Fatal stabbing of 30-year-old lawyer David Messerschmitt, who suffered multiple stab wounds in an attack at the Donovan Hotel on Tuesday | Craig Hicks, 46, has been arrested and charged with three counts of murder in the shootings. The FBI has been working with the Chapel Hill Police Department on the investigation
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D.C. police release video of person of interest in Thomas Circle stabbing(1:39)
D.C. police officials have identified a person of interest in the fatal stabbing of 30-year-old lawyer David Messerschmitt, who suffered multiple stab wounds in an attack at the Donovan Hotel on Tuesday. (YouTube/DC Metropolitan Police Department)
D.C. lawyer David Messerschmitt texted his wife at 7:34 p.m. Monday, saying he’d be home in about an hour, according to police documents. That was the last time his family heard from the 30-year-old, who was found fatally stabbed the next morning in a downtown Washington hotel room.
Minutes after that text, an unidentified person being sought for questioning in the death walked into the lobby of the Donovan hotel at Thomas Circle, according to surveillance video released by District police.
Messerschmitt’s wife, Kim Vuong, called police about 1:50 a.m. Tuesday to report him missing, saying he had not returned to their Capitol Hill apartment that night. His body was found later that morning in a fourth-floor room.
In filing the missing person report, Vuong told authorities that it was “not like” her husband to disappear and that “he usually beats her home and would notify her if anything was to change.” She told police that “everything seemed fine today” when they talked by phone. The couple lived in an apartment on East Capitol Street near Stanton Park.
The new details fill in some of the timeline of events leading to the mysterious death of the intellectual property lawyer, who worked at the international law firm DLA Piper. Police say they do not know what Messerschmitt was doing at the hotel or why he was killed. Neither his family nor his co-workers have talked publicly about the victim or the case.
On Wednesday, police released several still photos and a video from hotel surveillance cameras showing a person in a hooded jacket pacing the lobby and at one point pressing an elevator button. The person is also seen climbing a stairwell. The hotel elevators must be activated with a room keycard, making it difficult for visitors to get to guest floors without being escorted.
It is unclear whether the person is male or female; at one point, the person puts a hand over his or her face. Police did not elaborate on why they think the person may be linked to Messerschmitt’s death. Police are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Authorities would not comment further on the investigation.
Messerschmitt grew up in suburban Cincinnati and attended Boston University School of Law and Ohio State University, where he met his wife. They married in July 2012 at the Cincinnati Center for Contemporary Arts. Messerschmitt worked for a law firm in Chicago and two in Washington, starting last year at DLA Piper, one of the country’s largest.
Messerschmitt interned during the summer of 2007 for U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott, who serves in the southern district of Ohio. The judge said she met his parents, Gayle and Marvin Messerschmitt, at a function held by a mutual friend.
“He was an exceptional intern,” Dlott said. “He was particularly bright, one of the best I ever had. He had very good analytical skills and a wonderful demeanor. He was kind and quiet, and had a good sense of humor.”
Dlott said that after Messerschmitt was reported missing, his parents flew to Washington, joining his brother, who lives in New York. “They were beside themselves,” the judge said.
Dlott said that she called DLA Piper and was told that Messerschmitt had been at work Monday and left the office in the 500 block of Eighth Street NW, near Gallery Place, at 5:30 p.m. A D.C. police report says Vuong last saw her husband Sunday, although the precise time was unclear.
The Donovan, on Thomas Circle in the 1100 block of 14th Street NW, is about a mile from the law firm and can be reached on foot or by driving up Massachusetts Avenue.
A report obtained by The Washington Post states that Messerschmitt texted his wife at 7:34 p.m. Monday, saying he expected to be home by 8:30 p.m.
The video that shows the person of interest entering the hotel is time-stamped 7:44 p.m., although a second video showing the person climbing stairs is stamped 7:40 p.m.
Police officials initially said that Messerschmitt had been reported missing by relatives 24 hours before he was found dead, but records indicate that his body was discovered in Room 400 less than 10 hours after the missing person report was filed.
A police inventory of the room’s contents includes a bag, gloves, an umbrella, flip-flops, earmuffs, shorts, a jacket, deodorant, keys, vitamins and shampoo. A police official said that list is not complete.
Dlott said of Messerschmitt’s death: “I’m just devastated by this. I’ve had lots of interns. He was exceptional. . . . He was everything you would want in your child. He was like the perfect kid.”
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The FBI announced Thursday that it would open an inquiry into the shootings of three young Muslims in Chapel Hill, N.C., a move that followed multiple calls this week for authorities to investigate the violence as a hate crime.
On Friday, President Obama issued a statement on “the brutal and outrageous murders,” saying that the FBI would look to see if federal laws were broken during the shooting.
“No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship,” Obama said.
Police are investigating the shootings of three people — newlyweds Deah Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19 — on Tuesday afternoon at a housing complex near the University of North Carolina.
As the shooting has attracted global attention, Obama has been criticized for not speaking out about it sooner.
“If you stay silent when faced with an incident like this, and don’t make a statement, the world will stay silent towards you,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to Mexico on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The Embassy of Jordan in Washington said Friday that Alia Bouran, the country’s ambassador to the United States, went to North Carolina on Friday. Jordan’s foreign ministry issued a statement a day earlier saying that the sisters killed in Chapel Hill also had Jordanian citizenship.
While in North Carolina, Bouran met with the families of the victims and expressed the sympathies of Jordanian King Abdullah II. The embassy said Friday that it was “closely following the ongoing investigation” in North Carolina.
The FBI probe announced on Thursday stops short of being a full investigation, as had been reported in multiple media outlets since the inquiry was announced. Rather, it is a review that could ultimately become an investigation down the line. It was opened by the FBI, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle district of North Carolina.
Craig Hicks, 46, has been arrested and charged with three counts of murder in the shootings. The FBI has been working with the Chapel Hill Police Department on the investigation, helping the department process evidence in the case.
“The FBI has also opened a parallel preliminary inquiry to determine whether or not any federal laws were violated related to the case,” the FBI said in a statement Thursday. This could turn into a full-fledged investigation, depending on what evidence is found, an FBI spokeswoman said Thursday night.
Police have said that their initial investigation suggests that the shooting was motivated by a parking argument, something that has been echoed by Hicks’s wife. But this explanation has seemed unconvincing to people in Chapel Hill and beyond, who point to the religion of the three victims and to Hicks’s repeated social media postings criticizing organized religion.
Hicks called himself an atheist on his Facebook page, and his postings there frequently attacked religious groups and beliefs. Many observers have pointed to these posts and Hicks’s views in asking authorities to explore the possibility that religion played a role in the killings.
“We welcome the FBI’s increased involvement in this tragic case and hope the added resources and expertise the bureau has to offer will help see that justice is served,” Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. “This case is quickly becoming a touchstone for the American Muslim community’s sense of security and inclusion.”
The police in Chapel Hill have said they understand concerns that the shooting might have been “hate-motivated” and have promised to investigate that possibility.
For Muslims in the Chapel Hill region, the shooting has stirred a deep sense of fear and vulnerability. As thousands gathered Thursday to mourn the victims, more and more people there were discussing whether bias played a role in the shootings and the larger issue of anti-Islamic sentiment. At the funeral services, the remembrances of the three lives lost were mixed in with this sentiment and calls for a broader investigation.
“This has hate crime written all over it,” Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of the sisters who were killed, said during the funeral as he asked the FBI to investigate
[This post has been updated. First published: 11:09 a.m.]
David Messerschmitt was found stabbed to death at the Donovan Hotel on Feb. 10. (Photo courtesy of Facebook)
The mystery surrounding the murder of 30-year-old D.C. attorney David Messerschmitt, who was found stabbed to death on Feb. 10 in a downtown hotel room hours after his wife reported him missing, has captured the attention of activists who monitor anti-LGBT violence.
D.C. police have yet to disclose whether they know how Messerschmitt met the person who killed him or the motive of the crime. Last week police said they didn’t know why Messerschmitt, who lived on Capitol Hill with his wife, checked into a room at the upscale Donovan Hotel near Thomas Circle shortly before he was found dead.
A public document in support of a police search warrant for the hotel room filed in D.C. Superior Court shows that the case has some of the similarities of a “pick-up” murder.
Among the items found in the hotel room, according to the search warrant document, were a condom and lubricant, an enema, a wallet with credit cards, a computer and cell phone. The document says Messerschmitt was found lying face down on the floor with stab wounds to his back.
“Apparent blood was observed on the floor throughout the room, the walls of the hotel room, the door of the hotel room, and on the body of the decedent,” a police affidavit in support of the search warrant says. “A wallet was observed lying next to the decedent’s head, with various credit cards strewn about. Additional credit cards and identifying documents were observed throughout the room,” the affidavit says.
“The fact that they left a wallet with credit cards there is a head scratcher,” said D.C. attorney Dale Edwin Sanders, who practices criminal law. “You would think this person would have walked off with them.”
Law enforcement experts have said so-called pickup or hookup murders often involve someone who targets gay men or straight women by befriending them at a bar or other meeting place, including online hookup sites, and persuading the victim to invite them to their home or another place such as a hotel room. The perpetrator then robs, assaults and sometimes kills the unsuspecting victim.
“I would hope that if the police have any evidence that the person David met was through a sex line – gay or straight – the public would be informed quickly so they can be aware of any danger to them,” said gay activist Peter Rosenstein.
Paul Tupper, chair of the D.C. group Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence, said police sometimes alert LGBT community groups about instances of anti-gay violence but police have not contacted GLOV about the case of Messerschmitt’s murder.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to impede their investigation if it means being able to find this killer,” Tupper said. “But if the LGBT community at large is at threat and they’ve got credible suspicion of that I wish they would let us know.”
Rick Rosendall, president of the D.C. Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, said the Messerschmitt case has been the subject of discussion in gay community circles in his neighborhood on the 17th Street, N.W., strip where several gay bars and restaurants are located.
“Of course people should be cautious in any case and of course the police should inform the community about any ongoing risk,” Rosendall said. “What we need is a thorough and prompt police investigation and not sensationalism.”
D.C. police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump noted that police released photos and a video of a person of interest in the case on the day after Messerschmitt’s body was found, saying police are appealing to the public for help in identifying a suspect.
Police are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Messerschmitt’s murder.
But Crump said police could not comment on whether they have determined the case appears to be a gay or straight pickup murder or whether the department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit has been called in to help homicide detectives investigate the case.
“The GLLU is aware of this case,” Crump said. “I cannot comment further as this is an ongoing investigation.”
On the day following the discovery of Messerschmitt’s body in the hotel room police released a video they obtained from the hotel’s security cameras showing what they said was a “person of interest” in the case. The person is shown wearing a hooded jacket while walking back and forth in the hotel lobby and later walking up a flight of stairs.
The Metropolitan Police Department has released video images of a person of interest in the homicide investigation. (Image courtesy D.C. Metropolitan Police Department YouTube channel)
It could not be determined from the video whether the person of interest is a man or a woman, police have said, and they declined to say why they have linked the unidentified person to Messerschmitt’s murder.
The New York-based LGBT Anti-Violence Project has said pick-up murders have evolved from earlier years when gay men invited someone they met at a gay bar or other gay meeting place to their home for sex and were later killed by the person. According to AVP executive director Sharon Stapel, gay male victims of pick-up murders have met their killers in recent years mostly through online hook-up sites and apps.
Stapel told the Blade in an email that AVP is working with online social media sites that cater to a gay male clientele to help them post safety tips and alerts about the potential danger of inviting home someone they meet on such sites.
The popular app Grindr is among those cooperating with AVP, saying it began posting safety-related messages on its site last November.
According to Stapel, many victims of pick-up related violence choose not to report incidents to police because of the stigma associated with meeting people for sexual trysts or because the victim is in the closet and fears being outed if he reports an incident to police.
Messerschmitt, a native of Cincinnati, worked for the prominent law firm DLA Piper, whose D.C. offices are located in Chinatown. He specialized in intellectual property rights law.
A police report says his wife, Kim Vuong, called police about 1:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, to report him missing. The report says she told police “everything seemed fine” when they spoke by phone and that he later texted her about 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, saying he expected to be home about an hour later. Co-workers said he left his office on Feb. 9 about 5:30 p.m.
“While there is the factor for the family if David was bi or gay and they didn’t know and they now have to deal with that, it shouldn’t change what people think about David and the good things he accomplished in his life,” Rosenstein said. “All those things are still the same.”
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