The Murder Of Danielle Van Dam By Nevethan Jeyachandran

The Murder of Danielle Van Dam

By: Nevethan Jeyachandran
Submitted to Dr.Monica Sauer
Student Number: 500-523-913
Course: Intro to Forensics (CCHY-183)
December 01, 2014

Introduction

The Murder of Danielle Van Dam is a gruesome case which took place in the year 2002. A 7-year old girl went missing from her bedroom in San Diego, California, on Feb1-2, 2002. Her badly decomposed body was found in a remote area far away from her home on February 27. Police suspected a neighbour, David Alan Westerfield for the murder. He was arrested, tried, and convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death and is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.
Danielle missing had sparked a massive search

The other forensic entomologist, Neal Haskell, had used a weather chart prepared by forensic artist James Gripp. He said that the warm temperatures made it likely that insects had immediately colonized Danielle’s corpse and there was a chance that this did not prove enough to incinerate Westerfield in the murder.
The third entomologist, Dr. Robert Hall, made another observation on the larvae. He estimated that the initial insect infestation had occurred between February 12 and February 23. However, under cross-examination Hall changed his stance and instead said that the insect infestation which took place on the corpse wasn’t that common because there were so few maggots that were found in the girl’s head.
On the other hand, the prosecutor Jeff Dusek cross questioned Hall about why his calculations were compiled through a method which was less favourable to the prosecution and why he had spoken against the findings of the prosecution’s entomologist, Dr. Madison Lee Goff. Goff was another entomologist who had testified that the infestation may have occurred February 9 to February 14, but stressed that other factors may have delayed insect