SAN DIEGO -- Day six of the search for 7-year-old Danielle van Dam saw all the parties involved settling into something of a routine Thursday.
Brenda and Damon van Dam began the day at 3:15 a.m., extending their plea for help in the case across the nation via morning news programs like ABC's "Good Morning America." The couple has offered interviews to a number of local and national media outlets, including CNN's Larry King Wednesday night.
Suspect David Westerfield spoke to a lawyer Thursday and offered reporters little more information than what he gave 10News Monday as police searched through his home:
"I was gone all weekend ... I offered to let them look through everything and check it," he said.
And a platoon of reporters, camped out in the erstwhile quiet San Diego neighborhood of Sabre Springs, swarmed for any development in the case. At one point Thursday reporters went into a frenzy at the news that Westerfield was making a stop at a nearby fast-food restaurant.
Parents Renew Plea For Daughter's Return
Brenda and Damon van Dam displayed a photo of Danielle taken Friday and held up blue-flowered nightclothes like ones she was wearing the night she vanished on "Good Morning America" Thursday.
"If you even think you've seen anything like her or the pajamas or anything, please let us know," Damon van Dam said. "We need to follow everything."
John Walsh, of the television program "America's Most Wanted" also appeared on "Good Morning America" with the van Dams Thursday morning. He commended them for keeping their focus on "the real victim" -- Danielle.
Brenda van Dam first delivered her plea late Wednesday afternoon: "Please, please continue to get the word out about our little girl nationwide. While investigators are working around-the-clock, all of you watching can help us by continuing to distribute fliers and posters so her picture can be seen nationwide."
Brenda van Dam said her "biggest hope" was that Danielle's abductor would "realize right now this has gotten really, really big and they've made a big mistake and they are going to let my daughter walk away."
She also had a direct message for her missing child, in case she might wind up seeing a broadcast of the news conference: "I would hope that if she sees me, she knows we are all waiting for her at home. Please ask this person to just let you go. We love you. We want you back."
Danielle was first discovered missing from her home Saturday morning. Her father had put her to bed sometime after 10 p.m. Friday, as Brenda van Dam celebrated a co-worker's going-away party at a nearby Poway nightspot, 10News reported.
Initially police reported that Damon van Dam told investigators he woke up around 1:30 a.m. Saturday to let out the family dog and noticed a burglar alarm light was blinking. He discovered a sliding glass door was open and he closed it.
Brenda van Dam (pictured, right) arrived home around 2:30 a.m. and stayed up for another hour with her husband and friends, 10News reported.
Thursday she confirmed reports that she went to bed without looking in on their daughter, despite finding a side door into the yard ajar.
"I did not check on her because I had asked her father how the night went, if everything went OK, and so I did not look in on her," she said.
The father remarked Thursday that he wouldn't go into the evening's time line in greater detail "because the police have asked us not to."
Police officials have repeatedly said they do not consider the parents suspects in the girl's disappearance, though they point out that no one has been completely ruled out.
Brenda van Dam said that she and her husband had recounted their version of the weekend's events while hooked up to a polygraph machine.
"We took one (polygraph exam)," Brenda van Dam said. "We voluntarily took one, and we both passed."
At around 9:30 a.m. Thursday the van Dams left their home with a group of police detectives, 10News reported. Police representatives did not say where the detectives had gone with the van Dam's.
Focus On Westerfield Intensifies
Police have said continually that there are a number of suspects in the case but the man that they appear to be looking at most closely is Westerfield (pictured, left), a 50-year-old design engineer.
Early Thursday morning, Westerfield waded through dozens of reporters and photographers and drove to the downtown offices of attorney Steven Feldman. He spoke to the attorney for two hours, made the well-publicized fast-food stop and returned home.
"I can't comment," Westerfield said as he exited his car Thursday. "(My attorney has) asked me not to say anything."
Westerfield has been questioned twice by police. Both times were voluntary, according to police. Monday Westerfield allowed police to bring dogs into his home, and investigators left with 13 bags of evidence. They also impounded two of Westerfield's vehicles.
Tuesday Westerfield, who lives two doors down from the van Dam family, voluntarily submitted to interrogations and willingly took authorities on a tour of a desert location where he said that he camped out Saturday and Sunday.
"At our request, he took us around to where he was over the weekend," San Diego Police Lt. Jim Collins said, declining to specify the locale.
Late Thursday investigators returned to that desert location, but would not specify what they were looking for.
Authorities "had no plans to arrest" Westerfield in connection with the presumed abduction of the child, according to 10News.
Westerfield told authorities that he had run across Brenda van Dam and her companions at the Poway bar Friday night.
"They were having a good time, just playing pool with people and joking around," Westerfield said earlier this week, adding that he'd danced with his neighbor before leaving. Westerfield left the bar around midnight, according to 10News.
Asked about the neighbor who has wound up a central focus of the investigation, Brenda responded: "I can tell you we don't know him very well."
"He is an acquaintance, not a friend," her husband added. "We've seen him since we've moved in. We've waved to him. We say hello to him when we drive by ... and that's as far as we know him."
Community Offers Support
Ribbons -- in pink and purple, Danielle's favorite colors -- and posters of Danielle's smiling face are showing up all across the San Diego area but family friend and spokeswoman Susan Wintersteen told 10News "there needs to be more."
"Every car needs to have a ribbon tied on its antennae. We need to have (posters) at every signal and stop light ... we want it out there everywhere. We want it down in Mexico, we want it up in Canada, we want it as far across the country as we can," Wintersteen said.
A Beverly Hills-based nonprofit group offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the girl's safe return home. The Millennium Children's Fund also set up a tip hot line at
(800) 574-6118.
"We believe that this $10,000 reward that came from individual Americans across the country will help this little girl come home," said Douglas Pierce, spokesman for the Millennium Children's Fund.
Police officials asked anyone with information on the youngster's whereabouts to call
(619) 531-2000.
The family also has set up a hot line for tips at
(888) 664-6664. They have also asked that people visit the Web site:
DanielleMissing.comThe SDPD has put dozens of detectives on the case and is getting additional help from the county Sheriff's Department and the FBI.
Danielle is described as 4 feet tall and 58 pounds, with blue eyes and blond hair.
"We still have hope. We still know that she's coming home," Wintersteen said.
Copyright 2007 by 10News.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
