DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune
Investigators lay the closet doors in the bed of a truck to haul them away to be checked for fingerprints.
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Police returned to the home of missing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam yesterday, this time taking two sliding closet doors from the girl's bedroom in an effort to find additional fingerprints.
Police believe someone entered Danielle's bedroom while she was asleep and abducted her. They are hoping to recover evidence that may have been left behind.
The visit marked the fourth time since Danielle was reported missing Feb. 2 that detectives and evidence technicians have gone to the van Dam home and carted off items in a search for clues. Officers previously have taken several pieces of furniture, clothing, home decorations and other objects. A rug in the house was damaged from fingerprint dusting.
"I don't care if they tear my house completely apart as long as they find my little girl," Brenda van Dam said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Brenda and Damon van Dam held a news conference in Poway to ask for more volunteers to help search for their daughter, who was last seen when her father put her to bed Feb. 1, police said.
Additional searches are planned in Borrego Springs and Shelter Valley on Saturday and Sunday starting at 8:30 a.m. Further information can be obtained by calling (858) 485-4185.
Searchers are focusing on the desert because a van Dam neighbor who has been the focus of the investigation went to the desert the same weekend Danielle disappeared. He has not been arrested.
Bob Cross, who has volunteered in several searches over the past 20 years, said the search for Danielle is among the most extensive he has seen.
"There is no letup," Cross said. "We remain determined and committed even after almost three weeks."
About 2,000 volunteers have searched the desert, and 600 have searched other areas of San Diego County, said Diane Halfman, volunteer director of the Danielle Recovery Center.
More than 8,000 fliers and 3,000 buttons have been distributed, Halfman said. The Web site Daniellemissing.com has received 520,000 visits, she said.
In other developments yesterday:
Organizers announced that a candlelight vigil for Danielle will be held at 7 tonight at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, 10125 Azuaga St. in Rancho Peñasquitos.
Officials announced that a community forum will be held at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Creekside Elementary School, 12362 Springhurst Drive in Sabre Springs. Police and school officials will attend. Marc Klaas, whose daughter Polly was abducted and killed in 1993, will be a featured speaker.
Gov. Gray Davis issued a statement asking anyone with information about the case to call police. He also said he is confident that San Diego area law enforcement is "doing everything to find the little girl and bring her home safely."
Joe Hughes: (619) 542-4591; joe.hughes@uniontrib.com
