SAN DIEGO -- The trial of the man accused of killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam resumed Monday with the judge warning jurors to ignore last week's murder of a young girl in nearby Orange County.

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Judge William Mudd told jurors to remember that the abduction, sexual assault and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion "bears no relation" to the trial of David Westerfield.

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"Your obligation is to make your decisions in this case solely based on the evidence you see and hear in this courtroom," Mudd said. "Other matters in other locations are of no relevance."

Westerfield's trial had been in recess since July 11 so the judge could take a previously scheduled vacation.

Westerfield, 50, lived two doors from Danielle, who vanished after her father put her to bed the night of Feb. 1. Searchers found the girl's nude body on Feb. 27 along a rural road east of San Diego.

A forensic entomologist, testifying Monday for the defense, said Danielle's body could not have been dumped at the site before Feb. 12, according to his analysis of flies and larvae collected during an autopsy.

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Summary of Day 20

The blow flies that were found on the body typically descend on a cadaver shortly after death, but it can take longer in cooler temperatures, entomologist Neal Haskell (pictured, right) said.

Based on his analysis of the temperatures in the area at the time, Haskell put the "time of colonization" likely at Feb. 14 and no earlier than Feb. 12.

Haskell's testimony puts the time the body may have been dumped several days earlier than suggested by a previous defense witness, entomologist David Faulkner.

The defense has seized upon the time of death, which could not be precisely determined in the autopsy, to suggest the body was dumped at a time when Westerfield was under constant police surveillance.

Westerfield was put under observation Feb. 4, just days after Danielle disappeared, according to police testimony. He was arrested on Feb. 22.

Prosecutor Jeff Dusek noted that Haskell didn't personally examine the body or the insects and only evaluated the data collected by Faulkner.

Dusek also challenged Haskell's weather data, which was collected 16 miles from where the body was found, and his knowledge of the local climate. The other entomologist testified that unusually hot, dry and windy conditions in February reduced fly populations to the lowest number ever recorded.

During Haskell's testimony about insect's devouring Danielle's body, the girl's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, stared at the floor as they sat in the back row of the courtroom.

Also Monday, San Diego police detective James Tomsovic testified that he discovered a "drag trail" about 80-90 feet from where the child's body was discovered.

"There was pieces of hair -- appeared to be blond human hair," Tomsovic said of the 42-foot trail. "Most of the entire length of the drag mark had a greasy smear to it."

The trail, he said, was too big to have been made by a foot which was missing from the body, but too small to have been made by the body itself.

The drag mark also did not appear to lead to or from the body, Tomsovic said.

The significance of his testimony, called for by the defense, was not immediately clear.

The judge has scheduled a hearing Tuesday on trial motions. Defense testimony is scheduled to resume Wednesday.