SAN DIEGO — A crime scene technician testified Wednesday that she found fingerprints and hair in David Westerfield’s recreational vehicle the week after his 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam vanished.

Experts are expected to testify later in the prosecution's case that the hair forensic specialist Karen LeAlcala found in the RV's bathroom sink and the prints she lifted from the bedroom cabinet belong to Danielle.

David Westerfield

Westerfield, 50, faces the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping and murdering the second-grader. Prosecutors allege he snatched her from her bed the night of Feb. 1, raped and suffocated her. Her naked body was found in a trash-strewn lot 25 miles from her house Feb. 27.

In addition to the motor home, LeAlcala collected evidence from Westerfield's home and two doors from the van Dam family. Among the items she bagged for further analysis were linens and clothes from his laundry, dryer lint and a bleach bottle from his trash and carpet fibers from his living room.

Prosecutors have suggested Westerfield cleaned up his home and vehicles with bleach after abducting Danielle and in his opening statement, prosecutor Jeff Dusek told jurors hair in the dryer lint matched Danielle's and fiber evidence linked him to the crime.

Westerfield's laundry becomes evidence at his trial.

LeAlcala also examined computer discs police found hidden in the book cases of Westerfield's home offices and which computer experts have said contain child pornography.

As with two previous witnesses to evidence collection, defense lawyer Steven Feldman repeatedly quizzed LeAlcala about the steps she took to prevent crime scene contamination. She said she wore gloves and carefully marked and sealed items, but she acknowledged, "Yes, evidence can be transferred one place to another, one area to another."

Danielle's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, were in court for LeAlcala's testimony. Brenda van Dam left court in tears Tuesday during graphic autopsy testimony, and Judge William Mudd warned jurors not to be influenced or intimidated by the activities of the family or anyone else in the spectator's gallery.

Danielle van Dam

"If any of you become concerned that you're being compromised, please let me know," Mudd said.

The judge also ordered one female juror to stop talking to a female relative during breaks in the trial. The relative, who the judge noted was a "regular" in the gallery, has also been seen talking to Brenda van Dam at breaks.