GUILTY GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 26 June 2011 # 2

That, too makes sense, bessie.. Point taken(speaking of reasons why LE presence when plumbing parts were possibly being replaced).. Of course either way we look at it(replacing or removing more to test)it's all speculation til we're able to have something confirmed..

I am getting impatient[ sorry just being honest ] about test results still not being in yet.. I know as of last Friday it was being heavily reported that LE really seemed to believe they would receive them in Friday's mail, and that by the end of that day spoken as if it were just a given that they for certain would receive them on Monday(11th).. So I'm really somewhat puzzled as to their not yet having received those much anticipated 74 articles of evidence's results that they may yield..

Tho I know some ^above^ even stated that possibly they had indeed received the results but for whatever reason were choosing at this time to keep that fact hidden from the media/public.. That, too is worrisome.. Not that I want the results to nail mcD for Lauren's murder.. Then again, if that's what the results do infact indicate then yes, I do want him nailed and charged so Lauren's loved one's can atleast begin not only the beginning of closure of Lauren's death, but more importantly to begin that long, hard road of grieving their daughter/sister's horrendous death..

I would guess that maybe McD's hearing scheduled for this Thursday(14th) for bond to be set on his 2 burglary charges may possibly give us atleast some sort of indication about "something".. Then again maybe not.. Who knows..??

I do know that it is frustrating for there seeming to be so very many open, supposedly active and ongoing cases, that just come to an almost stand still, left in limbo, with family's literally crippled within that limbo, not to mention the unbearable day to living and just not knowing(in some cases not even knowing if their loved one is alive or dead.. Kyron Horman, Hailey Dunn, Holly Bobo, Gail Palmgren, Lauren Spierer.. Just to name a VERY VERY few)..

Sometimes I just cannot even begin to comprehend the totality of it all and just what type evil that we walk amongst in our everyday lives..

Prayers for the Giddings Family tonight that soon they be granted solace of closure, if even just knowing the who and not the why...

Just signed up & enjoyed reading the discussion. I'm a lawyer in Macon with an office not far from the law school. Regarding the bond hearing: certain crimes must be bonded by a Superior Court Judge, this is done only on Thursdays. A Motion must be filed by the defendant or his lawyer to get a court date. The hearing was not last Thursday since it sounded like his lawyer got on the case too late to file by the deadline. Unless more charges are added by Thursday, I would expect a bond to be set.
As to safety in downtown Macon: there is a high degree of property crime & lots of car break-ins. There was a recent stat on that in the Macon paper I'll try & find. My office has suffered 1 very destructive burglary, a car break-in in daylight, all the copper pipe being stolen 2-3 times, & the front door has been busted out several times, I guess just for fun. However, I run/bike all over downtown with no problems. I see women running & walking dogs often & did today.
As to McD, burglary is considered a rather serious offense by the d.a. & court here. It is a 10 year felony, meaning that is the max. Everyone gets jail time. Some counties in Ga. give you prison time for the 1st offense. The idea is that burglaries often escalate to violence/death. Check out this for an example:
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=139006.
This was on Walnut Street, near the law school.
I see a major problem with burglarizing your classmates in law school. Law school is extremely expensive. Law students I know are very aware of being very careful in all activities to avoid anything close to a crime or you are done & lots of money wasted. Since reports are that McD confessed, I see an anti-social type not thinking clearly. Also one thing law school would instill is "never confess". A disconnect in his thinking going on there.
Sorry this got a little long. I did also drive by the scene around 8pm tonite. More vehicles/cops/media than I have seen before were out.

Hopefully the evidence results will be back soon (tomorrow, I hope!!) I'm one of those that just doesn't want to believe that McD is the perp. Like others have said, he just looks like a typical college student to me. But if the evidence points to him, then justice must be served.

But if they get the evidence back & it doesn't point to him, then what? I feel really bad for Lauren's family, and I also feel really bad for the other people living around there. Can you imagine if your son or daughter was going to that school (or just living in the area) & this case becomes cold? Most of us have very little control over grown children, but if I couldn't get my child to withdraw from school, I think I'd have to buy a gun & go live there myself. I couldn't stand it.

Why would the police not have a press conference planned? Seems they would want to say something, anything, they're working on it, they have leads ..... anything so people wouldn't be afraid that every stranger they meet could be a murderer, or even people they know possibly. Ugh.

Colonel Mustard said:

Yeah, but I wonder why they would have the lights on if that's all that was going on.

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True. And after hearing the latest news, I'm more inclined to believe they were going back for more evidence.

Van the Man said:

Just signed up & enjoyed reading the discussion. I'm a lawyer in Macon with an office not far from the law school. Regarding the bond hearing: certain crimes must be bonded by a Superior Court Judge, this is done only on Thursdays. A Motion must be filed by the defendant or his lawyer to get a court date. The hearing was not last Thursday since it sounded like his lawyer got on the case too late to file by the deadline. Unless more charges are added by Thursday, I would expect a bond to be set.
As to safety in downtown Macon: there is a high degree of property crime & lots of car break-ins. There was a recent stat on that in the Macon paper I'll try & find. My office has suffered 1 very destructive burglary, a car break-in in daylight, all the copper pipe being stolen 2-3 times, & the front door has been busted out several times, I guess just for fun. However, I run/bike all over downtown with no problems. I see women running & walking dogs often & did today.
As to McD, burglary is considered a rather serious offense by the d.a. & court here. It is a 10 year felony, meaning that is the max. Everyone gets jail time. Some counties in Ga. give you prison time for the 1st offense. The idea is that burglaries often escalate to violence/death. Check out this for an example:
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=139006.
This was on Walnut Street, near the law school.
I see a major problem with burglarizing your classmates in law school. Law school is extremely expensive. Law students I know are very aware of being very careful in all activities to avoid anything close to a crime or you are done & lots of money wasted. Since reports are that McD confessed, I see an anti-social type not thinking clearly. Also one thing law school would instill is "never confess". A disconnect in his thinking going on there.
Sorry this got a little long. I did also drive by the scene around 8pm tonite. More vehicles/cops/media than I have seen before were out.

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Thanks Van! It's nice to get a lawyer's perspective I'm curious...do they actually tell law students to never confess if they're put in a situation to be questioned by police? Hope that all the activity around the apartment means we'll be hearing something soon.

http://www.macon.com/2011/07/12/1629530/police-search-giddings-next-door.html

New story, I see the condoms were accurate.

SaMy: The profs did not say don't confess per se, but we read lots of cases where the only reason someone was convicted was they confessed.

Van the Man said:

http://www.macon.com/2011/07/12/1629530/police-search-giddings-next-door.html

New story, I see the condoms were accurate.

SaMy: The profs did not say don't confess per se, but we read lots of cases where the only reason someone was convicted was they confessed.

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Excellent find! Welcome to WS, Van the Man!

Van the Man said:

Just signed up & enjoyed reading the discussion. I'm a lawyer in Macon with an office not far from the law school. Regarding the bond hearing: certain crimes must be bonded by a Superior Court Judge, this is done only on Thursdays. A Motion must be filed by the defendant or his lawyer to get a court date. The hearing was not last Thursday since it sounded like his lawyer got on the case too late to file by the deadline. Unless more charges are added by Thursday, I would expect a bond to be set.
As to safety in downtown Macon: there is a high degree of property crime & lots of car break-ins. There was a recent stat on that in the Macon paper I'll try & find. My office has suffered 1 very destructive burglary, a car break-in in daylight, all the copper pipe being stolen 2-3 times, & the front door has been busted out several times, I guess just for fun. However, I run/bike all over downtown with no problems. I see women running & walking dogs often & did today.
As to McD, burglary is considered a rather serious offense by the d.a. & court here. It is a 10 year felony, meaning that is the max. Everyone gets jail time. Some counties in Ga. give you prison time for the 1st offense. The idea is that burglaries often escalate to violence/death. Check out this for an example:
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=139006.
This was on Walnut Street, near the law school.
I see a major problem with burglarizing your classmates in law school. Law school is extremely expensive. Law students I know are very aware of being very careful in all activities to avoid anything close to a crime or you are done & lots of money wasted. Since reports are that McD confessed, I see an anti-social type not thinking clearly. Also one thing law school would instill is "never confess". A disconnect in his thinking going on there.
Sorry this got a little long. I did also drive by the scene around 8pm tonite. More vehicles/cops/media than I have seen before were out.

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Hi Van, and welcome to the forum. Thank you for clarifying why there was no bond hearing last Thursday. I know some still had questions about that.

I agree there was a "disconnect" in his thinking, but imo, it goes far beyond admitting to the burglaries. (I'm leaning very heavily toward McD as the perp, and I have a laundry list of reasons.) His lengthy interview is a good example of interrupted reasoning. Once he learned a body was found, he would've known that a homicide investigation would likely ensue, and since he lived next door and was one of the first to enter her apartment, he would be a witness. It doesn't take a law school grad to know at that point you dummy up until you've talked to the police. I listened to that tape again tonight with my husband, and he was as astounded as I with McD's chattiness.

Something is up ... What are they not saying about the burglaries?

The reports, completed hours apart during the early hours of July 1 when McDaniel was arrested, say McDaniel stole a pair of condoms -- one from each of the dwellings he is suspected of entering. No other items are listed as stolen.

The alleged burglaries happened at Apartment Nos. 5 and 9, in back of and down a terraced hillside from McDaniel’s. The alleged victims of the late 2008, early 2009 burglaries, fellow 2011 law graduates whose doors are believed to have been left unlocked when they were supposedly entered, declined to comment Tuesday.

One condom from each apartment? Oh my! Now, did LE find the condoms in his possession? I'm thinking they did, and that's what led to the confession. Since the info about the condoms turned out to be true, then his claim of being a virgin will probably turn out to be true, as well. That was likely his defense when questioned about his sexual activity. But it was difficult to maintain that stance with condoms staring back at him and the police. In other words, in order to protect himself from being charged with LG's murder, he had to convince the police that he stole the condoms. Wow.

I am just left Baffled, puzzled, and with only more questions regarding the condoms that were stolen from two separate fellow students, from two separate apts, and on two separate occasions.. And would love to know where or how they were kept, displayed, or labeled possibly.. We all know they had to have somehow been marked or somehow kept unusually for them to have even been found as items of even possible interest to investigators upon their discovering them.. Otherwise they would have NEVER even questioned in any manner whatsoever..

Does that make sense to anyone what I'm attempting to say?lol..lol:crazy:

Hhhmmmmm... Yes, bessie.. Your theory about the condoms and confession of their being stolen makes sense as a possibility.. So very strange indeed.. Hhhmmmmmm....

Knox said:

Something is up ... What are they not saying about the burglaries?

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I agree. Nearly 3 year old stolen condoms? Bizarre. I cannot think of a single reason why he would confess to that.

New theory: McD likes to go into apartments while their occupants are out. LG goes to Zaxby's at 6:30. McD goes into her apartment thinking she's leaving for a longer period of time. She comes back and catches him in the act and in the struggle he either accidentally or intentionally kills her.

bessie said:

One condom from each apartment? Oh my! Now, did LE find the condoms in his possession? I'm thinking they did, and that's what led to the confession. Since the info about the condoms turned out to be true, then his claim of being a virgin will probably turn out to be true, as well. That was likely his defense when questioned about his sexual activity. But it was difficult to maintain that stance with condoms staring back at him and the police. In other words, in order to protect himself from being charged with LG's murder, he had to convince the police that he stole the condoms. Wow.

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So the theory is that the cops first asked SM about his sexual activity as part of their questioning, and he responded that he was a virgin (the latter not completely confirmed at this point, but likely to be true as well.) Then, when the cops were going through his apt, they found the two condoms and questioned their existence due to his statement that he is a virgin, and at this point he confessed to stealing them from two different neighbors. Why in the world didn't SM just say he was keeping them on hand in case of and in the hopes of one day soon losing his virginity? I know lots of people who are not currently sexually active but still keep condoms around just in case an opportunity presents itself, for lack of a better term. I just don't understand why SM would confess to burglary when he could oh so easily have offered up a completely innocent and totally believable explanation? I'm really baffled by how this guy's mind works. I don't think he has the ability to think quick on his feet, or perhaps he wanted to confess/get caught, either consciously or unconsciously? Any ideas?

Yes Smooth, I'm thinking there is something very different about what he did with those condoms back at his apartment. I mean if it's just two condoms still in the wrapper, what stands out about that?

Could we be talking about used condoms out of the wrapper?

District Attorney Greg Winters also was on the scene, but neither he nor police would say what they were looking for. Winters wouldn’t comment on what led to the new warrant Tuesday.

A bond hearing for McDaniel, who has been held at the Bibb County jail for nearly two weeks on two burglary charges from two winters ago, is scheduled for Thursday in Bibb County Superior Court. Winters said that hearing has no bearing on the speed of the Giddings investigation.

“We’re following where the evidence leads,” he said. “We’re tracking it down.”

Read more: http://www.macon.com/2011/07/12/1629530/police-search-giddings-next-door.html#ixzz1RxNfmHmo​

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The DA was on the scene tonight too, at 7:00 in the evening? I really think something is up, maybe some of the results came back today but there are just not disclosing.

Knox said:

Something is up ... What are they not saying about the burglaries?

The reports, completed hours apart during the early hours of July 1 when McDaniel was arrested, say McDaniel stole a pair of condoms -- one from each of the dwellings he is suspected of entering. No other items are listed as stolen.

The alleged burglaries happened at Apartment Nos. 5 and 9, in back of and down a terraced hillside from McDaniel’s. The alleged victims of the late 2008, early 2009 burglaries, fellow 2011 law graduates whose doors are believed to have been left unlocked when they were supposedly entered, declined to comment Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.macon.com/2011/07/12/1629530/police-search-giddings-next-door.html#ixzz1RxHT3ctB

I have been wondering about what Lauren was wearing that night. I wonder if the video at the drive-thru showed her clothing? If so, was that clothing in her apartment?


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I'll have to go find the link, Knox, but I recall at least one report said only her arm reaching out the window is seen in the restaurant video.

ETA: FWIW

The eatery’s surveillance camera captured a clip of her arm reaching out to grab her order.

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gross question, but were the condoms used?

Mia said:

So the theory is that the cops first asked SM about his sexual activity as part of their questioning, and he responded that he was a virgin (the latter not completely confirmed at this point, but likely to be true as well.) Then, when the cops were going through his apt, they found the two condoms and questioned their existence due to his statement that he is a virgin, and at this point he confessed to stealing them from two different neighbors. Why in the world didn't SM just say he was keeping them on hand in case of and in the hopes of one day soon losing his virginity? I know lots of people who are not currently sexually active but still keep condoms around just in case an opportunity presents itself, for lack of a better term. I just don't understand why SM would confess to burglary when he could oh so easily have offered up a completely innocent and totally believable explanation? I'm really baffled by how this guy's mind works. I don't think he has the ability to think quick on his feet, or perhaps he wanted to confess/get caught, either consciously or unconsciously? Any ideas?

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Another disconnect, I believe, a la Casey Anthony. Something like this:

McD: No sir, I wouldn't do a thing like that. I...I...I'm a virgin.

LEO: Really? Then what are these doing here?

McD:I...they...we...they're not even mine!! I stole them!

LEO: Ha! Right.

McD: No, seriously. I did. That one came from my neighbor in no. 5. He keeps them in the bottom drawer of the nightstand against the wall. The other one came from no. 9. She keeps them...

Chief Burns expression when a reporter asked him if McD was cooperating was very telling. And I also agree with Knox and Smooth that they might've been part of some bizarre collection.

bessie said:

Another disconnect, I believe, a la Casey Anthony. Something like this:

McD: No sir, I wouldn't do a thing like that. I...I...I'm a virgin.

LEO: Really? Then what are these doing here?

McD:I...they...we...they're not even mine!! I stole them!

LEO: Ha! Right.

McD: No, seriously. I did. That one came from my neighbor in no. 5. He keeps them in the bottom drawer of the nightstand against the wall. The other one came from no. 9. She keeps them...

Chief Burns expression when a reporter asked him if McD was cooperating was very telling. And I also agree with Knox and Smooth that they might've been part of some bizarre collection.

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So, I'm confused here...maybe I missed something, but I've never seen the above conversation referenced in any press conference or news article. If I missed it, can you please provide a link? I've been off the site for a bit, but I'm just perplexed because I haven't seen this particular section of dialogue from McDaniel and LE before.