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American Morning
The Big Question: Are Police Any Closer to Finding Daniel Van Dam?
Aired February 14, 2002 - 07:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now some news out of San Diego. Let's turn to Jack for that.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, thanks, Paula.
The big question this hour, are police any closer to finding Daniel Van Dam? The 7-year-old was last seen by her father two weeks ago when he put her to bed for the night. The next morning, Danielle was gone.
The investigation appears to be focused on a family neighbor, a gentleman who lived a couple of doors away. The police say they're not close to making an arrest in what is an apparent kidnapping case.
Marc Klaas can feel the family's pain. His daughter, Polly Klaas, was abducted and murdered in 1993 and since then he has become an advocate for children's issues. He met with the van Dams yesterday and the three of them join us this morning from San Diego, Danielle's parents Brenda and Damon van Dam along with Mr. Klaas. Welcome to all three of you.
Mr. Klaas, tell us a little about your meeting with the family yesterday, the kinds of things you discussed, what sort of guidance you were able to give, perhaps.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, we didn't really sit down have a one on one meeting. But what we did is we met with, I met with the van Dams and a bunch of their friends, their advisers. And they're putting together a plan and they're putting tonight strategies to make sure that people understand the seriousness of this issue. And putting together things like the search for this weekend and they're encouraging people all over southern California to come help them search for their little girl. And one would ho[pope that there will be quite a large turnout because certainly if it was somebody else's little girl, they would want people to come and help them, as well.
CAFFERTY: Tell us a little more about your plans for the weekend, Brenda and Damon, if you will. What sort of things are on tap for the weekend?
DAMON VAN DAM, DANIELLE'S FATHER: We've got the search center doing San Diego County, searching all around there. And then we've also got a desert search going on in San Diego and Imperial County. Out of the Danielle Search Center, the number to the Search Center, and if you're anywhere in southern California or even as far as Phoenix, if you're going to the desert, the number to the Center is 858-485-4188. And if we could get all the help we could. And anywhere else nationwide, if you could keep posting our fliers. There's no telling where she could be at this time.
CAFFERTY: Give us the number once more because I don't think we have it on the graphic here.
DAMON VAN DAM: Great, yes. Yes, thanks. The number is 858-485- 4188.
CAFFERTY: Well, the police say they continue to focus the investigation on your neighbor, this fellow David Westerfield. Are they on the right track, in your opinion, and what sort of things are the police telling you about the investigation at this point?
DAMON VAN DAM: We're kind of staying away from the whole investigation. We're letting them do their jobs and we're focusing on getting Danielle back. We think they're doing a good job.
CAFFERTY: Was Mr. Westfield ever inside your home? Did you have a close neighborly relationship with him? Was he ever in contact with Danielle?
BRENDA VAN DAM, DANIELLE'S MOTHER: No.
CAFFERTY: The wire services are reporting that they, the police brought bloodhounds to your house, was it yesterday. Why were they there.
BRENDA VAN DAM: I guess to do what bloodhounds do and that's to try and find a scent of Danielle.
DAMON VAN DAM: Yes, that was the day before yesterday.
BRENDA VAN DAM: And, you know, I want everyone to know, although they may think they have their man, we still don't have our daughter and we need to find Danielle.
CAFFERTY: Mr. Klaas, you've been through this before.
KLAAS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Police, law enforcement officials will tell you that the more time that goes by historically the less the chances of finding the child alive. Is there any way that you can help the van Dams prepare for what may be in front of them?
KLAAS: Well, you know what? You just have to hold out hope until hope no longer exists. I think that what people have to understand is that if this little girl made it through the first night of her abduction, the chances of her being alive are very, very good and you have to move forward with your glass half full, with that positive attitude. And everybody should have that attitude until it's proven otherwise. And then you deal with the realities as they come along.
But really that's all you can do. It's so overwhelming, so emotionally overwhelming that dealing with the moment is basically all anybody in their position can really do at a time like this. So you can't really prepare, you just try to get through every day. You wake up, you're full of fear for your daughter's safe return. You go to bed, it's the same thing. And it almost dominates your life.
So, you know, it's -- we were listening to the business about the Olympics. I mean, you know what? In the real world that means something...
CAFFERTY: Right.
KLAAS: But in comparison to this, my gosh, it's nothing, is it?
CAFFERTY: Sure. No.
KLAAS: It's, it's little pieces of metal and this is the life of a child. So, you know, we sit here quizzically going wow, what's this all about, but we understand the world goes on. But it's a different reality here and it's a much more harsh reality and we certainly hope people will come and help with it.
CAFFERTY: Brenda and Damon, one last question. Police say they found a backpack near Danielle's school that had some old papers in it, a denim shirt, some underwear. Were any of those items, did they belong to your daughter?
BRENDA VAN DAM: We have not seen those items so we don't know.
DAMON VAN DAM: We don't know about that.
CAFFERTY: You're not aware that they had found this backpack? This is something that was on the wires, again. They didn't, they haven't said anything to you about it? You haven't been asked to identify these items or look at them?
BRENDA VAN DAM: They haven't brought it to us.
DAMON VAN DAM: They haven't asked us anything about it.
BRENDA VAN DAM: No, they haven't asked us to identify it. They did ask us a few questions about it.
CAFFERTY: All right, well, I wish you, obviously, the best in your search for your child. We want to stay in touch with you and keep following the story. We do have a couple of numbers that we can put up here in the studios in New York...
DAMON VAN DAM: Thank you. And can I throw -- yes.
CAFFERTY: One of them is 1-800-THE-LOST.
DAMON VAN DAM: Yes, put them up. CAFFERTY: T-H-E-L-O-S-T. The other one is 1-619-531-2000. If you have any information that might be helpful we ask our viewers to call those numbers. Again, we wish you the best, Brenda and Damon van Dam.
DAMON VAN DAM: Let me throw out again...
CAFFERTY: Yes?
DAMON VAN DAM: Can I throw out again, if you want to help with the search, the number again is 858-485-4188.
CAFFERTY: All right, thank you for being with us.
DAMON VAN DAM: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Mark Klaas.
KLAAS: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: We'll be in touch.
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