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Police: Westerfield Had Child Porn

Family Friends Renew Search For Missing Danielle van Dam

POSTED: 6:43 pm PST February 8, 2002
UPDATED: 7:40 pm PST February 8, 2002

One of the most scrutinized suspects in the disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle Van Dam had child pornography in his house, 10News reported Friday.

Danielle van Dam
MISSING
INFORMATION
DISCUSSION
The pornography was among the 13 bags of evidence taken Tuesday from David A Westerfield's home, police disclosed.

Meanwhile, authorities Friday scaled back a search of the Imperial County desert they undertook in connection with the nearly week-old disappearance of the Sabre Springs second-grader.

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As the all-out law enforcement and community effort to find the child entered its seventh day, police officials announced that they had no plans to resume their search of the arid wilderness stretching to the Arizona border.

Westerfield, a neighbor of the van Dams, apparently took his recreational vehicle to an area near Glamis for the weekend on the same morning the girl was reported missing.

Friday afternoon, an San Diego Police Department helicopter unit returned to the region for "another aerial view" of undisclosed sites, department information officer Dave Cohen said.

"We are not saying where the helicopter (crew) is focusing its attention," he said. "At this point, there are no plans to send detectives back to the area by car."

Several television news stations reported late Friday that Westerfield also apparently spent some time at Silver Strand State Beach, south of Coronado, on Saturday afternoon. Police had no immediate comment on the reports.

In public comments, the only outing the 50-year-old design engineer has spoken of making last weekend was the desert trip.

Authorities also transferred their base of operations for investigations for the search from the SDPD's Northeastern Division precinct house to its main downtown offices for logistical reasons.

Many of the 40 or so detectives assigned to the apparent kidnapping case are based at the Broadway station, so the relocation will give them direct access to their regular offices, computers and support personnel.

"We based (the investigation) out of Northeastern initially because most of the people detectives needed to talk with lived or worked in that area," Cohen explained. "For the most part, those contacts have been made."

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Meanwhile, a group of community volunteers helping to comb northern San Diego for the missing 7-year-old held a meeting to update the public on the effort and to seek more volunteers.

Organizers used the occasion to try to recruit as much help as possible, while seeking "donations of equipment, supplies, anything that people can (give) to help," Susan Wintersteen, a friend of the van Dams, said.

Thursday, more than a dozen San Diego-area police and sheriff's personnel spent the day scanning swaths of sun-blasted Imperial County terrain on the ground and from the air, aided by law enforcement officers from that region.

They found "nothing of significance" during the multi-agency operation, Cohen said.

While continuing to label Westerfield, as nothing more than a "potential suspect" in Danielle's disappearance, detectives have twice gone through his home, two doors down from the van Dams', with service dogs.

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During those searches, officers carted off 13 boxes and bags full of household items. In addition, police impounded Westerfield's sport utility vehicle and the motor home he took to the desert over the weekend.

Thursday night, investigators paid another visit to the house of Westerfield (pictured, right), leaving about 15 minutes later without commenting on the reason for the visit.

"We will not discuss any details of that meeting," Cohen said.

Westerfield has hired Hillcrest criminal defense attorney Steven Feldman, even though he has not been arrested or charged with any offense.

Westerfield spent much of the day Friday meeting with Feldman and a group of other lawyers, 10News reported.

When reporters asked Westerfield outside his home earlier this week if he knew where Danielle was, he shook his head, said no, and walked inside.

Danielle's parents told authorities that the last either of them saw of their eldest child was when Damon van Dam put her to bed after 10 p.m. last Friday night.

They said they realized she was missing around 9 a.m. the next day.

Police officials have repeatedly said they do not consider the parents suspects in the girl's disappearance, which is officially considered a case of kidnapping, though they point out that no one has been completely ruled out.

During an appearance Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America," the parents declined to say if their daughter had ever had any contact with Westerfield, saying they were acting on instructions from police.

Video
News agencies, however, have reported that Brenda van Dam (pictured, left)and her daughter recently paid a visit to Westerfield at his house while selling cookies door-to-door for Danielle's Girl Scout troop.

Earlier this week, the couple briefly commented on the events of the night of Danielle's disappearance, when the wife went with several female companions to a Poway nightspot, about three miles from the van Dam home.

"Brenda went out to Dad's Cafe with a couple of friends, and I stayed home with the kids," the husband told reporters during an impromptu briefing outside their home.

His wife made brief mention of the fact that she ran into Westerfield at the tavern, simply noting that he "was there."

Westerfield has told reporters he danced with his neighbor before leaving the bar. Brenda van Dam has denied that story.

She did, however, confirm reports that she went to bed that fateful night without looking in on their daughter, despite finding a side door into the yard slightly ajar.

"I did not check on her because I had asked her father how the night went, if everything went OK, and so I did not look in on her," she said.

The van Dams also spoke of putting their version of the weekend's events to a lie-detector test at authorities' request.

"We took one (polygraph exam)," Brenda van Dam said. "We voluntarily took one, and we both passed."

Officials asked anyone with information on the whereabouts of Danielle -- who is described as 4 feet tall and 58 pounds, with blue eyes and dirty-blond hair -- to call (619) 531-2000.


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