GUILTY GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 26 June 2011 # 1

Sonya610 said:

People's reaction to really shocking news like this varies greatly. Some get immediately emotional, others hear it and feel nothing at all initially, just numbness.

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Yeah, that's why I didn't think it was damning or anything, just strange. I just thought it was worth mentioning, and was curious if anyone else had seen it.

This may be backtracking a bit, but is it not possible the killer didn't want the torso found? I know we have talked about it being a message or a taunt or game of sorts, but is it possible that the killer really just wanted rid of it and was hopeful it would find it's way to the dump?

I don't know. Just seems like to me if the killer didn't want the torso or anything else found, they wouldn't have placed it right in her yard. They could've found a dumpster somewhere or maybe even a neighbor's garbage if they were without a vehicle. The river is not that far away; everything could have been dumped there.

But placing the torso in the yard is like a challenge from the killer to the police, because they know it was not there the night before. Like a game of chess, taunting them with the fact that they were right there within reach just hours earlier ..... giving the police motivation to continue their search because she is not whole ..... all the while watching from the sidelines & gaining a satisfaction from this. All IMO

I'm anxiously awaiting to see if another body is found sometime soon.

Knox said:

LE is hoping the forensics will give them the answers they need to break the case.

I'm not ready to say it's cold yet, think we need to wait for the results.

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I do not think any new found "forensic evidence" is going to matter and here is why; if this were a serial killer targeting random strangers then sure, a fiber or hair that links them to the victim would be HUGE!

This case is different, I think we all believe that whomever did this probably DID know her (at least those are the folks the police are pursuing), they probably did live nearby and have contact with her. That changes everything. Apparently all of hte POI are people that she knew or had contact with. That means any tiny shred of evidence, a fiber you can match to their carpet or their clothes, a tiny piece of their hair in her apartment, etc... can be explained even if they trace it to the person that left it! The defense attorney is going to say that hair/fiber/whatever could have gotten there a million different ways and you can't convict someone of murder based on evidence like that.

Now if the police found a bloody fingerprint in her bathroom that would be another matter, but if they found something that obvious they would have already solved this. Of course if there is good evidence but the police can't link it to anyone now (or prove it meant they killed her) then there is the possibility of that evidence being linked to another similar crime, past or future, which would change everything. If it is a serial killer (or one that plans to become serial) the evidence will be linked eventually.

SaMy said:

You can find him on LG's friend list on FB. Seems like an older guy. His profile pic is of him and Lauren and you can read some condolences his friends wrote as comments on the photo. I'm going with distraught.

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whats his name?

This may have been posted, the article already was...but still:

Macon police Maj. Charles Stone likened the status of the probe to a poker hand.

“We’re waiting for that last card,” Stone told The Telegraph on Friday. “That last card is either gonna give us a full house or we’re gonna end up moving on to other things.”

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First it was Chief Burns saying "murders are usually solved within a few days...and well...we are still interviewing people". Now this guy says "we're going to end up moving on to other things". If they REALLY THOUGHT the last card would give them a full house they darn sure would be saying "we expect a major break in the case soon" they wouldn't say "we will be moving on to other things". Sheesh they know the family is listening to this, no one would say that and crush the families hopes if they really thought they would end up with a "full house" and ensure justice would be served.

It is a good thing the FBI was involved from day one. If the FBI wasn't involved the Macon PD would be feeling like they have failed and/or wondering if they messed up somehow. I don't think this was a challenge directed at the Macon PD, sheesh the Macon PD already has a ton of headaches with crime, and who would want to cause Chief Burns grief or challenge him to a game of evil wit? He is a likeable guy, not some arrogant idiot.

I really think if this wasn't personal it was about Mercer. Looks like a highly intelligent killer dumping an over the top high value victim in an amazingly gruesome way on the doorstep of a famous university (or more specifically on the front steps of the law school).

My gut says this isn't the typical serial killer getting off on the thrill of the kill and enjoying the afterglow high. If it were about the thrill then more thrills are the priority; stay undercover and go unnoticed (hide your victims) so you can do it again. A predator doesn't want to scare the heck out of the sheep, they want the sheep to simply graze and go about their business and be easy victims.

I really think someone is messing with Mercer (assuming it wasn't personal against Giddings, haven't ruled that out but she appeared to be nice and I just don't see it being personal). Just my opinion, a gut feeling. Mercer is the hub of high iq in this area, and whomever did this is playing a game and is very intelligent, they wouldn't bother challenging the Macon PD.

Hi all! Just got activated! I'm from the Macon area, and have been following this case closely.

Lomaker had mentioned a longer interview with McD, and I have the link to it. I was listening to WMAC-AM on Thursday morning, and I remembered hearing snippits from the interview, and that the police requested a copy of the tape from the woman doing the interview. This is an even longer version than what was played on WMAZ's website on the day of the discovery of her body. Tell me what y'all think. http://www.wmac-am.com/includes/news_items/6/463/7oclockhour.mp3.

McMunn said:

Hi all! Just got activated! I'm from the Macon area, and have been following this case closely.

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Welcome! I am just up the road from you in Gray. Sheesh thanks for that link. Wow...that audio is amazing. Very very emotional.

McDaniels isn't acting, no one is that good of an actor (well if they are, they aren't going to law school and getting locked up for crimes such as this). That audio is heartbreaking. The authorities wanted a copy of that tape because it could influence future jurors, and they didn't want to show the poster boy POI in a sympathetic light.

I always thought he was innocent and being horribly tortured as a convenient pawn, the police/da should be really ashamed right now(he just graduated too, just like Lauren, he was happy and had crossed a milestone and then his life turned into a nightmare while people point and ridicule). That audio makes me feel even worse for that poor boy. He didn't do this, there is no way he is acting.

(PS be careful about posting names and such if they have not been identified in news stories...the site rules are super strict here).

WoW thanks for link..

First word out of McD's mouth.. "Lauren WAS my neighbor!.." and this is BEFORE Lauren is thought to be dead.. This is when they are looking for her!

WoW thanks for link..

First word out of McD's mouth.. "Lauren WAS my neighbor!.." and this is BEFORE Lauren is thought to be dead.. This is when they are looking for her!

SmoothOperator said:

WoW thanks for link..

First word out of McD's mouth.. "Lauren WAS my neighbor!.." and this is BEFORE Lauren is thought to be dead.. This is when they are looking for her!

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Good catch but remember these were student apartments. Lauren and Stephen had graduated, Lauren was moving out. Stephen likely was too. It is easy to understand how one would say "was" because they are moving out and realize their lives are changing and won't be living there anymore.

Why does the audio say "let's watch the video", why would a radio show say that? Is there a page with the video too?

I find it really crappy that the "rest" of the McDaniel interview was blasted all over the web, showing him looking mentally distraunt (i.e. weird, unstable, deranged) but editing out everything that leads up to it and explains WHY he was distraunt and shows him in a sympathetic light.

In this video, Burns says "The trace evidence and the blood evidence we found has been sent to the FBI". He's not specific, so it could be construed in different ways. Was blood evidence found in Lauren or McD's apartments, Lauren's car, his car (never mentioned or confirmed he has one)?

The other thing I caught in that excerpted video interview of McD. He says they found her ID, wallet, etc. in her apartment. In the police report which is linked somewhere upstream, the writer says the only thing they have not been able to find was her Mercer ID card. I realize McD could be talking about another ID like a driver's license, just something to note.

YouTube - ‪Police: ID Confirmed of Missing Law School Grad‬‏

Hos reactions are abit over the top.. He goes into the crying, whine and then when reporter asks another question he's immediately calm and cool.. No quivering voice or crying.. He does this several times throughout the 3 clips..

The first words out his mouth definitely are, "Lauren WAS my neighbor".. And again this is atleast 5 minutes before he is told they have found a body on the property..

Just finished it in it's entirety and the behaviors are strange to the say the least and that is totally without any visuals whatsoever, just his words, strange behaviors that stop and go on a dime.. There's alot of info in these clips it'd be great to have it transcribed.. I'd do it in a heartbeat(as I did for much of Haleigh Cummings audio)..but unfortunately I'm only via mobile for now..

I also was disturbed by the reporters staunch denial of handing over the raw video to police.. Very adamant about it.. But yet then played it publicly here in this audio.. Very strange in that one would think that a reporter would hand over absolutely anything that help LE to solve this young womans brutal murder..

Again thanks so much for posting the audio link!!

I've been following this case on WS closely, but haven't posted. I just listened to all three audio clips, and one thing that jumped out to me was when he was asked if he had ever met her family. That's when he went into the story about Lauren's dog getting hit by a car and her parents came down from MD, when he met them briefly. That was during their 1st yr of LS. Since, it has come out that he attended a small family post graduation party, seemingly uninvited. Doesn't mean anything, but an interesting omission nonetheless....imo only, of course.

ehmadpotter said:

I've been following this case on WS closely, but haven't posted. I just listened to all three audio clips, and one thing that jumped out to me was when he was asked if he had ever met her family. That's when he went into the story about Lauren's dog getting hit by a car and her parents came down from MD, when he met them briefly. That was during their 1st yr of LS. Since, it has come out that he attended a small family post graduation party, seemingly uninvited. Doesn't mean anything, but an interesting omission nonetheless....imo only, of course.

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Just getting ready to post that myself. He remembers something that happened in the 1st year of LS but not attending a event two months ago in which her family was present?

He also side-steps this question "do you know if she had any enemies, someone who would want to hurt her"? He says, "no, I uh we don't know where she is. The only thing we can think of is she went running and someone snatched her".

His use of "We" throughout that whole video is kinda weird.

I caught that too, Knox.. About the ID.. I too immediately remembered the Initial police report.. Possible he meant License.. But most likely IMO it would be the Mercer ID that would be out and visibly seen, and not her drivers license.. Just something we probably won't know one way or another any time soon, but I did pick up on that as well..

As for the luminol my mother in law that lives up north has worked for crime scene and forensics for 26 years for their sheriff's Dept.. I called her just before I'd logged back on to listen to the audio..

Talked to her about the luminol.. The only thing I relayed to her was that while investigating a crime scene the unit had gone thru an entire bottle of luminol and a neighboring county had to bring in additional luminol for the unit to use..

Her question to me was, "has a body been dismembered?"

She hasn't a clue about this case and lives 800 miles north of me and I'm in Memphis.. I was stunned at first but then not so much as it is most times extremely grisly.. I know that hunters bleed their deer, quarter, etc, etc.. But I really really don't see that having been done..
Lauren being suspended in the air with chains and such prior to dismembering.. Could it have happened that way? Sure..
I just think it's not likely, and that just as the majority of
Dismemberment cases there is alot of blood, whether bleached and scrubbed no matter when the luminol hits It you can even see the spray or splattered pattern the blood made..

I asked her anyway do you use entire bottles just keeping on spraying everywhere hoping that some blood will show up somewhere and she said no as she laughed stating that it goes alot further than what you think and that there is a procedure that's used in testing areas with luminol..
She says its not like you just drench an entire wall with luminol.. Just doesn't work that way..

She said in all her years the only case she knew
Of personally where that amount of luminol was
Used was on a dismemberment of a body crime scene..
You can take it Fwiw..

Sonya610 said:

Why does the audio say "let's watch the video", why would a radio show say that? Is there a page with the video too?

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This radio program is also aired on television as well.

SmoothOperator said:

I caught that too, Knox.. About the ID.. I too immediately remembered the Initial police report.. Possible he meant License.. But most likely IMO it would be the Mercer ID that would be out and visibly seen, and not her drivers license.. Just something we probably won't know one way or another any time soon, but I did pick up on that as well..

As for the luminol my mother in law that lives up north has worked for crime scene and forensics for 26 years for their sheriff's Dept.. I called her just before I'd logged back on to listen to the audio..

Talked to her about the luminol.. The only thing I relayed to her was that while investigating a crime scene the unit had gone thru an entire bottle of luminol and a neighboring county had to bring in additional luminol for the unit to use..

Her question to me was, "has a body been dismembered?"

She hasn't a clue about this case and lives 800 miles north of me and I'm in Memphis.. I was stunned at first but then not so much as it is most times extremely grisly.. I know that hunters bleed their deer, quarter, etc, etc.. But I really really don't see that having been done..
Lauren being suspended in the air with chains and such prior to dismembering.. Could it have happened that way? Sure..
I just think it's not likely, and that just as the majority of
Dismemberment cases there is alot of blood, whether bleached and scrubbed no matter when the luminol hits It you can even see the spray or splattered pattern the blood made..

I asked her anyway do you use entire bottles just keeping on spraying everywhere hoping that some blood will show up somewhere and she said no as she laughed stating that it goes alot further than what you think and that there is a procedure that's used in testing areas with luminol..
She says its not like you just drench an entire wall with luminol.. Just doesn't work that way..

She said in all her years the only case she knew
Of personally where that amount of luminol was
Used was on a dismemberment of a body crime scene..
You can take it Fwiw..

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I agree with your MIL. We have to also remember that they may have possibly used luminol on all four apartments. That may be why they ran out.

SmoothOperator said:

WoW thanks for link..

First word out of McD's mouth.. "Lauren WAS my neighbor!.." and this is BEFORE Lauren is thought to be dead.. This is when they are looking for her!

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Yep, my thoughts too.

The thing that I don't understand, is that he seems to know quite a bit about her, but didn't realize that she had been missing for 5 days. Most people in apartment living, get to know the comings and goings of their neighbors, hearing doors shut, and other sounds. Those two were the only ones in that particular complex, correct?

SmoothOperator said:

Hos reactions are abit over the top.. He goes into the crying, whine and then when reporter asks another question he's immediately calm and cool.. No quivering voice or crying.. He does this several times throughout the 3 clips..

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That seems normal to me. First of all when someone is very emotional but trying not to show it the emotion comes up fast in waves.

Secondly, McDaniels is male. Male use either the right or left hemisphere. They do not use both sides (emotion/logic) at the same time like women do. That means if you ask them a question involving logic or ask them to recall facts they literally switch to the other part of their brain, they can't do both at the same time (fact).

He gets emotional whenever he addresses questions involving friendship, food, hope, personality, things of an emotional nature. He switches to logic when he is asked to recall something that requires him to use the other side of his brain. If this boy was so brilliant he could fake that he wouldn't be sitting in the Bibb County jail right now. He worked so hard to graduate as a law student from Mercer, he is watching all of his hard work and dreams go up in smoke right now.

SmoothOperator said:

I also was disturbed by the reporters staunch denial of handing over the raw video to police.. Very adamant about it.. But yet then played it publicly here in this audio.. Very strange in that one would think that a reporter would hand over absolutely anything that help LE to solve this young womans brutal murder...

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Yeah but reporters have principals. Freedom of the press, protecting sources etc... Reporters have rotted in jail for months protecting their sources. They get info and they use it as they see fit, they do not work for the police, the government or the military (that is why they go unarmed into war zones and are supposed to be treated as neutral, theoretically they are not shills for government entities they are free agents that report the facts independently).

SmoothOperator said:

Again thanks so much for posting the audio link!!

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Yeah, that audio link was a great contribution!

Sonya610 said:

(PS be careful about posting names and such if they have not been identified in news stories...the site rules are super strict here).

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Oops, sorry. I was just re-posting what someone else had posted a few days ago. I'll remember that for future reference. Thanks for letting me know.