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Lauren Giddings was a fresh law school graduate who aspired to become a public defender. She went missing in the summer of 2011 in Macon, Georgia, under strange circumstances. Six days later, her torso in a trash bin was discovered just outside her apartment building. Lauren Giddings' sudden disappearance left her family and friends in a frantic quest for answers.
Soon, the neighbors and acquaintances were at the center of an investigation by law enforcement. A string of chilling clues, from stolen items to suspicious behavior by a close neighbor, took the investigation into an even darker turn and made known the harrowing circumstances in which she died.
Her case became notorious very fast, garnering much attention due to the gruesome nature and disturbing turns that the investigation had. The new Dateline: The Smoking Gun episode on Oxygen delves into the tragic case of Giddings, discussing the life she had promised to her future and the tragic ending she met.
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Dateline: The Smoking Gun: The Watcher aired on Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 8:00 pm on Oxygen True Crime.
Lauren Giddings’ disappearance and background
Lauren Giddings was 27 when she disappeared in late June of 2011. Giddings was a recent graduate of Mercer University School of Law in Georgia but originally from Maryland. Lauren Giddings had marked the night of June 24 for celebrations with friends before her study group commenced serious preparation for her bar exam.
It appeared she had returned to her building, home to many students and graduates, and possibly fell asleep without setting an alarm. Her family grew anxious when they hadn’t heard from her by June 29.
Friends went to her apartment to check; and found her belongings- all her purse, keys, and laptop left behind. This suggested she hadn't intended to be away for very long. Their findings led them to call the police.
Chilling discoveries lead to a suspect
On June 30, Macon police investigator Steve Gatlin tracked an odd smell around the complex leading him to a trash can. In the trash bin was a large bag. In it, they had Lauren Giddings' severed torso. Traces of blood around her bathroom that showed signs under luminol hinted toward horrific events that may have been conducted there.
The investigators established evidence of blood that showed up almost two inches of blood coming from the tub from the top of it. Beginning without many leads, detectives initially focused their attention on her. This included two men to whom she had been s*xually involved: David, from Atlanta, who was a year older and a lawyer, as well as her ex-boyfriend Joe.
Both of them had cleared alibis with further investigation. Their attention went to Giddings's next-door neighbor, Stephen McDaniel, also a classmate and fellow law school graduate. His erratic behavior during news interviews and a peculiar reaction when confronted with news of Lauren Giddings' remains being discovered caught detectives' attention.
Suspicious evidence found in neighbor's apartment
McDaniel's odd behavior led detectives to investigate further, and they quickly found a series of alarming pieces of evidence in his apartment.
There was also a hacksaw that had traces of blood. Another was packaging for saws the same brand and size, plus women's underwear belonging to Lauren Giddings that he had in his dresser.
There were also two keys: one opened the maintenance room, while the other opened Giddings' apartment. Even more disturbingly, their search of his laptop brought to the surface some nasty things, showing how much fascination McDaniel had for sadistic and violent media.
Perhaps the strongest proof was how McDaniel had filmed Lauren Giddings from her window the night she disappeared. The video had reportedly been filmed with a long stick just to get an angle to get a closer shot. This was something that showed forethought on McDaniel's part.
Legal processes and confession
With mounting evidence, McDaniel was charged with first-degree murder on August 2, 2011. Much of the case against him was circumstantial, and prosecutors feared they still needed stronger evidence to secure a conviction. The prosecutors had their concerns but were relieved when further computer searches revealed more disturbing facts about his motives and intentions.
In 2014, before the overwhelming evidence, McDaniel pleaded guilty to the murder, admitting that he had strangled Giddings before dismembering her remains.
McDaniel's confession explained how he committed the murder. It showed an obsession that had been developed for Giddings, which led to her tragic death. For his sentence, McDaniel received life imprisonment. He could be paroled only in 2041. Despite massive searches by the police, only her torso was recovered.
Dateline: The Smoking Gun, airs on Thursdays at 8/7c p.m. on Oxygen.
