Danielle lived in the Sabre Springs area during the night of February 1,2002. Her mother, Brenda, had planned a night out with some girlfriends while Damon van Dam agreed to stay home with Danielle and her two brothers. When Brenda van Dam's friends arrived at the family home, the adults drank beer and at one point, ducked into the garage to share a joint. Then Brenda and her friends set out for a local bar.
The last time Damon van Dam saw his daughter, she was falling asleep in her four-poster bed with a toothy grin on her face and Mickey Mouse earrings dangling from her ears. As her father planted a goodnight kiss on her forehead that Friday, few places seemed safer than Danielle's lilac and pink bedroom in her family's upscale home in suburban San Diego.
Danielle was apparently taken out of the safety of her bed from her home by, at the time, an unknown suspect. The following morning a frantic search of the neighborhood was made but to no avail. In the following days a massive search effort was organized by the Laura Recovery Center in addition to the efforts of all branches of San Diego Law enforcement. Over 3,000 people volunteered to search for Danielle. Damon and Brenda van Dam made numerous tearful appeals for the return of their kidnapped daughter.
Five days before Danielle's body was discovered, police arrested David Westerfield on suspicion of kidnapping. He had been under scrutiny since the morning Danielle was reported missing. Then, his house was the only empty one in the van Dam's neighborhood.
"He said to tell them I had a rich neighbor to introduce them to," she said. He also took her phone number, saying he sometimes threw "adult parties" and would invite her and Damon. She said she found the term "adult parties" so strange that she called her husband when she got home to relate the encounter.
When Westerfield returned to his home the Monday after the abduction, police were waiting for him. Detectives approached him as he stepped onto his front porch. Westerfield immediately struck them as nervous.
Despite the cold February morning, Mr. Westerfield was sweating under both armpits to the point the sweat ran out from his armpits several inches. Detective Keene said the alibi Westerfield gave did not make sense. He told police he took his recreational vehicle first to the desert, then the beach, then headed home only to turn toward the mountains and then back to the desert. In all, he ticked off 13 different destinations, Keene said.
Detectives got search warrants and scoured his home and RV. In his home computer files, they found 64,000 pornographic pictures, including "less than 100" images of young girls in sexual acts. One file contained a cartoon in which a terrified girl begged a man not to rape her. In his RV, crime scene investigators found blood, hair and a fingerprint matching Danielle's. Her blood was also found on a jacket Westerfield had taken to be dry cleaned.
Westerfield maintains he had nothing to do with his young neighbor's disappearance. At the preliminary hearing, his public defender said he would wait until the trial to challenge the prosecution's blood and fingerprint evidence. Defense lawyer Steven Feldman has indicated he will attack the way officers carried out the investigation and the van Dam's lifestyle.
At the trial, Danielle's mother questioned her daughter's killer. "What were you thinking as you killed her? Did she not touch your heart one bit?". Mrs.Van Dam must have forgotten that maniacs don't think and rabid animals are cold hearted.
Westerfield was unable to make eye contact with Brenda van Dam, Danielle's mother, who called him an evil "monster" who deserved execution. "Our precious Danielle was taken by a monster thinking only of self-gratification," Brenda van Dam said. "You sat by smugly as thousands of people frantically searched for Danielle and her family," Brenda van Dam said. "It disgusts me that your sick fantasies and your pitiful needs made you feel you needed her more than her family."You do not deserve any leniency, any mercy, because you refused to give it to Danielle." She looked directly at Westerfield, who did not look back. He remained still.
"I hope that he suffers twice, three times, 10 times the pain and fear that he put my daughter through before he dies."
David Westerfield was sentence to die for Danielle's murder.
I've never been to the place but I know you're somewhere proud.
In life I never met you, in death I love you still.
In my heart you hold a place, no one else will ever feel.
I've never heard your name but my memory seems to recall.
I don't know you but somehow I know it all.
I know what happened and I feel the pain.
I do hate Westerfield, I know he's insane.
I said I love you and yes it is true.
You'll always be in my heart, I'll never forget you.
Your tragic situation brought tears all over the nation.
It will be hard to overcome it but we'll find a way.
GOD bless little Danielle who we loss that mournful day.
