Keene was the first witness Tuesday – the fifth day of the Westerfield trial in which he is accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, reported missing on Feb. 2.

Smell of bleach

Prosecutors have previously claimed Westerfield was quick to clean his belongings following the weekend desert outing he took the same weekend Danielle van Dam disappeared.

Parga testified that Westerfield took her and her partner into his garage near the end of a walk-through of his house.

"I noticed an odor of bleach in the work bench area on the east wall between the work bench and the Toyota 4Runner,'" Parga said.

Parga said the vehicle was so clean she even looked for water droplets when the back hatch was lifted. She said she saw no dust. The only item inside was a map book.

Initial interviews

Westerfield reportedly learned about Danielle's disappearance that morning from talking to a neighbor, then went to check his property.

"He said he walked through the house, didn't note anything unusual and then walked into the backyard, checked the backyard and the pool area because he was concerned that maybe Danielle had gotten into the backyard and fallen in his pool and drowned," Keene said. "He did not find her there so he locked up his house and left."

Keene said Westerfield told him he didn't check in with police because he had left his business card with a neighbor and that police would get in touch with him if they needed to.

Keene also testified that he noticed a garden hose stretched from the front of Westerfield's home to the curb and thinking it odd because the landscaping and the interior of the house were kept in "immaculate" condition.

"It seemed odd that his garden hose was just tossed in the yard," Keene said.

"Whoever left that hose out was in a hurry ... That made me a little suspicious," said Detective Maura Parga, called to the witness stand later in the afternoon.

Lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek had said in his opening statement that the disorderly way Westerfield had prepared his motorhome for the weekend trip on Saturday morning – including filling up his water tanks and not rolling up the hose – showed he was in a rush to get away with Danielle's body.

Keene said Westerfield also told police about three encounters with Danielle's mother, Brenda van Dam: Two times at a local bar and a third time when Brenda brought Danielle and her youngest son, Dylen, 5, over to Westerfield's house to sell Girl Scout cookies only days before the girl's disappearance.

Though Brenda van Dam had testified last week that her children never went upstairs and didn't wander far inside Westerfield's house, Keene said Westerfield told him that the two children were "running all over the house."

Investigators reportedly found Danielle's hair in the lint from Westerfield's dry and found her hair and fingerprints in his motorhome.

Possible defenses

Through his cross-examination of Keene, Feldman sought to infer several potential defenses for Westerfield and his behaviors.

Noting that Westerfield was surrounded by numerous officers when first contacted, he asked: "In your experience, don't people sweat when six or seven police officers want to talk to them?"

"Not necessarily," Keene replied.

Feldman asked Keene if he was aware of any "blood pressure issue" that Westerfield may have, causing him to sweat profusely.

Keene said he wasn't aware of any.

Feldman also noted that Keene testified for the first time he donned gloves during a brief consensual search of Westerfield's motor home upon his return from the desert.

When Feldman asked why he wore the gloves, Keene said it was to prevent him from inadvertently leaving fingerprints behind.

"It's not just fingerprints, it's an issue of transfer of trace evidence," Feldman said.

"That'd be fair to say," Keene said.

The officer admitted that in his experience, such transference was possible.

Besides donning gloves, officers also on occasion wear plastic shoe covers to prevent such transfers of trace evidence, Keene said, in response to further questioning from Feldman.

Asked if officers wore shoe covers in Westerfield's residence, which they visited prior to conducting the brief search of the motor home, Keene replied: "No."

In one telling exchange during his opportunity to again question Keene, Dusek noted that as helpful as Westerfield was during the time officers briefly searched his home for Danielle, he wasn't as helpful when it came to another location, a place authorities allege he tried to have evidence of the crime cleaned away.

"When you looked in the areas that he suggested, did you see anything," Dusek asked.

"Nothing that I took note of," Keene replied.

"Did he ever suggest you go to the dry cleaners at Pomerado Road and Twin Peaks?" the prosecutor asked, prompting an objection of Feldman

"No," Keene said.

It was at the dry cleaners that authorities recovered a comforter and clothing they say contained a blood stain identified through DNA testing as belonging to Danielle van Dam.

Danielle's parents allowed in the courtroom

Brenda and Damon van Dam, Danielle's parents, were allowed to sit in the courtroom and observe testimony for the first time Tuesday.

Previously banned from the courtroom because they were witnesses and much of the initial testimony dealt with their own lifestyle and actions surrounding their daughter's Feb. 2 disappearance, the couple appealed to Superior Court Judge William Mudd this morning to let them observe the proceedings.

Mudd agreed to the request after Dusek said he had finished calling witnesses to talk about the van Dam's lifestyle, but said the couple might have to leave the courtroom again if future testimony touched on their actions.

'Nasty-grams'

Feldman said he has been receiving e-mails addressed to him in ``bright red ink." A similar message was sent to Westerfield.

The communications express ``a certain outrage'' toward both sides in the trial, Feldman said.

. Mudd promised to place the e-mails he receives in the court file, but added that he suspected all parties involved would probably be receiving more in the weeks to come.

Mudd earlier apologized to the jury for joking that county-issued pens ``have a 50-50 chance of having ink in them,'' and for griping about a county clock that didn't keep accurate time and an air-conditioning system that leaves the courtroom too hot or too cold.

Mudd was responding to a letter sent by a county employee, who took exception to his trying to lighten the courtroom mood in a case ``where a man's life is at stake.''

The judge said the letter wouldn't stop him from commenting on things like the Padres from time to time.

 SignOnSanDiego staffer Steve Perez contributed to his report.