This Feels Criminal: A True Crime Podcast (Formerly Killer Queens)

Murder Mixtape 188: Danielle Van Dam

Nov 3, 2022

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On a Saturday morning in February of 2002, Brenda and Damon Van Dam cooked breakfast in their San Diego home for themselves and their three children. Both of their boys came downstairs to eat, but their daughter didn’t. When Brenda walked upstairs to her bedroom, she found her seven-year-old daughter’s bed empty. Danielle Van Dam was gone. Less than a month later, her decomposed remains were found on a rural road. Because of the advanced stage of decomposition, they were unable to determine what her cause of death was. Even though they didn’t have all of the answers, police had already arrested a man for Danielle’s murder before her body was even found. Despite DNA evidence linking Danielle to the man’s house and RV, many still speculated that the Van Dam parents’ “wild” lifestyle led to their daughter’s kidnapping and murder. Was Danielle the victim of a pre-planned abduction by a neighbor or did her mom and dad’s partying lead to her death?
TRIGGER WARNINGS: child murder, child abuse, child sexual assault, mild drug use

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