Sword and Scale - Episode 222

Episode Date: September 26, 2022

Indiana University was rocked when 22-year-old Hannah Wilson was found murdered. The bubbly, popular senior had mysteriously gone missing from her bedroom after a night out of celebrating with friends. The next day she was found dead in a field. While prosecutor Ted Adams worked to get justice for Hannah Wilson, defense lawyer Dorie Maryan found herself defending a man whose crimes were much greater than killing Hannah Wilson.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised A person of that age just doesn't wake up and decide to create a crime of that nature I didn't ever feel that Hannah was the first. I never Doubted in my mind that there was other victims. Welcome to Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. You might be noticing a lot more shows and that's because we're doubling our output between now and Halloween. You're going to get twice as many regular shows, twice as many plus episodes, and all you All you gotta do is the world is your oyster.

And actually, when you're 22, the world feels like it's your oyster. Most American 20-somethings are in college living away from home and preparing for adulthood in the secure, happy bubble of university campus life. Sorority, sports, classes, parties, and drinking. So much drinking. For most seniors in college, the future is right around the corner and life couldn't be more exhilarating.

The real grown-up world is so close that they can smell it. For the 30,000 students at Indiana University, this feeling is no different. Bloomington, Indiana is an unassuming and beautiful college town. Nestle just south of Indianapolis, Bloomington is a hub of youth and prosperity. It's a hopeful, happy place, where crime is low and dreams are big. This is where 22-year-old Hannah Wilson was set to graduate with a degree in psychology in the spring of 2015. Hannah was a senior at IU, but she was a fun person with fun friends in an extremely fun part of her time.

This is Brown County District Attorney, Ted Adams. My name is Ted Adams. I was elected prosecuting attorney in the November of 2014 election and assumed office January 1st of 2015. I ran on the platform of perspective, having been on both sides. I had been a deputy prosecutor and a defense attorney. I had worked for the government. I had worked in private sector. I felt that I brought a breadth of experience from that facet of my career. It was only four months after being elected DA, that Ted first became aware of Hannah Wilson.

The beloved IU student living in the next county over. Unlike the county that is home to IU, Ted's jurisdiction of Brown County is much sleepier. Brown County is known for, well, a couple of things. We have the largest Indiana State Park in our county. It's a very hilly county and it's a very rural county. So we're known for our leaves and our hills. People come to Brown County to kind of disconnect and get away from the world

and very sparsely populated in terms of, you know, your neighbor might be a half a mile away. Murder rate in Brown County is probably, I'd say one every 10 years. I mean, it's, it's very scant. Hannah was raised in Fisher's, Indiana. Her mother was a veterinarian and her father was a physician. She had one sibling named Haley, and the sisters were very close. As kids, Hannah and Haley played together, put on little plays and made up songs. But Hannah was the one who tended to nab the spotlight with her infectious personality

and extroverted demeanor. In high school, Hannah merged her love of sports and entertaining by becoming an elite cheerleader. At Indiana University, Hannah was a sorority girl who majored in psychology. She was one of those friendly, kind, pretty girls who made friends wherever she went. Hannah was very popular on campus. She was a senior. She was on the verge of graduating. As a matter of fact, she went out on April 23rd to celebrate having passed her final class, which was given her some some issues, I believe, as a very challenging class. And she passed it. She was going to graduate. She was super excited. On top of that, it was little 500

weekend at IU. It's a party weekend for IU students. They have the little 500 bicycle race. It's it's just a great big weekend for IU students. So it was a great time in her life. She was excited I used to do it. So it was a great time in her life. She was excited to be graduating and moving on. On the evening of April 23rd, 2015, Hannah and her friends decided to celebrate their upcoming graduation with a night out of champagne, beers, and bar hopping. They went back to a friend's house and pre-gamed as they called it, you know, and did some drinking at home. And then her old boyfriend was coming into the town. He had some friends with him and they

were all friends, you know, so they went over to the Hilton and hung out and and drank together. After drinking at the Hilton hotel, the group of excited graduates decided to take their party to another bar downtown. But while they were outside waiting to get in, they noticed that Hannah was pretty tipsy. The determination was made amongst her friends. They felt Hannah was a bit too intoxicated to go into the bar. So they did call an Uber. And you know, I sit here and I think, I think these college kids did everything they could

to do the right thing for Hannah. You know, they felt she was too intoxicated to go home. They didn't send her walking home. They alone. They didn't do anything like that. They did what I think college kids would do. They called her an Uber. Her ex-boyfriend paid for the Uber. You know, asked the driver, hey, can you get her home?

She literally, I think, lived seven blocks away. It would have been about a, about three or four minute drive, you know, with all the stop signs. Hannah's friends got her in the Uber and she was taken back to her house. Her roommate heard her come inside. We know she went inside because her phone, we were able to determine, picked up on the Wi-Fi inside her home. And then at that point, that's the last we know of her, you know, her well-being, if you will. The next morning, Hannah's roommate went into her room to say hi and noticed that Hannah

was missing. Hannah's purse and cell phone were on the bed, but there was no Hannah. When her roommate went downstairs, she noticed that their front door was a jar. Hannah's roommate panicked and started calling around to try to locate her. Hannah's parents hadn't heard from her either. As friends and family rallied together in the search to find Hannah, Ted Adams got a call that would change everything. I'll never forget where I was when I got the phone call on Friday April 24th that we had a body in the county. I was actually walking into our local IGA supermarket.

I think we had a birthday we were celebrating at work, so I was getting some cake and ice cream stuff like that. And then, the word came in from the sheriff, he called my cell phone, and I instantly kind of dropped everything and went out to the scene. Hannah hadn't even been reported missing when Ted got the call that there was a dead woman found in Brown County. Body found was called in at about 8. I want to say 8.34 am on April 24th by a Brown County citizen. She's about 25 feet off of Plum Creek Road, which is a very, very remote area of our county.

So imagine Brown County being remote, and then, of course, there's still areas of hubs of people. Well, this is far away from any type of hub of people. So it's in the very remote area of a very remote county. And in my line of work, people joke that brown county is a great place to dump a body. A local of brown county was driving down the road when she spotted what looked like a pile of clothes in the grass. When she pulled over her car to get a closer look, she realized it was a young girl dead in the dirt. The woman called 911. That's when Ted ditched the birthday cake he was holding and rushed to plum creak.

When I got that phone call from the Sheriff's Department, from actually was Brown County Sheriff's got settled and had called me while I was at the IGA explaining there is a body, he indicated there was a phone underneath her foot. I want to say it was her right foot. They preserved the phone and that was our first application for search warrant was to get into the phone. The Fourth Amendment prevents unreasonable searches and seizures and probably we could have got into that phone with a little more detail, but we didn't want to give any future defense attorney any ammunition to attack our search. At first, Ted and Indiana State police assumed that the cell phone belonged to the victim,

but when they picked it up, a little red phone told a different story. The cell phone was registered to a man named Daniel Messel. All of a sudden we find out at Stanniel Messel, we know his address, and we start the next domino that falls as we go to his place of employment, fine print in Bloomington, which was a printing press. And we interviewed, well, we we meaning the Indiana State Police, interviewed employees. He had not shown up for work on April 24th, 2015 and that

was very much out of character for Daniel Messo. He was pretty reliable, coming to work and they were pretty shocked that not only did he not show up to work, he also didn't call in. As the Indiana State Police made their way to Daniel Messle's house to find him, other officers were busy trying to identify the victim. No one had been reported missing in Brown County, so officers started contacting the neighboring counties. And that's when they heard about the missing IU student from Bloomington in Indiana named Hannah Wilson. They were able to confirm through our corner so the Bloomington Police Department contacted the Indiana State Police. Her

roommates provided a photo. That photo was sent to the Indiana State Police who then sent it to the corner who was able to confirm Hannah's identity. Hannah Wilson had been brutally beaten. She had died from severe blunt force trauma to the head. Her remains showed no obvious signs of sexual assault. Police had to track down Daniel Messle quickly so they processed search warrants for his house, car, and computer, along with the cell phone they found at the crime scene.

Daniel was in his 50s but lived with a stepfather Gerald Messle in a mobile home on a remote property outside of Bloomington. Police knocked on the door. Daniel wasn't home, but a stepfather was. And Gerald said, hey, I saw him April 23rd. We went out to eat at Chetters at 6 p.m. We got home about eight, and on Thursday nights, he plays trivia downtown Bloomington at Yokeys. And he said, this is Gerald talking to the Indiana estate police. He said it was kind of strange. He never came home. And he knew of that night. He said he usually gets home

around 11. Well, he hadn't come home at 11 and he hadn't been home yet. Even though he had to work. The officers left their car with Daniel Stepfather and decided to check in with some of Messles neighbors before heading back to the station. The Indian state police notified the neighbors if you see him, let us know. Well they had no sooner pulled out of his driveway and went down the road than the neighbor called and said he just pulled into the driveway. So the Indian state police wheeled around and came back to the residence. And he was walking and when they drove up the driveway he was walking out of the house with a

kind of an opaque Clearish plastic bag and in that bag You know in my Trial I caught it a bag of bloody clothes, but that's exactly what he had he had a pair of shoes That handhand and Wilson's blood on and a pair pair of shoes that had Hannah Wilson's blood on it, a pair of jeans with Hannah Wilson's blood on them. He had his IU pullover with Hannah Wilson's blood on it, and he had one sock. I don't know to this day I have no idea what ever happened to the other sock, but he had a sock in there as well. It seemed that Daniel Messle had been caught, red-handed, literally.

Hannah's blood was all over him in his possessions. Now police had to figure out how this pretty, fun-loving 22-year-old college student named Hannah Wilson got out of the safety of her bedroom and into the clutches of Daniel Messle. But to do that, first they had to figure out exactly who Daniel Messle really was. 22-year-old Indiana University student Hannah Wilson had been found beaten to death and left in a remote area of the next county over from Bloomington, where she lived and studied. Hannah had been out celebrating her upcoming graduation with friends and had arrived home safely, even leaving her phone and purse in her bedroom. But somehow, she had ended up crossing paths with a 50-year-old print shop worker named Daniel Messel.

How Hannah got out of the safety of her house and ended up with Daniel remained a mystery. The two had never met. On the surface Daniel seemed like an average middle-aged single guy. He lived with his father, no children, no wife. I don't think he made minimum wage at fine print. I think he made, you know, okay, and okay, wage at the time, but, you know, his expenses were low, living with dad. He probably didn't have too many expenses.

He was a phenom at trivia, though, and particularly IU sports trivia. He was loved IU sports, and he was a sports trivia phenom. So he didn't go to college, but to underestimate his intelligence would be, you did not want to underestimate this man's intelligence. Daniel was a trivia fanatic, but he shouldn't look like one. He was six feet tall with a strong build and full head of gray hair. It could have been the guy changing your oil or the high school soccer coach.

When we executed a search warrant on his phone, I don't remember how far we went back, but it was a while, let's say a year's worth of information on his phone. I don't remember how far we went back, but it was a while. Let's say a year's worth of information on his phone. When we generated that information and paper form, I bet his phone contacts, and this would include text, phone calls, things like that that would come in a pamphlet form in a forensic phone dump back in 2015. I bet that was about a 40 page report. We executed a search warrant, even though we had permission with Hannah Wilson's phone for I want to say the week. That generated, I want to say 400 pages, to give you an idea of how little social life

he had. Daniel was a loner, but no one in his life saw it as anything too alarming. Maybe that's because he really didn't have many people in his life to begin with. He had a nephew, his sister's son, that he really took to and would take him to IU sports games and that was about the extent of his social life. So he had hanging out with dad, Thursday night, trivia nights, and then hanging out and going to sports games, particularly with his nephew. And that's who Daniel Messle was. Even Hannah's own father had mixed emotions about this weird loner named Daniel Messle.

It's a weird way I kind of feel for the guy in some odd way. Like, something's got to be really, really sick to do what he did if that's the case. That's about as far as I go. Hannah on the other hand could not have been more different from the man who murdered her. Hannah was full of promise in life. Here's Hannah's mother. At the top of her, she was entertaining people.

And because she had that ability to just make people laugh. And those sparkly blue eyes that are just indescribable. The world still goes on. And there's still lives to lead. And there's still people who need to be laughing and dancing and having hope and joy. And all the things that Hannah would want to have. She truly was an unreal, amazing human. And you can't take my daughter's life and put it into a few words because there's just too many adjectives. I think the outpouring of love from everybody that knew her is a testimony to the life she led. So she was really something. I

just wish I didn't have to say that in past tense. Hannah's sister shared some of her fond memories of Hannah. Whenever she came home from school, she'd always just be so obsessed with me. Can I sleep with you? Can we watch all my Netflix shows? But Hannah's sister also recalled something eerie that happened between them right before her murder. My mom had a dream that Hannah was going to die before graduation. And so the next morning, my mom was like, Hannah, this is really unsettling. This dream is just too weird.

I just really feel like you're going to die before graduation. So my sister was like, okay, I want Gerber Dayzies on my casket. I want this, this, this. It was weird. I don't know, but we had Gerber Dayzies on our casket. She told us what she wanted. And what she said, she really wanted a party. Like she wanted us like rent out a club and have a bottle service and have limos for everyone to get home. Like she wanted this like celebration of life, like party.

We've talked about it before, but it's alarming how psychic mothers can be when it comes to their children. How many times have you heard a story about someone getting in a car accident or being hospitalized and their mom wakes up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night at the exact moment of the trauma? Maternal instincts are something supernatural. Hannah's mother had seen a scary vision of her eldest daughter's death, so when it came time for a funeral, they gave Hannah what she requested because they loved her so much. Her laugh, yeah, Hannah had an infectious smile on the laugh. You couldn't help but laugh along with her. She had these blue eyes that were just crystal clear

Yeah, I I just want to hear a laugh one more time. She was just really friendly really bubbly kind of person and it's You hate a season like that just kind of disappear The Indiana University campus was overshadowed by the news of Hannah's tragic and disgusting murder Thousands of students gathered to celebrate Hannah's life on a rainy April day and then tossed balloons into the sky, sending her off to heaven. But still, there was a gloom that hung over IU like a cloud. People were scared. It's IU campus, you know, it's supposed to be kind of some place you call home and then we see something like this happen. It just kind of, you know, it's supposed to be kind of some place you call home and then we see something like this happen

It just kind of it puts you in shock. I mean, obviously that could have been any of us anyone of these students here on campus How could this have happened to Hannah? She had come home. She had been in her bedroom How did Daniel Messle get to her? It all seemed so implausible. Back in Brown County, district attorney Ted Adams had his work cut out for him. Now that Daniel Messle had been arrested. But the media circus surrounding Hannah's case was officially out of control. Well, officially out of control by Brown County standards. Because it happened mid morning, Friday before the news cycle could get a whole of it, it was Monday morning when I drove into work in little Brown County

that there were about five or six news trucks when I pulled into our little parking lot. And they had the, you know, 25 foot antenna sticking up. And I, oh, my goodness, here we go. Welcome to being a prosecutor. Hansmurder had stirred up reminders about an unsolved missing persons case from 2011 that had creepy parallels to Hannah's story. One of the reasons that this case exploded in the media was that in its made national news was the disappearance of Lauren Spear back in 2011. Lauren Spear was an IU student, just like Hannah.

When she disappeared after a celebratory night out drinking from the same bar Hannah had taken the uber from. Lauren was never found and her case remained unsolved. So when this happened to Hannah inevitably comparisons were made between Lawrence Spears disappearance, which is still a mystery, still an ongoing investigation in June of 2011 and what happened to Hannah Wilson in April of 2015. So when I talk about this galvanized a community, even though it wasn't my community, when it galvanized the community,

folks were like, they were, nobody wants to see young women snatched off the street and never seen or heard from again. Daniel Messle was arrested on the same day that Hannah Wilson's body was found. But Daniel didn't have money for a big shot attorney to represent him. So he was appointed a public defender, a criminal defense lawyer named Dory Marion, who ran her own private practice.

Because in the teeny tiny county of Brown, the role of public defender works a little differently than in other states. Here's Dory. Judge Judy Stewart was the judge in Brown County. Now this will tell you how small the county is. There's only one court in that county and one judge, so it's a small county. I had practiced in front of her before as a civil lawyer and a criminal lawyer, and just

shortly before they found Miss Wilson's body, I had written her a letter and written other judges' letters, letting them know that I was available for an open to public defender appointments. Her private practice was slow, so she had offered her services to Judge Stewart's court. After all, she liked practicing law before Judge Stewart, who is really admired. I think it was the day after they found Miss Wilson's body, she called me and asked me if I would accept appointment. She had public defenders in her county that she could have appointed the only murder-qualified

public defender was too busy. And Dory was murder qualified. That sounds like a horrible description, but meaning I have tried enough cases at that time. I was experienced enough to handle a murder case. So Dory packed her things and went down to the county jail to speak with Daniel Messle herself. She knew this was a huge case to take on. In a case like this, when you first get appointed or even if you first get hired on a case like this, not a lot of the evidence is available. Dory knew from the media reports and the affidavit that Hannah had died from blunt force trauma to the skull, dumped in the field,

and that her new client's cell phone had been found at her feet. And that was pretty much all she knew. But I certainly try not to go in to these initial meetings with the idea of, you know, is this guy did it or this guy didn't do it. So we met when you are appointed on a case, when someone doesn't choose you, I don't wanna say you're interviewing for the position,

but you also have to tell them, you know, convince your client that you're capable of the job, that you have enough experience to handle it and then go from there, but he wasn't unpleasant, he wasn't angry, he wasn't, he just was happy honestly to see a lawyer because he financially, you know, could not afford one, so he was just grateful to see a lawyer so that he could talk to somebody about what was going on.

Meanwhile, Ted Adams was working closely with Hannah's family and friends to secure a strong case against Daniel Messel. It turned out that the IU trivia nerd wasn't so innocent. He had a long list of violent charges under his belt. This would be a key focus for the prosecution. He had a couple felony criminal convictions that I latched onto and the one that stands out to me is that he did a tack. I want to say it was his grandmother, his mother, with a four by four block of wood. It was his grandmother. In 1995, Daniel beat the elderly woman to a pulp after an argument. And he was convicted of a class C felony, which was battery-causing serious bodily injury.

So I'll just let that soak in. Now that conviction was older, I wanna say it happened in the 90s, but still, I mean, here's a man that was convicted of beating his grandmother or mother, again, I don't remember as I sit here, but a female family member with a 4x4. Daniel had also served time for forgery in the late 80s, as well as another battery case

in 1989. In prison, he earned his degree and took anger management classes, but that didn't help, because in 2006, he got into another altercation where he almost killed his co-worker. Here's the man he attacked. I was in the hospital and I was really banged up. I had to get stitches. I had some broken ribs. And I believe if it wasn't for the younger kids there that came out, he probably would have

killed me when it stopped. A next girlfriend of Daniel also spoke out, remembering how he treated her during their relationship. For about four years, he was very, very violent. He was an alcoholic. He was just a piece of a lot of very controlling dude. He beat the hell out of me a couple more than once. During one fight, Daniel got so angry he grabbed his ex-girlfriend by the throat.

When she called the police, he was arrested and charged for battery and resisting law enforcement. But he received no prison time for that attack, just one year probation. But more alarming than all these prior bad acts was the assaults that had not been on the books. As Daniels faced swirl through the media, more co-eds from IU came forward with their own horror stories about Daniel. Prior bad acts don't necessarily need to be convictions, but they can be police investigations.

They can be a whole wide range of things, allegations that were never explored or investigated by police. In Daniel Messles case, he had a series of contacts with a group of gals. Gosh, they lived on Grant Street in Bloomington, which was one block over from Dunstreet where Hannah lived. And he terrorized these girls walking home from the bar. Daniel would wait until the bars let out and drive around the neighborhood where all the IU sorority houses were. In his grey, kia's sportage, he'd creep around looking for drunk girls. He would pull up to them and either ask for directions, or just play koi, I'm looking

for something can you get in the car and help me find something out. Or eventually try to get these girls near or around his car. Sometimes Daniel would even take out a digital camera and snap pictures of the girls he was harassing. Even though these girls reported him to the police, he never crossed that line and accosted any of them. You can be a creep in the state of Indiana or even the United States. I always tell folks that we don't criminalize being a creep unless you're stalking somebody. And he hadn't, I would argue, hadn't risen to that level I was tell folks we don't convict people for being a dumbass either

So he he hadn't Gone up to a what I would call a criminal sanction or or his criminality wasn't there enough for police or a prosecutor to act Daniel was never formally charged by the Bloomington Police for his creepy stalking, but Daniel did a lot more than follow drunk girls and take their photographs. His deviants showed up in evil ways. Ted would become aware of this when an IU student saw Daniel's face on TV and called the authorities. And she instantly got a cold chill and said that's the man that did this to me. The woman called Ted and told her story.

She was walking home on Halloween. It was a Halloween party. She had a kind of a short skirt on. It had, you know, like the fishnet stockings and everything, high heels. And she was intoxicated walking home from a party. She was dressed up for Halloween and that, you know, Daniel Messle allegedly had pulled over and asked her for directions and then grabbed her and got her into the car and then grabbed her head and attempted to put her head down near his penis in an act of basically

forced her to give him a blow job. She ended up diving out of the car. The young woman managed to get away from Daniel and run home. You know, she took pictures of her face. she was beat up from being hit in the dash. She took him, I want to say, a day or two later, but because she'd ever called the police, there was no, at least until later, there was just no, nothing for the cops to work with. Listen ladies, always call police. I know it's uncomfortable and might even be traumatic to relive something that's happened

to you if you've been victimized. But men like these need to be stopped and held accountable right away before they take that next step. They need to be on the book so the law can serve its purpose. Though this girl, new her heart that Daniel was the man who had sexually assaulted her, when she had to face some and the judge in a pre-trial hearing about evidence, she froze up. However, when we put CS on the stand outside the presence of the jury, she could not positively identify Daniel Messle so the judge chose not to

let it in. We had a hearing on it. She was very, very nervous and that incident really ruined her college career. She told me I've never really been the same after that and I felt terrible for her. That charge couldn't be used to prove Daniel's MO in court. But the third victim who had reported her rape to police would provide the forensic link between Daniel and Hannah. KV was a law student that was walking home from a bar. I would say 2012. That's where I put kind of his stalking, he's prowling around this area for co-eds walking from the bar. We can date back to at least 2012 with KV. She was alone in toxicated walking home from a bar

and got picked up by a middle-aged man. He ended up attempting to rape her, including I think forced Filetio. She fought, he knocked her out during this incident. The victim fought until Daniel gave up. He took her phone, wallet, and clothes, and sped off in his car, leaving her alone in a dark, rural area. He had driven her too. When she came to, I think that's when he was forcing Filatio, but she fought and got away from him. They were able to get a DNA profile from

I want to say underneath her fingernails because she scratched him. It could have been from something else, but regardless, there was a male DNA profile that was developed from that incident, from that... I would call it a rape. The DNA sample collected from the victim didn't match anyone in the database until Daniel was arrested for Hannah Wilson's murder. And then when we got Daniel Messles DNA profile from, you know, we got a search warrant to take his DNA

and match it to, you know, we got a search warrant to take his DNA and match it to, you know, try to match it to some of the blood spatter that was all over his car and all over his clothes. That DNA profile matched the attacker from KV's rape. With all these sexual assault allegations and charges against Daniel, as well as his prior felony charges for battery, Ted Adams decided to pull out the big guns and file an additional charge of habitual offender against Daniel. And a habitual offender is an enhancement, and we know it is the bitch because it is a hammer, and it is a bitch if you convicted of it, but it adds an additional six to 20 years.

convicted of it, but that it adds an additional six to 20 years. Ted Adams was determined to get this dangerous predator behind bars for good. Hannah's mother had been working closely with Ted and wasn't shocked by Daniel's prior rapes. A person of that age just doesn't wake up and decide to create a crime of that nature. So I did ever feel that Hannah was the first. I never doubted in my mind that there was other victims. The law prevents us from convicting people

for being bad people in the past. What that is is called the forbidden inference. We're not allowed to show a jury that, hey, this guy was an asshole in the past. So clearly he was an asshole. When this happened, you should convict him because of it. That's not allowed in law. There are exceptions to that. And one of the exceptions would be that we demonstrate that he had a, a modus operandi that this is, this is this guy's MO. It. It you call it a signature. This is a signature crime.

But the question lingered. Why had Hannah been spared a sexual assault? It sure didn't match Daniel's M.O. More importantly, how did she get from the bedroom in her house to Daniel's car? Ted has a theory. We know she had made it home. She placed her, I think she had a baseball hat, her purse and her phone on her bed. Now all of her friends testified and she never would be separated from her phone. And one fact that was important was that

her ID was found outside of the bar. I'm going to say I think she went into her home realized that she didn't have her second form of identification which would be her primary form that being her driver's license. I think she maybe she ran outside to see if she left it in the Uber cab that dropped her off, or maybe if she dropped it on the ground, and I think it was around that time that Daniel Messwell was prollying the streets at that time. That's when Ted believes that Daniel scooped Hannah up off the street by either luring her into his car, pretending to be the uber driver, or knocking her out on the spot and driving off with her. I have a picture still that I put in evidence. His key was dusty in the dash and I have a very haunting picture

from the driver's side looking at the passenger side dash and there are two handprints and what kind of a circle in the middle of those handprints that in that in my opinion are indicative of Hannah Wilson being slammed in front of you know knocked out with that dash. Once Hannah was unconscious in his car Daniel sped away and headed out to the rural fields of Brown County. So I think she was knocked out I think she came to when they got to that bridge and I think he was kind of forced to make a split decision. Like I'm going to pull over here in this vacant lot. I think that's when she started to fight. We found about a 100 strands of her hair and two different clumps in the center council, which to me is indicative of her being drug over that center council. There were kind of some drag marks in the dust of his council, and then I think she was drug over the driver's seat, and I think he... I just think he because she was fighting at the time Killed her right there.

Though they never found the murder weapon or knew the exact details of the brutal attack, Ted was sure about one thing. You know, to this day, I've always stated and I fully believe in my heart that Hannah Wilson was a hero that night. I think she fought Daniel Messle in the middle of that pitch black plum creek road night and got that phone to fall out of his IU pole over. And I don't think he had any idea that phone fell out. And had that not happened, you and I would not be sitting here having this conversation, and I think that there would be additional victims. Now it was Ted's job to make sure this habitual offender was locked away forever. But it wouldn't be that easy.

Judge Stewart wasn't going to allow in most of the evidence, Ted, and his team and collected on Daniel's past. Judge Stewart would not let the girls from the Dunstreet House testify because she didn't think she just didn't think to allow that stuff in in front of a jury can be so prejudicial.

And the unreported rape charge would also be left out of the trial. But the evidence for Hannah's murder was strong. Still, Daniel claimed in court he was innocent. Daniel's defense lawyer, Dory Marion, had a big task ahead of her, and she also had a shocking piece of evidence that would create her case for reasonable doubt. The murder of 22-year-old Indiana University Coed, Hannah Wilson, unravelled the predatory secrets of her killer, Daniel Messel. This average Joe trivia fanatic, have been prowling the streets for years, stalking,

abducting, and raping young women. Now he was going to face a judge and jury for the murder of Hannah. Daniel had been appointed a criminal defense lawyer named Dory Marion. Dory was an experienced attorney with her own private practice. But in modest Brown County, defense lawyers often volunteered their services when business was slow. Dory was appointed a serial rapist and campus predator

who was caught with Hannah Wilson's blood all over his car and clothes. You know, the state had overwhelming evidence against Dan. No question. And so I embraced the challenge of learning how to try a case like that in a way that, you know, your client is satisfied in a way that you make it less laughable, right? I mean, his cell phone was there, there's DNA all over the place, and I've got to get up and stand up and defend this guy in a way where the jury's not laughing me out of the courtroom.

The evidence was not on Dory's side, and she was alone wolf in the defense's corner. Where the prosecutor has achieved deputy, they have legal assistance there, and I was just there by myself. I think other public defenders, other lawyers, what it said. I'm throwing in the towel. I've got nothing here. I grasped bond, whatever I could find, in terms of weakness, and I used it. So part of it was Dan was very frustrating, but I also had a separate job outside of,

you know, keeping him happy. I had a separate job to defend the case. So it, I don't disconnect from my clients, but it also sometimes when my clients are frustrated like that, it's because of reasons that have nothing to do with me. Daniel and Dory's relationships started off respectfully, me. Daniel and Dory's relationships started off respectfully, but as the day went on, things changed. You know, as Trial got closer, he began to feel the pressure, and he and I had a very angry exchanges over strategy, over approach. Daniel was very involved in the legal process and wanted to make sure Dory knew what she was doing. He had a lot of knowledge about the law from research and his prior felonies. He was smart enough to understand the decisions that we had to make for his defense.

He also had a temper, which I encountered, unfortunately, on several occasions. He would call and yell at me on the phone. And he had somewhat of a volatile personality. And I don't think that's anything he would deny. But I think part of it was he was so smart and he was very intelligent. And I think the fact that he was in this situation and so connected to Miss Wilson's death that I think

he was frustrated because I think he thought he was smarter than what he was. Despite her client's tantrums, Dory shoved it all aside and focused on her strategy. Quite frankly, I didn't want Dan to get the better of me. He would tell me I'm the worst person on the. I'm a horrible lawyer. And he would call me all hours of the night during trial just to complain about what happened that day. And I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being, you know, beaten down by him. I know what you're thinking. What was Dory's strategy? What was that sneaky little piece of the puzzle she had?

That would help build reasonable doubt. Dan had not given a statement to the authorities, so they could not say with 100% certainty that he was with Hannah the night before her body was found. Daniel never talked to police after he was arrested. He shut up and loyered up as he should. Dory, good work with that. Okay, we got to admit that you guys were together. And then we can try to separate you from the, you know, from the ultimate violent act.

Dory told the jury that yes, Daniel Messle was with Hannah Wilson, but the crime went down a different way, and she had DNA to prove it. Dan was with her that night that she was in his car, and it's likely she was killed near his car, but not by him. Dory argued that there was a third party there and that's who killed Hannah. There was a third party involved. I had the benefit of unknown male DNA present. I believe on Miss Wilson as well as in the car and on some other items, maybe even Dan, that allowed

me to argue for this third person theory. It was a strong defense. The unknown male DNA at the scene put questions into the minds of those in the courtroom. But how would Dan reconcile with the fact that he never called 911? An innocent party would have called for help. In prosecutor Ted Adams' mind, there was only one excuse. You know what? I was driving along late at night in Brown County. I saw a woman being attacked. I pulled up right beside him as she was being attacked and opened my door.

I struggled with the assailant because there was some third party or third party male DNA that didn't match any profiles in any system. So I fought with him and that would explain that. And her blood, while he was, this assailant was beating Anna, got onto my vehicle, got onto my clothes, and I chased him off, and when I checked her, she was dead. And I knew that based on my criminal history, no police officer would ever believe me. But that was a stretch. Ted argued to the jury that Dan disappeared off the map after a Hannah's abduction and then was seen on surveillance camera at 6 a.m. and a McDonald's.

He goes to the bathroom, he's wearing a Cincinnati red shirt, he had taken off his IU pole over that had Hannah's blood on it and he goes into the McDonald's, doesn't order anything goes right to the restroom. I think washes his hands probably uses the restroom and right out the door. He then goes to the gas station, fills up. I have him on surveillance doing that. And that's around 630. And then he at around 10, I have him on surveillance clearing out his bank account. Now his bank account, I think he had $142, but he withdrew it all.

After closing arguments, Ted and Dory waited nervously for the verdict. So when the jury went out, I thought certainly they'd be back very quickly. And but they weren't. He could see the writing on the wall. He was losing control and that's, he didn't like that. He knew the jury probably was gonna end up where they would. So he was sort of like a petulant child. It took the jury five hours to deliberate

and they came back with guilty. It was relief, it was satisfaction. I worked harder on that case than any other case in my career, you know, even up to today. The hard work could pay off. Dan was finally going away. He was sentenced to 60 years on the murder of Hannah Wilson. I also filed that habitual.

So there is a phase two because you don't talk about the habitual case until after you convict on phase one. So phase one was the murder convicted. I always felt bad because the jury probably thought, hey, we're done. No, we started another miniature trial for phase two because I had to prove that he had two prior unrelated felonies on the habitual. Now that only took about an hour and it only took them about 20 minutes to convict him on the habitual. That added an additional six to 20 years.

Daniel Messle would be behind bars for life, but he wasn't just gonna accept it. He was livid. He was calling me a lot over the appeal and he wished I had done certain things. And then he went through his appeal and lost that. And then he pursued post-conviction relief, which is available to anyone who's been convicted. And typically the argument on post-conviction is there's new evidence

you know, exonerating someone or the second argument is my lawyer was so bad that I, you know, that was it. So he did pursue post-conviction relief, and that was denied. I never really feel for defense lawyers, because they're usually getting a pretty fat check and being paid in priceless media exposure. But Dory was a public defender, and she was being treated like she was dumb and careless

by a convicted rapist and murderer. After he was convicted, I had to block him from calling me through the Department of Corrections system because I think, you know, just he had some hindsight and was like, you should have done this and I can't believe you did this. And so I blocked him. So, but I mean, I needed to see it through. I think professionally and personally, and he just needed a good defense, and he needed someone who could put up with his shit. He needed someone that could put up with his shit.

I like how Dorothy lets herself go there a little bit and shows her personality. In any case, Dan was off the streets and couldn't hurt another female ever again. But the town was left wondering, how Dan ended up like this. Dory shed some light for us all. The man that he lived with was actually his stepfather, who was married to his mother. As I understand it, who was married to his mother, is I understand it, his mother was not kind to him. He did not have a relationship with his mother. And his stepfather was very kind and treated Dan like it was his own. Despite having a loving and caring stepfather, the lack of relationship with his biological parents, especially his mother, had affected Dan.

I don't know that there was ever good females or, you know, ever had motherly figures in his life. And he obviously had a problem with women. He's evil incarnate. I mean, he would sit there and just stare you down with cold eyes. It would give you the willies. It easily was the most stressful case I've ever tried in my life. Easily. Even though I felt our case was very strong.

You know, I don't know that I was able to control it all that well because I was physically ill, very frustrated, didn't sleep very well, but I can look back and I'm better for it. I'm a better lawyer for it. You know, I enjoyed it and I hated it at the same time. With Daniel Messel locked away forever, the students of Indiana University felt a slight relief. But nothing could fully remove Hannah's story from their campus. She served as a reminder to other women to not only fight back, but also as a cautionary tale about the reality of random attacks.

They can and do happen to even the smartest, most aware women. Ted Adams has a few pieces of advice. It's such an easy way to deter crime. Lights and dogs, you know, if I've learned two things, and my criminal experience I've been practicing criminal law for probably about 17 years now, lights and dogs help prevent crime. And ladies, carry a weapon when you're on the go. Get yourself a little 22. Get over it.

They're not that scary. Take a class. Carry some mace. Carry anything you feel comfortable as far as a weapon, with you don't be naive that there are not predators out there. Certainly my daughter will be proficient in a firearm I believe in that. At the end of the day, what happened to Hannah was a random attack. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and nothing she could have done would have

prevented Daniel Messle from committing his crimes. Daniel was a serial predator and rapist who had been scurrying the law for decades. He was an angry, violent, isolated, and sexually aggressive beta male. He was a lost little boy, wrestling with the lack of a mother's love. So he funneled all of that into abuse towards the women in his life, even his lawyer Dory. Daniel will pay for his life of crime as he sits in a cell, but Hannah will forever shine like the warrior she was. Hannah Wilson was a hero. She was a hero. Her sacrifice was not unwarranted. There was a closure for her and she did not die in vain.

And I always feel that she'd look down and give a thumbs up. She was a very fun loving young lady. I wish I would have known her. I grew to knew her, you know, in death, and I wish I would have knownner and life. And that's going to do it for another one. Thank you so much for joining us. Keep your eye on your mailbox if you are a plus member because we got a perk coming where you're real soon. Until next time, stay safe. 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc

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1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc I'm like, my name is Emma. I've been a fan for about two years now, and I just absolutely adore your podcast. I think it is so amazing. Besides you being totally not PC, I think that your entire narrative is amazing. Also, the entire thing that you are the first true crime podcast ever. I think it's amazing. I still amaze me like 5,000 times. That's the oldest thing.

I can't think of that. But how long can you find your podcast? But anyway, keeping you, you are awesome. Really awesome. I know you don't let anybody get to you, but keep letting my happen. Keep making that happen. You know, anyway, great. Thank you! you