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American Morning

Interview of John Walsh, "America's Most Wanted"

Aired February 25, 2002 - 09:08   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: A suspect has now been arrested in connection with the disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. A neighbor, David Westerfield, who lived two doors down from the van Dams, was taken into custody on Friday and charged with kidnapping.

Police say that blood found on his shirt and in his motor home matched Danielle's DNA. The young girl has been missing now for over three weeks. Her parents, encouraged by the arrest, are still hopeful that their daughter will be found alive.

Joining us now to talk more about the arrest and the ongoing search for Danielle, John Walsh, host of the popular TV show, "America's Most Wanted." Nice to see you in person for a change.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Nice to see you, Paula.

ZAHN: Boy, it is just heart breaking, every time we talk about this story. Realistically, what are the scenarios that the van Dams have to confront right now?

WALSH: Well, the whole case is a nightmare because Danielle is still missing. I mean, everyone is encouraged that David Westerfield has been charged and that the DNA has matched. There is three possible scenarios. He could have taken her anywhere, maybe over the border to Mexico and sold her. There could be a third party that has her alive, that he's not telling -- or not telling where she is.

ZAHN: What's the possibility of that?

WALSH: We hope for that.

Remote. The vast majority of stranger abducted children, according to the Justice Department, are murdered within the first four hours that they are missing, and that's one of the scenarios. Of course, we got the tip that he was in the desert that day that she was missing.

We got lucky and got a tip from a tow truck driver and said, hey, I pulled his motor home out from a place that a motor home shouldn't be in, and police say that he Cloroxed that motor home, and that he had the sheets and things in that motor home cleaned at a dry cleaners. Obviously, he didn't clean it well enough, obviously he didn't clean his jacket well enough, and the DNA matches the DNA of Danielle.

The problem is now that -- the not knowing. This is a courageous couple that have been, you know, going through the hell I went through 20 years ago, the two weeks that I was looking for my son, the not knowing is the worst, and people need to focus in on the fact that Danielle is still out there somewhere.

ZAHN: So that is the third scenario.

WALSH: The third scenario, and searchers are looking. This is -- the arrest of David Westerfield, the mystery man. That's why we are doing it on "America's Most Wanted" this Saturday night, to put our millions of viewers on the case, and say, where was this guy? What did he do? Nobody seems to know anything about him, he just moved into...

ZAHN: Well, what do we know about this guy?

WALSH: Well, that he has money, that he owns a couple patents, he is kind of a mystery man. He has always been single. He just moved into the neighborhood. People thought, hey, it is a nice neighborhood, he is a friendly guy. He probably ran into Danielle, he certainly met the parents at some point.

And we're hoping that Saturday night, people will call up, because lots of people are afraid to call the police. You know that. They are afraid their phones are going to be traced, tapped, vengeance going to be brought, and that's how we've caught 695 fugitives and found 24 missing kids. So, we are going to try to find out what this guy has been doing for the last 10 or 15 years.

ZAHN: Can you clear up some of the confusion over some of the reporting this weekend. One was the San Diego police found pornographic materials in his home. Can you confirm that?

WALSH: Not child porn, but they found porn on his computer. Yes, absolutely.

ZAHN: And how about -- anything related to pedophilia?

WALSH: No. They -- that hasn't been confirmed, and there's been a lot of rumors and speculation that he possibly did something, you know, to one of his own relatives. That hasn't been confirmed, that's all allegation, and the police are being very tight lipped because tomorrow is the arraignment.

I will be going there tonight, and I'll be with the family tomorrow. We'll go to the arraignment, they've been asked by the DA not to say anything, and they are -- they are honoring that. And tomorrow he'll probably plead not guilty. He's lawyered up. The old saying, as police say, he's lawyered up, he's got his...

ZAHN: How good is his attorney?

WALSH: He has got a defense attorney who is supposed to have a pretty decent reputation, and, you know, this guy has got money, and he's only been charged with kidnapping. So, until they find Danielle, it is going to be very difficult to charge him. Probably they will add some other charges, tomorrow, to the kidnapping.

ZAHN: Can you tell us what those charges might be?

WALSH: Well, I would guesstimate, in my opinion, having done this for 20 years in other states, child endangerment, anything that they can put on to the kidnapping to make it a more serious case. You know, he certainly, if -- in my opinion, that's only as a father of a murdered child, he could do the right thing. He could make a deal right now and tell them where Danielle is no matter what happened to her and make a bargain for life without possibility of parole instead of -- if she is dead, and she is somewhere in the desert, instead of facing the death penalty.

But the good thing is, more searchers have joined the search. This has energized the search, because police can't do it alone. So people are searching the 25-mile area around the home, and in the desert, where he was the day that -- the day after she was kidnapped.

ZAHN: You have always been very candid about the amount of pressure that was on you and your wife when your son went missing.

WALSH: Absolutely.

ZAHN: Let's talk about the van Dams. In many ways, their private life has overshadowed this investigation. Allegations that they were swingers, allegations that David Westerfield, this man who has just been arrested, actually was dancing or attempted to dance with her that night at a bar.

WALSH: All of it irrelevant, all of it irrelevant to the fact that Danielle is missing. They cooperated with police from the minute that they walked into her bedroom at 9:00 and found she was missing. They went in and took polygraphs right away. There has to be a parallel investigation.

I haven't been involved in a case of missing child that someone in the media, on the low bottom feeder level, the tabloid level, hasn't said something about the parents. The parents were never suspects with the police. Let's get the facts straight. They passed the polygraph. David Westerfield is the number one suspect. So all the innuendo and speculation just hurts the case. That's all it does. The main thing is, we have a suspect. He has been arrested, charged with her kidnapping. Let's find Danielle.

ZAHN: Final question for you. When did she disappear? Was it that night?

WALSH: Middle of the night.

ZAHN: Middle of the night.

WALSH: Middle of the night. Dad put the kids together, she has got two brothers, kissed them good night. Closed the door, they go at 9:00 in the morning and Danielle isn't there. ZAHN: But there was something in the security system that alerted someone that a door had been opened.

WALSH: That a slider had been opened. We have security systems, I know you do at your house, and it tells you a window is, you know, open or whatever. And so, before they went to bed, they closed that slider, but they didn't activate the security system.

So, it would be very easy for this guy, and police allege that he did this, that he got in there that night when everybody was sleeping and grabbed this little girl. And -- you know, these parents are very, very, very courageous. I've talked to -- I talked to them last night for an hour and a half. I mean, they are desperate to find out what happened to their daughter, and what people don't understand, the not knowing, they are prepared for the worst, they are hoping for the best, and so am I, but the not knowing is what is killing them.

And you know what, the criminal justice system, I've got to say it, and I've been involved in this for 20 years, it is so loaded toward the criminal. It's so slanted. He has all the rights, he's got the attorney. They can't say anything. He can sit back and say, so what, they found blood on my jacket.

And, you know, we all watched O.J. Simpson come up with the "Dream Team." O.J. Simpson's blood was at five crime scenes. I mean, everybody in America knows that he killed his ex-wife and an innocent guy and got away with it. The criminal justice system fell apart. I hope that doesn't happen in this case. But all they can charge him with right now is kidnapping.

We have got to find Danielle, and I am hoping that with this publicity, doing things like this, "America's Most Wanted," on Saturday night, somebody is going to say, you know, I saw something. I saw that guy in the desert, I know something, or that they find her between now and then.

ZAHN: Well, you've had remarkable success in tracking down people who have been spotted. How many cases altogether have you solved.

WALSH: We've caught got 695 fugitives in 30 countries and gotten back 23 missing children, and I am just praying that we get the break, that will end this, and that people still have to realize Danielle is missing. We have got to find this little girl.

ZAHN: We are all praying for that. John Walsh, good to see you in person for a change. Love to catch up with you after you have spoken with van Dams tomorrow.

WALSH: Okay, absolutely.

ZAHN: Thanks, appreciate your dropping by.

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