh, the SDPD. Yes, I guess they were a bit biased.

[bvw]

I have had some experience with swingers. Fortunately I did not swing, but I was pretty libertine for some time. Live and learn. I definitely highly reccommend against allowing young people to "sow some wild oats."

The bliss of matrimony is much harder to acheive having once done so. Not impossible, but also not without difficulties.

Brenda and David are not closer for their swinging -- just going through the motions, like a person who was a gourmet and loses his sense of smell. They eat but don't enjoy.

How can I say that? I am not them ... but there it is, I've seen enough to extrapolate.

[Spunky]

...you mean the dark brown boots found in his closet that would look black in a dimly lit bar?

My thoughts exactly.