Danielle Van Dam Case

Danielle van Dam was a seven year old girl who lived in a San Diego town named Sabre Springs. The parents lives were changed forever when one morning when they go into Danielle’s room and find that she isn’t there. As a kid, I went to an elementary school in Dehesa which is the same place Danielle's body was found. I remember my mother and I stopped at a memorial of hers at the location her body was found. It was under a tree on the side of the road in which people brought flowers, balloon, cards and pictures of her. I wasn’t old enough to know what exactly was going on but whenever I heard her name come up I would think back to that moment and that is the reason why I chose this case.

Danielle lived with both parents Brenda and Damon van

After lots of searching her nude and partially decomposed body was found 25 miles from her home in Dehesa, California on February 27th. Her cause of death and whether she was sexually assaulted were unidentifiable. Van Dam was identified by dental records. Westerfield pleaded not guilty and went on trial on June 4, 2002. The forensic evidence presented by the prosecution included Danielle's blood stains on Westerfield's jacket and on the floor of his motor home. Danielle's fingerprints were found in the motor home along with hairs from the van Dam family dog on Westerfield's motor home bed comforter.The hairs were consistent with Danielle's on the sheet of his bed, and matching acrylic fibers found on Danielle's body and in Westerfield's home. Westerfield's lawyers attempted to have his statements to police excluded, saying that he was unfairly interrogated for more than nine hours by detectives who ignored his repeated requests to call a lawyer, take a shower, eat, and sleep. The two officers that conducted Westerfield’s interrogation did not testify. During the trial, Westerfield's lawyers said that the police were in a hurry to solve the case and declined to consider other suspects. They also said that the child pornography found on Westerfield's computer was downloaded by Westerfield's son, Neal, who was 18 at the time of the murder. In testimony, Neal denied this. Part of Westerfield's defense focused on the lifestyle of Danielle van Dam's parents, who they argued had an open marriage, were swingers, and smoked marijuana in their garage regularly. The defense suggested that because of this lifestyle, there might have been other people in the home that night. During the penalty phase of the trial, Westerfield's 19 year old niece testified that, when she was 7 years old, her uncle entered his