WESTERFIELD CONVICTED OF MURDER 20 YEARS AGO

Twenty years ago David Westerfield was convicted of kidnapping and murdering 7-yearold Danielle van Dam, whose family lived two doors away in Sabre Springs.

Danielle disappeared from her bedroom sometime during the night of Feb. 1, 2002. Her parents discovered she was missing the next morning, touching off an intense three-week search and later a national obsession with her killer’s televised trial.

The Union-tribune printed a rare afternoon Extra edition after the jury’s decision was announced. The reading of verdicts began about 11:15 a.m. The first Extra rolled off the press shortly after 1 p.m. By 2:10 p.m., nearly 40,000 copies of the Extra were printed and were being distributed by the circulation department.

Westerfield is on death row at San Quentin State Prison.

From The San Diego Union-tribune, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002:

GUILTY

ANSWERS FOR DANIELLE: JURY CONVICTS DAVID A. WESTERFIELD ON ALL COUNTS

David Alan Westerfield was convicted today of kidnapping and murdering Danielle van Dam in a case that became a public obsession and prompted nationwide debate about neighborhood safety, parental responsibility and sexual promiscuity in San Diego’s suburbs.

Ending nine days of deliberations, the jury announced late this morning that Westerfield is guilty of abducting and killing 7year-old Danielle, who was reported missing

from her Sabre Springs home Feb. 2. Her body was found Feb. 27 along a rural East County roadside.

The same panel of six men and six women must now decide whether to recommend that Westerfield be executed for the crimes or spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Westerfield, 50, also was found guilty of possessing child pornography, a charge prosecutors said pointed to the defendant’s attraction to young girls. They said Westerfield, a neighbor, kidnapped and sexually assaulted Danielle before killing her.

As he had virtually throughout the trial, Westerfield sat stone-faced and expressionless as the verdict was announced.

Just a few yards away, Danielle’s mother, Brenda van Dam, dropped her head and cried as the initial guilty verdict on a murder count was read. Damon van Dam leaned over and hugged his wife, who buried her head in his shoulder.

The distraught parents were escorted into an elevator by bailiffs as soon as the 30-minute court session ended. When reporters asked them for comment, all Brenda van Dam could respond was, “No, we can’t.”

Even before the verdict was entered, defense attorney Steven Feldman requested additional time to prepare for the penalty phase. He said he has at least 10 out-of-state witnesses who could testify, presumably in an attempt to convince jurors to spare his client’s life.

Prosecutor Jeff Dusek immediately objected, saying that the jury deserves to wrap up their obligations as soon as possible.

The penalty phase will begin Wednesday, the judge ruled.

Across the county, office workers, shoppers and others planted themselves in front of televisions to listen to the verdicts, which were broadcast live shortly after 11 a.m.

Prosecutors said Westerfield, a self-employed design engineer, kidnapped the girl from her bedroom in the middle of the night, killed her and dumped her nude body off Dehesa Road east of El Cajon. They described him as a pedophile who collected child pornography.

He lived two doors away in the upscale community of Sabre Springs.

Westerfield’s lawyers said he had nothing to do with the crime. He was a normal 50-yearold guy, they said, with two ex-wives, several ex-girlfriends, two college-age children and no history of pedophilia.