Kidnap Suspect Facing Murder Charge

Feb. 25 -- A neighbor charged in the disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam also will also be charged with murder and could face the death penalty, San Diego police and prosecutors said today.

Investigators said they have not found the girl's body, but they have concluded that she is dead and was killed by David Westerfield, who was repeatedly questioned in her disappearance before his arrest Friday.

"I must conclude that Danielle van Dam is no longer living and that she has been killed by her abductor," San Diego District Attorney Paul Pfingst said at a news conference today.

Pfingst said he was confident that police had made a thorough, disciplined search for Danielle and that his office made its conclusion after several weeks of searches had failed to recover the missing girl.

Westerfield, 50, will be charged with murder during the act of a kidnapping and be arraigned Tuesday on the charges. If convicted, Westerfield faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Pfingst said his office would decide whether to seek the death penalty later this week.

"Recognizing what this family has been through, and what this community has been through, I understand 'murder' is a harsh word," Pfingst said. "But it is the correct charge in this case."

Blood Evidence Provides Link

Westerfield, who lives just two doors down from the van Dam family's suburban San Diego home, was arrested at his attorney's office in Hillcrest Friday. Investigators found Danielle's blood on an article of Westerfield's clothing and in his motor home, San Diego Police Chief David Bejarano said.

Investigators have focused primarily on Westerfield, who took his motor home to an area in the desert outside San Diego for the weekend on the same morning Danielle was reported missing four weeks ago.

Westerfield's home was searched more than once, his Toyota sport utility vehicle and motor home were both impounded, and he has provided a DNA sample for analysis. The Toyota was returned to him, but police still have the mobile home. Investigators who searched Westerfield's mobile home say the smell of bleach was overwhelming.