David Westerfield told detectives investigating Danielle van Dam's abduction that a trip he took that weekend she vanished included "a great place to dump a body," according to search warrants unsealed in San Diego Thursday.

Westerfield made the comment while retracing for police the meandering 250-mile odyssey that is his alibi for the days after Danielle, 7, was stolen from her bedroom.

When an officer accompanying him expressed hope that searchers would locate Danielle, "[I]mmediately thereafter Mr. Westerfield made the unsolicited comment, 'This would be a great place to dump a body,'" a police detective wrote in a report used to support searches of his home and vehicles.

Ultimately, searchers found Danielle's naked body along a road that was not part of the itinerary Westerfield gave. Police searches of Westerfield's residence, motor home and sports utility vehicle yielded a haul of incriminating evidence, including Danielle's blood, hair and fingerprints, and child pornography on his computers.

The documents were released Thursday by the state Court of Appeals. Media organizations sued for access to the warrants.

Westerfield's capital murder trial is in recess until July 22 to accommodate Judge William Mudd's previously scheduled vacation.

The documents include many pieces of evidence now familiar to jurors. Detectives, for example, wrote that Westerfield's garden hose strewn messily across his otherwise neat yard the morning after Danielle went missing indicated he was in a hurry to leave.

The warrants provided additional insight into why detectives focused on Westerfield. Of his strange journey in his recreational vehicle, an account he gave police moments after first encountering them, one detective wrote, "We believe Westerfield's driving time would be far greater than his statements and believe Westerfield may not have described every place he visited."

Prosecutors contend Westerfield fled his neighborhood with Danielle and dumped her body during the trip.

Detectives also zeroed in on how Westerfield, who barely knew the van Dams, had so much information about the family. He told officers "out of the clear blue sky" that Brenda van Dam "had a babysitter watching her children, not her husband."

In fact, the father, Damon van Dam, had cancelled a ski trip and was at home with the children the night Danielle was abducted.

Westerfield also told detectives that Brenda van Dam discussed her daughter with him when the two bumped into each other at a local bar just hours before Danielle's kidnapping.

"Westerfield states van Dam talked about a daughter/father dance at school coming up sometime next week. Westerfield states van Dam told him about a new blouse she had purchased for Danielle, and how Danielle's father is concerned about how fast his little girl is growing up," a detective wrote in one report.

But in the same report, Brenda van Dam denied talking to Westerfield about her family. She said only her immediate family and a close neighbor knew about the dance and her child care plans were in flux until the day of the kidnapping.

The reports also contain Westerfield's explanation for once using the plural "we" in describing his trip, although he claimed to be alone. When an interrogation specialist questioned the comment, according to the report, Westerfield said that "'we' was just a slip."