SAN DIEGO -- David Westerfield used the word "we" while recounting a long trip in his motor home he claimed to have taken alone shortly after Danielle van Dam disappeared in February.

WESTERFIELD TRIAL Judge William Mudd Issues Death Penalty Sentence Hear Jury's Death Penalty Recommendation Watch The Jury's Verdict Being Read Share Your Thoughts DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002 Watch Danielle Video Montage E-mail: daniellevandam @yahoo.com Send mail to: P.O. Box 501515 San Diego, 92150

Watch LIVE Coverage Of Trial @ 9:30 a.m. Thursday

Westerfield described "this little place we were at" during a taped interview with police that was played for jurors Wednesday in his trial.

Video

Hear Westerfield's "We" Statement Watch Westerfield TV Interview

Westerfield, who is charged with kidnapping and murdering Danielle, said that he hardly knew the girl, who lived two doors from him in their Sabre Springs neighborhood.

"If you brought her in right now, I wouldn't recognize her from 10 other kids," he told a police investigator during an interview three days after Danielle was reported missing.

Danielle was last seen Feb. 1, when her father put the girl to bed. She was reported missing about 9 a.m. the following day and quickly became the subject of an intense search involving thousands of police and volunteers in the San Diego region.

Her nude, decomposing body was found three weeks later along a rural road east of San Diego.

Westerfield, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography, could face the death penalty if convicted.

The 50-year-old divorced engineer lived two doors from the van Dam home until his arrest.

In the interview with police, Westerfield was asked what he thought happened to Danielle.

"My first thought was that she had gotten up early before her parents ... and gone over to a friend's house," he said on the tape.

Westerfield also gave a detailed account of the long, meandering trip to the beach and desert he took in his motor home. The trip of several hundred miles began the Saturday morning when Danielle was reported missing. He returned home Monday morning. Westerfield has told investigators that he was alone, looking for places to camp with his adult son.

"Does this sound weird to you?" he told the investigator. "It's perfectly normal for me."

Westerfield also described his brief encounter with Danielle's mother, Brenda van Dam, at a neighborhood bar Feb. 1. He said he was intoxicated when he drove home that night.

"I don't remember getting home. That's how bad it was," he said.

A neighbor of Westerfield's also testified Wednesday that the defendant left a back light on and closed all his blinds the night before Danielle turned up missing.

Christina Hoeffs (pictured, left), whose home overlooks Westerfield's, testified that she noticed the light and the closed blinds when she got up about 2 a.m. on Feb. 2 to check on her 2 1/2-year-old son, who was crying.

"The house was pretty much locked down," Hoeffs said. "My thought was, I hope (Westerfield) didn't go to the desert and leave his light on."

Hoeffs said that all of the blinds in Westerfield's home were shut down "in a uniform manner."

"I thought, Oh, that's weird, why is everything shut down like that?" Hoeffs testified. "I don't ever remember seeing it that way."

The woman said she reported the illuminated light to police on Feb. 2, but didn't tell authorities about the closed blinds until Feb. 5.

"I told them, I don't know if this is good for the guy or bad for the guy," Hoeffs testified. "I thought it was unusual."