Without seeing the code in question that calls the sub (and taking on board other comments), my guess is context:

# this should work
my @messages = selectMsgFromDb();

# or, if you want to use references
my $messages = selectMsgFromDb();

# and amend last line of selectMsgFromDb sub to:
    return \@msgs;
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(I'm assuming you forgot to finish the sub } here in the snippet shown :)

Also, Data::Dumper is your friend. Use it, and dump variables as you go to check you're getting what you expected.

.02

cLive ;-)