I agree with SiberianSleuth on that point, I think it was most likely personal.
If the killer is in fact intelligent and careful, then the torso was an intentional message. If they had put the torso in a dumpster this would have probably turned into an unsolved missing persons case.
If the killer is lucid and careful I am feeling a lot of hate in the manner of body disposal and what it implies directly and indirectly. If they did indeed find a part or two in local trash cans, and the torso near her door...what is the message? What is expected from neighbors and police? Look through the landfill, look through TRASH, look out for the odd smells of foul, putrid flesh. That is what is left of her and everyone has to focus on that fact, she was not just killed or mutilated, she was humiliated in death and reduced to well...
That message seems pretty blatant in my mind. Could it just be a weird kink added on to a perverted crime? Well yes it could, but how often have we EVER heard about that happening to a "random victim" intentionally?
I don't see hate in the manner of disposal, I see a frantic attempt to rid oneself of evidence one otherwise had hoped to keep. More consistent with hate would be some gruesome display of the torso with the limbs arranged in a spiteful, grotesque manner.
Her torso was dumped on the side of the building only after the search began, if you wanted to send a message why wait so many days after she was least heard from and risk being caught dumping a body in the middle of a search? Think of all the "message" crimes from the past, bodies displayed, arranged, in plain view for some innocent neighbor to come across. And if the unsub is so fixated on taunting police, why hasn't he done the same thing with the limbs?
If you are so motivated to taunt the police that you are willing to risk your life and freedom just to dump the body while they search the property, why waste the chance to leave a macabre trail of breadcrumbs with the rest of her for the police to find? That would extend the game almost indefinitely. I have heard no confirmed reports of frozen body parts in trash cans, but I received a similarly unconfirmed tip by someone on my website who claims to have connections to LE that other bodies were discovered:
"Sent an anonymous question earlier applauding your efforts, but in my search for more answers I found my way to web sleuths, and saw you posted there also. I see a lot of curious questions, and am having a hell of a time registering on that site, so I was wondering if you would feel like emailing me. I live in Macon close to the scene and my aunt and uncle live next door. I have a lot of good info (facts) and a fair bit of semi-confirmed info (from detectives and cops on the scene), that I would love to share with that community and see their's and your feedback. I'm afraid Giddings was one of several bodies found."
I would be shocked if the police found other bodies and aren't reporting that. I'm not sure they can even keep that secret? But then again I've heard some less than stellar reviews of Georgia LE [not passing judgement, I have no firsthand experience with them] so who knows.
Back to what I was saying--frozen body parts in trash cans, but a torso dumped right there on the grounds of the complex? If this person wanted to play a game with the public and police, why not place the body parts in places that would be truly shocking, traumatizing? When killers want to make a statement, they make a statement. Think of the Gainesville "Ripper" Danny Rollings, he staged one of his crime scenes so that when police walked in they saw the decapitated head of the victim staring down and her beheaded body. He moved furniture around to make the scene just so.
Lauren's killer had plenty of time to do all kinds of elaborate things to send a message to the cops, no one came looking for her for days. Rollings staged that scene in the midst of a murder spree that had the cops actively patrolling for the killer.
This unsub had time, he had opportunity, and what he did with it doesn't look to me like a game so much as it does a consequence of being somewhat frantic.
As for personal or not, it's not unusual for cannibalistic crimes to be perpetrated by someone with a fixation of some sort on the victim. But whoever it was, I don't think he was extremely close to her because no attempt was made to conceal her identity. The dismemberment in no way concealed her identity because she was dumped proverbially on her front lawn and everyone knows about DNA comparisons by now so the killer knew she would be identified.
Doesn't appear to me he worried he would be linked to her because he played no major role in her life, unlike those who dismember their spouses and hide the remains because they would be suspect #1 if their spouse were found murdered.
I'm still wondering about McDaniel, he's one of 2 POI's, I'm dying to know who the other POI is and what they did to be among the ranks of McDaniel who was breaking into the apartments to steal personal items. That's pretty incriminating.
