Danielle Van Dam Case Summary

On the morning of February 2, 2002, 7 year old Danielle Van Dam was found missing in her bedroom in the San Diego suburb of Sabre Springs, California. Later her parents, Brenda and Damon Van Dam called the police at 9:39 AM. Police soon discover that the neighbor, David Alan Westerfield was not in his home the day of Danielle’s disappearance. On February 4, Westerfield was then put under 24 hour surveillance after police became suspicious of him cleaning his RV. He made statements to the police that he had been traveling through the beach, desert, and mountains in his RV. The police later brought Westerfield in for questioning. During the interview, Westerfield appeared nervous and cited 13 different weekend destinations for his
Investigators initially locate the “focal point” of the scene, the main area of disturbance. In this case, it was a ransacked bedroom where Danielle was found missing. The bed would appear disorganized with the sheets out of place. Later, on February 27, 2002, Danielle’s body was found discovered in a busy road east of San Diego. The area where her body was found should be labeled as another crime scene (Forensic Science Implied, 2015). Investigators should establish an area that is sizeable enough to likely contain all relevant physical evidence that may be present. It is easier for investigators to condense the size of a scene at a later point than to discover that sensitive evidence outside the scene has been damaged or destroyed by other responders, media or onlookers. In addition, potential paths of perpetrator entry/exit are identified.
Safety is of paramount importance during the initial approach to the scene. Weapons, biohazards, chemical hazards and even intentional traps could be waiting for responders (Forensic Science Implied,
This entails detailed documentation with digital and video cameras or, if available, a 3-D scanner. In this case, sketches and diagrams should be created. During the evidence-collection process, it is crucial that the crime scene investigator follow proper procedures for collecting, packaging and preserving the evidence, especially if it is of a biological nature (Forensic Science Implied, 2015). Biological evidence can be destroyed or damaged by weather conditions, individuals can inadvertently contaminate it, or it can be overlooked entirely if alternate light sources are not used to inspect the scene. The biological evidence found at this crime scene was the blood, hairs, and the fingerprint that matched the victim, Danielle Van Dam Sixth, to ensure that the scene has been thoroughly searched, a second survey of the area should be conducted by the crime scene investigation team as a quality control step. Seventh, to make certain that all evidence is accounted for, an inventory log is created. The descriptions recorded into the log must match the photo of the evidence taken at the scene and the description included in the crime scene