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

[Miss Muffet]

I know there's "a little thing called cash" - do you think he went to this hotel and paid $300 for a room for 3 hours with cash - what, no paperwork? And usually you don't pay until you check out, in case you use the mini bar, movies...

If he wants to hide an affair or an affiliation for prostitutes, I definitely think he paid $300 cash for the room. When you pay cash, you pay when you check in. I know this because I pay cash for hotel rooms as often as possible.

My words were "he had to leave an electronic trail" and I meant that; he called his wife, he had to set the date up somehow, even if it was a girlfriend/boyfriend. Or I could get smart like you and say maybe he used a pigeon or something.

You also went to into great detail about looking up your husband's bank and credit card statements. Oh, wait. Were you implying you think the wife knew where he was because she was looking at his bank statements and saw he was at the hotel. That theory wouldn't work because the hotel would not have told her what room he was in.

I worry about getting in trouble on here because so many times I think family is involved and I don't want to break the rules.

It's a statistical possibility. Check out the statistics on this FBI page.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/uc...o-law-enforcement/expanded/expandhomicidemain

It says 53% are caused by someone the victim knows. Of that 53%, 24.8% were killed by family members.

◾In 2010, in incidents of murder for which the relationships of murder victims and offenders were known, 53.0 percent were killed by someone they knew (acquaintance, neighbor, friend, boyfriend, etc.); 24.8 percent of victims were slain by family members. The relationship of murder victims and offenders was unknown in 44.0 percent of murder and non-negligent manslaughter incidents in 2010.

I can't understand why you're so resistant to the idea he had a mistress or saw prostitutes. It doesn't necessarily exclude the possibility of family. It actually can provide motive, IMO.

 

[Miss Muffet]

Or someone had access to his finances online. IMO

How would a killer learning his whereabouts via his finances know his room number? Say someone looked up his finances online and found out he was at the hotel. The hotel would not have provided his room number without calling up to his room and asking his permission to do so. And we can see from the video, the suspect didn't even go to the front desk. The suspect went directly up the stairwell to the room.

 

[Miss Muffet]

Credit cards are run when you check in. How would the hotel know if your card had the funds available if it was not run on the spot? For a multilple nights stay, you are charged nightly. Either the front desk will do this or the night auditor. Resorts have varying rules.

When using credit cards, they don't run them at check-in. They might do a hold, but they are charged at checkout---or overnight by the night auditor. When paying cash, you pay when you check in and then go to the front desk each morning to pay for the next evening if it's multiple nights. If there's a concern about losing the room due to demand, you pay for all of the nights up front when checking into the hotel.

 

[Miss Muffet]

I agree with this - it is key. Who would know he was there so soon? Maybe his wife said he would go there for drinks after work sometimes? Or a co-worker?

Or maybe they looked at surveillance cameras. They could have called his office and found out from security when he left the building, and then followed him via the security cameras that are on the streets right to the hotel.

 

[TTF14]

Or maybe they looked at surveillance cameras. They could have called his office and found out from security when he left the building, and then followed him via the security cameras that are on the streets right to the hotel.

They could have, but I don't think they'd have found him that soon. That stuff takes a lot of time.

 

[Miss Muffet]

They could have, but I don't think they'd have found him that soon. That stuff takes a lot of time.

It only takes time if they don't have a time and place to start. With having a place and time, it takes mere minutes to track someone through the streets. I've been with police as they looked on the street cameras to follow someone through town. It's very fast. Since his wife thought he was leaving work, police would have first called his work to find out the last time he was seen, when he left. As soon as they have a time for when he left, it's just a matter of tracking from his office building. It really does just take minutes. I've seen it in action. This is the most logical explanation because they would have started their investigation with his office.

 

[Wyle_E_Coyote]

It could have been a tip. If he used that hotel before, someone may have called LE and suggested it. Since there were people on SM claiming to have hooked up with him, I think this is a possibility. Moo.

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[Momoffourboys]

How would a killer learning his whereabouts via his finances know his room number? Say someone looked up his finances online and found out he was at the hotel. The hotel would not have provided his room number without calling up to his room and asking his permission to do so. And we can see from the video, the suspect didn't even go to the front desk. The suspect went directly up the stairwell to the room.

You misunderstood. I was continuing the conversation about how LE knew to look for him at the Donovan. If someone had access to his finances, and specifically to his credit card activity, they woould know he used it at the Donovan and would point LE in that direction. (If he used his credit card)IMO

 

[SurfieTX]

It might have been something as simple as him mentioning to his secretary or colleague that he would be there that evening if "so and so" needed him/called. Or that a colleague knew that he would go there periodically throughout the month - much like a colleague would know his favorite sandwich shop or coffee shop that he frequented? As it was pointed out above, there's lots of indiscretion that goes on in Washington (well, anywhere, really) with lawyers, politicians, executives. I'm sure there is a "code of silence" when it comes to wives and families/friends, but not LE in a serious, possibly sketchy situation.

ETA: And the converse could be true..asking his colleagues/secretary to "cover" for him just in case the wife pops by with food or wanting to go out to eat, which kind of explains the text - i.e., he would normally be home at 5ish, but texting to say he would be home at 7 instead while he was with a "client having dinner."

 

[Elley Mae]

I do wonder now, if I happened to not come home and my hubby calls the police would they not say that I would have to be missing for so long before they would file a missing persons report? and then if LE called around area hotels/motels would they not need a judges permission/warrant for them to release if someone is staying there or not. IDK jmo

 

[panthera]

Someone wanted him publicly humiliated and dead. IMO

Exactly my thoughts also....and that leads in one direction.

MOO

 

[Miss Muffet]

I do wonder now, if I happened to not come home and my hubby calls the police would they not say that I would have to be missing for so long before they would file a missing persons report?

LE will look for someone sooner than 24 hours if there is evidence something might have happened. In this case, her receiving a text saying he'd be home in an hour would cause them to look sooner.

and then if LE called around area hotels/motels would they not need a judges permission/warrant for them to release if someone is staying there or not. IDK jmo

Only if a hotel/motel refused to tell them, and LE was highly motivated to know the answer. Hotels often do give police information without warrants. Think of how many cases require police asking hotels/motels and all sorts of businesses if they saw someone, not just missing persons but suspects in all sorts of crimes too.

Since there's no privacy law pertaining to hotels, I think it would be very rare for a hotel to require a warrant before giving out that information to police. They wont' give the info to the average Jane or Joe asking because too many customers are up to no good cheating, and they don't want a fight breaking out at their hotel. The policies exist to protect the guests, but they wouldn't protect the guests from police.

 

[panthera]

Was it common for him to get a room at this hotel?
If he was set up, how would he be talked into renting a room?
Was he in the habit of meeting some one there?

Those have been my questions since the beginning. I am not so much of the opinion that he was "set up", but rather that someone knew he was in that room and sent the killer there.

MOO

 

[cluciano63]

The 24-hour rule for reporting people missing, and LE adding them to data bases, etc. is basically as thing of the past, though a lot of people don't know it.

But I doubt LE calls hotels as a rule. They might, if a family member suggested it and said they could not get any info out of hotels themselves, Imo. Also, in these days of cell phones, I doubt the victim would tell his assistant or anyone else where he would be...no need. Jmo

 

[panthera]

The 24-hour rule for reporting people missing, and LE adding them to data bases, etc. is basically as thing of the past, though a lot of people don't know it.

But I doubt LE calls hotels as a rule. They might, if a family member suggested it and said they could not get any info out of hotels themselves, Imo. Also, in these days of cell phones, I doubt the victim would tell his assistant or anyone else where he would be...no need. Jmo

I also seriously doubt he informed his employer or co-workers where he was as it could reveal more about his personal life than he would want them to know. Wherever the tip LE may have received where he was came from, I doubt it was from work.

MOO

 

[Happyshoes]

Those have been my questions since the beginning. I am not so much of the opinion that he was "set up", but rather that someone knew he was in that room and sent the killer there.

MOO

Thank you for this.

 

[Happyshoes]

I also seriously doubt he informed his employer or co-workers where he was as it could reveal more about his personal life than he would want them to know. Wherever the tip LE may have received where he was came from, I doubt it was from work.

MOO

Agree - I don't think they followed him from work via security cameras along the way, not that soon. He was easy to find.

 

[Black Widow]

I also seriously doubt he informed his employer or co-workers where he was as it could reveal more about his personal life than he would want them to know. Wherever the tip LE may have received where he was came from, I doubt it was from work.

MOO

A couple of thoughts:

If David logged onto his computer or Ipad, or some electronic devise he would likely have had to log into the hotel WIFI to do so. Is it possible that police were about to ascertain his location by his last WIFI log on?

Where I live,, (not the USA) hotel check out time is normally 11 am or earlier. Hotel staff may have been more cooperative with police when David had not presented himself to the front desk to either check out or rebook by that time.

 

[Happyshoes]

I'm sure it is common to call hotels. Many missing people aren't missing to themselves. They're only missing to their loved ones. Police know this. They'll call hotels to rule out someone perfectly fine who is just trying to get away from it all.

How do you know it's common to call hotels? This was an adult who was late getting home?? I hope we're all that protected but I don't think so.

 

[Happyshoes]

If he wants to hide an affair or an affiliation for prostitutes, I definitely think he paid $300 cash for the room. When you pay cash, you pay when you check in. I know this because I pay cash for hotel rooms as often as possible.


You also went to into great detail about looking up your husband's bank and credit card statements. Oh, wait. Were you implying you think the wife knew where he was because she was looking at his bank statements and saw he was at the hotel. That theory wouldn't work because the hotel would not have told her what room he was in.


It's a statistical possibility. Check out the statistics on this FBI page.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/uc...o-law-enforcement/expanded/expandhomicidemain

It says 53% are caused by someone the victim knows. Of that 53%, 24.8% were killed by family members.



I can't understand why you're so resistant to the idea he had a mistress or saw prostitutes. It doesn't necessarily exclude the possibility of family. It actually can provide motive, IMO.

I did not go into GREAT DETAIL, maybe since you pay cash, you don't know about AEX. Or maybe he had one no one knew about but him. I am not SO RESISTANT to him seeing a "date" - I just have a hard time with this date (mistress or prostitute, whatever) stabbing him to death for whatever cash he had on him. I think it's more personal than that, if it's ok with you. If not, we'll just let you solve it.