By Ben Fox
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO – Police arrested a neighbor today in the case of a 7-year-old girl who was abducted from her home earlier this month. The girl was still missing, her mother said.
Television footage showed David Westerfield, 49, being led away in handcuffs from his attorney’s office near downtown. Westerfield had been questioned several times, and police had impounded his sport utility vehicle, motor home and other property.
Police said there had been an arrest but declined to release details.
Danielle van Dam was reported missing Feb. 2. According to her parents, Damon and Brenda van Dam, she was put to bed the night before by her father, who stayed home with Danielle and her two brothers while her mother was at a bar.
“We are very happy that police have made an arrest. … But the fact still remains that we don’t have our daughter,” Ms. van Dam told reporters outside the family home in San Diego’s Sabre Springs neighborhood. “We still need to find Danielle.”
She said police told the family ahead of time about the arrest.
Westerfield, a self-employeed engineer and divorced father, appeared calm as he was led into an unmarked police car, according to video footage taken by San Diego television station KGTV.
Westerfield has told reporters that he saw Brenda van Dam at the bar. He also has said he went away for the weekend and later showed police the locations in the desert east of San Diego.
The case has sparked intense media attention. Danielle’s disappearance was featured on the crime-fighting show “America’s Most Wanted.”
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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