In describing his meandering weekend trip to a police investigator, murder defendant David Westerfield made at least one reference to being accompanied by another person.
Prosecutors played a tape recording of the conversation, one of his early statements to police, in court on Wednesday. The recording allowed jurors to hear Westerfield speak for himself for the first time during his kidnap and murder trial.
Westerfield, who lived two houses away from the van Dams in Sabre Springs, is on trial for the kidnap and murder of Danielle van Dam. Today was the sixth day of testimony in San Diego Superior Court.
On the tape, Westerfield talks to police interrogation specialist Paul Redden about roaming around San Diego and Imperial counties in his motorhome the weekend 7-year-old Danielle van Dam disappeared.
Westerfield describes his solo trip: Driving to Silver Strand State Beach, then east across the desert to Glamis where he got stuck in the sand, then moving on to Superstition Mountain, Borrego and back to Silver Strand, where he parked on a street overnight before returning home Monday morning.
"Does this sound weird to you?" Westerfield asks Redden at one point. "Because this is perfectly normal for me."
At another point in the interview, Westerfield tells Redden he ended up in an area near Borrego Springs, but couldn't readily provide its name.
"It's like the high area of Borrego Springs, I didn't go into Borrego Springs, I went into the high area up there and just camped," he said, before adding: "I didn't camp I just pulled in. It was getting cold and I had already wasted 2 days driving around so I decided I'll come back."
Redden asks Westerfield if he rested or ate anywhere.
"I stopped and ate, stuff like that, I think, took a shower," Westerfield said. "I was pretty wasted, working. I almost had a heart attack, I think."
After Redden asks Westerfield what happened next, the defendant made this statement, according to the tape:
"Sat around a little bit then decided to take off. The little place where we were at was just a little small turn-off type place."
He didn't correct himself or make any further references to others during the portion of the tape played in court.
An acquaintance who allowed Westerfield to store his motorhome on his property testified later Wednesday that the defendant never went alone, when picking up his vehicle.
Keith Sherman said that Westerfield was alone when he picked up the RV on Saturday Feb. 2, the same day the victim was reported missing.
Police statement
The 45-minute audiotape was an excerpt of a longer interview on Feb. 4, two days after Danielle disappeared. On the witness stand, Redden described the session as an interview rather than an interrogation because the questioning was not accusatory.
Also on the tape, Westerfield tells Redden he didn't socialize with the van Dams, had only met Brenda two weeks before and that he had never been over to their house.
Westerfield talks about packing up his motorhome early on the morning of Feb. 2 – the day Danielle was reported missing – and heading off to the campground at Silver Strand State Beach.
Westerfield said he first learned of Danielle's disappearance from a neighbor Saturday afternoon after he drove back from Silver Strand to Sabre Springs after realizing he'd forgotten his wallet.
Didn't see her, wouldn't know her
On the tape, Redden asks Westerfield on Monday what he thought happened to Danielle.
"My first thought was that she had gotten up early before her parents and had gone over to a friend's house... or that maybe she got up to sell cookies," Westerfield replies.
Danielle's mother, Brenda van Dam, had taken her around the neighborhood during the previous week to sell Girl Scout cookies.
Westerfield said he didn't see any little girls in the neighborhood Saturday morning while he was packing up his motorhome.
"If you brought (Danielle) in right now I wouldn't be able to tell her from five other, 10 other kids," Westerfield says. "I wouldn't be able to recognize her."
Child testifies
An 11-year-old girl testified today that she said hello
to David Westerfield as he picked up his motorhome at her grandparents' Poway
residence the morning of Feb. 2, the day Danielle van Dam disappeared.
``He was wearing a white shirt and sunglasses,'' the girl, identified in court only as Holly S., said. ``He
waved to me and I waved back.''
Mudd ordered the news media not to publish or broadcast any photographs of the girl's face because of her mother's concerns about the case.
The girl said she saw Westerfield early in the morning when she went out to
get the newspaper.
The girl said she told her grandfather, Keith Sherman, about seeing
Westerfield, who she didn't know.
Sherman testified that he let Westerfield store his motorhome at the Poway
residence for $100 a month. The witness said he wanted to talk to Westerfield
about moving a trailer he stored there, but the defendant drove off before he
could catch up with him.
Sherman said he didn't let any children go near Westerfield's
motorhome because it had a sensitive security system.
Other developments
A neighbor who lives in the house behind and above Westerfield's house testified that all of Westerfield's blinds were shut down "in a very uniform manner" early Saturday Feb. 2 and that she had never seen them that way before.
Christina Hoeffs, a police dispatcher, said she woke up shortly after 2 a.m. because her 2½-year-old son was crying and that her attention was drawn to Westerfield's house because a light in his back yard was shining up into her windows.
"All his blinds were shut down in a very uniform manner, including the back door, and no windows were open at all," Hoeffs said. "I remember thinking, 'That's weird, why is everything shut down like that?'"
Superior Court Judge William Mudd expressed exasperation at news media reports that his Tuesday decision to let Danielle's parents sit in the courtroom was a reversal of an earlier decision. Mudd said the rule had always been that Damon and Brenda van Dam could listen to testimony when it didn't address their own actions.
Mudd pointed out to lead defense attorney Steven Feldman that the courtroom was set up so that the jurors could barely see the van Dams where they were seated.
"I'm satisfied that everything is 'copacetic,' " Mudd said.
Prosecutor Jeff Dusek called a number of witnesses who needed special consideration. One, was a hearing-impaired woman who testified with the assistance of a sign-language interpreter.
Sandra DeLong lives across the street from the Poway property where
the defendant parked his motorhome. Two American Sign
Language interpreters stood directly in front of the witness stand, forcing defense attorney Feldman to move into the audience.
Typically, the attorney types notes of testimony on his laptop computer.
DeLong, a teacher in Escondido, testified she saw Westerfield returning his
motorhome to the area the morning of Feb. 4. She also said her children
attended the same school as the defendant's
Jon Stinebaugh, a news videographer for KFMB NewsEight, said he saw a motorhome he believed to be Westerfield's at
an intersection next to the defendant's house as he was going to work the
morning of Feb. 2, the day Danielle van Dam was discovered missing.
When discussing identification of the motorhome, defense attorney Steven
Feldman asked Stinebaugh if he had seen videotape of the vehicle while at
work.
Stinebaugh then invoked the shield law. Media attorney Guylyn Cummins, who has also represented the San Diego Union-Tribune in the case, was seated in the audience. She objected to the question.
After Superior Court Judge William Mudd ordered Stinebaugh to answer, the
photographer said yes.
Stinebaugh invoked the law moments later when Feldman asked how many times
he had seen such video. Mudd again ordered him to answer. He estimated he had
seen the tape about 12 times.
Stinebaugh said police searched his home the afternoon of Feb. 4.
