David Westerfield's ex-girlfriend burst into tears on the witness stand Wednesday morning as she told jurors she still has feelings for the man accused of killing Danielle van Dam.

"Still like him, don't you?" prosecutor Jeff Dusek asked Susan L., who ended a four-year relationship with Westerfield a month before the 7-year-old's disappearance. The witness's last name was withheld in court to protect the anonymity of her 16-year-old daughter, who testified Tuesday.

"I still care about him," said Susan. When the prosecutor pressed her further, asking when was the last time she had seen Westerfield in person, she began crying and said in a quivering voice, "Three weeks prior to the the time he was arrested."

Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer who lived two doors from the van Dams in the San Diego suburb of Poway, faces the death penalty for allegedly kidnapping and murdering Danielle last February.

Previous witnesses have testified that Westerfield was upset about the end of his relationship with Susan, and he stared intently at her while she spoke from the witness stand.

Susan no longer lived with nor saw Westerfield at the time Danielle was abducted from her bedroom, but the defense called her to testify that behavior police found suspicious in Westerfield, including heavy sweating and closing the shades on his recreational vehicle, was actually normal for him. But much of her testimony seemed to help the prosecution.

Susan said she left Westerfield in part because of his drinking habit. She said he became "very quiet" and sometimes upset when he drank, and on one occasion he became "forceful." Witnesses have testified that Westerfield was drunk the night Danielle went missing.

"Basically, you'd see a change in character?" asked Dusek.

"Yes," said Susan.

She also described a strange encounter with Westerfield after the breakup. She and a platonic male friend ran into Westerfield one evening, she said, and the next day, Westerfield phoned her and said he had followed them home. He claimed he had seen the friend walk her to the door and kiss her. Susan said she felt uncomfortable with Westerfield thereafter.

During questioning by the defense, however, Susan repeatedly said that seemingly odd behavior by Westerfield was actually routine. Detectives testified early in the trial that Westerfield broke into a profuse sweat when they first questioned him, but Susan said that was normal.

"He would always be sweating under his armpits and even on his head and face," she said.

"Even if it was cold?" asked defense lawyer Robert Boyce.

"Yes," she said.

Westerfield in court Wednesday

Susan contradicted another detective who said she found it suspicious that Westerfield's garden hose was strewn across his neat yard the morning Danielle was reported missing. But leaving the hose in the yard was his practice, Susan said.

And while other witnesses have said they found it strange that Westerfield stayed in his RV at a beach campsite with the windows closed and shades drawn, Susan said Westerfield always kept the curtains shut.

She also bolstered the defense explanation of how strands of Danielle's hair got into Westerfield's laundry. His lawyers say Danielle left the hairs while selling Girl Scout cookies a few days before her disappearance. Susan said Westerfield usually dumped his laundry from the second floor of his home over the balcony onto the first floor before moving it into the washer. Defense lawyers are expected to argue in closing that the clothing picked up Danielle's hairs from the floor.

But during cross-examination by Dusek, Susan acknowledged that some of Westerfield's activities were out of the norm, including the long, meandering journey he took in the RV that weekend. Prosecutors claim Westerfield fled his neighborhood with Danielle in the RV and killed her and dumped her body during the trip.

"Did you ever go from the Strand to Glamis to Superstition Mountain to Borrego to the Strand on one weekend?" asked Dusek.

"No," Susan said.

"Did you ever come close to making all those stops on a weekend?" he asked.

"No," was the answer.

Earlier Wednesday morning, the defense called a lawyer who frequently camps in the same desert area as Westerfield. Eugene Yale told jurors that the back route Westerfield claims he took to the outpost of Glamis is a legitimate way to get to the area. Previous witnesses have suggested the route was too far out of the way to be feasible, but Yale, who does not know Westerfield, said the more direct route is dangerous in RVs. The lawyer wrote a letter to the defense after reading about the previous testimony.