Daniel Drill-Mellum. (Hennepin County Jail)
UPDATE: Daniel Drill-Mellum was sentenced to 74 months in prison after pleading guilty in August 2016 to two counts third-degree criminal sexual conduct, KMSP-TV reports. He will have to register as a sex offender for life.
Drill-Mellum, a former University of Minnesota student accused of raping two women he met at college parties, apologized during sentencing, saying, “I am sorry, I was selfish. I am ashamed of what I did.”
Both of the women who survived being raped by him testified in court and said they believe there are other women out there who were raped by Drill-Mellum. Abby Honold has said she believes Drill-Mellum is a serial rapist and has connected with other women who say they were raped by him. She has put messages out on social media asking for anyone who believes they were attacked by Drill-Mellum to contact here. You can read more details about that below:
Please retweet: Daniel Drill-Mellum often targeted complete strangers, some of whom didn’t know who assaulted them until they saw his mugshot on the news or saw me speak somewhere. He has at least 17 victims; I know there are more. Any message you send me will be confidential
Honold’s impact statement was published by the local media. You can read an excerpt below and the full statement here:
From my experience with Mr. Drill-Mellum, I have no faith that he will change his behavior. This letter is not for him, his lifetime status as a sex offender is what he gets to walk away with. I have no other words for him. He knows what his actions were, and I have never seen any remorseful or apologetic behavior from him. In fact, during his free time, there were several girls who reported to me that he attempted to get them alone and I have no doubt that he had similar intentions with them. His parents on the other hand, who protected him through his actions financially, and allowed him to walk free for nearly two years after the violent crime that he committed, are who I hope will read this. I’ve never met them, but I’ve heard that they have daughters. I’ve heard that one of them is a medical doctor who gives speeches about empathy. I wonder if they ever realized that by helping their son, they were also helping to exhaust me of everything I had, and to bully and intimidate me. I’m sure that they never meant to hurt me through their protection of their child, and I understand that. But I want them to hear what the result of their negligence and enabling behavior with their son was. Everyone else in this courtroom might not know his history, but I know of many other things their son has done and gotten away with before he got to me. This could have been stopped a long time ago, and I want them to remember it and feel it so that they don’t make the same mistakes again upon his release.
Honold spoke out again during an interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, published October 23, about how she fought to have charges brought against him. You can read that story here.
You can read our original report below.
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A former University of Minnesota student has been accused of raping two women he met at parties near the college’s campus last fall.
Daniel Drill-Mellum, 22, of Waconia, was arrested on Christmas Eve, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.
Police say the women were raped by Drill-Mellum after parties on back-to-back weekends, on October 31, 2014, and November 8, 2014.
According to the Hennepin County Jail, Drill-Mellum was arrested by University of Minnesota Police and is being held on $100,000 bail.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges are all felonies. He appeared in court for the first time on Monday.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. He Was Arrested on an Airplane After Flying to Minnesota for His Sister’s Wedding
(LinkedIn)
Daniel Drill-Mellum was arrested Thursday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after flying in to Minnesota for Christmas and his sister’s wedding, police sources told the Star-Tribune.
According to his sister’s wedding website, he is supposed to be a groomsman in the January 2, 2016, ceremony.
Drill-Mellum had been living in Australia, where he was interning at a hotel and studying at the Queensland University of Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He remained in custody at the Hennepin County Jail following his Monday court appearance, according to court records.
2. He Met the First Victim at a Frat Party & Raped Her in a Laundry Room, Police Say
(Hennepin County Jail)
Police say the first rape occurred at a fraternity party on Halloween in 2014. According to Fox 9, police said in the criminal complaint that the 18-year-old victim met Drill-Mellum at a Sigma Phi Epsilon party.
The victim told police he led her into the laundry room of the frat house and they began to kiss. She told police she tried to stop him while he pushed her against a wall. He then tried to force her to perform oral sex, she told police.
According to the complaint, she turned away and tried to get off her knees, but Drill-Mellum said “I know you want this” and “You’re so turned on right now,” and then raped her.
3. The Second Alleged Rape Occurred at His Apartment After Another Party
(Instagram)
According to the Star-Tribune, police said the second rape occurred a week after the first, on November 8, 2014.
The 19-year-old victim in that case said she met Drill-Mellum at a party at an off-campus apartment building across the street from where he lived. She told police he invited her to his apartment to get more alcohol.
She said they began to kiss, but she told him to stop when he tried to take her clothes off. She told detectives he asked her for sex, but she said no and asked to return to the party. She said she eventually performed oral sex on Drill-Mellum, “hoping that it would only take a few minutes and then the Defendant would allow her to return to the party,” according to the criminal complaint.
But the victim said he instead forced her onto a bed and raped her as she cried.
She ran out of the apartment and called 911. She was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where police said she had injuries consistent with rape, torn flesh in her mouth and scrapes on her face, legs and both nipples, the Star-Tribune reports.
4. He Was Barred From Campus, But 1 of the Victims Says He Was Later Seen at a Party
(Instagram)
Police said the first victim told her roommate what happened the next morning and received treatement at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, but did not report the rape at the time, Fox 9 reports.
She then learned in November 2015 that he had been banned from campus by the university following the second alleged assault, and had been seen at a party on November 18, 2015.
The first victim then reported her case to campus police.
5. He Was a Student at the University of Minnesota, Where His Father Teaches, From 2012 to 2014
(Facebook)
Drill-Mellum, who graduated from Chaska High School in 2012, was a student at the University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2014. His father, Richard Drill-Mellum, teaches in the university’s business school. His mother is a doctor.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he was an intern for Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton from 2011 to 2012 in the Legislative and Cabinet Affairs Department.
He was the president of the Minnesota DECA, a club for students interested in business, during his senior year in high school, an education policy intern for Senator Al Franken, and the co-founder of a clothing company, his profile says.
According to a 2013 Minnesota Public Radio story, Drill-Mellum testified before the state legislature in support of a bill that would grant amnesty to underage drinkers who report a health or safety crisis.
He told legislators about an incident that occurred when his 18-year-old friend was assaulted after drinking. He and his friends decided not to call police for fear they may get in trouble themselves, Drill-Mellum said.
“We went back and forth arguing, yelling at each other about whether or not our friend needed help,” he told legislators, according to MPR. “They said,’Dan, we should keep him here. We can take care of him by ourself. He doesn’t need this. He could possibly get a minor. And it’s not worth it. We don’t want to risk that.'”
