Editor's note: This story has been updated to include information about Wilson's taxi ride home early Friday morning.
A probable cause affidavit was filed with the Brown County Circuit Court on Monday morning. The affidavit revealed that the cellphone of Daniel Messel was located Friday morning near the body of IU student ?Hannah Wilson.
Through an interview with Gerald Messel, Daniel’s stepfather, Indiana State Police were told Daniel left his home at 8 p.m. Thursday to play trivia at Yogi’s Bar and Grill in Bloomington, something Gerald reported Daniel did almost every Thursday. Messel didn’t return home until Friday, when he was later arrested at his home by the Indiana ?State Police.
Upon visual inspection, police reported what appeared to be claw marks on Messel’s forearm. He was carrying a plastic garbage bag that, upon inspection, was filled with clothes.
Through witness reports conducted by ISP, Wilson was at a party at the Hilton Garden Inn when she and her friends decided to walk to Kilroy’s Sports Bar at approximately 1 a.m. When they arrived, her friends decided she was too intoxicated to enter Sports and discussed calling an Uber car.
Before a decision could be made, a white and green taxi pulled up to the curb. Sandra McLary, principal owner of e2Taxi, confirmed the cab was from her company. Wilson got in alone and witnesses report hearing Wilson give her ?address to the driver.
The cab was paid for in full at the curb outside Sports.
This was the last time she was seen alive by these witnesses. The identity of the driver of the white and green taxi is known by ISP, but it hasn't released the name. The driver of the cab wasn't Messel, Sgt. Curt Durnil confirmed in an email.
The taxi Wilson rode in did have a surveillance camera, McLary said, and the footage was handed over to ISP. The footage is still being reviewed, Durnil said in an email. With the driver's statement and other evidence, investigators believe Hannah made it home after the taxi cab ride, Durnil confirmed in an email.
Friday, after police found the cellphone and talked to Daniel’s stepfather, they obtained a warrant for Daniel’s vehicle, a 2012 silver Kia Sportage.
There was blood splatter in plain view on the driver’s side of Messel’s Kia Sportage, according to the affidavit. The interior also displayed what appeared to be blood on ?the console.
More DNA evidence was found inside. Messel’s vehicle has not yet been processed, therefore it is not yet known who the DNA evidence ?belonged to.
