Experts Say Girl’s Blood Found on Suspect’s RV, Coat

Danielle van Dam’s blood was found on murder suspect David Westerfield’s jacket and recreational vehicle, and the 7-year-old’s fingerprints were found near the bed in that vehicle, police forensic specialists testified Tuesday.

“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Danielle van Dam made those prints,” fingerprint expert Jeffrey Graham testified as Westerfield sat impassively in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge H. Ronald Domnitz.

Westerfield is accused of kidnapping as well as murdering the girl, whose family lives two doors from him. The child’s body was found Feb. 27 in a rural area, 25 days after she disappeared.

The testimony came on the second day of a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to try Westerfield for the crimes. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.

Police testified that Westerfield’s computer contained “highly organized” files of pornographic pictures downloaded from Web sites, including about 100 depicting young girls.

A cartoon in one of the files showed a young girl begging not to be raped, police Det. James Watkins said.

Another file contained pictures of the bikini-clad teenage daughter of Westerfield’s girlfriend, Watkins said.

The girl’s name is Danielle, he added.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Dusek said the pornography is significant because it suggests a motive for the crime: that Westerfield, 50, a self-employed engineer, had sexual fantasies about young girls.

But defense attorney Robert Boyce protested that police could not prove that Westerfield downloaded the pictures, and suggested instead that his 18-year-old son or someone else may have done so.

Boyce, in cross-examining Watkins, said there also is no proof that the females in the pictures are not 18 years old, which would make the pornography protected under the 1st Amendment.

“Some people look older than others at different ages, don’t they?” Boyce asked.

“Some look younger too,” Watkins responded.

Detectives testified that Westerfield took his jacket and also comforters and comforter covers from the recreational vehicle to a dry-cleaning business two days after Danielle van Dam was discovered missing from her home in the Sabre Springs neighborhood.

Police Det. James Hergenroeather said a clerk at the business told him that Westerfield appeared upset as he brought the items in for cleaning.

Annette Peer, the Police Department’s DNA expert, testified that the blood on the right shoulder of Westerfield’s jacket and on the carpet of the recreational vehicle was Danielle’s.

During a cross-examination by Westerfield’s attorneys, the police forensic specialists conceded it was not possible to determine when the blood and fingerprints were left on the jacket and recreational vehicle.

Police have said Westerfield told them Danielle and her mother, Brenda, came to his home selling Girl Scout cookies in the days before her Feb. 2 disappearance.

Danielle and one of her brothers ran around his home without supervision, Westerfield told Det. Johnny Keene, according to Keene’s testimony Monday.

The hearing is scheduled to resume Thursday.