Going West: True Crime - Lauren Giddings // 184

Episode Date: March 19, 2022

In June of 2011, a Law student studying for her bar exam in Georgia suddenly vanished from her apartment. Within days, police would discover something horrifying and it didn’t take long to put the pieces together- especially after a fellow student had a concerning interview with a local news station. This is the story of Lauren Giddings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on, Tukka? Oh my god. Okay, here. Just do it, do it. What is going on, Tukka fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West.

So as some of you probably know that we mentioned weeks ago when we set up our new studio in our Portland house, we face each other finally. And so as the intro music is playing, we just look at each other and laugh and we just can't, like, why is it funny? I don't know. It's really not.

We're just dumb, so. Thank you guys so much for tuning in today. Heath, would you like to start off by thanking the wonderful people who brought this case to us? Yes, yes. Today's case was suggested to us by Terry and Maggie. So we wanted to give them a big thank you. And I had never heard of this case before, but after getting into the details, I was absolutely horrified at what I found. So thank you, Terry, and thank you, Maggie, and thank you everybody and thank you everybody who's listening to this case and also sharing this story. Yes and

before we get into it I just want to mention that we just came out with a brand new episode on Patreon. It is the murder of Ashling Murphy that took place in Ireland actually just a couple months ago. So we released it yesterday on St. Patrick's Day just kind of, you know, to honor her because a lot of things are going on in her hometown, you know, as of St. Patrick's Day, to honor her memory. Yeah, a lot of celebrations for her. Yeah, so a very devastating case. You can check that out and 60 other full-length bonus episodes on patreon.com slash going west podcast. Alright guys, without further ado, this is episode 184 of Going West, so let's get into it. In June of 2011, a beautiful law student studying for her bar exam in Georgia suddenly vanished

from her apartment. No one had heard from her in days, but when a welfare check was conducted, it brought no new clues. The next day, police discovered something horrifying and it didn't take long to put the pieces together, especially after a fellow student had a concerning interview with a local news station. This is the story of Lauren Giddings. Lauren Teresa Giddings was born on April 18, 1984, to parents William, who went by bill, and her mother Karen, into Koma Park, Maryland. Lauren grew up with two younger sisters,

Caitlin and Sarah, in the city of Laurel, Maryland, which hosts a population of just over 25,000 residents. Her father, Bill, owned Giddings Hauling, which is a construction company that specializes in debris cleanup. Laurel is also located about 30 miles southwest of the larger city of Baltimore, which I'm sure most of you know of, and it's also just 40 minutes northeast of Washington, D.C., so she grew up right in between these two cities.

Laurel was raised in a religious Catholic household, and she was an active member in her family's church, which was the St. Mary of Mills Catholic Church right there in Laurel, and this is also where she would attend school from kindergarten to eighth grade. Lauren was smart and loved to read, but she also loved to play sports, and when she enrolled at Atholton High School in Columbia, Maryland, which is 10 miles from where she grew up in Laurel. She joined her school's field hockey team, softball team, and dance club. Yeah, so she was very busy. Yeah, very busy gal. Laurel was described as the type of person who could make any one smile, and she was

super outgoing with definitely like a larger than life personality that often made her the center of attention. She had long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes and you'd be pressed to find a photo for not smiling. Seriously, she's always smiling. Lauren graduated from high school in 2002 and after graduation she moved to Georgia to attend Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, where she majored in political science and minored in religious studies, but she was also able to join her college's softball team, which was something that she absolutely loved.

And this was huge because Lauren was the first person in her family to attend college, and she was extremely driven and ambitious, so her family was very proud of her. And in 2006, she earned her undergrad degree. Lauren then moved back to the area that she grew up in, but a little bit closer to DC, where she worked for the National Center for Public Policy as an intern. And this gave her the experience to take her career to the next level,

because Lauren aspired to be a lawyer, but not just any lawyer. Lauren wanted to become a public defender and represent those that she felt needed counsel the most. She just wanted to help people in any way that she could. So in 2008, Lauren headed back down south to Georgia where she began attending Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law and Macon, Georgia. University, Walter F. George School of Law, and Macon, Georgia. And Macon is located in the center of the state, and it has a population of about 150,000 people.

Macon is also just an hour south of the much bigger city of Atlanta. Lauren moved into a place at the Barrister's Hall Apartments, located off of Georgia Avenue, which were a set of apartments owned by Mercer Law School alumni and made for law students specifically. And it was just across the street from her law school building, so this was perfect for Lauren. She couldn't be any close to the school, and the apartment complex was quiet, hosting only 16 units in total, some of which had a separate office for studying, and she lived on the

second floor of two floors which she loved. She also became the president of the Federalist Society of her law school, and the group was described as quote, An organization of 60,000 lawyers, law students, scholars, and other individuals who believe and trust that individual citizens can make the best choices for themselves and society. It was founded in 1982 by a group of law students interested in making sure that the principles of limited government embodied in our constitution receive a fair hearing. That was a mouthful. That was that was a lot. So Lauren also brought along the most precious part of her life. Her fluffy little peeking these dog that she named Butterbeen. She would carry around Butterbeen everywhere she went even when she was running errands in her Mitsubishi

Gallant convertible. It appeared that Lauren was I mean honestly like the real life L would. She really was honestly. Yeah I mean she had life L Woods. She really was, honestly. Yeah, I mean, she had her little dog. She was always wearing pink. She was fashionable. And she was a stunningly beautiful law student who always had men chasing after her. And in fact, she had caught the eye of an older man

by the name of David Van Devere back in 2007, just after she earned her undergrad degree. David, who was two decades older than Lauren, had met her at a golf tournament for the National Center for Public Policy, which was being held for a co-worker who passed away from cancer. The two headed off immediately, and although there was a bit of an age gap, David and Lauren shared the same humor and wit, and they began dating shortly after meeting. David really liked Lauren's taste for life, and just the fact that she read the Economist

and watched the History Channel. And she was also the person who encouraged the company that she interned at to celebrate Pink Wednesday, which is something that she came up with in order to have a little fun at the office. Some people do casual Fridays. Yeah, they had pink Wednesdays. Yeah, Lauren did pink Wednesday. So the couple were always on the go as well,

whether they were snowboarding in Colorado or taking a short trip to Vegas for the weekend. But they did have their own careers to think about. So it seemed like over the years, there had been a few breakups here and there with each person seeing other partners. But in 2011, when Lauren was 27 and David was 48, their relationship seemed pretty steady. David was living in

Atlanta at the time, so there was a bit of distance, but they were able to see each other pretty often. And Lauren wasn't alone in Macon because she had other law students as friends that she spent a lot of time with and she was a total social butterfly, you know, always making friends wherever she went. And one fellow law student, later set of Lauren, you were the glue that kept us all together. So it seems like, you know, Lauren is just a natural leader and people gravitate towards her. Absolutely. So in May of 2011, Lauren's life became extremely busy. She was graduating from Mercer University, and not only that, but she was tasked with

being the maid of honor at her sister, Caitlin's wedding, a month later in June. Lauren was excited to be done with school, but her next career task was just kind of looming over her. She had to pass the Georgia Bar exam. But before that grueling task, Lauren was headed back home to see family and prepare for her sister's wedding. On June 17, 2011, Kaitlyn Giddings became Kaitlyn Wheeler, and the celebration back in Maryland was a much needed break for Lauren. But she knew that she had a lot of work to do if she was going to pass the bar exam. So a few days after the wedding, Lauren headed back down to her make an apartment to hit the

books. She told her family that she would be, quote, locking herself away. And if they didn't hear from her for a few days, it was because she was hard at work. Well, that appeared to be the case because no one, including Lauren's friends or her family, had heard from her. But when her best friend, a woman named Kadyo Hare, whom she had known all of her life tried to reach out to her about something important and Lauren didn't respond, important and Lauren didn't respond, she knew that something was wrong. It was now Wednesday, June 29, 2011 and Lauren's best friend that she had known since kindergarten, again, Katie O'Hare, was concerned that she was unable to get in touch with Lauren after several attempts.

So Katie decided to call the other friend of Lauren Lawrence and the third to their, you know, lifelong friendship trio, a woman named Lori Supsick to see if she had heard from Lauren in the past few days. Lori didn't answer immediately, but after her sister, who was also her roommate, said, why is Katie calling me? Lori knew that it had to be something important, so she called Katie back. Katie explained to Laurie that she couldn't get in touch with Lauren and asked if she had heard anything, but Laurie hadn't. Although, days prior, Laurie had sent Lauren a text message, sorry, I know, this is kind of confusing Laurie and Lauren, but Laurie had sent Lauren

a text message, something that she knew Lauren would respond to. I think it was something like a joke. She had sent her some sort of joke, and she's like, oh, Lauren would definitely respond to this. Right, and that's why she was confused when she didn't receive an answer. But then again, Lauren did tell everyone that she was going to be a shut-in for a while,

while she studied for the bar. So Laurie wasn't too alarmed. one that she was going to be a shut-in for a while, you know, while she studied for the bar. So Lori wasn't too alarmed. After speaking with Katie, Lori attempted to call Lauren again, but the call went straight to voicemail. In the meantime, Katie O'Hare, the friend, called Lauren's sister, Caitlin Wheeler, who was also concerned that she couldn't reach Lauren. So there was a bit of panic surrounding the situation because multiple very important

people in Lauren's life are trying to reach her, but no one could seem to get through. So again, obviously she did say, I'll be studying, I'm a shudder, but it's not like she's literally blocking herself off from the world completely. Right, you would think that you would take a call from your sister or your best friend. You got us like eat and go to bed and have at least a little time to relax. So this was definitely weird. Yeah, exactly. And on top of this, Lauren's sister Katelyn knew of a friend and fellow law student named Ashley Moorehouse who was still living in the area after graduation. And she asked Ashley if it was possible for

her to run by Lauren's apartment and check on her and she agreed to do this. Ashley was headed to a Mexican restaurant in the area that night anyway, and Lauren's place was on the way, so she made a pit stop, arriving at Lauren's sometime between 6.30 and 7pm on Wednesday night. Ashley saw Lauren's Mitsubishi Gallant outside in the parking lot so she figured that Lauren was there. So she walked up to the front facing stairs to the second floor and knocked on apartment 2, Lauren's apartment. But nobody answered. So Ashley, who was going to be late for her dinner date, explained to Caitlin through text that she could stop back by later and check again. The next

few hours were filled with Caitlin reaching out to everyone that she could think of, that new Lauren. But absolutely no one had any information and hadn't spoke with Lauren in days. Well, and this is even more alarming now because somebody went to her apartment and she didn't answer the door. So she's not answering the phone and now she's supposedly inside her apartment but she's not coming to the door.

This is very scary now. Yeah, and it even gets more alarming. So Caitlin had the idea to check Lauren's social media and her email, something that Lauren used every day. Caitlin had the passwords to Lauren's social media and her email, something that Lauren used every day. Caitlin had the passwords to Lauren's accounts, and upon logging in, she realized that Lauren hadn't used her Facebook or her email in days either. So this was the final push that led Caitlin to contact police, not realizing that Lauren's friend, Lori Subsick, had already done so. Lauren had an officer sent to Lauren's apartment at 10pm that night to conduct a welfare check.

But just like Ashley, the officer wasn't able to locate Lauren. The officer also noted that there was no sign of forced entry and proposed to Lori Subsick that Lauren may have gone on a trip for a few days, which is kind of a weird thing to suggest considering she was supposed to be studying. I don't know if this officer is just trying not to think of the worst case scenario, but it just feels like a weird thing to suggest like oh maybe she went on a trip like that's so random. Maybe she went to Disneyland. Right, you know, Laurie was absolutely not convinced and even became frustrated with the officer who told her that she was also not allowed to file a missing person's report until 24

hours later. This information was relayed to Lauren Sister Caitlin and she gave the go ahead for Ashley Moore House to drop by and use Lauren's spare key that she kept in a white vase on her patio table to get inside Lauren's apartment. Ashley, who felt kind of unsure of what she may find inside the apartment, had brought along a few of her law school classmates with her, you know, as kind of some protection. Because at this point, they have no idea what the hell is happening. Yeah, and it's kind of a suspicious scenario,

so she doesn't just want to go walking into the apartment alone. Right, I don't blame her at all. Yeah. When the students entered Lauren's apartment, her keys and purse were on the couch, and her cell phone was on her bed, but the battery was dead, and

Lauren was nowhere to be found. One student turned on Lauren's phone, and that's when they discovered that Lauren hadn't made any calls, or sent any texts, since Saturday June 25th. And again, this is happening on Wednesday June 29th, so that was days ago. Yeah, like four days prior. Lauren's schoolbooks and laptop were also still in her apartment, and it really didn't seem like there was any sort of foul play, or that there had been, you know, a struggle at all. The only thing missing was Lauren's student ID card. So Ashley and the fellow students explained to Lauren's sister that everything you would need to take with you on a trip

was still in Lauren's apartment. So this made the whole situation so much more confusing. Caitlin told Ashley and the other students to go outside and lock the door behind them and then call police. An officer was sent back over to the apartment at 12.52am, so now we're in to June 30th here, and checked out the place while Ashley and the others walked around the complex checking everywhere that they could, just hoping that Lauren had either been out late studying on campus, or that she was at a bar and was on her way home.

But hours passed, and after 3am rolled around, and Lauren still wasn't home, Ashley and the classmates left the complex, all feeling that something was terribly wrong. The next morning, Lauren's longtime friend, Laurie, was sitting in her Chicago apartment too worried to even make it into work that day so she called out.

But as she sat scrolling through an online feed, she came across a startling headline. A body had been discovered at the Barrister's Hall apartments in Macon, Georgia where Lauren lived. At approximately 9.40am on Thursday, June 30, 2011, officers from the Macon Police Department found what appeared to be a human torso wrapped in black plastic in a rolling dumpster outside of Lawrence apartment. They were unsure if it belonged to Lauren because it was the only body part found, but they really, of course, did have a very

strong suspicion that it was, especially because of how suspicious her disappearance was at this point. They also uncovered a hacksaw hidden in the apartment's laundry room that had dried blood on it. Just as all of this was happening, Lauren's mother Karen was about to board a plane to Georgia to help search for her daughter, but when the news broke and Lauren's sister, Caitlin, heard about a body part being discovered, she immediately called her mom and told her not to get on the plane, explaining that

she didn't want her to be there and that Lauren was likely deceased, which sadly DNA would later confirm. News quickly spread about the body part that had been found and Lauren's disappearance and media outlets descended upon this little apartment complex, interviewing anyone who is willing to talk. That's when a news anchor named Michelle Quassada, who worked for a station called WGXA, had a very interesting conversation with a 25-year-old man named Steven Mark McDaniel. Steven McDaniel was a fellow law student of Lawrence who lived right next door to her in the complex. He was a timid and lanky guy with unkept long curly puffy hair and a bit of facial scruff as well. In the afternoon of June 30th, Stephen was standing outside of his apartment watching

the commotion of police investigating the area when he was approached by news anchor Michelle Quassada who wanted to ask him what he thought of the situation and what he might possibly know. And since that clip is available, we're going to play part of it for you now. And I know one's heard from her since. And do you see her hanging out with anyone at the time I see my dad? I mean, no, no, no one has seen her since Saturday. I haven't seen anything. I mean, I've

always seen noise outside, but people walking by pretty much. And she just recently graduated from person? Yeah, we were both JD students. We graduated back in May. What kind of person was she on me? How did you, what did you see? I mean, she's as nice as can be. I mean, very personable, very much people person.

Do you know anybody that, and the enemies you might have had somebody that I want to hurt her? No, I Were we all know where she is. I mean The only thing we can think is that maybe she went out running and someone snatched her I was I mean we went at we went over one of her friends had a key we went inside and tried to see if there was anything a miss but I mean she had a door jam that was sitting right by it, so there was no sign that anyone broke in. I mean door was locked when everyone got here. I mean we just don't know where she is.

What about in the parking lot area? I know they've been doing a lot of, I think that's where they have recovered the body or whatever they recovered from there. Adi? Had you heard it? It had just seen anything there? a lot of I think that's where they have recovered the body or whatever they recovered from there. Adi. Had you heard it? Had you seen anything there? Had you seen anything there? I mean we don't know if this is the same person.

You know what I mean? Like they took out a body there earlier. We don't know if this is the same person or not. That's how we're trying to ask people if they know who live there. Are you okay, sir? I think I need to sit down. Okay. I'm going to go. Are you okay, sir?

I think I need to sit down. Okay. So at this part, he kind of like slowly walks away from the camera and sits down with his back facing the camera like he sits like on the sidewalk. And here is the next part of the clip when he I guess kind of processes and starts to kind of break down. And starts to, and it comes back for the interview. You've been studying for the bar? I know I had seen her since Saturday because we all just, there's not a lot of interaction

unless we're doing classes. She was doing online version of it. You all studied together, though? Yeah. There's two different people, there's two companies that provide it. Capcom provides it and Barbie provides it. I signed up with Barbry and I've been doing the lectures that they have in the mornings. She was doing the Kaplan online, so I hardly ever saw her. I would see her go out running, but I... What time was she go out running?

I don't even know when I... At night or morning? I saw her midday a couple of weeks ago. I mean, that was the last time I saw her. I was coming back from the bar prep on the main campus because we got moved over there for a week or two. She normally would run.

That was the thing. She ran all the time. She had a group that she would go running with. I don't know anyone that would going to hurt her. She was as nice person as there is. She was going to be moving out today. She was supposed to move out today because someone else was going to be moving into our apartment. You need to be lost. Do you know if she was lying? Where she from?

She from Maryland? Yeah, she's from up in Maryland. I'm not going to step this on you so we can do this. Is that all right? Okay. I'm so sorry. And you can just hold off. Thank you.

You're she's from Maryland? Yeah, I mean, she, she was from up in Maryland. I think all her family was there as far as I know. I mean she... What's going on in your mind right now? What do you think? Why would anyone do this? I heard something, but maybe I could have held it.

Okay, it's all right. Now before we move on, let's talk a little bit about Stephen McDaniel. Stephen was born on September 9, 1985, to parents Mark and Glenda McDaniel, and he grew up in the Atlanta suburb of Lil' Burn. Is that how you say it? I think so, Lil' Burn. Lil' Burn, okay. Stephen was an intelligent child who could be described as pretty nerdy and he enjoyed puzzles, star wars, and he and his father would often watch like

samurai films together. Steven didn't have a lot of friends as a kid, but he was passionate about learning and looked up to American figures like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. He was also a very orderly child and kept everything in his life very neat and clean, earning the nickname Mr. Clean by his family. When Steven was in his teens, he sang alto in the Atlanta Boys Choir, and he became very involved in his church. So much so that he joined a faith group that traveled around the state of Georgia and helped restore old churches and places of worship.

Steven graduated from high school in 2004 with honor role and he was actually voted most likely to become famous due to his writing skills. And because Steven worked so hard in school, he was awarded a presidential scholarship to attend Mercer University. And in his first four years, Steven majored in business, but after he finished his undergrad, he enrolled at Mercer University's law school, just like Lauren. So it's kind of interesting because this apartment complex, the Barrister's Hall apartments,

they're like we said, made specifically for law students. So everybody who lived in those apartments were going right across the street to law school. Right. So they knew each other. Exactly. Yeah, they definitely knew each other. So Steven mainly kept to himself. He wasn't known to go out and party.

He rarely drank alcohol and rarely even left his apartment unless it pertained to school. He was, however, the vice president of the Federalist Society, which we talked about earlier, at the time when Lauren was the president. So they did know each other you know pretty well i'd say while attending law school loren and steven and moved into the barrister hall apartments separately of course as we mentioned earlier and in two thousand eight steven had asked loren out on a few occasions

yeah i mean if you see pictures of Stephen definitely not Lauren's type. They are very different. I mean like we mentioned he's you know nothing wrong with being nerdy and I'm not you know insulting his appearance at all but he's definitely you know kind of a nerdier dude and she's a timid little mousey man. Yeah that's how I would explain him. Timid mousey man. And then obviously she is just this very fashionable, girly girl, just absolutely on different levels. Yeah so Lauren was not interested in him and on top of that she already had a boyfriend, David who was living in Atlanta.

That's right. But Lauren who was always kind to everyone made sure to let Stephen down easy and not hurt his feelings. The two remained acquaintances and some would even say that they were sort of friends. Stephen had even met Lauren's family briefly when they were visiting her in Georgia at her apartment. Stephen was considered ultra conservative by those who knew him and one classmate recounted that Stephen yelled out in class that quote, Obama was a communist.

He was an oddball, often wearing chainmail to class. He would. And obsessively talking about zombie apocalypse scenarios and asking classmates how they would pull off the perfect murder plot. Yeah, it's like he's that student. He's that guy. Yeah, he's that peer. So one neighbor who lived below Stephen plot.

So one neighbor who lived below Stephen in the apartment complex recalled quote, he would run from room to room and oh could he curse. She also explained that in the three years she lived by Stephen, she never once saw him have any visitors. Another classmate had this to say about Steven. Steven McDaniel does seem like a pretty weird guy. Every image of him online shows this wild, herred and squirrely character, as I mentioned, Mouse Man.

That kind of summons mental images of the Simpsons character, Side Show Bob. The first time I saw a photo of Stephen I was like that's fucking side show Bob. Totally see it. But just because Stephen was a strange guy that didn't automatically mean that he was a killer. So police looked into Lauren's boyfriend David as a person of interest but they discovered that he had been in California on a golf trip during the time that Lauren went missing, but he did receive an alarming email from Lauren just before her disappearance.

She told David that she was scared that someone was watching her, and that she didn't feel safe being at her apartment alone. And by the way, this wasn't the first time she had mentioned that she felt someone was watching her. She actually said this to her sister a year prior. That just makes this case that much creepier. Yeah. So the email started with quote,

I just had an awkward conversation with a friend stating that she had spoken with a person who was prying about she and David's relationships. So somebody who was asking her a lot about her relationship and she mentioned that someone had tried to break into her apartment the previous Thursday night, but she chalked it up to what she referred to as, make-in hoodlums.

David didn't respond to this email because he would be back in Georgia soon and figured that they could talk in person. Yeah, so it's kind of strange here because she obviously feels like somebody is watching her. She also, I've read one article that said that someone had broken into her apartment and things were moved around. So she's kind of sketched out, but she's also so busy with the bar exam that she just, she can't really bother with this right now. Right, so which is horrible because obviously

if she is feeling threatened in her day-to-day, but she still has to be in her apartment to study and do this for a few days and her boyfriend's not in town, it's like not a good situation. Yeah, exactly. So now that you know a little bit about Steven, let's get back to the day that he was interviewed by the news station on June 30, 2011.

Before that interview just before noon, Lawrence neighbors were asked to come to the police station to give statements about Lawrence disappearance, and to give consent to search their apartments for any clues leading to Lawrence' whereabouts. And everybody agreed, except for one person, Stephen. When asked by officers why Stephen wouldn't consent, he said, quote, it's the lawyer in me. I'm just always protective of my space. So right off the bat, detectives became a bit suspicious of Stephen, especially when they learned that the night that Ashley Moore House and fellow students were in Lauren's apartment searching for her, Stephen had actually stopped by to help,

something that Ashley later said made her feel really uncomfortable. After some convincing, Stephen did allow officers to search his apartment under the supervision of him, of course. But while they searched his place that morning, Stephen appeared to be unhinged. He was sweating profusely, and he drank almost 10 bottles of water while detectives were there. You're guilt-a-showing. Yeah, a little bit, huh? Investigators seem to be very hot on Stephen's trail, but they didn't have enough to arrest

him. That is, until officers found condoms in Stephen's trail, but they didn't have enough to arrest him. That is, until officers found condoms in Stephen's apartment. And no, he was not arrested for practicing safe sex, and you're probably wondering what the Stephen means. Yeah. Well, during an initial interview on the morning of June 30th, the day the torso was found, Stephen told investigators that he wanted to remain celibate until marriage due to his Christian faith.

Now remembering Stephen's celibacy comment, investigators later asked him in his apartment why he would have condoms. And Stephen replied, oh, I stole them from someone else's apartment. Well, I don't know why you would admit that. Why would you even- Yeah, you just admitted to breaking and entering. But not only that, like, that still doesn't explain why you have them, so what you're saying is still irrelevant.

Yeah, and you're also just making yourself look so fucking suspicious. And make yourself look like not only the breaking and entering thing, but that you're going into other people's apartments and you're building while we're talking about someone in your building being murdered. Yeah. So detectives couldn't arrest him on murder charges, but since he had just admitted to breaking and entering, that was enough to arrest Stephen McDaniel and bring him in for questioning. It was this little crumb that investigators needed to get him in an interrogation room. So that night, Steven was taken down to the police station,

and at 11.08 p.m., Detective David Patterson walked into the interview room. Steven was wearing a pair of flip flops, a navy colored shirt, and jean shorts, or jorts, as I like to call them. And he was almost comatose in his posture, not moving, but staring straight forward. I mean, when you look at the,

because this is also on YouTube, if you guys want to check it out, we'll post a clip. He looks very creepy. He's just like staring at the wall. So as Detective Patterson broke the ice with Steven in the interview room, Steven replied in a very mousy and monotone voice.

Almost every answer was yes, no, or I don't know. Detective Patterson asked Stephen why he was shutting down and all Stephen could say was I don't know. Patterson began to get frustrated saying, you know, you know, you do know, snap out of it. How many times you're going to say that you don't know? And of course, Steven's response was, you guessed it, I don't know. God smack this guy. I know.

So another detective entered the room at 11.35 pm and began to grill Steven himself, telling him that they found blood in his apartment and that he, quote, didn't get it all up. But Steven remained silent. Just after midnight, photographs of Stephen's body were taken and detectives noticed that he had some fresh scratches on his stomach,

which Stephen said he must have done to himself in his sleep. Yeah, right. Yeah. But detectives knew otherwise. That entire night was spent questioning Steven without getting anywhere. But when the questioning was done, detectives had one thing, the burglary arrest, which ensured that Steven would sit in jail until they could find more evidence against him. Stephen had stolen one single condom from two separate apartments in his complex telling police that the doors were unlocked so he just entered.

That doesn't mean you can go in and also why are you taking condoms? Like, that makes no sense. And why are you taking one single condom? One single condom from two different apartments. It's just the weirdest thing. It's bizarre. But just before the detectives left the room, they took a few hairs from Stephen's head saying, quote, somebody always leaves something behind.

You're not going to win. There's too much evidence. So with Stephen now in jail, detectives had to get to work to put the pieces together. Initially in Lauren's apartment, there was no blood found anywhere. But when a lumenol test was conducted in Lawrence bathroom, investigators were shocked. The test indicated that there was blood all over the bathroom and inside the bathtub that had been cleaned meticulously. But that wasn't the kicker,

because when police obtained a search warrant for Stevens' apartment, they were baffled at what they found. This is what detectives seized from their search. So detectives found two handguns, a rifle, rope, four baseball bats, a bayonet, a chainmail vest, a camera, a laptop, a cell phone, an external car drive and memory card reader receipts a green scrub sponge, two keys and

a journal. Police also took Stephen's car, which was a 1997 black geoprism with a bumper sticker on the back that said, pray. But here's the shocking part. Detectives found the sleeve to a hacksaw, but the hacksaw was missing. And remember earlier, we talked about how a hacksaw was found in the laundry room. Yep. They also found 52 indecent images of children on a memory stick and a pair of women's underwear that after being tested for DNA, proved to belong to Lauren Giddings.

Detectives also found that Steven would often switch between porn sites where he would watch dismemberment videos and rape videos to searching Lauren's Facebook and her Twitter page as well as her LinkedIn. He even searched, quote, nude Lauren Giddings on numerous occasions. This is so weird because why would this possibly come up in a Google search? Yeah, I don't know what he was thinking what he's he thought he was going to find nude pictures of loren why would those be online it's not like she's you know uh... celebrity with a sex tape you know exactly i don't know what he was thinking maybe he was just hoping in prang

crossing his fingers or something creepy uh... but also on numerous occasions uh... he would search molest sleeping girl and how to permanently erase search history. This guy is so messed up. So messed up. So he would see Lauren when they were outside of the apartment

and be friendly and stuff. And then as soon as he got into his apartment, he's searching like murder porn and Lauren's name. So obviously this was enough to officially charge Stephen McDaniel with first-degree murder on August 2nd, 2011. The keys that detectives confiscated from Stephen's apartment actually ended up being Master Keys to the whole freaking complex, which would give Stephen access to any unit on the property, including Lawrence. So I'm assuming that Stephen probably stole these keys.

I mean, I'm assuming that as well. I should not have these. He's not a maintenance guy or a manager or anything. And also during the early days of the investigation, a man named Sad Money, and no, that's not a made-up name, called the Macon Police, and told them that he used to be Steven's old roommate during his undergrad and that Steven would often tell him that he would commit the perfect murder and get away with it. So obviously not only this we had mentioned before of the things that classmates said about

him so this dude is just like fucking weird. Yeah. On August 3rd of 2011, Steven pled not guilty to his murder charges, but he was charged on August 23rd for the indecent images of children and the burglary charges, so he remained in jail until his trial which was set to begin in May of 2014. But in a twist of events, just a week before Steven was set to go to trial, he finally confessed to killing Lauren. That means that Steven would forego a trial altogether and he was quickly sentenced to life in prison at the age of 28, but he will be eligible for parole

in the year of 2041 at the age of 55. Stephen relayed what really happened to Lauren Giddings. On Sunday, June 26, 2011, at 4.30am, Stephen wearing a mask and gloves entered Lauren's apartment using the master key that he had for the complex. He then entered Lauren's room where he watched her sleep for a short period of time, but then the floor creaked and Lauren woke up to a masked man standing over her bed. Lauren yelled at the intruder, get the fuck out, before Steven jumped on top of her and

wrapped his hands around Lauren's neck. At some point during this struggle, Steven's mask came off, and Lauren noticed him and said, Steven stop. Then they fell to the floor, and Steven continued to strangle Lauren to death. Steven then dragged Lauren's lifeless body to her bathroom and placed her in the bathtub. After that over the next few days, he used the hacksaw that he had purchased from Walmart to dismember her body and place her body parts in separate black plastic bags, which he then disposed of in different dumpsters all around campus. Then he cleaned up the blood

before disposing of one last body part, the torso, and the dumpster outside of his apartment. That was incredibly stupid, and I'm glad he did that, but that is incredibly stupid to put it at the frickin' apartment. And the crazy thing is on June 30th, when the investigation officially began, the garbage trucks were due to come by that day and pick up the trash. But they were blocked by police units surrounding the area. So if police had not searched that day, there would likely be no trace of Lauren ever found, because no other body parts were ever discovered after a very extensive search effort. Steven later explained that he had been stalking Lauren and would often use a camera attached

to a stick to spy on her through her apartment window discreetly. And I did read some reports that said that a friend had noticed that Stephen or that somebody was spying on Lauren through her apartment window with a camera attached to a stick So the reports are kind of conflicting there either way. We know it happened and it's freaky as hell In 2018, Stephen appealed his sentence under the claim that his constitutional rights had been violated during the investigation, but also while he awaited his trial. However, a Georgia judge denied his appeal. It seemed as if this was one last act, where Steven could play lawyer because, you know, his future of becoming one was completely gone now.

After Lauren's murder her boyfriend David told the media quote, it's been hell. Time as some people say heals all wounds and if it does, it hasn't even begun yet. That's so tragic. He really loved her. I mean, it's just such a brutal crime and also the fact that this guy, you know, she was so nice to him. He, she rejected him, but she reportedly did so nicely. She was nice to everybody and he was seemingly

just obsessed with her. Yeah. A college fund was set up in Lauren's name for students who are academically fit, but unable to pay for tuition. And Lauren's mother Karen said, quote, I talked to a priest friend of mine and he said, she's not floating around.

She's at this heavenly banquet. There's a feast and there's wine. So I tried to visualize that because that is Lauren. At Lauren's alma mater, Agnes Scott College, a softball tournament was set up where her former team, the Scottish, played in order to raise money for Lauren's college fund. The athletes, of course, all wore pink and the tournament was properly named the Butterbeen Tournament. Something Lauren would have absolutely loved. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this tragic episode of Going West. And on Tuesday, we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. I almost forgot what day it was. This case reminds me a little bit of the Ashley Young case that we covered. I can remember. Definitely. It has very similar tones to it.

Just both absolutely devastating cases. Neither of these murders should have occurred. And it's really interesting, too, to think back, to that interview that we played of Steven, when they tell him that they found a body part and knowing that he murdered her and watching his reaction, you know, he's probably like, oh fuck. Yeah, like I'm totally screwed up.

And that's that's kind of like the best, like the cherry on top is when he realizes because he thought, you know, he got away with it. Right, but sadly it comes across as, and even the interviewer, the news reporter, is kind of treating it like, hey, are you okay? Yeah. Because he's also acting like this stunned friend,

like, no, she's dead. But he's like internally freaking the fuck out. Right, so it worked out for him in that moment because it came across as shock and grief versus guilt, but watching it with what we know it's like oh you're you're freaking out because you're caught. Exactly. And how could I forget when he's crying or fake crying and saying why would someone do this to her and maybe if I I would hurt something I could have stopped them like how dare you., and he also talks about the fact that, oh, like, I would have given her one of my guns.

I have a gun in my apartment. I could have given her one for protection. It's like, dude, you are such a piece of shit. Such! Oh my God. So thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. Thank you for sharing the show. We love you guys so much.

Every time you tell a friend or give us a nice review on Apple Podcast. It really helps our show and we appreciate you guys so much. Also, if you guys want to hang out with us at CrimeCon, head over to CrimeCon.com and use our code going west to get 10% off of your standard bag. Yes, it's a little over a month away so we are fast approaching so make sure to get your tickets, reserve your hotels, unless you live locally, all that good stuff, and hopefully we'll see you there. And let's hang out. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 2.5% 2.5%

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