Hannah Wilson's killer accused of sexually assaulting IU law student

After a night of drinking, a 22-year-old Indiana University law student found herself in a car with a stranger early in the morning on Sept. 1, 2012, court documents say. She couldn't remember how she got there.

The man drove into a wooded area in Monroe County and pulled the woman out of the car by her hair. He sexually assaulted her, forced her to perform oral sex on him and punched her so hard that he knocked her contact lenses out. She was spitting blood. Her assailant finally sped away, taking her purse, shoes, iPhone and credit cards.

This is a story that has been told before in striking similarity.

The woman's case remained unsolved for more than four years, until, a probable cause affidavit says, she heard about "eerily similar" testimony at the August murder trial in the slaying of another Indiana University student, one who crossed paths with her alleged assailant more than three years later.

Hannah Wilson's death leaves lasting wounds

Daniel Messel, 51, is serving an 80-year sentence for beating to death Hannah Wilson, a 22-year-old senior at IU.  In April 2015, just days before she was to graduate, Wilson was found dead  in an isolated field in rural Brown County. Clumps of her hair were found in Messel's car.

A jury convicted Messel of murder and of being a habitual offender after a six-day trial. He had a criminal record that includes other violent incidents.

At the trial, another  IU student told a judge her story, although the jury never heard it, because Messel was not charged or convicted of assaulting her.

This woman told the judge that a man she believed to be Messel cajoled her into his car after she had been drinking during the weekend after Halloween in 2012. He tried to force her to perform oral sex on him, but she escaped, jumping out of a moving car. She, too, reported her assault to police but could not identify the man until he was charged in Wilson's death.

Wilson also had ended up in Messel's car, after a night of drinking with friends, but police still don't know how the two crossed paths.

The law student who was assaulted in 2012 was closely following media coverage of the murder trial. She told police that she believed Messel might have been the man who attacked her.

That night, the woman had banged on the door of a nearby resident for help and went to the hospital. She underwent a sexual assault examination, and samples were collected for potential DNA comparison. There were apparently no matches at that time.

Hannah Wilson's death leaves lasting wounds

But after the trial for the killing of Wilson, investigators reran DNA samples taken from under the law student's fingernails, the probable cause affidavit says, and compared it to samples from Messel.

It was a match.

Monroe County prosecutors on Friday charged Messel with attempted rape, criminal deviate conduct and a slew of other felonies.

Though he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder conviction, the new allegations indicate Messel may have been preying on Bloomington women for years before he killed Wilson.

After the trial, Wilson's family, police and prosecutors credited her for helping detectives take a violent man off the street. Wilson fiercely fought off Messel, police said, which dislodged his cell phone: the key to the case. Investigators found it in the grass near her body, leading them to Messel, before he could dispose of a bag of bloody clothes.

After the guilty verdict, Jeff Wilson, Hannah's father, said: "She fought him off, and now he's off the street."

Hannah Wilson slaying suspect has long history of violence

Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter:@Mabuckley88.