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Westerfield Trial Focuses On Van Dam Lifestyle

Brenda Discloses About Her 'Open Marriage'

POSTED: 10:01 am PDT June 7, 2002
UPDATED: 12:41 pm PDT June 7, 2002

No court proceedings were scheduled Friday in the David Westerfield case after three days of testimony during which jurors heard from several witnesses including the parents of Danielle van Dam.

Danielle van Dam, David Westerfield
WESTERFIELD TRIAL
DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002

Westerfield, 50, could face the death penalty if convicted of Danielle's murder. The Sabre Springs girl was reported missing the morning of Feb. 2.

The self-employed engineer is accused of kidnapping the second-grader, killing her and dumping her body in rural Dehesa, where it was found more than three weeks after she disappeared.

Video

Danielle's mother, Brenda van Dam, was on the witness stand for most of Thursday.

Brenda van Dam told prosecutor Jeff Dusek she disclosed to officers everything about her "open marriage" once they made it clear that it was important.

"I would have told (the police) anything they needed to get Danielle back," she said.

Brenda van Dam broke down early in her testimony, when asked to name her children and give their ages.

Dusek asked the mother about the first of two "girls nights out" at Dad's Cafe in Poway with two girlfriends. Dusek asked if any men were invited to the Jan. 25 get-together at Dad's. Van dam said no.

"Was there a sex party at your house when you got home?" Dusek asked, hoping to pre-empt an anticipated defense attack on the mother during cross-examination.

"There's never been a sex party at my house," she responded.

She later testified that during a Halloween party in October 2000, she and her husband had sex with a friend and her husband in the van Dam home.

She also described previous contacts with the defendant, including a visit to his house with Danielle and her younger brother to sell Girl Scout cookies.

While the children were playing in his back yard, she said that Westerfield told her he was interested in her friend, Barbara Easton, who had caught his eye at Dad's.

On the second outing to Dad's, Easton walked up to Westerfield and began talking to him, van Dam told the court.

Brenda denied dancing with the defendant on either occasion.

Damon van Dam, Danielle's father, testified earlier that he lied to police about use of marijuana in the garage of his house the night of Feb. 1 -- hours before his daughter turned up missing.

He also told the court that on prior occasions he engaged in sex with two of Brenda's female friends, Barbara and Denise.

During his testimony, Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne was asked about the cause and time of Danielle's death.

The girl's body was so decomposed when found by a volunteer searcher that it was impossible to establish a cause of death, Blackbourne said.

He estimated her time of death at anywhere from 10 days to six weeks before the body was found Feb. 27.

Blackbourne also said it was possible that air temperature could be a variable in judging when she died. That led defense attorney Steven Feldman to suggest that especially hot days in late February could have accelerated the decomposition process.

In his opening statement Tuesday, Feldman told the jury that Westerfield could not possibly have dumped Danielle's body in Dehesa after Feb. 6, because he was under constant scrutiny by the police and the media.

Blackbourne also testified he checked Danielle's body for signs of sexual assault but found none, primarily because of tissue damage from decomposition and animal activity.

Jurors also heard tapes of the 911 call Brenda van Dam placed after learning that her daughter was missing.

During the call, placed at 9:39 a.m. on Feb. 2, the frantic mother told the emergency operator "look ma'am, my daughter's not in her bed this morning," adding "she's only 7."

The 39-year-old mother can be heard breathing heavily and muttering, "Oh, my God." Loud voices can be heard in the background.

The dispatcher then asks van Dam if her daughter had a history of running away.

"No. No. Not at all," van Dam replies. "I don't know where she could be."

"There didn't look like there was any problems with the house, or anything?" the dispatcher asks.

"Last night when I came home, because I was out with my friends, there was a door open to the house," the mother replies. "I couldn't figure out which one it was. It was either a side door or a garage door."

"What time did you come home?" the dispatcher asks.

"I came home about 2 a.m. My husband was at home with them -- he was home."

More background yelling can be heard before the call comes to a close.

A bartender at Dad's Cafe, who took the witness stand at the conclusion of Brenda van Dam's testimony, characterized David Westerfield as a "people watcher," but termed a police report on the behavior of Brenda van Dam and two friends inaccurate.

Sean Brown said that he was at work as a bar manager on the two nights that have come up in testimony in the case: Jan. 25 and Feb. 1.

Westerfield would "hang out" and watch people as they drank and danced, Brown said. The bartender said he never saw the defendant dance or play pool.

"I believe David had a few drinks," Brown said of Feb. 1. "He was feeling good. He'd taken the edge off. I don't believe he was drunk."

He said the same about Brenda van Dam.

"I don't think she was drunk," Brown testified. "She was in good spirits but was in control of herself. She wasn't slurring."

Under cross-examination by co-defense counsel Robert Boyce, Brown said a police report containing his statements on the behavior of Brenda and her two friends was inaccurate.

The statement from police indicated the women were "flirtatious toward males" and "partying hard."

Brown testified Thursday that the women were having fun as girlfriends do. He said he never saw them act inappropriately.

Also Thursday, a female heckler shouted an obscenity at David Westerfield through an open courtroom door, just as jurors were filing in to hear more testimony.

Some jurors appeared to be stunned when the woman shouted expletives towared Westerfield.

After they were seated, Superior Court Judge William Mudd told jurors he would do everything possible to "ensure that this is not repeated."

Testimony in the case is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday. You can watch the trial live on NewsChannel 15 and TheSanDiegoChannel.com.


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