Cellphone links suspect to slain IU student

Indiana University senior Hannah Wilson was last seen by her friends around 1 a.m. Friday when they put her in a cab to go home after a night of drinking.

Police said the cab company dropped her off at her Bloomington home.

Sometime within the next few hours, the 22-year-old from Fishers was killed, her skull crushed from repeated blows to the head.

How the suspect, Daniel E. Messel, may have encountered Wilson is unclear.

And he isn't talking.

The 49-year-old sat alone and mostly silent Monday in a room at the Brown County jail as a judge entered a preliminary plea of not guilty for him on a charge of murder.

Brown County Circuit Court Judge Judith Stewart asked Messel a series of questions. He answered with short answers, mostly "yes" and "no."

He said his bank account has "less than a hundred dollars in it."

He said he made $15.50 an hour at a Bloomington commercial printing company.

He said a 2012 Kia Sportage that police say is registered to him is not his. Blood and hair were found on the vehicle.

Brown County Prosecutor Ted Adams said after the hearing that his office "will remain playing this close to the vest" and expressed his "deepest sympathies" to Wilson's family.

The Bloomington Police Department said it is exploring whether any similarities exist between the Wilson murder and the case of 20-year-old IU student Lauren Spierer, who disappeared in 2011 after a night of drinking in downtown Bloomington.

Messel was arrested Friday night. Wilson's body was found Friday morning in a rural area off Plum Creek Road near State Road 45, about a 30-minute drive from her home. A cellphone belonging to Messel was found near her feet, a probable cause affidavit says.

When investigators came to his home on the 6100 block of West Isom Road, he was walking out of the residence with a garbage bag full of clothes that police seized as evidence, the affidavit says.

He appeared to have claw marks on his forearms, according to the document.

Police searched the silver Kia Sportage, which had blood spatter on the driver's side and more blood and a clump of black hair on the console inside, the affidavit says.

Messel told police that he had nothing to say.

The estimated time of death was between 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., the coroner's office has said. The coroner said she died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Messel's father told investigators his son did not come home Thursday night. Gerald Messel said he and his son went to a restaurant for dinner around 6 p.m. and later returned home. He said his son left about 8 p.m. to go play trivia at Yogi's Bar and Grill, what the father described as a typical Thursday night outing for his son, according to the affidavit.

Daniel Messel later dropped a co-worker off at his home at 11 p.m., the affidavit says.

Wilson's friends called her a cab about 1 a.m., the affidavit says. Her friends told investigators that they had left a party at the Hilton Garden Inn for Kilroy's Sports Bar but decided Wilson was too drunk to enter.

She entered the green and white taxi alone and gave the driver her East Eighth Street address.

Sgt. Curt Durnil, a spokesman for the Indiana State Police in Bloomington, said detectives have talked to the cab driver and the owner of the cab company, who are not suspects in the case.

"From what I understand, they were able to convey that they did take her to the residence that she requested," Durnil said.

Durnil said DNA samples have been taken from Messel and Wilson for comparison.

Messel has a violent criminal history, with arrests on charges of battery, disorderly conduct, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1996 after pleading guilty to battery with a deadly weapon and battery causing serious bodily injury.

He is being held without bond in the Brown County Jail. A jury trial is scheduled to begin July 22.

The slaying rocked the Indiana University campus during the revelry of Little 500 weekend, an annual bicycle race that draws thousands of fans.

More than 1,500 classmates of Wilson's gathered for an emotional vigil on Saturday. Hundreds of mourners also congregated at the Elite Cheer Center cheerleading gym in Noblesville, where Wilson competed before college.

For many, the slaying conjured dark memories of the Spierer case and thoughts of whether the two cases could be connected.

"Messel's arrest has provided BPD (Bloomington Police Department) detectives with an avenue of investigation into Lauren Spierer's disappearance that will be diligently pursued and, in fact, that investigation has already begun," Capt. Joe Qualters said in a statement. "BPD detectives provided assistance in the death investigation of Hannah Wilson, but an effort will be made to confer in more detail with Indiana State Police detectives to determine what, if any, similarities might exist in the two cases that may have not been released to the public."

Star reporters Kristine Guerra, Zach Osterman, Jill Disis, Michael Anthony Adams, Cara Anthony and Justin L. Mack contributed to this article. Call Star reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

This is how events unfolded in the slaying of Indiana University senior Hannah Wilson of Fishers, according to a probable cause affidavit, coroner reports and interviews with police:

Thursday

6 p.m.: Daniel E. Messel, 49, of Bloomington goes to dinner with his father at a Cheddar's restaurant. The two later return to their house in the 6100 block of West Isom Road.

8 p.m.: Messel leaves the house to go to Yogi's Grill & Bar to play trivia with friends, his typical Thursday night outing, according to his father.

11 p.m.: Messel, who works at a print shop, drives a co-worker home after trivia night at Yogi's.

Friday

1 a.m.: Wilson, 22, and some of her friends walk from a party in a Hilton Garden Inn hotel room to Kilroy's Sports Bar. Her friends say Wilson is too drunk to enter the bar. A white and green taxi pulls up to the curb. Wilson gets inside the cab alone and gives her address to the driver.

Sometime after 1 a.m.: A cab drops Wilson off at her home in the 500 block of East Eighth Street.

1:30 a.m. – 4:30 a.m.: Estimated time of death for Wilson. Her skull was crushed from repeated strikes to the head.

8:34 a.m.: The Brown County Sheriff's Office receives a 911 call about a body found off of Plum Creek Road near State Road 45, about a 30-minute drive from Wilson's home.

9:27 a.m.: Indiana State Police detectives arrive. Police later confirm that the body is that of Wilson. A cellphone belonging to Messel is found near her feet.

Sometime Friday morning: Wilson is reported missing.

Sometime Friday afternoon: Police arrest Messel at his home. He is observed with a plastic garbage bag full of clothes and with "claw" marks on his forearms. He declines to speak with police. Blood is found on the driver's side of his vehicle, and blood and clumps of hair are found inside his vehicle.

11:50 p.m.: Messel, who in 1996 was sentenced to eight years in prison on battery charges, is incarcerated in Brown County Jail on a preliminary murder charge.

Monday

2:30 p.m.: Messel is formally charged with murder. A plea of not guilty is entered on his behalf.