Park Rangers: Westerfield Overpaid, Shows Wallet

SAN DIEGO -- Three workers at the Silver Strand State Park testified Thursday that David Westerfield overpaid camping fees by $30 and appeared agitated the day 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was discovered missing.

WESTERFIELD TRIAL Judge William Mudd Issues Death Penalty Sentence Hear Jury's Death Penalty Recommendation Watch The Jury's Verdict Being Read Share Your Thoughts DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002 Watch Danielle Video Montage E-mail: daniellevandam @yahoo.com Send mail to: P.O. Box 501515 San Diego, 92150

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Westerfield, 50, is charged with murder and kidnapping, along with misdemeanor possession of child pornography, and could face the death penalty if convicted on the felony counts.

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Prosecutors have spent the last two days mapping out the travels of Westerfield in his motorhome the weekend the child disappeared from her home in Sabre Springs.

Park ranger Brian Neill said he took the overpayment back to a motorhome registered at the campground by Westerfield on Feb. 2.

Neill testified he noticed that the curtains were drawn in the motor home and there was no furniture outside it.

"It didn't look like anyone was there," Neill told the court. "The curtains were drawn. It was all locked up."

Neill said he knocked on a door and waited for nearly a minute -- and was actually backing away toward his vehicle -- before the occupant answered. The man, who he identified as the defendant, stepped out, denied he made the overpayment, but then accepted the money.

Neill also testified that Westerfield didn't say anything to him after taking the money and did not go back inside until he left.

A park volunteer, Donald Raymond (pictured, above), said Westerfield soon after tried to give the money back and appeared agitated.

"I've never seen someone agitated for getting too much money back," Raymond said.

Raymond said Westerfield told him that he had just been to an ATM and opened his wallet to show him he only had $20 bills.

Whether Westerfield had his wallet that day was expected to be an issue in the trial. San Diego police Detective Johnny Keene testified this week that the defendant told him he left the Strand for home because it was cold and he wanted to find his wallet. He then said he drove to the desert.

Another ranger, Olen Golden (pictured, left), described how he cut open envelopes campers left with their payment. He said Westerfield's was marked for two nights at $24, but he found a $50 bill and four $1 bills.

Various campers at the park testified they noticed the motorhome because there was no activity around it.

"We were all curious about why the curtains had been drawn except for the one in front," Joyce Rodgers, an El Cajon resident, said about seeing the vehicle come into the campground.

Rodgers, there with several family members, said they decided the driver must either have a girlfriend or need a rest.

Her husband, Jimmy, said the front curtain had been drawn by the time he saw the motor home.

In earlier testimony, it was learned that Westerfield frequently used a cellular telephone as he drove around that weekend, making or taking calls involving two numbers.

Greg Sheets, a records custodian with Verizon Wireless, testified that a telephone belonging to Westerfield's account communicated with one of the numbers five times and the other four times.

Sheets testified that the calls were routed through cellular transmitter sites in Chollas Creek and downtown Chula Vista the morning of Feb. 2, then in the early evening through sites in Carmel Mountain Ranch, Mount Woodson and Ramona.

A roaming call that night was made from somewhere in Imperial Valley, but Sheets said he did not have a record of the specific location involved.

Records showed the only call made the next day was at 7:33 p.m., using a transmission site in Mira Mesa.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Steven Feldman, Sheets said signals from cellular phones can sometimes travel 15 miles before a usable transmission site is found.

Angela Elkus, who lives on a street behind Westerfield's residence on Mountain Pass Road, described the Sabre Springs area as a "family neighborhood."

Under questioning from co-defense counsel Robert Boyce, Elkus said, "There are a lot of children in the neighborhood."

She testified that she frequently saw children older than 10 playing on their own in the area, but saw younger children playing "unattended" only "three or four times" in the years she lived there.

Whether children were without adult supervision when Westerfield's motorhome was parked on the street next to his house is becoming a key issue in the trial.

The trial will not be in session Friday. Jurors are expected back in court Monday at 9 a.m.