No mention of her MOTHER and FATHER who were either drunk or high (or both), in and out of their house for a screw or up at a swingers party up and down the street with their door(s) wide open...THATS what the adults were doing. Westerfield knew this and made his move.
It was the parents fault! Had they remained faithful and sober, they would have a beautiful daughter and possibly grandchildren. ....
...but California....
I thought this was that case. Of course, it’s off-limits to tell the truth about what caused this murder.
Almost 20 years and the killer is STILL alive?
Still remember mom was drinking crandberry vodaks and she still got no grief for that.
“No mention of her MOTHER and FATHER who were either drunk or high (or both),”
True. And don’t forget the other four adults there that night, who were also either drunk or high or both.
Perhaps because of their impaired condition, all six adults were oblivious to the presence of a kidnapper in the house, and this despite the burglar alarm warnings. (Though you could argue that the family dog also didn’t notice the intruder, and it wasn’t similarly impaired.)
“in and out of their house for a screw or up at a swingers party up and down the street”
I don’t know about that, but what I do know is given below.
There is a story that her father was down the street with a girl friend, in between putting his children to bed and her mother arriving back home from the bar with her four friends, and leaving his children unattended while he was away.
I don’t know if that story is true. But what is certain, based on trial testimony, is that one of the male friends was hoping for sex with one of the female friends, and the females had behaved in a sexual way at the bar, and had invited a young couple at the bar back to the van Dam home for sex that night, but the couple refused. So those adults had sex very much on their minds that night. Surprisingly, despite all that, nothing happened - at least not according to trial testimony. On the contrary, the party broke up after only half-an-hour (some media reports said an hour), the mood was somber and one of the female friends thought she might have been sick. Makes you wonder if something bad had happened - something involving Danielle.
“with their door(s) wide open”
The side door to the garage was left unlocked after smoking marijuana and drinking beer in the garage before going to the bar.
“...THATS what the adults were doing.”
Sadly, yes.
“ Westerfield knew this and made his move.”
That claim was made in the media, but it was apparently merely based on his invitation to her mother to an adult party (which just meant “no children”!), and her mother’s brief dirty dancing with him at the bar that night.
I don’t know if any of the neighbors knew Danielle’s parents were swingers. As I recall, the neighbor across the street - the one whose children were at Danielle’s house when she was discovered missing - was upset that people thought she was also a swinger. So I wonder if she would have entrusted her small children to the van Dams’ care in their home had she known their lifestyle.
“It was the parents fault! Had they remained faithful and sober, they would have a beautiful daughter and possibly grandchildren. ....”
Agreed.
But we can also blame the police. If they had interviewed Westerfield on the Saturday afternoon (so within just hours of the kidnapping), when he was standing on the street corner talking to the neighbors (having returned home for the second time after the kidnapping), with his motor home parked a short distance down the street, supposedly with a kidnapped Danielle in it and still alive, then they could have rescued her. Of course, that only applies if he was the kidnapper, and the evidence says he wasn’t.
I’m just going to add to my previous post.
You have a group of people in Danielle’s home, people who were drunk, high and horny - and most of them had engaged in extreme sexual behavior. That’s a dangerous combination. Especially when there’s a little girl in that house. A little girl who, just minutes later, is kidnapped and murdered, and it’s presumed this was for sexual purposes. And then those people lie to the police about their activities.
In view of all that, I’d have expected the police to conduct a thorough and extensive investigation of those people. Instead, the police rapidly cleared them.