IU student’s convicted killer pleads guilty in 2012 attack

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A man serving an 80-year sentence in the killing of an Indiana University student has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another IU student.

Fifty-two-year-old Daniel Messel pleaded guilty Tuesday to battery resulting in serious injury in the September 2012 attack on the then-22-year-old woman at Bloomington’s Lake Griffy.

A Monroe County judge sentenced Messel to eight years on the battery charge and seven years for being a habitual offender.

Messel will serve those 15 years concurrently with the 80-year sentence for his conviction in the April 2015 slaying of 22-year-old Hannah Wilson of Fishers, Indiana.

Evidence collected in Wilson’s killing matched DNA from the 2012 assault. That victim testified Tuesday that she’s satisfied with the sentence because Messel will spend the rest of his life in prison.