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

[Happyshoes]

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.

Good post - I never said I looked at bank statements, just online like everything else (or for most of us, anyway).

 

[1&2&3]

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.

We apparently have totally different experiences or knowledge of hotels. Having been in management in four top brands, my original explanation of when hotels run charge cards still stands. The night auditor runs multiple night stays but does not have time to run an entire hotel's guest list. Guests bills are put under their doors during the night they are checking out. Very few people check out personally at the front desk.

 

[radiator]

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.

Much as I love my hometown I think it is highly unlikely that DC police were pulling and reviewing security video from the streets around his office that quickly--it hadn't even been 12 hours since he was reported missing. I actually don't think they had even gotten so far as tracing any electronic trail he might have left--as far as I know there was no reason for them to think he was in danger. His wife may have checked on credit card records and/or internet history and let them know what she had found. I do wish we knew who directed them towards the Donovan.

 

[1&2&3]

IMO the missing piece of this puzzle is how DM was tracked to The Donovan so quickly.

*Why would he use a CC that his wife's name was on and she could see the charge?

 

[Miss Muffet]

I did not go into GREAT DETAIL, maybe since you pay cash, you don't know about AEX.

I know all about online bank statements and AEX. I don't like using credit cards at hotels. It's one of my quirks. I hate wasting my time correcting billing errors and hotels seem to be notorious in that regard.

Or maybe he had one no one knew about but him.

I did suggest that possibility.

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.

I doubt many think the date/mistress/prostitute stabbed him to death. His extracurricular activities are a great motive for someone to kill him. What's more personal than a husband cheating on his wife?

 

[chinacat67]

I know all about online bank statements and AEX. I don't like using credit cards at hotels. It's one of my quirks. I hate wasting my time correcting billing errors and hotels seem to be notorious in that regard.


I did suggest that possibility.


I doubt many think the date/mistress/prostitute stabbed him to death. His extracurricular activities are a great motive for someone to kill him. What's more personal than a husband cheating on his wife?

I think you doubt wrong....isn't a scorned mistress, whose lover won't leave his wife, just as likely as a scorned wife? Having followed this since the beginning, I get the sense many WS'ers following think the trick/mistress/whomever she/he was, could very well have been the killer. I find it just as likely a scenario as "the wife did it".

 

[Miss Muffet]

We apparently have totally different experiences or knowledge of hotels. Having been in management in four top brands, my original explanation of when hotels run charge cards still stands. The night auditor runs multiple night stays but does not have time to run an entire hotel's guest list. Guests bills are put under their doors during the night they are checking out. Very few people check out personally at the front desk.

Re-read my post you quoted. I wasn't disagreeing with you. I was mostly talking about cash. What little I wrote about credit cards was they're not run at check in. Instead they are run when people checkout OR the night auditor runs them. We're not disagreeing about how credit cards are handled. In my previous life, I worked at Hershey.

 

[Miss Muffet]

IMO the missing piece of this puzzle is how DM was tracked to The Donovan so quickly.

*Why would he use a CC that his wife's name was on and she could see the charge?

Exactly. The very fact she didn't know he was there indicates he was hiding what he was doing from her. As a result, it's very unlikely he paid with a credit card.

 

[escabeche]

We apparently have totally different experiences or knowledge of hotels. Having been in management in four top brands, my original explanation of when hotels run charge cards still stands. The night auditor runs multiple night stays but does not have time to run an entire hotel's guest list. Guests bills are put under their doors during the night they are checking out. Very few people check out personally at the front desk.

I have previously worked in hotel management, and these days travel a lot. For the past 7 years I have spent 10-15 nights in hotels per month. These hotels have been both domestic and international, corporate and boutique, for both business and pleasure.
Room deposits are always run at the beginning of the stay (no point in taking a deposit otherwise!). If I haven't pre-paid, actual room charge and incidentals are run together, upon check out. Deposit is then returned within 5 working days. This seems to be the case for 99% of hotels.
I've never had or heard of guest bills being put under the door? This seems very old fashioned. Closest I've come would be receiving a copy via email, and these statements are generally sent after check out (perhaps twice in this entire time have I received the statement before). I also always check out at the front desk so I can obtain a physical copy of the receipt. I can't say I know anyone who doesn't present at front desk upon check out regardless of whether they want the receipt or not.
May I ask what kind of hotel you work at and in which country? I'm very interested as I find your comments to be the complete opposite to my experiences.

 

[chinacat67]

Perhaps you get that sense becuase WS'ers are not allowed to say "the wife did it.

I think a wife scorned is more likely to kill than a mistress scorned. Mistresses start the relationship knowing their lover is married. There's no surprise there. But wives of husband's who cheat are taken by surprise when they find out. I'm not saying mistresses don't kill, but I think they are less likely than wives due to the fact they enter the relationship with their eyes wide open and wives are often in the dark.

Not that I've been there, but it seems to me every other tawdry ID show or 20/20 episode is about the mistress who gives the ultimatum or gets unhappy with the situation and wants more yada yada yada, leading usually to a chain of disasterous events involving husband, wife and mistress. Mistresses may start in one place mentally and emotionally, but they sure don't seem to stay in that place very long. JMO.

As an almost aside, I don't actually think there was a "mistress" and I personally think the encounter, probably male, had already occurred, that he texted his wife AFTERWARDS (he checked in at 5:30 and texted her at 7:30--is that right?)-- that he'd be home in an hour.....the deeds had already been done and he was going to shower etc (see the list of items laid out on sink in search warrant) before going home. So whoever did it was not the person he was there to meet with originally....so we probably actually agree on who may have done it.....I just think in general a mistress is as likely as a wife---both may think she understands a situation until she doesn't....and in either case, she ultimately realizes she's not the one in control and probably never was. Again, JMO.

 

[Dockins]

I called the Donovan, and asked if I needed a credit card or could just pay cash. She said I could pay for everything with cash at checkout, but I would absolutely need a credit card at check in. I know some places allow you to leave a cash deposit, but I was told this is not allowed there.

 

[Miss Muffet]

I have previously worked in hotel management, and these days travel a lot. For the past 7 years I have spent 10-15 nights in hotels per month. These hotels have been both domestic and international hotels, corporate and boutique, for both business and pleasure.
I've never had or heard of guest bills being put under the door? This seems very old fashioned. Closest I've come would be receiving a copy via email, and these statements are generally sent after check out (perhaps twice in this entire time have I received the statement before). I also always check out at the front desk so I can obtain a physical copy of the receipt. I can't say I know anyone who doesn't present at front desk upon check out regardless of whether they want the receipt or not.
May I ask what kind of hotel you work at and in which country? I'm very interested as I find your comments to be the complete opposite to my experiences.

When I use a credit card, 50% of the time they slide the receipt under the door in the middle of the night. This has always been at the type of large chain hotels that are along the interstates. My experience in the past few years with this was various states in New England, New York (which I don't consider part of New England) and all of the states on the West Coast. I suspect they do this to reduce long lines at the desk in the morning. I've never experienced a bill under the door at an upscale hotel though.

I also prefer to check out at the front desk. If I use a credit card, I want to see my bill and agree with the charges. I've been screwed way too many times on hotel bills, and it's a hassle to straighten them out after-the-fact. That's why I prefer to pay cash. I always stop at the front desk when leaving regardless of how I pay.

 

[jadejazzkayla]

Exactly. The very fact she didn't know he was there indicates he was hiding what he was doing from her.

sbm...has it been verified as fact that David's wife was unaware of his location until after he was found at the Donovan?

 

[Miss Muffet]

I called the Donovan, and asked if I needed a credit card or could just pay cash. She said I could pay for everything with cash at checkout, but I would absolutely need a credit card at check in. I know some places allow you to leave a cash deposit, but I was told this is not allowed there.

Thanks for checking. That means the credit card would not have been run until he checked out, and wouldn't have been run at all if he paid cash when he checked out. As a result, nobody could have found him via his credit card transactions that morning--as far as the hotel room expenses showing up on it for that stay.

 

[Miss Muffet]

sbm...has it been verified as fact that David's wife was unaware of his location until after he was found at the Donovan?

Let me rephrase: His wife presented herself to police as not knowing where he was indicates he was hiding what he was doing from her, IMO.

 

[Miss Muffet]

As an almost aside, I don't actually think there was a "mistress" and I personally think the encounter, probably male, had already occurred, that he texted his wife AFTERWARDS (he checked in at 5:30 and texted her at 7:30--is that right?)-- that he'd be home in an hour.....the deeds had already been done and he was going to shower etc (see the list of items laid out on sink in search warrant) before going home. So whoever did it was not the person he was there to meet with originally....so we probably actually agree on who may have done it.....I just think in general a mistress is as likely as a wife---both may think she understands a situation until she doesn't....and in either case, she ultimately realizes she's not the one in control and probably never was. Again, JMO.

I agree whoever did it wasn't the person he met there, who I suspect was a male or female prostitute, not a mistress.

 

[FindHG]

I called the Donovan, and asked if I needed a credit card or could just pay cash. She said I could pay for everything with cash at checkout, but I would absolutely need a credit card at check in. I know some places allow you to leave a cash deposit, but I was told this is not allowed there.

Great of you to do, thank you. Could that be how LE knew to track David there then, not through info gathered from work, his spouse or family, thus LE asked house-keeping to go in prior to check-out time, around 11:15 am... as a card is run before check-in to know it is valid, working at least?

 

[Miss Muffet]

Great of you to do, thank you. Could that be how LE knew to track David there then, not through info gathered from work, his spouse or family, thus LE asked house-keeping to go in prior to check-out time, around 11:15 am... as a credit is run before check-in to know it is valid, working at least?

It could be if he had a reservation requiring a deposit or the hotel puts holds on credit cards, not all hotels do.

 

[chinacat67]

Thanks for checking. That means the credit card would not have been run until he checked out, and wouldn't have been run at all if he paid cash when he checked out. As a result, nobody could have found him via his credit card transactions that morning--as far as the hotel room expenses showing up on it for that stay.

I read that the other way---if a credit card is needed at check-in, it's needed to run for a deposit so there was a credit card run at 5:30 check in. What would be the point of requiring a credit card at check in otherwise?

I guess I don't stay at high-end enough hotels, but I also travel frequently and almost exclusively at Marriotts (rewards loyalty!)....they always put my bill under the door at night, whether I'm at their Renaissance or at their Fairfield Suites. They ask at check in if I want to use the credit card presented for the final charges and I always do, so they slide the bill under the door with a zero balance and if I have an issue I can check out in person and deal with it right there and then; no issue, I don't check out in person. .It's way more streamlined and efficient for me (who puts everything on credit cards for work for the audit trail) especially in the morning when I'm usually running out the door for the airport. I don't find it old-fashioned at all--I find it incredibly convenient.

 

[Miss Muffet]

I read that the other way---if a credit card is needed at check-in, it's needed to run for a deposit so there was a credit card run at 5:30 check in. What would be the point of requiring a credit card at check in otherwise?

They may run a hold, not all hotels do. We need more info. Maybe Dockins can find out.