Daniel Messel of Bloomington is on trial in Brown County, where he stands accused of murdering Indiana University student Hannah Wilson in April, 2015.
After three days of the trial, jurors have heard witness testimony and seen evidence in the courtroom. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks, and the Prosecutor told the judge Thursday he expected to wrap up the state's case by the end of the day Monday.
Indiana law prohibits audio, video or photo recording in courtrooms, but Becca Costello is tweeting live updates each day of the trial. You can follow her on Twitter at @Becca_Costello.
The Victim: Hannah Wilson
Hannah Wilson was 22 years old when she disappeared in the early morning hours of Friday, April 24. Friends say Wilson had just recently completed her last final exam of her degree, and was set to graduate in a few short weeks.
Wilson went out with friends on Thursday, April 23, 2015, the week of the Little 500. This week is often described as a "party week" for Indiana University students. Friends who were with Wilson or had been in contact with her that night took the stand as witnesses in the trial.
The Defendant: Daniel Messel
Police arrested 50-year-old Daniel Messel of Bloomington roughly 26 hours after Hannah Wilson was last seen.
Messel worked at Fineprint, a commercial printer, for about five years prior to his arrest. He frequently played trivia at various bars in Bloomington; he was playing trivia at Yogi's Bar & Grill on Thursday, April 23 until about 11:15 p.m.
Messel has been present in the court room during each day of the trial, and was also present on the last day of jury selection Monday. He has remained quiet and largely expressionless throughout each day, except for brief quiet conversations with his Defense attorney.
Timeline of Events
"We're going to focus on 26 hours," the Prosecution said in their opening statements Tuesday morning.
Wilson was last seen at about 1:00 a.m. on Friday, April 24 after a night out with friends. Her blood alcohol content was 0.225 percent, well above the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent. Friends testified Wilson had been intoxicated the night she died; two friends had sent her home in a taxi because they said she was "too drunk" to go into Kilroy's Sports Bar. The taxi driver testified Wilson did not want to go home, and begged her friends to let her stay out.
Colt Burnette, who met Wilson a few weeks before her death, testified that he got a phone call from her at 1:02 a.m. He could not hear her over the noise of the bar he was in, so he hung up and sent her a text message at 1:06 a.m. He did not get a response from that message.
"We're going to focus on 26 hours."
Another friend, Matthew Molewyck, testified that he sent Wilson a text message at about 1:30 a.m. and did not receive a response. Molewyck says he did not see Hannah at all on Thursday or Friday April 23 and 24.
Messel was last seen at about 11:30 p.m., when he dropped off Matthew Brighton as his Bloomington home. Brighton worked with Messel for about three years at Fineprint, and also saw Messel two to three times each week to play trivia at local bars.
Messel was not at his home about 6:30 a.m. Friday morning; his sister testified she dropped off her son the home Messel shared with his father at that time and Messel was not there.
A Brown County resident, Carol Bridges, saw Wilson's body at around 9:30 or 9:35 a.m. She immediately went back home and called the police, since she does not own a cell phone and could not call from the scene.
Upon arriving at the scene, Sgt. Christopher Lewis with the Indiana State Police lead the documentation efforts. They photographed and took video footage before anything was moved. Significant areas were marked with numbered yellow evidence flags.
Partially underneath Wilson's feet was a cell phone in a red and black case, facing up. Lewis says he thought the phone belonged to the victim, but it was later identified as Daniel Messel's.
After identifying the cell phone, Police went to the home Messel shared with his father Gerald Messel. His father was home but Messel was not. Gerald told police he had not seen his son since the night before, when he left for trivia at Yogi's. G. Messel has not testified in this trial, but is on the list of potential witnesses.
Police spoke to a neighbor, who told them he had not seen Messel that day but he usually got home from work at about this time. Police asked the neighbor to call them if Messel returned home.
Messel was next seen shortly after 5:00 p.m. when he arrived home. The neighbor immediately called the police and an officer arrived back on the scene within ten minutes.
Officer Richard Klun testified he was the first to return and saw Messel walking out of the trailer where he lived with a white plastic bag in his hands. Klun pulled his firearm and told Messel to show his hands; at this time, Messel tossed the bag in his hand to the right, where it landed next to the metal carport. Police later found Messel's clothing in that bag, which contained the victim's blood and hair.
The Investigation
The autopsy of Wilson's body revealed cause of death was "blunt force trauma" to the head. Prosecutors showed several graphic photos of Wilson's injuries, including the back left side of her head where she was hit at lest four times according to the pathologist who conducted the autopsy.
Several law enforcement officers involved in the investigation have testified during the trial. Officers say they "canvassed" the area where Wilson's body was found as well as the the area around Wilson's home, where she was last seen. As the Defense attorney cross-examined these investigators, she indicated the investigators did not question enough people to establish when Wilson was last seen.
Crime Scene Investigator Christopher Lewis looked at Hannah's home and bedroom on Friday evening. He noted there was no evidence of forced entry either at the front door of the house or Hannah's bedroom door. Lewis described Wilson's room as "very neat" with nothing out of place. He also testified that Wilson's purse and phone were on her bed.
Investigators interviewed Wilson's roommates, friends and family members. As the Defense pointed out, some were not interviewed until weeks or months later; the Defense says this is a sign of negligence, but the Prosecution says it's just a symptom of a large investigation with limited resources.
Investigators collected evidence from Messel's home, including a desktop computer and the garbage bag of clothes with blood stains. Police also collected evidence, including swabs of blood spatter, from the inside and outside of Messel's car.
On day four of the trial, Maryan questioned Sgt. Lewis about how he made decisions about which items to send to a lab for DNA testing.
She asked Lewis why he collected a cigarette butt found near Wilson's body but didn't have it tested for DNA. She also asked Lewis why he did not test a loose short hair found on Wilson's body that did not seem to match her own hair.
Maryan also pointed out police only compared DNA from the victim and the defendant, without collecting DNA samples from anyone else, like the men who were with Wilson just before she disappeared.
Sgt. Lewis responded by saying DNA testing is expensive and time consuming and they have to limit the number of items they send to the lab.
Once Sgt. Lewis completed his testimony, Sgt. Dean Marks, who analyzed the blood spatter stains at the scene where Wilson was found as well as on the inside and outside of Messel's car. He did not do the analysis on the scene, but initially through 827 photographs sent to him by Sgt. Lewis.
Marks described the types of blood spatter he typically sees at a crime scene and explained analysis of those patterns can show the locations of the people and objects involved.
Maryan asked Marks about some experts who have criticized the effectiveness of blood spatter analysis, but Marks said the practice is widely used among forensic investigators.
This story will be updated as the trial continues.Â
