David Westerfield: The Murder Of Danielle Van Dam

On August 21, 2002 David Westerfield was sentenced to death for the murder, kidnapping and rape of 7 year old Danielle van Dam. The incident transpired in February of the same year, where Danielle was removed from her home during the night. The body of the child was found 21 days later on the side of a busy freeway. Forensic evidence and a lack of an alibi linked Westerfield to the crime. As of today, Westerfield is still awaiting execution. On Friday, February 1, 2002, Danielle was put to bed by her father at 10:30pm. Danielle’s mother, Brenda, was out with friends while the father, Damon, stayed home with their three children, a daughter and two sons. Earlier that same day, Westerfield, a neighbor living two houses down from the van Dams, was seen washing and repairing his mobile home in his front yard. Upon the mother’s return home during the early hours of the morning, both parents assumed their daughter was sleeping in her bedroom. The following morning, around

They are the mobile home, the location where the body was found, and the victim’s bedroom. Additional evidence includes Westerfield’s electronics and the laundry from the Laundromat. The mobile home contained most of the evidence found in this case. Investigators later found strands of Danielle's long blond hair in Westerfield's bed, RV and laundry. There were drops of her blood on the floor of his RV and a stain of it on his jacket. Her palm and fingerprint was discovered above the RV's bed, and distinctive orange and blue fibers from the death scene were also found on Westerfield's property. (http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/westerfield- david.htm) The body of Danielle van Dam was found in an abandoned lot 25 miles away from her home on February 27, 2002. She was found hidden under trash piles by a volunteer search team. The stage of decomposition the body was in suggested that the body was decomposing for at least a few