A longtime friend of David Westerfield took the stand at his capital murder trial and tried to paint the accused killer's alibi — a meandering desert odyssey in a recreational vehicle — as a normal weekend outing.

But under a grueling cross-examination, Dave Laspisa grudgingly acknowledged that some of Westerfield's account of the days after Danielle van Dam vanished was puzzling.

Laspisa said he never knew Westerfield to spend just 12 hours in the desert, nor to arrive without his all-terrain vehicles as he had the weekend after 7-year-old Danielle was abducted.

Police first suspected Westerfield, 50, an engineer who lived two doors from the van Dams, because his account of his whereabouts that weekend seemed strange and convoluted. Danielle's blood and fingerprints were ultimately found inside Westerfield's RV and prosecutors allege he killed her and used the vehicle to dump her body.

Even Westerfield admitted in an interview with officers that his journey to the seashore, to the desert, then back to the seashore "seems weird." A string of prosecution witnesses added weight to that opinion, testifying that Westerfield behaved like a man trying to hide something.

Laspisa, who camped in the desert with Westerfield and his family on and off for the past decade but was not present on the weekend in question, explained away many of those suspicions on direct examination. He said, for example, that there was nothing unusual about Westerfield taking a long, winding back route to the remote desert outpost of Glamis instead of taking a more direct way.

The faster route is known for high winds and dangerous black ice, he claimed.

"The majority of desert people I know use the backroads," he said.

Laspisa winked at Westerfield as he took the stand and described himself as a very good friend of the defendant. Responding almost point by point to prosecution witnesses, he said Westerfield always kept the blinds on his RV tightly drawn and perspired heavily even in the cold. His friend of 15 years, he told jurors, often went to the desert without nailing down plans with friends and sometimes waited hours before setting up chairs, an awning and rug outside his vehicle.

Campers at the ocean said they thought it bizarre that Westerfield tightly closed the blinds and doors on his RV and stayed inside instead of setting up camp on a pleasant day. Police officers testified Westerfield began sweating profusely when they questioned him.

But when prosecutor Jeff Dusek pressed him on why Westerfield would have gone to the desert without his all-terrain vehicles, Laspisa mused, "There are other things to do: sunbathe, look at the flowers."

Eventually Laspisa conceded that there were no flowers in Glamis and his friend always brought his ATVs on 25 to 30 previous trips.

"Every time you've seen him out there, he's taken his toys," asked Dusek.

Yes, Laspisa conceded. He later admitted that the 12 to 14 hours witnesses said he remained in Glamis — most of it stuck in a sand dune — was the shortest time Westerfield ever spent in the desert.

He also had no answer for why Westerfield told other desert campers that weekend that his trailer of ATVs had broken down en route.

Laspisa's wife, Debra, followed him to the stand and offered some of the same testimony. She said since Westerfield and his wife divorced in 1995 he never visited them in the desert without his sand toys.

"The days would pretty much revolve around going for rides in the desert?" said Dusek.

"Yes," said Debra Laspisa.

Heather Mack

The sand toys were in Westerfield's plans at some point, according to another witness who testified Monday. Nokia manager Glen Seebruch, who hired Westerfield as a contract engineer, testified that the defendant called him the morning before Danielle disappeared. As they chatted, Seebruch said, Westerfield mentioned "he planned to go to the desert ATV-ing" but couldn't find any companions for the trip. Seebruch said he thought Westerfield was inviting him along, but was too busy to talk further to him.

Also Monday, a security guard backed up a small part of Westerfield's account. Heather Mack, who patrols the beach community where the defendant says he parked his RV the day after Danielle vanished, said she remembered him passing by her checkpoint at some point that night.

"He looked right at me as he is looking at me right now and gave me the same smile," said Mack.

Her testimony is to continue Tuesday morning.