SAN DIEGO — David Westerfield gave fellow off-road sports enthusiasts a different account of his activities the weekend Danielle van Dam disappeared than that he later gave police, according to witnesses who testified Monday morning at his capital murder trial.

Two campers said Westerfield claimed he was in the remote sand dunes of Glamis that weekend without his usual all-terrain vehicles because his trailer broke down — an incident he never mentioned in detailed conversations with investigators.

"He said he had a bad weekend and he blew a tire and left [the trailer] in El Centro," said Chris Redden, a carpenter who was in the desert that weekend with his family to ride "sand toys."

Prosecutors have suggested that Westerfield did not take his dune buggies and ATVs to Glamis, which bills itself as "the sand toy capital of the world," because his mission that weekend was not desert fun but to dispose of Danielle's body. They maintain that Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer who lived two doors from the van Dam family, snatched the 7-year-old from her bedroom during the night of Feb. 1. Her naked body was found by a roadside east of San Diego three and a half weeks later.

Westerfield's RV

Westerfield told police he spent the weekend on a meandering journey from beach to desert to beach, and witnesses who saw him said he did not have his trailer with him.

Redden and four others vacationing in Glamis recalled seeing Westerfield's 37-foot recreational vehicle stuck in soft sand Feb. 3. Some tried to help him extricate the RV, but ultimately a tow truck driver pulled him out.

Camper Joseph Koemptgen said Westerfield rushed out of the area as soon as the tow truck driver freed him.

Each of the five witnesses also said "sand toys" were de rigueur for trips to the desert.

"I don't know why anyone would go there without," said Koemptgen.

Camper Brian Staithearn said he would never go to Glamis without his ATVs.

"I don't go out there to look at the scenery," he laughed.

On cross-examination, defense lawyer Steven Feldman focused on a home video one camper shot with a "helmet-cam" attached to his head. Feldman showed jurors still frames from the video which show the RV's windows and curtains open.

Last week, witnesses at a beachside campground said they found it suspicious that the RV's windows and drapes were closed.

Questioned by Feldman, Redden acknowledged that he glanced into the RV's cab to scope out its fancy console. He saw no one inside, he testified.

But prosecutor Jeff Dusek pointed out that Redden never saw far into the RV's interior, where Danielle's hair and fingerprints were later found.

Testimony is to continue Monday afternoon.