GUILTY DC - David Messerschmitt, 30, murdered in Washington hotel room, 9 Feb 2015 #1

[djrawl]

Too many things not adding up, can't believe that no one has id suspect, unless suspect is not from the area and brought there to do a job. The suspect appears to have intent, but what is motive? Can't be an encounter gone bad because the suspect is already covering their face prior to entering the room. They knew they were going to harm him. Not a random robbery unless items are missing that are not yet released. This is a hit job, my gut says.

 

[bflocket]

It would make sense if someone who knew him used this way/ruse to get to him...

If they knew him well enough to be able pull whatever the trick, "hook-up" or what-have-you off... They'd probably also know that he'd cover his tracks or prevent tracks in the first place.

 

[charminglane]

^^^Makes complete sense to me.

 

[time]

I wonder why the perp didn't take DM's cell phone, laptop and credit cards? If this was a set-up (the perp simply intended to rob the victim) why not take anything/everything of value?

Maybe they didn't want to get caught with them. Doesn't look like a robbery gone bad to me.

 

[radiator]

It seems somebody had some ill intention toward David. It just doesn't seem like a hook up gone awry, to me, or a simple hookup robbery. The proximity of the text home, it's content something like 'home in an hour, compared to the timing of the POI video all seem to point to something more. Why would a perp text that David would be home in an hour if that would raise alarms sooner, if David didn't text it? If David did send the text, why does it roughly coincide with about the time the POI came up the stairs? That may mean that when David sent the text, he'd already been there since 5:30 pm, when he was reported in MSM to have checked in, then POI may have been an accomplice to whomever had been there with David. They may have texted their accomplice, the POI, while David texted home or after leaving David's hotel room. If that's true, it may mean the POI was hovering not too far away prior to entering the hotel, alerted by a text or a call or something.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, f&e

Here's a new thought. Assuming DM was the one who sent the text perhaps he was just finishing up whatever he'd been doing in the room and expected to be home in about a hour but the person coming up the stairs was a friend of the person DM had been with and didn't like the fact that DM and his/her friend had been doing whatever.

I don't think this murder had anything to do with his job or his family or his friends.

 

[bflocket]

Here's a new thought. Assuming DM was the one who sent the text perhaps he was just finishing up whatever he'd been doing in the room and expected to be home in about a hour but the person coming up the stairs was a friend of the person DM had been with and didn't like the fact that DM and his/her friend had been doing whatever.

I don't think this murder had anything to do with his job or his family or his friends.

I don't know what to say about work/family/friends. I don't see this is as a "I don't wanna do what I was paid/summoned to do so I'll just kill him" situation, though.

If this was indeed a set-up, it would've had to be somebody who would have known him intimately enough to have been able to set the encounter up.

That could very well have been a coworker, family member or friend. Maybe not somebody "intimately" intimately involved with him (such as his wife), but someone who would've known him well enough to have been able to come up with a ruse like a "casual encounter" at a local hotel.

 

[fred&edna]

I don't know what to say about work/family/friends. I don't see this is as a "I don't wanna do what I was paid/summoned to do so I'll just kill him" situation, though.

If this was indeed a set-up, it would've had to be somebody who would have known him intimately enough to have been able to set the encounter up.

That could very well have been a coworker, family member or friend. Maybe not somebody "intimately" intimately involved with him (such as his wife), but someone who would've known him well enough to have been able to come up with a ruse like a "casual encounter" at a local hotel.

BBM... I agree. This seems the most likely scenario.

 

[Concerned Mama]

Although the killer didn't take the computer, watch, phone, or any credit cards, I'm guessing that no cash was found. I am completely ignorant of how much money would change hands for a sexual encounter, but at a $300 per night hotel, it was probably not a small sum. But still, not likely large enough for somebody's life, you'd hope. What else could Messerschmitt have had in his wallet or on his person that might have been of value to the killer?

The POI in the camera footage looks nervous (pacing), but not enough to abandon the plan when he/she registers the cameras in the stairwell. Also, if any of the fingerprints LE took are from the killer, that's another brazenly confident move, as if there's no fear of any matches turning up.

Either the killer is confident he/she won't be identified locally, or he/she could have been on some serious drugs or perhaps even carrying out some personal mission that is a result of some mental illness or trauma, and DM had some incredibly bad luck in choosing the ad or number that evening.

If only we knew what the killer did take, if anything. A large sum of cash? Killer's contact information in DM's wallet? A second phone used for arranging encounters? It appears the killer was smart enough not to take anything that could show up later, like credit cards and computer, so that makes the theory of drugs or mental illness/trauma not likely, then.

The robbery theory just doesn't add up for me, unless somehow the killer knew DM would have a very large sum of cash on him. No, as I've just rambled through writing this, I've nearly convinced myself that this murder had to be personal -- either for the killer, or somebody who hired the killer.

 

[bflocket]

And the phone app's really are pretty much anonymous (the ones I've been on). You can block people and be blocked from seeing someone/yourself on the "nearby" profiles. And I think if you've been contacting someone and they block you (or vice/versa) or delete their profile, then your previous conversation just goes away for good.

Good or bad, that's what we want from an app like that. I would for something like that... Wouldn't any of y'all?

But it's also likely how someone may have arranged DM's death.

 

[FindHG]

Although the killer didn't take the computer, watch, phone, or any credit cards, I'm guessing that no cash was found. I am completely ignorant of how much money would change hands for a sexual encounter, but at a $300 per night hotel, it was probably not a small sum. But still, not likely large enough for somebody's life, you'd hope. What else could Messerschmitt have had in his wallet or on his person that might have been of value to the killer?

The POI in the camera footage looks nervous (pacing), but not enough to abandon the plan when he/she registers the cameras in the stairwell. Also, if any of the fingerprints LE took are from the killer, that's another brazenly confident move, as if there's no fear of any matches turning up.

Either the killer is confident he/she won't be identified locally, or he/she could have been on some serious drugs or perhaps even carrying out some personal mission that is a result of some mental illness or trauma, and DM had some incredibly bad luck in choosing the ad or number that evening.

If only we knew what the killer did take, if anything. A large sum of cash? Killer's contact information in DM's wallet? A second phone used for arranging encounters? It appears the killer was smart enough not to take anything that could show up later, like credit cards and computer, so that makes the theory of drugs or mental illness/trauma not likely, then.

The robbery theory just doesn't add up for me, unless somehow the killer knew DM would have a very large sum of cash on him. No, as I've just rambled through writing this, I've nearly convinced myself that this murder had to be personal -- either for the killer, or somebody who hired the killer.

Not to get into why, but how would anyone get to stab a healthy man in the back five times with the man being stabbed not turning around to defend himself and being stabbed in the front? I don't see David running away with his back toward the killer for five stabs then falling by the bed. Wouldn't it have been more likely he'd fall near the door trying to get away? This seems cold, calculated, cruel and oddly set. Has it ever been reported where he may have been Sunday night? That may have played a role in what happened to him Monday night.

 

[bflocket]

If only we knew what the killer did take, if anything. A large sum of cash? Killer's contact information in DM's wallet? A second phone used for arranging encounters? It appears the killer was smart enough not to take anything that could show up later, like credit cards and computer, so that makes the theory of drugs or mental illness/trauma not likely, then.

The robbery theory just doesn't add up for me, unless somehow the killer knew DM would have a very large sum of cash on him. No, as I've just rambled through writing this, I've nearly convinced myself that this murder had to be personal -- either for the killer, or somebody who hired the killer.

Robbery doesn't make sense, even if it were the most dying-for-another-dose-of-anything type person. If there is a motive to this crime (some things happen for no reason or rhyme, just circumstance) then I'm sure it's personal (or business) in nature. That he was targeted by someone for some reason. Not wiped out by a fluke desperate-for-bread "bad hook-up."

But who is the "bad hook-up?" We just saw him/her in that pic from the stairwell. Actually, are we certain that the pic is of the "bad hookup" or just somebody shady on the stairs around that time?

 

[Concerned Mama]

But who is the "bad hook-up?" We just saw him/her in that pic from the stairwell. Actually, are we certain that the pic is of the "bad hookup" or just somebody shady on the stairs around that time?

That's what we'd all love to know. If LE released the video of this POI in an appeal to the public for help in identification, you'd certainly think the POI wouldn't end up being somebody who just happened to be in the building that night but had nothing to do with DM. I would guess there is more hotel footage than has been released to the public -- footage that likely shows this person in the hallway outside of DM's room, but not clear enough to be useful for identification help from the public.

Just my opinion.

 

[Concerned Mama]

Not to get into why, but how would anyone get to stab a healthy man in the back five times with the man being stabbed not turning around to defend himself and being stabbed in the front? I don't see David running away with his back toward the killer for five stabs then falling by the bed. Wouldn't it have been more likely he'd fall near the door trying to get away? This seems cold, calculated, cruel and oddly set. Has it ever been reported where he may have been Sunday night? That may have played a role in what happened to him Monday night.

An excellent question, and one for which I don't know the answer. Time for me to go back and re-read some articles.

As for the stabbing in the back and not fighting back, I have read that a deep stab to a kidney is immediately incapacitating to a person. I'm relieved to say I have no personal knowledge if that is true, although an itty bitty kidney stone dropped me to the floor about 10 years ago. I don't even want to think about how a blade in the kidney might feel.

 

[rosesfromangels]

The first stab might have taken him out, the rest to make sure. This seems like a pro hit.

 

[FindHG]

The first stab might have taken him out, the rest to make sure. This seems like a pro hit.

So young, so much going for him, to die like that, I don't care what it looks like, it is very sad and leaves one feeling incensed. I deeply admire his family's reserve as they lay their beloved one to rest.

Angenette Levy, Local 12 WKRC-TV Cincinnati, Fri, Feb 20, '15, 5:54 pm est, reports on the case and it was mentioned that:

"His funeral is on Saturday in Mt. Washington."

 

[TTF14]

Maybe mysterious stairwell man/woman is a pimp and went to room 400 to confront DM after his/her "employee" came back after a rendezvous and reported some kind of mis-treatment, non-payment, etc. I'm having trouble making a death by back stabbing fit into that scenario, though, since he would had to open the door to let this person in (unless the "employee" had swiped the key card off a table before exiting the room....) Wonder if the key card was found in the room.

 

[TTF14]

Another thing we don't know is just how they knew so quickly to check this hotel for him. It's not like the maid happened upon him, right? Who knew he was there? Can't imagine that if he was there for what we think he was he'd divulge that info. to his wife. Would he tell a colleague that kind of info.???

 

[FindHG]

Maybe mysterious stairwell man/woman is a pimp and went to room 400 to confront DM after his/her "employee" came back after a rendezvous and reported some kind of mis-treatment, non-payment, etc. I'm having trouble making a death by back stabbing fit into that scenario, though, since he would had to open the door to let this person in (unless the "employee" had swiped the key card off a table before exiting the room....) Wonder if the key card was found in the room.

A pimp may have incentive to rough him up, but to kill him? It would go against a pimps interest to **** where he eats, seems to me, and the victim in this case didn't seem financially challenged. New dress code for a pimp, too. You don't see them dressed like that often, around hotels, tend to try to blend, it seems to me.

 

[FindHG]

Another thing we don't know is just how they knew so quickly to check this hotel for him. It's not like the maid happened upon him, right? Who knew he was there? Can't imagine that if he was there for what we think he was he'd divulge that info. to his wife. Would he tell a colleague that kind of info.???

Maybe he charged it so it was easily traced. Would the wife have been worried about him being late if he hadn't sent the text, I wonder? By that I mean, would she have been expecting him home otherwise, how did his text come to be? Did she text him and he answered or was it a routine unsolicited evening check in? Unsolicited, not routine, would still leave it possible as a text sent by a perp who may have thought his wife would be expecting him.

 

[TNVOL@heart]

IMO, it is clear that the POI is female but is trying to appear male to throw people off. The stabbing in the back does, I think, make it very personal, perhaps someone hurt by DM's possible secret life. Or, the items could've been planted to humiliate him. Either way, the perp seems to me to be Asian. Someone very very close to him is Asian. Also, if you visit DM's FB page, the person who left the first comment under the pic is Asian. I can't figure out why this person is taking so long to identify, unless they are waiting until after the funeral this weekend.