San Diego

Jury hears testimony to decide killer’s penalty

The jury that last week convicted David Westerfield, 50, of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam began hearing the penalty phase of his trial Wednesday to determine whether he deserves the death penalty. He faces either death by lethal injection or life in prison without possibility of parole.

Danielle’s parents took the stand Wednesday at Westerfield’s sentencing hearing .

Danielle loved school, playing the piano and talked about becoming a teacher or a veterinarian, Damon van Dam told the jury.

His daughter’s abduction on Feb. 2 left the family devastated and her two brothers frightened and more introverted, he said. They now share a bedroom, and “we make sure everything’s locked up real tight now.”

California

Boy’s abductors also attack father

Two gunmen forced their way into a home Wednesday, kidnapped a 9-year-old boy who was the subject of a bitter custody dispute and attacked the boy’s father, authorities said. Investigators were searching for the child’s missing mother.

In the latest in a series of child abductions in Southern California, Nicholas Farber was taken just after 2 a.m. in Palm Desert, about 120 miles east of Los Angeles, according to sheriff’s officials.

Investigators were trying to locate the boy’s mother, Debra Rose, 38, of Colorado Springs, Colo. She was not a suspect at this time, Riverside County Sheriff-elect Bob Doyle said, but had lost custody of the boy two weeks ago to Farber after she was arrested for allegedly violating a restraining order.

Michael Farber told authorities he saw three or four people inside the SUV when the gunmen stormed out of the house with his son, who was wearing only his underwear.

Salt Lake City

Suspect in kidnapping undergoes brain surgery

The top suspect in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart suffered an apparent hemorrhage and was on life support Wednesday after a six-hour emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain.

Hospital officials said Richard Albert Ricci’s prognosis including whether he suffered any brain damage wouldn’t be known for 24 to 48 hours. They said the cause of the apparent cerebral hemorrhage was unknown.

Though authorities name him as their top suspect, Ricci has maintained his innocence and has not been charged in the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth, who was taken from her bedroom by a gunman on June 5.

Alabama

Six in family killed; teen and baby missing

Six family members were found shot to death at their rural homestead in Rutledge, and a baby and her 16-year-old mother were missing. Authorities Wednesday were searching for them, a motive and two people they said were potential witnesses.

The bodies of the victims, including three teenage boys, were discovered at a tin-roofed wooden house and nearby mobile home Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Dist. Atty. John Andrews said.

The district attorney did not identify the victims, but Coleman Ball of nearby Greenville said law enforcement officials told him they were all members of his family his mother, sister, and her husband and three boys.

Authorities would not say whether the 16-year-old and her boyfriend were the two potential witnesses being sought.