GUILTY GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 26 June 2011 # 4

Sandstorm said:

He was definitely shocked to hear that a BODY had been found.

All that McD replied was "body?"
and then, "I think I need to sit down."

My thoughts are:
If he were innocent wouldn't he have asked questions based along this line:

Where did they find a body?
Who found it?
Are they sure it is Lauren?
What happened to her?
Are they sure she is dead?
Who could have done this?
Do they know who killed her?

Those are the thoughts that come to my mind if I were told that my neighbor's body was found in the parking lot.
In the video McD makes no inquiry.
Maybe he did off camera and it was not recorded. (??)

I think he was in complete shock at the repercussions of the body being found.
Now, everything had changed.


Another thing that catches my attention is when the reporter asks
"Did she have any enemies, do you know of anyone who would want to hurt her?"
McD avoids that question and redirects the conversation: "We don't know where she is..." then he proceeds to comment with reference to her running and that maybe someone snatched her.

Another point from the video:
In part 1 and part 2 of the video McD explicitly states that

"No one has seen her since Saturday".

This interview was 5 days later. He was studying for the bar. How did he know that NO ONE had seen Lauren since Saturday?

He also makes a comment about her car that is odd to me:
When asked by the reporter Michelle Quesada if that was Lauren's car. He states that "No that car was Detective Patterson's... Lauren's car had been there for days."
Why would he think that her car had been there for days? How would he know that she had not driven her car when he was not aware?

***************************
These are very tell tale signs for me.
What do you think about these points?
Your ideas are appreciated.

Click to expand...

I think that, like much else concerning Stephen McDaniel right now, those points could be either very innocent or very damning -- I can turn a switch in my mind and see them either way.

"NewsCentral's Michelle Quesada will visit FOX News in New York for a prime-time interview on "Justice with Judge Jeanine."

link: http://www.newscentralga.com/news/l...-Quesada-to-Appear-on-FOX-News-126364918.html

Just want to make sure everyone is aware of this show coming up. I posted about it earlier in the evening but didn't go back and add the link to the post until a little later...and shortly after that Websleuths was down for a while, so fear it might have got lost in the shuffle since I haven't seen it mentioned since.

Says it will air "Saturday", so I assume that means tomorrow night (umm, well tonight actually, since it's already Saturday --gosh I'm up too late).

Destini said:

Another thing I noticed in this latest video, that I didn't think much about when I watched the radio station version:

SM says the friends called the boyfriend & the boyfriend hadn't heard from her. Did the boyfriend not tell her friends he had gotten that e-mail from her? In talking about the e-mail, SM just says she sent it to a friend in Atlanta, not the boyfriend in Atlanta.

Does that make sense?

In other words, if they contacted the boyfriend, wouldn't you think he said something along the lines of, "She sent me an e-mail Sat. night, but I haven't heard anything else from her"? So then why would SM just say the e-mail was sent to a "friend"?

Click to expand...

Destini, I think there was some confusion for a while about whether the email was to the "boyfriend" in Atlanta or just another friend in Atlanta, seem to remember it being discussed back and forth in these threads.

I THINK -- not sure -- that it was decided it was to another friend...?

SmoothOperator said:

Upon his arrival back to the apt complex the body had been discovered and even if it had not IMO it would have been most difficult for McD to mosey on over to the trash bin to check on the status of the torso..

Click to expand...

(I could be wrong, and it would be nice to have some verified info on this...)

I'm under the impression that McD had just gotten back from being
questioned by police when the first interview started. When they brought
him and the other friends back to the scene, they probably pulled up in
front of the AT&T building and let them out. So, I don't think he'd even
had a chance to survey the scene when he started talking to reporters.
In fact, given all that was going on around the apartments, they
probably still had the area blocked off with restricted access.
I'm just guessing about all of this, but it seems reasonable, especially
since the parking lot area in front of the apartments is quite small.
(see the videos below)

Now, all that "guesswork" could be important, given this next
observation... If you watch these videos from that morning, you'll notice
that after they remove the body, a police truck backs up to that area,
then leaves with what appears to be the trash can the torso was found
in, covered with a tarp.
Here's two videos showing this:
http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/5642-body-found-in-macon-is-missing-woman
http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/5605-police-find-body-while-investigating-missing-person-report

So, if he'd had the opportunity after being returned to the scene to go
to his apartment, he would have noticed that can was missing.

And speaking of trash cans...
It puzzles me that they didn't take the others at that time.
I thought it was odd that they were going through the trash from the
other cans nearly two weeks later. I would hope there had been a 24/7
police presence during that time. And they let those cans sit full of
garbage for 2 weeks - in summertime? (whew)
That didn't make sense to me.

~SuperSleuth~ said:

(I could be wrong, and it would be nice to have some verified info on this...)

I'm under the impression that McD had just gotten back from being
questioned by police when the first interview started. When they brought
him and the other friends back to the scene, they probably pulled up in
front of the AT&T building and let them out. So, I don't think he'd even
had a chance to survey the scene when he started talking to reporters.
In fact, given all that was going on around the apartments, they
probably still had the area blocked off with restricted access.
I'm just guessing about all of this, but it seems reasonable, especially
since the parking lot area in front of the apartments is quite small.
(see the videos below)

Now, all that "guesswork" could be important, given this next
observation... If you watch these videos from that morning, you'll notice
that after they remove the body, a police truck backs up to that area,
then leaves with what appears to be the trash can the torso was found
in, covered with a tarp.
Here's two videos showing this:
http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/5642-body-found-in-macon-is-missing-woman
http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/5605-police-find-body-while-investigating-missing-person-report

So, if he'd had the opportunity after being returned to the scene to go
to his apartment, he would have noticed that can was missing.

And speaking of trash cans...
It puzzles me that they didn't take the others at that time.
I thought it was odd that they were going through the trash from the
other cans nearly two weeks later. I would hope there had been a 24/7
police presence during that time. And they let those cans sit full of
garbage for 2 weeks - in summertime? (whew)
That didn't make sense to me.

Click to expand...

Yes, he was in for questioning when the discovery of the body was made. I guess the media got him before he could realize/determine what was then going on and that Lauren's body had been found.

The trash is taken out every Thursday. I think they were going through trash in the cans later due to a report of a foul order. A poster here who visited the scene actually reported something (discussed early on...maybe the second thread) and it may have been her report that prompted that.

SouthernKate said:

Yes, he was in for questioning when the discovery of the body was made. I guess the media got him before he could realize/determine what was then going on and that Lauren's body had been found.

The trash is taken out every Thursday. I think they were going through trash in the cans later due to a report of a foul order. A poster here who visited the scene actually reported something (discussed early on...maybe the second thread) and it may have been her report that prompted that.

Click to expand...

An officer noticed the odor after the heat had begun to rise and the odor became stronger. The poster from here went to the site a few weeks later and reported an odor like something dead in the trash again. She said it might have been a rat.

PsychoMom said:

An officer noticed the odor after the heat had begun to rise and the odor became stronger. The poster from here went to the site a few weeks later and reported an odor like something dead in the trash again. She said it might have been a rat.

Click to expand...

Thanks - I remember the odor she noticed being not significant (to the investigation), but was pointing out that the trash had already been examined and that's why they were going back in later days (in response to the above question). Obviously, the trash didn't sit for weeks without being taken, but they were re-examining for clues/because of tips.

PsychoMom said:

Her sister did say she mentioned an attempted break-in that scared her, but she was not afraid to be in her apartment. I can't remember the exact wording right now, but we beat that dead horse back when it was first mentioned. It was a context thing. He had just seen that email that Joe found and then heard they found a body. I can see making a big deal out of it at that moment. Her sister, on the other hand, had time to read the email in the context of already knowing she was dead and recognizing her own sister's tone in the email as not being terrified, but aggravated about the things happening.

LE DID verify she sent an email to someone she knew stating something about an attempted break-in and noting some fear. We do not know the exact wording, but you have to think about the timing of the email being read and finding out LG was murdered. That can impact the reaction.
SM may be our guy, but I am still trying to find the one thing that convinces me. I have no problem saying I think someone is guilty if I see enough dots connecting. Casey Anthony is the most recent one that comes to mind. In
this case, there are a few scattered dots, but I don't think they are even on the same page.

Click to expand...

In this last phone interview, Kaitlyn does mention LG talked about the Macon Hoodlums, but she never mentions that she was scared in the email. I
have included it here, but I listened to the long version. Many people say it has been edited now. This is what we here on WS are all referring to now.

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/article/...dings-Sister-Talks-About-Police-Investigation

Originally Posted by Sandstorm View Post

He was definitely shocked to hear that a BODY had been found.
All that McD replied was "body?"
and then, "I think I need to sit down."
My thoughts are:
If he were innocent wouldn't he have asked questions based along this line:
Where did they find a body?
Who found it?
Are they sure it is Lauren?
What happened to her?
Are they sure she is dead?
Who could have done this?
Do they know who killed her?
Those are the thoughts that come to my mind if I were told that my neighbor's body was found in the parking lot.
In the video McD makes no inquiry.
Maybe he did off camera and it was not recorded. (??)
I think he was in complete shock at the repercussions of the body being found.
Now, everything had changed.
Another thing that catches my attention is when the reporter asks
"Did she have any enemies, do you know of anyone who would want to hurt her?"
McD avoids that question and redirects the conversation: "We don't know where she is..." then he proceeds to comment with reference to her running and that maybe someone snatched her.
Another point from the video:
In part 1 and part 2 of the video McD explicitly states that
"No one has seen her since Saturday".
This interview was 5 days later. He was studying for the bar. How did he know that NO ONE had seen Lauren since Saturday?
He also makes a comment about her car that is odd to me:
When asked by the reporter Michelle Quesada if that was Lauren's car. He states that "No that car was Detective Patterson's... Lauren's car had been there for days."
Why would he think that her car had been there for days? How would he know that she had not driven her car when he was not aware?
***************************These are very tell tale signs for me.
What do you think about these points?
Your ideas are appreciated.

Backwoods said:

I think that, like much else concerning Stephen McDaniel right now, those points could be either very innocent or very damning -- I can turn a switch in my mind and see them either way.

Click to expand...

Backwoods, you just qualified for the JURY!
I appreciate your thoughts, but as Bessie said previously, we will have to agree to disagree.

Take a look at this video.
Here are 3 people who put themselves directly in front of the camera as an innocent, distraught person . They express their sorrow with trembling voices, sniffles, tears, and pleas for help to find out what happened to their loved one, when in fact, each of these people was guilty of the murder.

Why do killers speak out​

[video=youtube;15l9HQgAk4M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15l9HQgAk4M[/video]

Scott Lee Peterson (born October 24, 1972) is an American who was convicted of murdering his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child in Modesto, California, in 2002.... he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He remains on death row in San Quentin State Prison ... He maintains his innocence...
Scott Peterson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Susan Leigh Vaughan Smith (born September 26, 1971) is an American woman sentenced to life in prison for murdering her children. ...she was convicted on July 22, 1995 of murdering her two sons, 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith, born October 10, 1991, and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith, born August 5, 1993... But at last the two boys, one year-old and three year-old, were found still fastened into their car seats...{30 ft underwater in the lake.}
Susan Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Mark Hacking:
Lori Kay Soares Hacking (December 31, 1976 – July 19, 2004) was a Salt Lake City, Utah, woman who was killed by her husband, Mark Hacking, in 2004. She was reported missing by her husband, and the search earned national attention before her husband confessed to the crime....killing Lori in their apartment with a .22-caliber rifle while she was asleep and disposing of her body in a dumpster.
Lori Hacking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PsychoMom said:

Who is this guy? Talk about looking down and to the left! He has had a little time to process it, but he sures seems a little bored by the whole thing.

He is another of LG's friends. What is your take on him?

http://www.wbir.com/video/1041093057001/0/Friend-Speaks-About-Lauren-Giddings

Click to expand...

PsychoMom, we talked about Jk earlier, but I know there has been a lot in these threads.

This interview spooks me too. Smd and JK, the only two people who have
allowed an interview with reporters, (besides Kaitlin, the spokesperson for Giddings' family)and JK shows no emotion!!! Also JK says they were good friends and Smd is described even more as just a neighbor by her sister in this latest article
http://www.newscentralga.com/news/l...-NewsCentrals-Michelle-Quesada-126357768.html

No one said there aren't two people involved......

Jk switches from present tense to past tense about her. Maybe he is really having a hard time accepting what happened to her.

Partial quote from Sandstorm:

"I think he was in complete shock at the repercussions of the body being found.
Now, everything had changed.
Another thing that catches my attention is when the reporter asks
"Did she have any enemies, do you know of anyone who would want to hurt her?"
McD avoids that question and redirects the conversation: "We don't know where she is..." then he proceeds to comment with reference to her running and that maybe someone snatched her.
Another point from the video:
In part 1 and part 2 of the video McD explicitly states that
"No one has seen her since Saturday".
This interview was 5 days later. He was studying for the bar. How did he know that NO ONE had seen Lauren since Saturday?
He also makes a comment about her car that is odd to me:
When asked by the reporter Michelle Quesada if that was Lauren's car. He states that "No that car was Detective Patterson's... Lauren's car had been there for days."
Why would he think that her car had been there for days? How would he know that she had not driven her car when he was not aware?
***************************These are very tell tale signs for me.
What do you think about these points?
Your ideas are appreciated."

Of all of the good questions you raise, Sandstorm, the one that gets me the most regards her car. Indeed, "Lauren's car had been there for days." Oh, really? If he didn't know that it was impossible for her to have moved it, he wouldn't have said something like that in such a matter-of-fact manner. How would he have known that she didn't pull in and out of that parking space 20 times in the past five days?

Also, thanks so much for showing us sympathetic videos of bald-faced liars and murderers tearing up for the cameras.

PsychoMom said:

Who is this guy? Talk about looking down and to the left! He has had a little time to process it, but he sures seems a little bored by the whole thing.

He is another of LG's friends. What is your take on him?

http://www.wbir.com/video/1041093057001/0/Friend-Speaks-About-Lauren-Giddings

Click to expand...

This is a better link for that video.
This includes an article which states who this person is.
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=134319

justiceforlauren said:

PsychoMom, we talked about Jk earlier, but I know there has been a lot in these threads.

This interview spooks me too. Smd and JK, the only two people who have
allowed an interview with reporters, (besides Kaitlin, the spokesperson for Giddings' family)and JK shows no emotion!!! Also JK says they were good friends and Smd is described even more as just a neighbor by her sister in this latest article
http://www.newscentralga.com/news/l...-NewsCentrals-Michelle-Quesada-126357768.html

No one said there aren't two people involved......

Click to expand...

Just to clarify for everyone...

The "JK" from the video above is not the same as "Joe" (another "JK"), who McD talks about in those interviews.

PsychoMom said:

After watching the video again, I see him initially trying to relay info in hopes of someone helping find her. Then when he hears about a body being found, he is thrown for a loop. The second video is after he had some time to think. He is still visible upset when discussing her, but switches modes (think right brain/left brain) and becomes less emotional and more logical in the discussion. Humans tend to do that. When we use the right brain, we are tapping into our emotional side. When we are trying to think of possibilities and solutions, we switch to the logical side. Helpful hint for all of you, if you are ever in a situation where you are very upset, try to solve a difficult math problem in your head. It will calm you down instantly because you are focusing on something requiring logic. I do not see guilt pouring out of him on this interview either. I wish I could. Life would be easier knowing the right guy is already behind bars.

Not the most scientific explanation, but a little more about Right Brain/Left Brain thinking: http://delicategeniusblog.com/?p=552

Click to expand...

Sorry, PhychoMom . . . With all respect for your professional opinion about SMD's demeanor on camera, I think you are neglecting to consider one of the most important questions here. WHY is he doing the interview at all?

How many of LG's law school friends, including those who looked for her Wed. night and went to the MPD with SMD on Thursday, consented to an interview? Zero. Why is that?

Several reasons: they are personally upset about the disappearance of their friend LG; and (later) even more upset about her death; and they consider this a personal loss. They want to be with and talk with their friends who knew LG, not to communicate with the public or explain things to a pushy reporter who did not know LG and is acting in a manner most of us would find offensive, wanting to record video of either anguish, maudlin sentimentality, or shock. Surely people don't want to display themselves to others at a time such as this.

After the friends are informed that LG has been killed, they realize that a crime has been committed and desire to cooperate fully with LE, but would think that media questions to them at this time are both intrusive and likely to not assist LE in solving the crime and arresting the perpetrator.

SMD, on the other hand, is moved to give all sorts of information in extreme detail. That is a defensible action, especially when he thinks LG is missing, but after he learns a body has been found, I think it indicates that he is making a terribly bad decision to attempt to sell the media on the alternative theories (snatched while running; hoodlums; BF) that he has thought through so many times in the past 5 days. He has rehearsed these facts and he wants to publish them, hence the continued interview after he regains his composure and returns from the ATT building.

He even remembers the name of the detective whose car in in front of the apts. He has been paying acute attention to all the details of the investigation, more than I think is normal.

More than anything else, though, the fact that he goes on camera repeatedly tells me he has a reason other than concern for Lauren Giddings.

justiceforlauren said:

PsychoMom, we talked about Jk earlier, but I know there has been a lot in these threads.

This interview spooks me too. Smd and JK, the only two people who have
allowed an interview with reporters, (besides Kaitlin, the spokesperson for Giddings' family)and JK shows no emotion!!! Also JK says they were good friends and Smd is described even more as just a neighbor by her sister in this latest article
http://www.newscentralga.com/news/l...-NewsCentrals-Michelle-Quesada-126357768.html

No one said there aren't two people involved......

Click to expand...

Well, McD would be the worst partner in crime if he was like "hey go check out JK. He lives on such and such street." JK does seem to be enjoying the interview a litte much, but I get more narcissistic a-hole from him than anything.

Something that I have been thinking about, and this may have already been discussed in a previous thread, but whatever happened to her Mercer ID? If you look in the police report, it says that her Mercer Student ID could not be found.

http://download.gannett.edgesuite.net/wmaz/docs/giddingsreport1.pdf

After reading the following article, it made me wonder if the killer kept it as a memento.

http://www.johndouglasmindhunter.com/articles/030213.php

ThinMan said:

they are personally upset about the disappearance of their friend LG; and (later) even more upset about her death; and they consider this a personal loss. They want to be with and talk with their friends who knew LG, not to communicate with the public or explain things to a pushy reporter who did not know LG and is acting in a manner most of us would find offensive, wanting to record video of either anguish, maudlin sentimentality, or shock. Surely people don't want to display themselves to others at a time such as this.

Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree with PsychoMom's assessment as well.
But, to be fair, remember that unlike the other friends:
- he lives there, his car is trapped in the parking lot, and he has no place to go
- he is not "in" her circle of friends (and appears not to have any), so he has no one to talk to to get anything off his chest, etc...
- we already recognize from other things he's done that he's somewhat starved for attention

So, I guess his choices were to:
a. talk to reporters, who were the only people around willing to listen/talk to him
b. go for a walk and get away from the area
c. just sit somewhere in his own little bubble

b (or c) would have been a much better choice

McMunn said:

Something that I have been thinking about, and this may have already been discussed in a previous thread, but whatever happened to her Mercer ID?

Click to expand...

I've wondered about this too.
My initial thoughts were that she may have taken it with her and left with someone to go running. I've heard it's common for student's to only carry this or a driver's license when running, so they at least have an ID on them. And I believe that Mercer ID would give her access to certain areas while running also (water fountain in a hall somewhere?, etc).

... I'm heavily leaning toward McD, but my second choice would be someone she met through that run club.

McMunn said:

Something that I have been thinking about, and this may have already been discussed in a previous thread, but whatever happened to her Mercer ID? If you look in the police report, it says that her Mercer Student ID could not be found.

http://download.gannett.edgesuite.net/wmaz/docs/giddingsreport1.pdf

After reading the following article, it made me wonder if the killer kept it as a memento.

http://www.johndouglasmindhunter.com/articles/030213.php

Click to expand...

It has been discussed several times, and I don't know that it has ever been recovered. It's a detail that has never really stuck out to me, but that's probably because I lose my college ID all the time, so it doesn't seem all that significant. Then again, maybe it is... I think some other Mercer students here stated that the ID--a Bear card is more important for undergrads than grad students. (someone correct me if I'm wrong...)

midstateMind said:

It has been discussed several times, and I don't know that it has ever been recovered. It's a detail that has never really stuck out to me, but that's probably because I lose my college ID all the time, so it doesn't seem all that significant. Then again, maybe it is... I think some other Mercer students here stated that the ID--a Bear card is more important for undergrads than grad students. (someone correct me if I'm wrong...)

Click to expand...

Hmmm... maybe she just tossed it, because she had already graduated, and felt that she didn't need it anymore?