Going West: True Crime - Hannah Wilson // 188

Episode Date: April 2, 2022

In April of 2015, a 22-year-old woman was just 2 weeks away from becoming an Indiana University graduate, when she disappeared after a night of celebrating. When her body was found in a field next to someone else’s cell phone, and intense investigation began where MUCH more disturbing evidence was uncovered. This is the story of Hannah Wilson. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://specials.idsnews.com/the-little-sister/ https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/indystar/name/hannah-wilson-obituary?id=18775315 https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/09/22/hannah-wilsons-killer-sentenced-today/90827746/ https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/08/02/prosecutors-blood-links-hannah-wilson-murder-suspect/87947842/ https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2015/05/01/sorority-sisters-remember-wilson-as-a-natural-leader/47500453/ https://cbs4indy.com/news/state-police-body-found-in-brown-county/ https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/08/03/affected-hannah-wilsons-death-cab-driver-quit-after-taking-her-home/88005764/ https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/08/09/hannah-wilsons-dna-found-suspects-suv/88445038/ https://www.wthr.com/article/news/investigations/13-investigates/dna-analyst-says-police-can-request-directed-comparisons-early-opportunity-missed-in-messel/531-46ea1184-f80a-4abb-9661-4110962a49ee https://www.wthr.com/article/news/investigations/13-investigates/questions-swirl-around-history-dna-of-bloomington-killer/531-0b9560aa-f7c9-46a6-86a1-2aad15992d53 https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/hannah-wilson-murder-suspect-sought-special-iu-coed-on-sugar-daddy-website/ https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2016/08/03/wilsons-friends-testify-as-murder-trial-opens/118489900/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Heath. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. First and foremost, I would like to give a big shout out to Heath for being here today with me because he is extremely under the weather. I am a little bit under the weather today. He has a stomach bug of sorts, but he is going to make it through. We believe he is. We're going to be a trooper. We love you. And a big thank you to Sarah for recommending this case, and this is actually Sarah's cousin's

case. And Sarah shared such great information and insight into Hannah's life. So our hearts really go out to you, Sarah and the rest of you and Hannah's family. Yes, thank you so much, Sarah, and thank you everybody for tuning in today. This is episode 188 of Going West.

So let's get into it. In April of 2015, a 22-year-old woman was just two weeks away from becoming an Indiana University graduate when she disappeared after a night of celebrating. When her body was found in a field next to someone else's cell phone, an intense investigation began, where much more disturbing evidence was uncovered. story of Hannah Wilson. Hannah Noel Wilson was born on April 2, 1993 to parents Robin and Jeffrey Wilson alongside her younger sister Haley in Cochamo, Indiana. But Hannah and her sister were actually raised in Fisher's Indiana, which is a small city of about 90,000 people that's known as one of the safest cities in all of Indiana. Fisher's is also a suburb of the much larger city of Indianapolis, which is where Hannah's father Jeffrey has worked as a primary care physician for over 20 years.

And just outside of Fishers, Hannah's mother Robin actually works as a veterinarian. So Hannah was described as a beautiful soul and quote, the person everyone fell in love with right away, as well as someone who was just overall very active and involved. She attended Hamilton, Southeastern High School there in Fischer's, and there she was a basketball cheerleader for all four years and actually a varsity cheerleader. And then she joined the Indiana Elite, which is an all-star cheer gym in the neighboring city of Noblesville, so she loved cheering. After graduating from high school in 2011,

Hannah headed off to Indiana University, which is just over an hour's drive from her family home. So it was gonna be something very new and exciting for Hannah. Yeah, and during her time at Indiana University, Hannah joined the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and worked really hard at her psychology degree. She was a huge supporter and advocate for the LGBTQ community, so she was aiming to pursue

a psychology career in that particular field, doing therapy and social work for the LGBTQ community. Hannah's sorority sisters absolutely loved her, and one of them named Katie Emberger stated quote, �Something I loved about Hannah was that she had such a clear, unbiased mind. She was so non-judgmental of everyone she met. Another friend and sorority sister, Lisa Mizako, said that Hannah was the kind of person that could walk into a room and no-no one, but she'd leave with like a hundred new best friends.

So it's safe to say that Hannah really enjoyed her time at Indiana University. But after nearly four long years and taking exams, studying, sitting classes day after day, month after month, Hannah was finally ready to graduate and really begin her adult life. In April of 2015, 22-year-old Hannah Wilson was preparing for upcoming final exams, studying as hard as she could. At this time, her sister, Haley,

who she was very close with, was also getting ready to graduate, but from Fisher's high school. But at this time, in the end of April, Haley was a counselor at Camp Tacumsa and Brookston, Indiana, which is just an hour from Fishers. In the camp is located along a river and it looks very much like a quintessential camp

that you would go to as a kid. Oh, totally. So, while Haley was there, she spoke with Hannah about getting their then divorced parents together for their graduations, and we're just organizing the post ceremony events. And they were both very busy at this time. Like 18-year-old Haley was having spotty service and she was watching over kids all day. And then 22-year-old Hannah was studying for her exams.

On Thursday, April 23, 2015, Hannah found out that she had done very well on her exam. So she was extremely excited to just be done with it all as graduation was just two weeks away, so she was prepared to celebrate as she should. So Hannah and a couple of her friends headed to a local hotel bar for some drinks, and by 5pm that evening, they were at Kill Roy's sports bar in Bloomington, where she lived. And they remained there for many hours because by 9pm, 4 hours later, they were still there,

having fun, drinking, and taking photos together. By around 9.30pm or so, Hannah headed to her house with these two male friends that she was with to keep drinking. Now at this time Hanna was living in a four bedroom, four bathroom house at 513 East 8th Street in Bloomington, Indiana with a couple of her other friends and her beloved cat Mac right on a quaint and tree lined street. And her house is the second house right off of the corner of North Dunstreet, where there's a lot of other houses, and then a few blocks up, you kind of get more towards apartment buildings

and like deeper into the city portion of Bloomington. But right where her house was, it was very residential and quiet. So after drinking for a little while and hanging out at Hannah's house, the group just decided to head back out to some bars, but first they wound up at a room at the downtown Hilton Garden Inn. And from there, they walked back down to Kilroy's sports bar around 1am to continue their fun. But once they got there, her friends realized that she was too drunk to keep it going.

Her friend Joseph told the Harold Times quote, By the time we got there, we realized that she was too intoxicated to go into the bar. She understood why we were putting her into a cab, but she looked sad. So basically, her friends realized that she was not fit to keep drinking and did the safe thing by sending her home where she could just kind of sleep it off. When Hannah arrived home, one of her roommates named Allison was upstairs in bed when she heard the front door open, but not close at about 105 am. She didn't really think anything of it since it had woken her up.

She just kind of figured that it was one of her roommates getting back in for the night. So she went back to sleep. That same night, Hannah's sister Haley sent a photo from camp and a text message, but Hannah didn't respond. She knew she'd be out celebrating, so Haley didn't really worry when she didn't get a text back. Also, it was the start of Little 500 Weekend. So the Little 500 is this annual cycling race that takes place at the Indiana University campus in Bloomington every April. And it's something that's been going on there since 1951. And actually, one of Hannah's roommates was participating in it. So it was going to be this weekend of bike races and partying.

Like all these people show up, it's this huge event. There's a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, totally. So they use this as kind of like a party weekend too. So that was this next day, and she was, you know, Hannah was supposed to be a part of that. So the race began on Friday, April 24th. So the day after Hannah had gone out to bars with her friends.

So this was another reason why Haley figured that her sister had a lot going on, hence why she didn't text her back. But around noon on Friday, Haley texted Hannah again, but still, there was no answer. Now, little did Haley know, by this time, Hannah's friends began to worry that they hadn't heard from her either, especially since it appeared that she had gotten into her house at 1.05 a.m. And a few hours later, when Haley was able to check her phone again, because remember, she's being a camcounselor.

Yeah, she's busy. Yeah, she had this slew of texts and miss calls from Hannah's friends asking if she had heard from Hannah because they had not. And then everything became even more real when Haley got a call from her father Jeffrey telling her that no one could find Hannah. By that time, Jeffrey had already left his work in Indian apolis to make the hour-long drive down to his daughter's city of Bloomington to help look for her. Hannah's mother Robin was separately on her way to Bloomington to help in the search

as well, fearing the absolute worst. This was becoming a very serious and concerning situation, so Haley and her best friend jumped into the car and sped down their themselves, hoping that this was all just a big misunderstanding. But by the time Haley had arrived in Bloomington and met her parents, they were broken down into tears. Because Hannah's body had already been found. Hannah's parents had already filed a missing persons report, but after they did so, they

learned that a body had been found by a passerby that very morning. In an isolated field in Brown County, about 30 minutes outside of Bloomington in a very rural area, a passerby encountered a lifeless body just an hour past sunrise, around 8am or 8am or 8.30am. This woman was on her way to Bloomington of all places to pick up some raw milk when she noticed what she thought was a pile of clothes, like in this field, so she pulled over to investigate and noticed that it was actually a person laying face down in a grassy field. So the woman rushed home to call 911 stating,

quote, there is a dead body in a field at state road 45 and plum creek road. It looks like a woman. Her head is covered up and she is faced down on the ground. I did not touch her. And thank God she didn't touch her because you know, you want to preserve as much evidence as you can Yeah, yeah, and the fact that she even came across the body and thinking it was close and deciding Ham gonna go get a closer look at what that is and then seeing what it is and running right home to call 911 Like she totally did the right thing. Yeah, and I can't imagine the thoughts you would have my god You know coming upon something like that. I can't either. So when police arrived at the scene, her body was taken away for examination. And by this point, of course, they

didn't know who she was since she didn't have any of her belongings on her. Though there was a cell phone found under her foot, which we will get into here in a minute. So after Hannah was reported missing, two and two were put together, and the body sadly was confirmed to be hers. The coroner concluded that 22-year-old Hannah Wilson

had died from blunt force trauma after being struck in the back of her head three to four times with an unknown object. Though later it was thought to have potentially been one of those mag light flashlights. Oh yeah, those things are really heavy. I know. And there were no signs of sexual assault.

They also determined that she had been dead for about seven hours when she was found, which matches up to the last time that she was seen at around 1 a.m. But I mean, you know, who was her murderer and how did this happen if she had seemingly entered her house? So there was this massive confusion because the night before she was just out having a nice time with her friends celebrating as she should have been and her friends got her cab home. She roommate heard her come in. Right. So what the hell happened from there? So since this was now officially a murder investigation, investigators got to work on Hannah's timeline.

They learned from her friends what had happened up until that point when she got into the cab back to her house, which would have only been a three minute drive. Yeah, she was super close to the bars. And they also tracked down the cab driver and confirmed this story with them. The taxi driver explained that he remembered driving her home and even noticed her walking up to her house. He said, quote, she was pleading with her friends to stay and they were trying to get her into the cab.

Then he went on to explain that once they reached her street, she got out and he watched as she weaved between cars before getting onto the sidewalk and walking up to her house. And then, he just drove away. So we didn't actually see if she walked inside, but as we know, at this very same time, her roommate Allison heard the door open, but not close. And one of the things that had initially worried Hannah's friends and roommates was the fact that her own cell phone and wallet were on her bed, meaning she must have gone inside

the house and set them there. Which is why this whole didn't hear the door closed thing is really eerie to me because her stuff was in her room, but why didn't Alice in here the door closed? Like did Hannah go inside, drop her things, and go back outside? And if so, why? You know, maybe she was getting fresh air, or maybe she had an encounter with someone upon closing her front door. And sadly, we don't know the answer to this, but we will talk more about it later.

But you would think that if a struggle ensued inside the house or even outside the open doorway, Allison would have heard it considering just the sound of the door opening had woken her up. Yeah, correct. Now, we know that Hannah's phone was inside her house, so this brings us back to the phone that was found next to her body, and police uncovered who it belonged to that very same day. The afternoon that Hannah's family learned that their beloved Hannah had tragically passed

away just that morning, which again was Friday, April 24, 2015, police arrested a single 50-year-old print shop employee named Daniel Messle, the owner of the cell phone. Let's go into what police were able to uncover about the owner of the cell phone. Let's go into what police were able to uncover about what he did the previous evening. At 6pm on Thursday, April 23rd, while Hannah was at Kilroy's having a good time with her friends, Daniel was with his dad having dinner at a chain restaurant called Chetters. After they finished, they headed back to the trailer that they lived in together and the 6100 block of West Ice and Road in Bloomington, located seven miles or 11 kilometers from Hannah's house in a more rural area.

So this trailer of theirs was like, you know, kind of rural. Right, but still not terribly far from Hannah's or even downtown Bloomington, where you're about to discuss that he is headed after this. Right, so at 8 p.m., Daniel left his trailer for Yogi's grill in bar to play some trivia with friends. Something that he did almost every Thursday evening. And guess what? Yogi's is directly across the street from Kilroy's sports bar, where Hannah was at at that very same time. A few hours later, around 11pm, when Hannah was already back at her house drinking with her two guy friends, Daniel left Yogi's and dropped a coworker off at their house. And that's the last that we know of specific whereabouts for Daniel, other than that, he must

have been out in Brown County since that's where his phone was found. Sadly, the cell phone pink data was later pushed to stay hidden, as cell phone pinks don't always show exact locations, but what we do know is that Hannah and Daniel were in the same area that very night, and after 1 a.m. they're whereabouts are unknown. Either way his freaking phone was found by her feet. Exactly. Yeah, so he was arrested that day and detained for questioning because they're like, your phone was found next to her body. Obviously you are probably involved, so we're just gonna rest you and

hopefully you confess something in our questioning. Right, and what's the likelihood of your phone just accidentally being in this grassy field underneath of a body? Exactly, and it gets so much worse, so get this. When police arrived at his house to conduct set a rest, they noticed that his forearms had claw marks on them, you know, as if he had potentially gotten

into a struggle of sorts. Not suspicious at all, right? Well, you know, as if he had potentially gotten into a struggle of sorts. Not suspicious at all, right? Well, that's too. So he was also holding a plastic garbage bag full of clothes, but not just any clothes. The clothes that Hannah had been wearing out that night, and they were spotted in her blood. Daniel declined to speak to police regarding his arrest, but as they continue to search his home and car, they found more damning evidence.

Inside his vehicle, which was a silver Kia Sportage SUV, police found blood on the driver's side of the car, along with clumps of hair. With all this unbelievable evidence against Daniel, police were confident that they had the man behind Hannah's murder, but they would soon find out that he had a history of violence. In 1989, he was convicted of forgery, and then the following year in 1990, he was convicted of felony battery. Then, in 1996, Daniel, who was in his late 20s at this time, was arrested on battery charges and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. And although we can imagine he committed other violent acts after he got out of prison,

it wasn't until 2012 that the next publicly known story came up. In November of 2012, less than three years before Hannah's murder, a 22-year-old IU student just like Hannah was walking home from the bars in Bloomington a bit intoxicated just wanting to make it home safely. When suddenly, a man in an SUV slowed his car up next to her before stopping and calling out to her saying, quote, what's a pretty girl like you walking around this late? Something bad could happen. Oh, God, we're fucking piece of shit. What a piece of shit. Oh, my God.

You know, and like not only do you're like you're being a total creep by saying, what's a pretty girl like you doing out this late, but also to say something bad could happen. And then you're the bad guy. Not only not only are you cringey But like you like just saying that is so fucking pretty. Yeah, but it's just also like just Just go away Creepy you so like I said she was intoxicated so maybe her guard was down a little bit and she thought that this guy was harmless Because it being a chilly fall night and her having a really long walk home, she decided

to get into his car for a quick ride home. But that certainly isn't what he was actually offering. Once inside his car, he did not drive her home, but instead, somewhere else nearby in Bloomington, where he beat and sexually assaulted her in his car. And luckily this young woman was able to escape and she did report it days later. But it wasn't clear who her attacker was until she saw his photo in the newspaper when he was arrested for Hannah Wilson's murder.

She told Indy Stark, quote, My body reacted in a way that had not happened before. I had a panic attack. I realized this was the same person who tried to attack me in 2012. But unfortunately, with this attack being about three years earlier and there being no physical evidence against Daniel for her particular case, it didn't go anywhere. Wow, that seriously sucks. I know, it makes me so mad. So, I mean, obviously it's safe to say that had he not been arrested for Hannah's murder, and thanks to Hannah's bravery, fighting off this horrible asshole, though it ended in her demise, Hannah essentially saved women from being attacked from him in the future because this guy is an absolute predator.

Right, and there are many people out there, even a brown county prosecutor, who believes that Daniel Messle is behind the June 2011 disappearance of Lauren Speerer, who also was an Indiana University student, who had actually been at Kilroy's sports bar on the night of her disappearance, which is just really, really eerie. I agree. I mean, there's so many similarities in this case, and like you said, her disappearance is unsolved, so who knows. And knowing that the attack on the young woman that you're talking about happened just months after Lauren's disappearance, it's definitely possible.

Also if you guys haven't listened to that episode yet, we covered Lauren's Spirors case all the way back in episode 34 of Going West. Yeah, I don't think we mentioned Daniel in that episode, but we definitely should have, because these similarities are seriously crazy. Oh, and before we get back to Hannah's case since we're on the topic, I want to mention that between September of 2012 and December 2nd of 2012, so within this two-month span, Bloomington Police received multiple reports of a suspicious man trying to get women into his silver SUV like Daniel had. And some reports

included sexual battery and attempted rape. And many of these women had been out drinking when this man approached them, which was the situation for Lauren Speer, the woman with the 2012, sorry November 2012 incident. And lastly, Hannah Wilson. Yeah, so these all kind of feel the same. Yeah, like all these women are just out enjoying themselves again as they should be able to do. And this guy approached them and I can't say that for Lauren's case, I just mean that Lauren was, if you guys know that case, if you listen to her episode or another episode from somebody else, she, we don't know what happened to her, so I can't say for sure that a man approached her, I just mean she was out drinking in Bloomington.

Right. But it really seems like Daniel could have been behind many, if not all of these, because one victim even memorized the guy's license plate, and it was Daniels. Damn. So police questioned him, but they later released him. Like, that is, it's, it is a connection.

He is a predator. He's out there. I wouldn't be surprised if this was all Daniel. Yeah, and they need to look into him or just to see what other crimes he could have potentially been behind. I totally agree, but the sad thing is, is a lot of these women who reported it,

either DNA wasn't taken from them, like fingernail scrapings or anything like that, or they didn't really take the report seriously. And then as we know as the years pass, what can really be done. So it's sad that they didn't take it more seriously at the time. Right. And another one of these reports was followed up on after Hannah's murder, too, a young Indiana university student who was attacked by Daniel just two months before the November

2012 attack in September of 2012. And for this, Daniel was charged with attempted rape in 2016, over a year after Hannah's murder. Because the police still have the scrapings from underneath her fingernails when she reported the attempted rape. And when they matched it to Daniel's DNA in 2015, after she too saw his face in the paper,

it was a one in a million match. So anyway, this just all goes to show you that Daniel is a very dangerous person and a repeating offender. Right, so this is a great example, actually, of something that was done correctly, is that they did take the fingernail scrapings from exactly the scrapings from under her fingernail. Yeah.

And it actually led to him getting into more trouble, which is amazing. But anyway, back to Hannah's case. So at 2.30 p.m. on Monday, April 27, 2016, after being held in the Brown County jail over the weekend, 49-year-old Daniel Messle was formally charged with Hannah's murder. But a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf, which I'm sure does not surprise you guys because this guy sucks. Yeah, he totally fucking sucks. So two days after this, police found out he's you're gonna be grosseded out by this that Daniel was on a sugar daddy website. Oh no. Yeah. His profile stated that he was an old single Caucasian

sugar daddy. Like I already have a stomach bug and this guy's just pushing my limits. I know. So it gets worse. So he described his body type as cuddly and his high as six foot three. And he put that he makes between $100,000 and $200,000 a year, though he really only made $32,000 a year, working at fine print in Bloomington. So he's like lying about his income, probably to like, you know. Oh, of course, yeah.

He wants to entice people with money, or young women with money. It's gross to lie about that though because it's a lie. You're not a sugar daddy. And this is the creepiest, most suspicious detail of all. His profile also said, blooming tin mail, looking for that special IU co-ed. Of course, of course it does.

Of course it does. And if it's not obvious, UI stands for Indiana University. So this legit proves everything we are thinking and saying about Daniel. Yeah, 100%. While police awaited DNA testing results, funeral services were held for Hannah on the afternoon of Saturday, May 2nd, so just over a week after she was killed. It took place at Fisher's High School where countless

people gathered to celebrate Hannah's short yet very inspiring life. Just six days after her funeral and on the day that Hannah should have graduated from college with her bachelor's degree in psychology, Indiana University presented her family with her diploma in a private ceremony. presented her family with her diploma in a private ceremony. Regarding the DNA that was found in Daniel's home, as well as on Hannah's body, scrapings from Hannah's fingernails were also taken, and it was a match to Daniel Messles. On top of this, Hannah's DNA was found in blood on Daniel's shoes and his jeans. It was also proven that the blood in hair found in his silver-keyest sportage was in fact,

Hannah's. But on pieces of the grass beneath Hannah's body and amongst her blood was also unknown male DNA. And mixed in with Hannah's blood on Daniel's shoes was the same unknown male DNA. So was someone else also involved along alongside of Daniel, or is that DNA irrelevant to this case? Well, a DNA expert had this to say about it.

Quote, Whenever we as humans contact something, we leave DNA behind. He then went on to explain that the unknown male DNA could stem from numerous factors. And it could be from unrelated contact with other people that night. Right. So, I mean, it does make you wonder that, but because DNA is so easily spreadable in that way, it definitely could be unrelated. But I think the biggest takeaway here is just everything you said about the fact that their

DNA, Hannah and Daniels are on each other. So that is a huge, huge, huge deal in this case, and that's why it's so frustrating that he has been maintaining his innocence, because it's like, what the hell do you mean you're innocent? Yeah. Her DNA is all over you? Like no.

Exactly. There's no way to claim that you're innocent. Like it just DNA proves you that you're Like no. Exactly. There's no way to claim that you're innocent. Like, it just DNA proves you that you're a killer. You cannot say you're innocent after all of this is coming out. You just can't. So this, of course, was discussed in Daniel's trial, you know, all of the DNA evidence, which took place in August of 2016, about 16 months after Hannah's murder. Many witnesses testified, including Hannah's friends, women who had also previously been assaulted by Daniel,

the cab driver, Daniel's trivia buddies, DNA experts, and more. Daniel's defense attorney tried to convince the jury that he and Hannah did cross paths that night, but he didn't kill her, which again, no, how is her blood on your shoes and how do you have her bloody clothes? But, and how is her hair and blood in your car makes no sense. And the defense attorney also stated that instead of, you know, focusing on other avenues,

police zeroed in on Daniel after finding his cell phone, which I don't blame them for doing. And we have talked about this before about how, sometimes we hate when police zero in on one person, but they had good reason to know. Yeah, it's not just the fucking cell phone. Right, it's not just cell phone, yeah. So although Daniel's exact whereabout that evening

after 11 p.m. are not properly accounted for. And what I mean by that is there's no one to say I was with him or anything like that. It's not like he was concretely somewhere else. But his credit card records as well as local surveillance footage proved that he was in Bloomington and driving his Kia Sportage after midnight that night. Meaning he absolutely could have been prowling the streets of Bloomington looking for an IU student. And I have no doubt in my mind

that that's exactly what he was doing. Same. And it's also possible that he saw Hannah stumbling into the taxi like I'm just picturing, he's driving around that downtown area of Bloomington, where he had just been doing trivia at that bar right across from Kill Roy's. And maybe he saw her getting into a cab, followed the cab, and then, you know, maybe parked and abducted her outside of her house.

Like that's kind of what I'm thinking. Yeah, that's what it might. It could have potentially happened. That's my thought as well. Because again, she was, her house was just three minutes away from the bar, so it's not like a long drive. She's right there. And as far as Hannah's whereabouts, we already discussed the cab dropping her off and then

her roommate, Allison, hearing the front door open. But Hannah also made a phone call just around 1 a.m. And she called one of her male friends, but he couldn't hear her because he was in the bar, so was this call made after or before she was taken, no one can say for sure. You know, it's pretty clear that Daniel is a sexual predator. So it's a bit shocking knowing that there was no sign of sexual assault, but that also doesn't mean that he didn't attempt this. And considering she was struck in the back of the head, this only makes us wonder if he did intend to sexually assault her.

But she fought him off and tried to run away, so he used, you know, what is thought to have been one of those heavy-duty mag-light flashlights and struck her in the back of the head three to four times. I agree with you. I think that actually makes sense because as we know from these other women who have come forward, he is, I didn't just to not get too graphic and for anybody who has, you know, been a victim of sexual assault. I didn't want to go into the details, but it seems more like he is forcing these young women onto him. And then when they try to fight him off, they luckily the other women who have come forward

were able to escape, but and maybe that's exactly what Hanna did is she escaped him and then he caught her. Right, and maybe this was an attempt to stop her from later identifying him as it seems that this was possibly the first murder that he had committed, unless he was behind Lauren Spierer's disappearance and potentially other local students. Right, I mean, it just makes you wonder.

But either way, it's believed that Hannah was abducted and forced into his car because those who knew her stated intoxicated or sober, Hannah would have never gotten into a stranger's car, especially alone. And we can only imagine how hard this trial was on Hannah's entire family. I just want to talk about that for a second. And her mother actually stated that she wasn't sure

if she was going to be able to get through it, but knew that it was worth it and something that she had to do. And even before and after the trial, of course, this was also unthinkably difficult for her younger sister, Haley, who was graduating high school when her older sister was taken from she and her family so abruptly. And actually, it seems that Haley and Hannah really had a lot in common, because just months

after Hannah's murder, Haley headed off to Indiana University as a psychology major as well, just asanna had done four years before her. And I can't even imagine what her parents were thinking. Like that fear. Just yeah, like I've already lost one daughter at this university or in Bloomington, I suppose. Yeah. But still, you know, I wonder if they did have those thoughts because that would make sense. Even though, you know, we know that he was caught, still, it's, you gotta have that fear anyway. Right. And with Haley having to wander the campus in what was supposed to be this exciting experience, just wasn't. Han and Haley would talk in FaceTime almost every day, so they were incredibly close. And we did find a great article on Haley and her battles with what happened,

and we want to share a quoted excerpt from that. We linked the article in our case sources in the description of this episode, but it was written by Hannah Alani, and it's on specials.idsnews.com. Quote, an introvert all her life, Haley is starting college in the shadow of a high profile case. She said she wants her fellow students to remember Hannah's murder, but she doesn't want them to walk around campus in fear. She shies from the extra attention that comes with being Hannah's sister. But when students make dead girl jokes in front of her, not knowing who she is, she fights the urge to call them out.

Haley wears Hannah's old clothes, walks by the house on 8th street where Hannah lived during her senior year, and sleeps under a blanket made from Hannah's old t-shirts. She understands that she'll eventually have to come to terms with Hannah's death, but she isn't ready. God, that's so heartbreaking. I know, this poor family. I know. And just to be that close to your sister like that, and to have a blanket made of her t-shirts. I know. It's so sad, especially with walking around campus

and knowing that she was there, and this terrible thing happened to her there, and just having to live in that horrible memory. It breaks my heart. I know, mine too. And during the trial, Haley Wilson had some very emotional and touching things to say in court to Hannah's killer. Through tears, Haley stated quote, When I get married one day, I will not have a maid of honor, but instead, there will

be an empty seat. She was the one person in my life who understands me. Because of your actions, I am an only child now. In Daniel Messle actually had a response to this, speaking for the first time during the trial, he said, quote, I didn't kill Hannah. I'm sorry for the Wilson family's loss, but I didn't do it, and if it was my daughter, I would want to know who did it. Ugh, just like fuming. I don't know how he could say that.

How do you have the gall to say that when there's this much evidence against you? And here the sister is explaining to you that because of you, she's an only child and her sister and best friend will not be at her wedding. And that's what you have to say. Nuh. P-O-S. best friend will not be at her wedding. And that's what you have to say. P-O-S. So then Hannah's father Jeffrey spoke, and part of his statement included quote,

his demeanor and court has proven that he has no remorse for what he did to Hannah. While Hannah's mother Robin tearfully added, you robbed Hannah of a lifetime ahead of her. You robbed me of knowing how beautiful she would look on her wedding day. And Robyn even asked questions directly to Daniel like, why my daughter? Where did you cross paths? How did you get her in your car? Where did you plan to take her? Did you feel pleasure when you heard the sound of my daughter's skull crack? It's just so heartbreaking reading through these quotes

and saying them out loud and knowing that this poor family just doesn't have the answers they deserve to know. And this guy is just sitting there remorseless, denying involvement when there's legit so much evidence against him. I know I just kinda said that, but I just have to reiterate because it's so frustrating. It's just infuriating.

So after five hours of deliberating, the jury of eight women and four men all found 51-year-old Daniel Messle guilty of Hannah's murder. Various members of Hannah's family broke down into tears upon hearing the verdict. And because Daniel maintained his innocence, her family will never really know what happened to her that night until he has a change of heart.

You know, they won't know how she and Daniel came into contact if she got into his car, if he abducted her on her own porch. There's still so many unanswered questions. Daniel was sentenced to 80 years in prison at the age of 51, which means he will be behind bars for the rest of his life. Good. Yes. He has since appealed his case, LOL, but the Indiana Supreme Court refuses to consider it, affirming his conviction. After the 2016 trial ended, Hannah's father Jeff stated,

quote, "'Hanna is a hero. She fought him off, and now he's off the street.'" Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Tuesday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. This case is so heartbreaking in so many ways and again, I really appreciate you Sarah for sending this one to us so that we could learn about Hannah's story and what an amazing

person she was and was supposed to be for so many more years. Again, our hearts really go out to you and your family for having to endure such a terrible tragedy. And thank you so much for listening to the show. Thank you everybody for listening to Hannah's story and coming back twice a week for our episodes. We love you all. And thank you so much for leaving us reviews.

Also, we haven't plugged this in a while, so I guess I'll do it now. We are gonna be at CrimeCon. So if you guys wanna come hang out with us, we're gonna be there April 29th through May 1st. So come, give us a high five. Actually, I think we're gonna be giving out some free merch, which is gonna be awesome.

So come buy our booth on podcast row. We'd love to see ya. Yeah, that's officially under a month away, but you can still get your tickets, and if you want 10% off your standard badge, use code going west at checkout and we hope to see you there. All right guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

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