Casey Anthony Trial Day 27: ‘Bug Expert’ Testified in David Westerfield Murder Trial
When will prosecution present evidence of 'Chloroform' syringe discovered near Caylee's remains?
[Photo: Entrance to the path leading to Caylee's remains at the crime scene]
While there are laws for framing people for murder, what are the statues for framing someone for a murder when the victim accidentally drowned?
The above question is, in a nutshell, the bizarre claim made by Casey Anthony’s lead attorney Jose Baez during the opening statements of the Casey Anthony trial.
If you’re confused, imagine how the jury feels after Baez’s opening statement and the probability Baez’s bizarre claims will stick to the juror’s brains like Post-It notes throughout the trial.
[Photo: Dr. Neal Haskell testifies on Day 27 of Casey Anthony trial]
Which leads to Day 27 of the Casey Anthony trial and testimony from Dr. Neal Haskell, the ‘bug expert’ forensic entomologist who has ties to the sensational 2002 capital murder trial of David Westerfield.
[Photo: David Westerfield - 10 News]
Westerfield was charged with kidnapping, sexual molestation and murdering his 7-yr-old neighbor, Danielle van Dam. Westerfield, 50, lived two doors down from the van Dam home in Sabre Springs, a suburb of San Diego.
[Photo: Danielle van Dam]
Danielle van Dam was reported missing by her parents on the morning of Feb. 2, 2002. Danielle’s nude, partially decomposed body was discovered on February 27th in a hollow used as trash dump along a rural road 25 miles east of El Cajone. Prior to Westerfield’s conviction, the medical examiner’s office was unable to determine Danielle’s cause of death and the exact date Danielle died.
In the Casey Anthony trial, while medical examiner’s office could not find the exact cause of Caylee Anthony’s death, Dr. Jan Garavaglia testified the only logical conclusion to Caylee Anthony’s death was homicide.
Dr. Garavaglia: ‘I think it is the only logical conclusion based scientifically on some of the scientific information we have based on observational information we have about homicides and children dying.’
Casey Anthony attorney Cheney Mason: ‘What is the scientific information of circumstance?’
Garavaglia: ‘We know, and of course, observational, systematic observational studies are part of science that’s a big part of forensics, it’s a big part of how we know our world. We look at, for instance, all the accidental drownings in my jurisdiction. We systematically went through those. One hundred percent, EMS is called immediately when the child is found.’
Mason: ‘Well that has nothing with this case, does it Doctor?’
Garavaglia: ‘It absolutely has something to do with this case. Every case I investigate has to put in the circumstances of death. You can never, ever determine a manner of a death except in very rare instances, just on examining the body. And so we need to know how usually, death occur. So we have to know and there’s scientific studies and peer review literature. By my experience, and by what is known, about the way homicides occur, I felt that the preponderance of evidence there was no other logical conclusion could be found by not reporting a child for 30, who has a legal, moral and ethical obligation to care for that child and not reporting that child missing. The fact that it’s tossed in a field to rot in a bag is a clear indication that the body was trying to be hidden. Those are, even it being put in a bag, a very big red flag for homicide and I’ve never seen an accidental death of a child and the fact that there’s duct tape, anywhere, attached to that child’s face, is to me, an indication of a homicide.’
Video of Dr. Garavaglia’s testimony:
On July 23, 2002, Dr. Haskell testified in the David Westerfield capital murder trial. For the defense.
CNN:
[Snip]
On Monday, a second forensic expert testified that insect evidence indicates Danielle van Dam’s body was dumped along a San Diego road side after murder defendant David Westerfield was already under police surveillance.
The expert, Indiana forensic entomologist Neal Haskell, told jurors that the age of the flies and maggots found on the 7-year-old’s body indicate that the girl was likely left along the highway between February 12 and February 21.
Danielle was kidnapped from her bedroom the night of February 1 and police began constantly monitoring Westerfield, her 50-year-old neighbor, four days later.
The conclusions of the two entomologists are the defense’s strongest evidence for Westerfield’s innocence. Defense lawyer Steven Feldman told jurors during opening statements that “science” would rescue Westerfield by proving it was not physically possible for him to be at the site at the precise time her body was dumped.
Entomologist David Faulkner testified earlier in the defense case that infestation likely occurred between February 16 and February 18.
“He had a narrower time frame than me,” Haskell said when pressed on the disparity by prosecutor Jeff Dusek. “I was being more conservative.”
[Photo: David Westerfield RV stuck in sand, Glamis, CA]
On the weekend of Feb. 2-3, 2003, David Westerfield’s RV stuck in the sand in Glamis, CA, was captured on video.
Info from video:
On the weekend of February 2 – 3, 2002 (Superbowl Sunday weekend) a group of friends and I went riding out in Glamis, CA on our ATV’s. This particular weekend we decided to record our riding adventure, little did we know that by pure chance our cameras picked up the stuck RV with a murder victim inside, Danielle van Dam.
Here is a link to a picture taken from our video, used in the prosecution:http://www.courttv.com/trials/westerfield/photogallery/evidence17.html
On January 4, 2002, David Westerfield, after convicted of first degree murder with the special circumstance of kidnapping on August 21, 2002, was sentenced by a judge to death row.
Mr. Westerfield, who lived near the family in the Sabre Springs section of northern San Diego, was convicted of the murder on Aug. 21. In upholding the jury’s recommendation of death, Judge Mudd recounted factors including the age of the victim, the fact she was taken from her home in the middle of night while sleeping and the breadth of the evidence.
Judge Mudd also noted that Danielle’s body was unclothed and that some teeth were missing, probably because of a trauma to her face. ”The weight of this factor is of enormous magnitude,” he said.
For more details about the David Westerfield case, the link to Dusek: Westerfield ‘Guilty Of Ultimate Evil’.
On Day 27 of the Casey Anthony trial Dr. Haskell testified for the prosecution.
Entomologist Neal Haskell testified Caylee’s body had completed a short, initial stage of decomposition before the body allegedly was placed in Casey’s car trunk.
Haskell testified he based that conclusion on the remains of flies in a trash bag in the trunk. Haskell said he found only a single leg from the type of fly that feasts on a fresh body.
But Haskell said he found hundreds of eggs and adult specimens of another type of gnat-like fly which appears during the next stage of decomposition.
Haskell said the gnats were concentrated in stains on paper towels which were determined to be fluid consistent with human decomposition. Haskel said he believed the towels were used in an attempt to clean up a similar stain on the trunk’s carpet.
Haskell estimated the body remained in the car trunk for up to five days, long enough for biochemical changes that attract the gnats, before being moved directly to the woods, likely in June or early July 2008.
Haskel said remains of more of the same gnats were found around Caylee’s skeleton at the dump site.
CNN:
By Saturday, testimony reached discussion of bugs and larvae found in Anthony’s trunk, where the prosecution alleges Caylee’s body was kept in garbage bags for days after her mother knocked her out with chloroform and taped her nose and mouth.
While forensic entomologist Neal Haskell credited the bugs to decomposition, the defense argued and Haskell admitted the bugs could be attributed to a trash bag found in the trunk.
We can only speculate if and when the prosecution will provide evidence of a syringe with ‘traces of chloroform’ discovered near Caylee Anthony’s remains. For more details, the link to l Casey Anthony Case: Chloroform Syringe Found Near Caylee’s Remains, Coffin Flies and Human Decomposition Fluid in the Trunk of Casey’s Car.
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Do you know anything–anything at all about this Trial?? The State has never suggested Casey Anthony put Chloroform in a syringe, the one found in the trunk. That syringe belonged to one of the boyfriends roommates and was used for Steroids.
Dr.Vass testified that the trunk liner he tested had elevated levels of chloroform at 1million times(!!!!) higher that of the normal rate, higher than he had ever seen in his entire career.
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