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Prosecutors in Westerfield trial focus on physical evidence

SAN DIEGO -- Brenda van Dam bolted from the courtroom in tears Tuesday after a crime scene technician recalled graphic details of her daughter Danielle's autopsy.

Van Dam was sandwiched between friends in the back row of the spectator's gallery when forensic specialist Dorie Savage began describing the grim process of removing the 7-year-old's fingernails to look for her abductor's DNA.

The 39-year-old housewife rose and lurched to the exit sobbing. Neither David Westerfield, the neighbor accused of killing Danielle, nor jurors seemed to notice her departure, but once outside, Brenda van Dam let out a wail audible in the courtroom.

The emotional outburst came as the capital murder trial entered its third week and the prosecution downshifted from eyewitnesses to Westerfield's activities the weekend Danielle vanished to the law enforcement personnel who tried to solve the crime.

"I think we put half the country to sleep this morning," Judge William Mudd joked to jurors of the plodding, meticulous police testimony, which stood in marked contrast to the quick-paced, colorful accounts of previous civilian witnesses.

Slow-paced or not, the testimony was often painful for Brenda van Dam. Her husband Damon usually by her side was not in court Tuesday. After leaving the court during Savage's testimony, she watched the trial on television monitors in the adjacent media center.

In the afternoon, she returned to the gallery but gripped the hands of two female friends for support and left again as prosecutors prepared to show pictures of Danielle's body.

Savage and police detective James Tomsovic described the massive effort last February to find and collect evidence in a crime investigators believe had at least five different scenes: the Van Dam home where Danielle was snatched from her bed February 1, Westerfield's home two doors away, his recreational vehicle where he spent the days after the abduction, his SUV and the roadside where Danielle's naked body was found February 27.

Much of the evidence gathered by Tomsovic and Savage will be explained to jurors this week by expert witnesses, including fingerprint examiners and DNA, fiber and hair analysts.

Tomsovic, however, testified about some evidence prosecutors hope the jury will interpret for themselves. The detective displayed a shopping list found on Westerfield's kitchen counter. Bleach topped the list, an indication, according to prosecutors, that Westerfield cleaned his home and vehicles after killing Danielle.

The detective also showed jurors an advertisement from the bedding store Linens 'N' Things. The mailer was folded opened to a picture of a canopy bed with a lacy mosquito netting very similar to Danielle's. Westerfield was never a guest in the van Dam residence and prosecutors have hinted that he learned about her furniture and the location of her room by spying on her.

Tomsovic told jurors that Westerfield kept a pair of binoculars in a dresser drawer just steps from a bathroom window that looked out on the van Dam's backyard swing set. The window screen was pushed out as if someone had leaned against it, the detective said.

Westerfield's lawyer, Robert Boyce, ridiculed that suggestion, pointing out that no part of Danielle's room and only a small part of the yard was visible from the window.

"Did you see a post bed in the backyard?" the lawyer asked. "Did you see a canopy in the backyard?"

"No," the detective answered to both questions.

Savage testified about scouring the van Dams' house for any clue to Danielle's assailant. She lifted scores of prints from doors and furniture and helped remove an entire section of wall near the front door. More than 33 sets of prints were found on that chunk of wall alone, she said.

She also photographed apparent blood stains on the family's staircase and outside the garage. Although Savage did not identify the origin of that blood, Damon van Dam testified earlier that the blood came from a cut on the family dog, Layla. Savage took DNA and hair samples from the dog as well as Brenda van Dam, her husband, Damon, and their two sons.

Savage also testified that she found a small black hair in Danielle's armpit and another hair on a gate leading off the van Dams' property. Westerfield has dark hair.

The most puzzling piece of evidence she recovered was an empty bullet cartridge casing on the floor of Danielle's bedroom. Savage walked through the bedroom the day Danielle vanished and said there was no casing, but two days later, she saw it on the carpet.

"I certainly would've seen [it the first time]," she said. Savage said the bullet seemed old and was dented and chipped.

The coroner could not determine how Danielle was murdered, but said there were no gunshot wounds. Prosecutors say she was probably suffocated.

Tomsovic was scheduled to resume the stand Wednesday.