I N D I A N A D A I LY S T U D E N T | M O N D AY, A P R I L 2 7, 2 0 1 5 | I D S N E W S . C O M
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IKE HAJINAZARIAN | IDS
Hundreds gather outside Indiana Elite Cheer & Tumbling in Noblesville, Ind. on Saturday afternoon to mourn the loss of Hannah Wilson, IU senior found dead Friday morning. Wilson, a Fishers, Ind., native who used to cheer at Indiana Elite, was a psychology major and a sister in the Gamma Phi Beta sorority at IU.
Hannah remembered Family, teammates in Noblesville gather in Hannah’s memory
Hannah’s friends, sorority sisters share memories of her life
By Alden Woods
By Kathrine Schulze
aldwoods@indiana.edu | @ac_woods
schulzek@indiana.edu | @kas_schulze
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he Dr. Seuss skit was always Hannah Wilson’s favorite part of sorority recruitment. Inside the walls of Gamma Phi Beta, colorful and loud characters act out scenes from Dr. Seuss books. Hannah looked on as recruitment chair, directing the skit, said Gamma Phi member and friend Jessie Buck. After one round of girls had come through the house and before another round came to experience the skit for themselves, Hannah would provide her sisters with advice, encouragement and support: this could be fixed, that was done well. She never missed a chance to congratulate a sister on a job well-done. “Those are long days,” Jessie said. “She was always the one picking up the morale for the house. She was so amazing and helpful.” In Gamma Phi, Hannah was the sister to always keep a positive outlook. Before she died earlier this week, Hannah was a senior studying psychology and set to graduate this May. Her hope was to become a sex therapist, Jessie said. Hannah took steps toward her goal, seeking out the advice of graduate student Jasmine Utterback. She was unsure of exactly what she wanted to do in the field of sexual health, and Jasmine shared with her her own story and suggested she help organize the event Cupcakes and Condoms. “She was so happy to be helping out and to be a part of it,” she said. Just last week, Hannah and Jasmine were making plans for sexual health events Hannah could do with her sorority next year. She may have been graduating, but she still wanted to come back to help Gamma Phi, Jasmine said. “There were so many opportunities that were ahead for her,” Jasmine said. “I was looking forward to staying in contact with her after graduation ... To see what she was planning to do next.” Before Hannah went to graduate school and before she became a counselor, she wanted to take a year off and work in her hometown as the junior varsity cheer coach at Fishers High School in Fishers, Ind.
OBLESVILLE, Ind. — Dozens of Hannah Wilson’s friends sit in a circle on the black mats. Some scribble last messages to their friend on red balloons. Some do their best to smile, to laugh through the tears. Some do nothing at all. In the center, a single red balloon floats on a string. Indiana Elite Cheer & Tumbling is where they grew up together. It’s where they watched Hannah turn into a star cheerleader, where they became the type of friends that lasted after college pulled them apart, where “everybody wanted to be Hannah Wilson,” one friend said. So it’s here they gathered, less than 36 hours after her death, to celebrate her life. At 5 p.m., a hangar door opens to the parking lot, and they come pouring out to join the others. All together, 150 people, maybe more, have gathered. They cluster around a black bench. Haley Wilson, Hannah’s younger sister and a future IU student, stands on the bench and stares at her feet. A single tear rolls down her cheek as she collects herself. A woman stands behind her, squeezing her shoulders. Somebody in the crowd yells, “We love you, Haley.” She doesn’t respond. Thirty seconds pass. Now 45. Now a minute, and Haley’s ready. “This is so awesome,” Haley says. “She’s so happy right now. She’s laughing at me right now. She’s like, ‘Idiots.’” Haley talks about Hannah’s positivity and her own plans to study psychology at IU next year, just like her sister. “That’s all I can say,” she says. “I just love her.” She hops off the bench and walks over to her friends, who wrap her up in a group hug. Now she lets tears flow. One of Hannah’s friends — also named Hannah — steps up. She and Wilson had been friends for 12 years, she says. In that time, she’d seen her friend become “the light of everyone’s eyes.” She thanks the crowd for the support in Noblesville, but she knows it’s only a portion of those celebrating her SEE NOBLESVILLE, PAGE 6
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PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT MOLEWYK
“She had the biggest heart and love for all people. She was completely inclusive of all people.” Robin Wilson, mother
“I think the biggest thing to say about Hannah’s personality is that she was always just so happy, always had a smile on her face. Just one of those people that if you had a bad day, if you saw Hannah you were going to be alright.” Jasmine Utterback, graduate student, friend
“That’s all I can say. I just love her. Everybody loves her.”
SEE MEMORIAL, PAGE 6
Haley Wilson, sister
Messel’s stepfather recounts day of arrest By Suzanne Grossman and Michael Majchrowicz campus@idsnews.com
Daniel Messel would go to work, come home and spend time with his nephew before heading out to trivia on Thursday nights. He didn’t come home after leaving for a night out last Thursday, and his stepfather, Gerald Messel, didn’t know why. He also didn’t know IU student Hannah Wilson was missing and that “Danny,” as he calls him, would be arrested in the front
yard Friday in connection with her death. When Daniel finally arrived home sometime Friday afternoon, Gerald said, the police were already there waiting. Daniel walked into the house, collected some clothes and said nothing. “He wouldn’t tell me anything,” Gerald said. Police had already obtained a warrant and seized Daniel’s computer, car and cell phone. He was arrested on a preliminary murder charge and is currently being held in Brown County Jail.
Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, a woman who was driving discovered the body behind an abandoned lot near the Needmore area of Brown County, according to police. Typically, when investigators arrive, they process the scene and collect evidence. Though he couldn’t specify, Brown County Coroner Earl Piper said evidence was found at the scene that links Daniel to Hannah’s body. Hours after police finished their work at the crime scene, they arrested Daniel.
Wilson, 22, was a senior studying psychology who was set to graduate in two weeks. On Saturday, Piper ruled Wilson’s death a homicide. She had been hit on the head with an unknown blunt object three or four times. Protective wounds were present, Piper said. Piper also indicated no signs of sexual assault were found during the autopsy. The toxicology report administered will take about 10 more days to process. Prior to Daniel’s arrest Friday, his criminal history involved
charges for drunk driving and felony assault, according to court documents. In 1996, he was sentenced to eight years in prison after he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. Seven years earlier, according to the HeraldTimes archives, Messel was arrested and jailed for confinement after his then-girlfriend told police he wouldn’t let her leave her own apartment. So on Sunday, while his stepson waited in a jail cell 30 minutes away, SEE MESSEL, PAGE 6