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Hearing scheduled for man accused in girl's disappearance

(Court TV) -- The last time Damon van Dam saw his 7-year-old daughter, Danielle, she was falling asleep in her bed with a toothy grin on her face and Mickey Mouse earrings dangling from her ears.

As her father switched off her light that Friday night, few places seemed safer than Danielle's lilac and pink bedroom in her family's upscale home in suburban San Diego.

The next morning, however, the bubbly blonde second-grader was gone, snatched from her room by some unseen assailant. By the time Danielle's body was found three weeks later and her neighbor charged with murder, the whole country seemed to have redefined its notion of safety.

Investigators say Danielle was killed by Daniel Alan Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer who lived just two doors away. The motive was sex, they say. Searches of Westerfield's property revealed child pornography and spots of blood matching Danielle's DNA.

Prosecutors are expected to reveal more details of their case against Westerfield at a preliminary hearing Monday. Court TV plans live coverage of the hearing, which may stretch several days.

Westerfield claims he is innocent. He is currently being held without bail.

Danielle disappeared from her home in the Sabre Springs area during the night of February 1. Her homemaker mother, Brenda, 39, had gone to a local bar with some friends while her father, an engineer, stayed home with Danielle and her two brothers.

Damon van Dam told police he put his daughter to bed at 10:30 p.m. and then fell asleep. When his wife returned from the bar at 2 a.m. with two female friends and two other men, he woke up and talked with his guests for another hour.

The couple told police they never looked in on their daughter before turning in for the night. They first realized Danielle was gone at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

Scores of officers responded to the van Dams' 911 call. Some interviewed neighbors, others searched the area and crime scene analysts began collecting evidence in the house.

Within a few days, Westerfield was a suspect. The van Dams said he was an acquaintance to whom they waved hello and goodbye, but had little other contact. He was one of only a few neighbors not home that Saturday morning, having taken his 35-foot RV on a long trip around the county.

At first, he was cooperative with police. He told police that he had no idea where Danielle was, but said he and Brenda van Dam were at the same bar the night Danielle went missing and had even danced together. She verified that Westerfield was at the bar, but denied they danced.

Westerfield reportedly failed a polygraph test and investigators began to press him about his activities Friday night and Saturday. He said he had gone to the beach and the desert. Some witnesses placed him at a casino and a campground.

"His timeline never made any sense, the inconsistencies were glaring," one detective told the San Diego Union-Tribune. Investigators reportedly also found it suspicious that Westerfield had given his RV an intense cleaning when he returned from his trip.

Police obtained warrants to examine Westerfield's cell phone records and search his home computer for child pornography. They seized bedding and clothing he had dropped off at a dry cleaner. They searched his vehicles looking for Danielle's pajamas, her earrings and "binding materials" like tape. They got permission to make shoe prints of Westerfield's footwear.

On February 22, while searchers still combed the desert looking for Danielle, police arrested Westerfield on suspicion of kidnapping. DNA tests on the RV and on an article of Westerfield's clothing revealed Danielle's blood.

Investigators said they believed Danielle was dead, and when Westerfield appeared in court four days later he was charged with murder, kidnapping and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors have not decided whether they will pursue the death penalty. When Westerfield, a twice-divorced father of two grown children, entered the courtroom to enter his not guilty plea, Brenda van Dam let out a loud sob.

The following day, a search volunteer found a body near a cluster of oak trees in a trash-strewn lot 20 feet from a busy street. An autopsy confirmed the body was Danielle's. Its state of decomposition, however, made it impossible to determine how Danielle had died.

With the girl's death official, a Web site listing a schedule of search parties was replaced with a memorial. On a lilac background were the words of singer Sarah McLachlan: "You're in the arms of the angel. May you find some comfort there."