Morbid - Eastern Air Lines Flight 401

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

Just before midnight on December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, traveling from New York to Miami, crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing nearly two thirds of the passengers on board. Crashing into the swamp softened the landing and likely saved dozens, but the remote location made rescue efforts complicated and required a cooperative effort between first responders and local civilians.The crash came at a difficult time for the airline industry, following closely on a number of several high-profile hijackings and examples of equipment malfunctions that negatively affected ticket sales. This only got worse when the investigation into Flight 401 was concluded and the cause of the crash was determined to be operator error when the flight crew became distracted and unaware that the autopilot had switched itself off.In the months and years that followed, several Eastern Air employees and survivors of Flight 401 began reporting sightings of the ghosts of crew members and passengers who died in the crash. Although Eastern Air went out of their way to deny any sightings, the stories spread and became a part of Florida folklore as the subject of books, television films, and even a public spectacle as part of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s Occult Museum in Connecticut.Thank you to the glorious David White, of Bring Me the Axe podcast, for research assistance :)References:Aguila, Grethel. 2022. "'We're down.' Flight 401 crashed in Miami 50 years ago." Miami Herald, December 21: A3.Associated Press. 1980. "Eastern still fighting ghost." Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 28: 52.Baxter, Mike. 1972. "Rescue armada mobilized within half hour." Miami Herald, December 31: 15.Fuller, John. 1976. The Ghost of Flight 401. New York, NY: Berkley Publishing Corporation.Jenkins, Greg. 2005. Florida's Ghostly Legends And Haunted Folklore: South And Central Florida (volume one). Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press.Kay, Jennifer. 2007. "Everglades jet crash haunts hero." Rocky Mountain News, December 26.National Transportation Safety Board. 1973. Aircraft Accident Reports: Eastern Air Lines L-1011, N310EA. Aircraft accident report, Washington D.C.: National Transportation Safety Board.Orlando Evening Star. 1972. "Stewardess sings carols to survivors." Orlando Evening Star, December 30: 1.Star Services. 1972. "Many survive Everglades jet crash." Orlando Evening Star, December 30: 1.Times-News. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. And I am Ash. And this is an ash-centric morbid. Who? Who? Who freaking who? Very excited. And on the holiday week.

Look at us just gifting you. The holiday whizzle. We're going to take time off, but then we were like, no. Nay. Nay, say I. Yes, correct. Let's just keep on trucking. So here we are.

It's late because it's the holiday week. But it's better. But it's here. Better late than never. Better late than never. That's what I say. I don't really know if I have much to say because we actually just recorded your listener tales episode. We did. And I think we said everything we wanted to say in that one. So you know, we can just jump right into this one. You want to do that? Let's do it. All right. To be honest with you, I don't even remember how I decided to do this story. I think I just found it on a list of crazy crimes. I've seen things about this one and it always fascinated me. So I'm excited you're covering it. You know what's fun is I do love a good date line and I didn't realize until like, halfway into this case that there's a date line on it. There is. And so then I watched it and it was really good. It was. So go listen to that once you know what the case is. I got some more really good information and this is a flipping doozy. It's a dozy. So we're going to talk about Lauren Giddings this week. Oh, I'm excited. So Lauren Giddings was born on April 18th in 1984 to her parents, Bill and Karen Giddings. Bill and Karen Giddings. I know. And this case is going to be rough for me because I have a little sister named

Lauren. Oh, fun fact. She was the oldest of three daughters. She had two younger sisters, Caitlin and Sarah. And according to all her friends and family, Lauren was a super good friend, a really good time. Like people love to go out with her. She loved to read. She loved her dog named Butterbean. Butterbean. So cute. I can't. So cute. And her mission in life was really just to help others. Like somehow she wanted her job to be able to like help anybody else. Great. So she was just a really awesome person that we need more of in this world. Yeah, but somebody fucked that up. That's really good. Now, she was an Aries, obviously. So is my husband. I know when I thought of that. And like a true Aries, Lauren was super passionate. She was determined and she was a motivated woman. Yeah. She had graduated

high school in 2002. And then after high school, she made a move from Maryland to Georgia. And everyone was like, this move was perfect for Lauren because she was a quote, country girl at heart. She's a Georgia peach. Exactly. So her move to the south just made a lot of sense for her. Yeah, some people just have it in their blood even when they don't have it in their blood. I am one of those people. You would do great. Yep, I absolutely would. You're a southern bell. I absolutely am. Hello, it's me. Blanche Deverau. But this is about Lauren. I would not. So she was actually the first person in her family to attend college. And people, obviously people and her family were super proud of that. Good for her. She went to Agnes Scott College, I believe is how you say that. And she graduated in 2006 with her degree in political science. Wow, look at her go. Now, because her main mission in life was to help others, she decided in 2008 to start law school in hopes to one day become a public defender. Man. And a public defender? Wow. She was doing the damn thing. Good for her. Now, she made the choice to study at Mercer University Law School, and that is in Macon, Georgia. And the reason that she wanted to do this was one, because she wanted to stay in Georgia, because she just fell in love when she

moved there. Yeah. And also because this lady that she really admired named Nancy Grace. Oh, Nancy Grace, you say. I do because Nancy Grace actually received her, I think it's called a jurist doctor. Yep. The same year that Lauren was born. Wow. And she she received it from that law school. Oh, look at that. Perfect. Now, Lauren was super, super pretty. She was always accompanied with her fluffy dog butter bean. And she would always wear pink. It was her favorite color. She was often a lot of pictures of her. She's wearing pink. I'm drawing a lot of parallels.

Yes. So her friends would tease her a lot and they'd call her Elwoods. That's exactly what I was thinking of. So they all, like, joked that she was like the new Elwoods. Butterbean is her bruiser. Yes. Yeah. Butterbean is just the cutest fucking name for a dog.

And like she was blonde and the dog, her friend in the date line that I watch was like, she was blonde. Her dog was blonde. Just made sense. Now, Lauren had been dating a man named David Vandever. I believe is how you say it. Vendava. Vend of her.

Throughout college and she dated him. She was dating him even before she went to law school. Oh, wow. Now, her relationship with him was kind of strained, like on and off again because at that point, David, well, at all points, he was like 20 years older than her. Only at that point. Only at that point in time. He was 20 years older.

It was crazy. Yeah, it was weird. He's 20 years older than her. All right. And I imagine that can present some challenges. Yeah. And I also think probably the fact that she was pretty busy at school would. add some challenges to that. I think law school is kind of hard. Yeah. Yeah. Now, so they were on and off again.

And at one point when they weren't dating, Lauren started dating somebody from school named Joe. And Joe was a fellow law student. He was in her friend group. And he was like a super great guy, but there was something about David that Lauren couldn't let go of. And so she ended up breaking things off with Joe and going back to David. Okay. And the, I mean, he was, Joe was really heartbroken after the breakup, but I guess they remained friendly. And, and, And the friend group, it didn't get super weird in the friend group. Yeah, like it didn't change anything. Yeah. Now, so when she got back together with David, he was actually there in June 2011 when Lauren graduated law school with her jurist doctor. Get it. So she graduated law school. She did the damn thing. Wow. Obviously. She's an attorney. She's an attorney.

Obviously, that's a huge deal. But if you're a lawyer, you know that graduating is not the last step. Certainly not. And Lauren also knew that. She did. She did. Good for her. And she knew that the bar exam was coming up. up and she and all her friends were going to be pretty much isolating themselves for probably like a couple weeks or months at a time. Oh yeah, that shit is no joke. Just ask Deb. Yeah, Deb Deb Deb. Deb Deb is an esquire. So they were going to be like cramming super hard for the bar, but before they started that, they wanted to have one last big night together to celebrate graduating, which is a huge deal. To celebrate your loss of freedom. Yeah, exactly. So on Friday night, June 24th, 2011, they all rounded up. They went to a bar.

together. Like they, everybody said it was like a night of drinking. They were celebrating, whatever. Yeah. Old enough. And then after that, they went back to Lauren's friend Ashley's house, which is funny because Lauren is my sister and I am Ashley. You're given name. I'm not Ashley though. I'm Ash. Anyway. So Lauren's group of friends, like I said, was really close-knit. And Joe, Lauren's ex, actually happened to be one of Ashley's roommates, which was weird. But like I said, Wow. This is like one of those friends groups that are like really like, yeah, I don't know how to describe it without being very offensive. Yeah, exactly. I think everybody knows what you're trying to say. And they all date each other and everything's fine. Yeah, exactly. And whatever, like they're friendly. And I think they're lawyers. So they have shit going on. It is like friends. I love that. So it shit happens. But like I said, things weren't like weird between the friend group after they broke up. And Lauren and Joe didn't seem to be weird to each other that night. And actually, Lauren ended up spending the night in Joe's room. that night. So nobody, nobody knows if anything happened. It's not really talked about that much, but we do know that she spent the night in his room. All right. She had mentioned to him and some

other friends that night that she thought someone was stalking her. Oh. And I am a little bit mad at her friends because no one took her seriously. Yeah, when one of your friends says they think someone's stalking them, like take that seriously. Oh, no matter what. And somebody pointed out like, just come out with that usually. No, not a lot. They do it sometimes, but like, it's better to take it seriously than to ignore it. Even just with like an ounce of seriousness. Yeah. Also, you're all going to be lawyers, so you should believe people when they say that. It's good to believe people. But people said, like, that's just who Lauren was. She had a lot of like male admirers and people who wanted to go out with her. And they kind of thought she was exaggerating and saying like, oh, like this person's stalking me.

But like, really they just liked her. Yeah, it's like, that's a little different than like admirers. Yeah, it's pretty. is pretty bad. Like look in a law book. It'll tell you. It'll tell you stalking. It'll tell you it's real bad. Illegal. It's actually something you can prosecute. So it is. You might want to work on that. That could have been your first case. That's going to be a bar exam question. So yeah, work on that. So they were like, yeah, we're not so sure, Lauren. Like, maybe you should come down a little bit. But Lauren had actually briefly mentioned the idea of a stalker before or like at least somebody that broke into her apartment when she was told. Somebody that broke into her apartment.

Yes, she thought that somebody broke into her apartment. shit and she mentioned it when she was home like a year before to her sisters and I guess it was just mentioned briefly in passing wow and it never really got brought up again but she told them that she had come home on more than one occasion and things were like out of place in the apartment that's not good no if I came home to my apartment and shit was out of place I would first of all I would call the maintenance man and flip a fuck yeah and then I would move out promptly yeah I would not back in that apartment. No. And they should have taken Lauren more seriously because she was right. Someone had been watching her for a while. Oh my gosh. And unfortunately that Friday night was going to be

the last one. They were going to be able to see her again. Oh, this hurts my soul already. This case is a doozy. So people started making their way out of Ashley's apartment early the next morning, Saturday. Ashley didn't remember seeing Lauren leave, but Joe said that she had left that morning. Okay. No one like really... Joe said it. Joe said it. Okay. And remember. Joe is the person who she had broken things off with. She spent a night in his room. And he was like, oh, yeah, she left that morning. So no one really thought anything of it.

Because, again, Joe's their friend. Yeah. People were leaving at different times. They'd been drinking the night before. So it wasn't crazy for people to get up and leave. No, that's not weird. Early in the morning. And Lauren was a runner.

So they thought, oh, you know, maybe she left early and then went for a run. To be a runner. Jesus Christ. I see people running all the time and I'm like, I wish I was you. Oh, it's just, it must be, must be nice. I often taste blood when I run, so I don't think I'm made for that. Anyways, Lauren's family look inside Ash's life. So Lauren's family knew she was going to be studying, like, a lot in the next couple weeks and months.

Yeah. So they knew she was going to be hard to reach. And they were like, all right, like, that's fine. That's one thing. But after days of not hearing from her, Lauren's sister contacted Ashley. and asked if she had heard or seen her at all. Now, Ashley hadn't seen Lauren, and she tried to reach out, but after a day of Lauren not responding, she decided, and actually Lawrence family asked her on this same day if she could go check out

Lauren's apartment. Yeah. So Ashley and her boyfriend headed out to the apartment. The apartment was right across from the college, and they immediately noticed that Lauren's car was parked outside. So that was already pretty weird. Yeah, like, why is she not answering, but she's home? Yeah, it was weird and they were like, okay, like it kind of gave them like a temporary moment of relief, but then they were like, we need to make sure that she's inside because that's strange.

So Ashley told Dateline's Keith Morrison, my favorite man alive. Oh, Keith Morrison, we love Keith. She said before she opened the door, she looked at her boyfriend and was like, are you prepared for whatever we're about to see when we walk in this apartment? Like she was a guy of a, she just had a bad feeling. I would too, to be honest. Like, once you see the car, that quick little like, oh, good, okay. And then you're like, but wait, she hasn't said anything. Something must be wrong in there.

Right. Like, ugh. So he was like, yep, like, let's go in. We have to do what we have to do. So when they walked in, it was a really calm scene. Lauren's purse, it was eerie, though, because Lauren's purse and keys were right there in plain sight. Her phone was there.

Her laptop was sitting on her bed, but there was no sign of Lauren. Ooh. Now, what was even stranger was that Lauren was actually supposed to move out of her apartment the next day. Like, she was supposed to be out. And she was going to be moving like an hour and a half away to her boyfriend David's place. Oh. But it looked like she had started putting things together, kind of.

But it didn't look like it packed up like it should be if you're leaving the next day. Like normally pretty much everything would be packed up. And that was not the case. So they were like, okay, that's weird. And also for all my dog lovers out there worrying where the hell is butter bean. I'm worried. He was actually already being taken care of by Lauren's family. Oh, good.

Okay. They were back in Maryland with Butterbean. Okay, good. So they waited and they were like thinking, you know, maybe she's out for a run. It's weird that she left her phone here. But like, I don't know. Maybe she just wanted some alone time. Well, you're just trying to think of any logical reason why this could be.

Your first thought is not going to be, oh, no, something bad happened. You're trying to be like, okay, but maybe. Maybe it's this. She's fine. Let's not freak out. Yeah. Because I've had like times where like I couldn't get into contact with you for like a minute. And I've like thought crazy shit.

But then I'm like, okay, maybe her phone's just. Yeah. You're like, I have to think of. of like logical things. And usually things are fine. Yeah. So Lauren didn't come back. And that's when they were like, okay, she's not coming back and something is really weird going on here. Yeah. I mean, her keys, her purse, her phone, like everything you would need when you leave. Yeah. Was there. Exactly. So the police were called and people began searching everywhere for Lauren. Her neighbor, Stephen McDaniel, proposed the idea that maybe she went out for a run and somebody just

like snatched her up, which is not crazy to think about. I mean, sure. Like that's, you're like, absolutely like, I listen to True Crime Podcasts. Like, that definitely happens all the time. There was a huge case a couple, like a year or so ago. But it's also like, if someone just like proposed that idea. If someone was like, well, here's a thought. Yeah. Maybe she went out for a run and someone just snatched her.

I'd be like, okay. All right, calm down. All right. Or like maybe she twisted her ankle and she just needs some help. Like I let's hope someone didn't just snatch her up while she was running. Now, Lauren's father was back in Maryland. So he got in the car and started making an 11-hour drive from Maryland to Georgia. You know, that is like a dad.

And can you imagine, like, I just can't imagine being a parent that far away from your child when something goes wrong like that. And nobody knows where they are. And you just are in the car driving as fast as you can, but you know you have like 11 hours between you and helping your, like that. I just can't imagine that drive. That's probably when, like, you know when you have to get somewhere and you just experience all the worst drivers ever.

Oh, 100%. And you're like, I just need to get where I'm going. Every red light. God damn. I keep knocking over my microphone. We're having a day. It's true. I work today.

Then we're recording multiple podcasts. So, you know, we're here. We're doing it. But, yeah, it's like you're going to hit every red light. You're going to hit every bad driver. Yeah. You're going to, it's just. And you're just like, please get me to where I'm going.

Oh, that just hurts. And Caitlin was actually the one, Lauren's younger sister, the middle sister, who had to tell him, like, Lauren's missing. we can't get into contact with her. Oh boy. You need to come to Georgia. Boy, oh boy. So the police checked Lauren's car in her apartment for evidence, and they started interviewing

all the people closest to her. As much as many people hated to admit it, both David and Joe were on people's minds as suspects. Of course. And even like Ashley says in the dateline, she's like, I hate to admit this, but yeah, I did think Joe had something to do with it. Wow. Like he was the last person that I knew that saw her.

And it's like they had dated. it didn't work out. She had gone back to the other boyfriend. And then she spent the last night that I saw her. Suddenly they don't see her the next morning. But he does. He says, oh, I saw her and she left. Like, I, friend or not, I'd be like, Joe.

Yeah. Like, you're not looking good. No. And people are thinking David, too, because, you know, he's 20 years older. They're on and get off again. She's going to move in. Maybe he doesn't want to change his lifestyle. So this is the way to do it.

Yeah. Absolutely. You've got to look at it that way. Yeah. But so David told the police that he hadn't talked to Lauren in days because he had been on a trium. A triump. But my coffee straight across the couch and ash. I also, I laughed into one of my very fluffy pillows and I just had like a hair in my mouth.

Okay. I feel like I need to explain why I just said triump instead of trip. If you guys have ever seen America's Next Top Model Danielle would have like, I think she's the winner. She's the winner. She's my favorite. I love her. And she has this accent. and she, it's the best. I think she's from Louisiana. I think you're right. And Tyra and all of them are like,

you need to change your accent. I was like, fuck all of you. The entire season, they harp on this poor girl about her accent, which is amazing. And it's where she's from. So it's like, she's going to be a model. She's not going to talk that much. Yeah, it's like, it's where she's from. That's what she's, people sound different. It's allowed. And she kind of exaggerates it sometimes for like a joke. And she at one point she says it was a triump. Yeah. And she like really like exaggerates the Louisiana accent in there. And so will everyone say it?

And apparently the ghost of Danielle, who is still with us. Just over took me. Just over took it. All right. I'm really sorry. That's not funny. Danielle, if you're listening, we love you. God, I love you.

So David said he hadn't talked to Lauren in days because he had been on a trip. A trip. A trip. And I believe it was a golfing trip in California. I went to say Florida, but that's not true. Either way. Whatever. It was on the coast. The investigators were like, that's weird.

Like, you didn't call her to say, like, hey, I arrived in California. Yeah, that's a little strange. No. And they were like, you didn't call to say like, hey, I'm home. Like, can't wait for you to move in. And he was like, no, it's just like not the relationship we have. Wow. And they were like, you didn't like text back and forth throughout the trip.

And he was like, well, no, I was golfing. So I'm confused about what you're confused about. He's like, what you're talking about is communication. That's not something that we did. No, no, no, no. Well, and I think that's just like, I don't know, like, they were 20 years apart. He's probably not, like, fucking texted on his firefly phone. Yeah, probably not.

You know what I mean? On his firefly phone. I just aged that man about 32 extra years. You certainly did. So they were like, okay, like, that's a little weird. Yeah, that's a little strange. And they were like, but I will say, and they will all say he was help as helpful as he could be.

Yeah, he was just being honest. Did you have any receipts from, like, your trip in California? Then he didn't have them, like, on his person, but he was like, I can go find some. Yeah. Like, can I leave? Like, I'll produce as much as I can. And they were like, yeah, yeah, whatever. So then they brought Joe in and they were like, all right, so you're the last one that we know that's seen Lauren.

Like, she spent the night in your room and she left on Saturday. Like, what's the deal with that? And he was like, yeah, like, we spent the night together. Nothing was said about anything that happened. I don't know if she literally just slept in his room. But either way, he's being a gentleman. He's being a gentleman. And he said that she left early on Saturday and she said that she was going to go to the pool.

So they checked Lauren's accounts and it did show that she had used one of her cards at like a local country club to access their pool. Oh, okay. And then they searched her car, like I said, and they found a receipt from a fast food restaurant on Saturday night. And then they were able to look in her computer because now it's like a missing person. So they have access to this stuff. And her last outgoing communication was that Saturday night. And she wrote an email to David telling him she was feeling uneasy and she thought someone had tried to break in when she wasn't. home the previous night. Why? Oh. So the only thing that I can assume is she's like,

maybe I'm being like a little too nervous about this. And it's also, it was like probably one of the last night she was going to spend there. So she wasn't thinking anything of it. Yeah. And she's probably like, you know what, it'll be gone because I'm going to be gone. Right. She's leaving in a couple days to move in with her boyfriend. She's going to be fine. But I'm going to be honest. If somebody tried to break into my house, I'd be out of there. Also, I would. Because home invasions are literally my biggest fear. Before we get into anything else, I just want to tell you your security deposit, fuck it, because this is what you can do. We have a lock on our door that, like, everybody else does, but somebody has a master key to all of your, like every apartment

if you live in an apartment complex. So this is what you're going to do. You're going to drive down to ACE Hardware, T.M. sponsored, not at all. And you're going to get one of those fucking, what is it called? Like a chain lock. It's like a chain lock. Yeah. And you're going to install that. And if your landlord has a problem with it, you're going to tell him to go fuck himself or her. If he can keep his security deposit. You can keep that. That wasn't a word. You can keep your sub. You can keep your succors.

Clearly, we never record two episodes in one day, so here we are. Sorry. Security deposit is what I meant to say. And all I want you to know is that you have the right to add an extra lock to your door that nobody else has a key to. Make yourself feel safe. Yeah, fuck. Whatever you need to do to make yourself feel safe, you do it.

Also, get a simply safe. That's right, simply safe. I'm not kidding you. I love my simply safe. Boop. And my door on the top of my staircase. Yeah, that locks. That locks.

Yeah. My apartment is hell is safe. Fuck you if you try to break in here. I'll hit you with a baseball box. Fortress. Yeah. It's like Alcatraz up in this bitch. So after they searched through Lauren's apartment, they found no sign of a struggle or a break in.

And they were like, oh, okay, let's start checking out, like, outside of the apartment to see if there's anything weird. Yeah. Now immediately around the area of the garbage, the investigators were hit with a very familiar smell to them. Oh, no. Not just like your usual traffic. smell. Nope. You know the difference. So they follow the scent and they open a barrel. And inside this barrel, there's two large black trash bags. Now, the first one that they pull out is literally just garbage. Nothing suspicious. The second bag, though, was heavier. And the county sheriff Randy

Gonzalez said he knew when he picked that up that some kind of human remains were going to be found in this bag. So unfortunately, the bag was opened and the torso of a Caucasian woman was found inside with no other limbs attached. What the fuck? A torso. That's it. You don't want to find a torso. No.

So they didn't want this to be a media frenzy. So they decided it would be best to keep this discovery super quiet, not even tell the family. Because again, they don't have an identification. They have an ID the body. They don't want like people freaking out into a college town. Oh, of course. There's like a murderer on the loose. Yeah.

So they're like, all right, let's keep this quiet until we positively ID her. That's really smart. It is. unfortunately though one of one media station heard something about the discovery somehow and they wrote a piece oh come on that made the word completely spread and Lauren's uncle actually called her like family to see how they were doing now that a body had been found so that's how they found out that a body was found wow they hadn't been told yet because like I said how do you fuck that up nothing was ID so on that's how they always make sure that the family knows

That's fucked. I know. Seriously. So Lauren's father is now in Georgia and he heads down to the station and he told the chief of police, Mike Burns, that he wanted to ID Lawrence remains. Oh. Now Mike Burns told Lauren's father that it was not a good idea. He was like, this is not the last memory you want to have of your daughter.

I'm a father and I don't want you to do this. Like, please don't do this. Wow. And like wouldn't let them, wouldn't let him do it. And eventually Lauren's dad was like, okay, like, thank you. Maybe I shouldn't see this. Yeah. So DNA analysis was used to determine that the torso found in the garage was, sorry, not in the garage, in the garbage barrel outside of Lauren's apartment was Lauren 27 years old. Oh my God. 27 years old. 27 years old. So now word is spreading that

part of Lauren's body had been found. And WGXAT TV was interviewing like friends and family outside of Lauren's apartment when the announcement is made. Yeah. Now Lauren's name. neighbor Stephen McDaniel, who I mentioned earlier, he's the one that was like, oh, maybe she got snatched up. Oh, yeah, he's the one who came up with the theory, like, right away. Right away. Super weird. He was in on the search for Lauren from day one, and he was like, you know, maybe she got abducted. He told WGXA, Lauren was nice as could be. And he described how he looked for her. And then the reporter was like, wow, what do you think about the recent news of a body being discovered? Stephen had this weird-ass reaction. And I know we're not supposed to judge people's

reactions, but like, this is a weird reaction. It's weird. And I'll post the link to the video in the show notes. But basically, Stephen just repeats the word body while looking at the, like, looking just like into space. Yeah. He just like blinks a couple times and he's like, body? Basically, it's, um, it's like a freshman in like a theater college. Yeah. Like he's, he's trying to act like he is shook. Yeah. But it's like, it's not good acting. No, it's not. So he just starts to look like he's on another planet and he goes, I think I need to sit down. And he walks away from the reporter and just like collapses onto the curb and just starts staring off into the distance.

Yeah. So eventually the police were directed to him and his weird ass. And they took notice of his like weird reaction. And they actually noted in a police report that he was unresponsive for quite some time and quote, staring into space. An officer had to perform a sternal rub on him to get him out of his like weird trance. Wow. Now, if you don't know what a sternum rub is, like I didn't have no fear. I googled that for you. Ash is here. So, quote, a sternum rub is the application of a painful stimulus with the knuckles of a closed fist into the center chest of a patient who is not alert and does not respond to verbal stimuli.

The sternal rub is the most common painful stimulus practiced in the field by EMTs and paramedics. It'll get you awake. So basically it just sounds like they shove their knuckles into your sternum. Basically. It's not a rub. It hurts. And it's like when they're like, especially. when patients are like pretending to be in a days it's like well it's like oh look you're awake now motherfucker so stephen comes to and he's a sap brought in for questioning that sentence made sense think a sap brought in for he's brought in for sentences or for questioning ASAP that that reaction isn't even normal for someone who was like very close to her no and he wasn't like even somebody who was very close for her wouldn't have that kind that's a theatrical reaction if anything i don't know usually people are just like you'd be like wait wait

what? Yeah. Like you wouldn't be like, body, body. If anything, you'd be like, what? Like, what? Like, what did you say? Like, I didn't do that. Like, if they were like, a body's been found, you'd be like, where, what? Like, how? Can you explain? Like, you wouldn't immediately fall apart. Because you wouldn't assume that's her. Exactly. And you would be hearing it for the first time. So, you'd be more like, what? Exactly. Yes. Exactly. So after the whole, like, post-interview ordeal, the investigators, they already thought he was super odd and they were really interested in hearing what he had to say. they also thought he was like super weird throughout his entire interview process because he answered almost every single question with just a simple yes or no like they would ask like a very detailed

question he'd be like yes no and he also just sat up super straight in his chair with his palms pressed against the table oh it was just and i'll i'll try to find a picture of it yeah that's strange it was weird and obviously it's explainable but just fucking weird so they were like hey what do you been up to lately and they were he was like what you've been doing. What's up, bro? And he's like, oh, you know, I've been studying for the bar. I've been home. I haven't really gone anywhere. And they're like, convenient. It's crazy. And he was like, oh, I haven't seen Lauren in like a week or two. And they were like, okay. Now the further they got into questioning, the deeper the questions got. And Stephen revealed to the investigators that he was a virgin,

which I don't know how they got on that topic, but okay. Hey, you ever fucked? He was like, no. Actually, I'm saving myself for marriage. All right. Good talk. And that's what he said. He saving himself for marriage. All right, get it. They were like, all right. And then later on, he agreed to give them a tour of his apartment. And when they were on this tour, they found condoms in his dresser. Okay.

And they were like, okay, that wouldn't be weird for like literally anybody else, but you just told us, you are a virgin. So I don't think you're like practicing putting these on bananas. Do you want to talk to me about this? Yeah, like, can you maybe tell us what this is about? And he was like, oh, I actually stole those from a couple different apartments that I broke into. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yikes. So they were like, wow, you're shady as hell. And we're going to take you in on burglary charges because we don't want you running. I really hope that the officer was like, wow,

you're shady as hell. I think you did. We're going to bring you in. Yeah, like, time to go in. You know, you're being brought in on charges of being shady as hell. So get in there. Now they were like, we're going to take you in on burglary because you literally just told us that you burglarized these condoms that you don't need. Okay. Like what? So while he was being held, They searched his apartment way more extensively. And they searched Lauren's apartment way more extensively because now they have a body. It's her body.

She's not just a missing person. And this is all looking very strange. But they're like when they went in her apartment originally, there's no sign of a break in. There's no sign of a struggle. They didn't really like, I mean, they're not looking for blood right away. No. Or, you know, they might be looking for a little bit. But nothing came up.

No. So they were like, okay, let's do a luminal test in Lauren's apartment. Uh-oh. So they did that. And the bathtub, quote, lit up like a Christmas tree. Oh. But unfortunately, no other fingerprints or bloodstains were found at all. Really?

So whoever had killed her had done a really good job of cleaning up afterwards. Wow. And not only themselves, like cleaning up themselves, but her apartment too. Yeah. And there's no other prints found. So she was obviously dismembered in the bathroom. In the bathtub. In her own bathtub.

Exactly. So they were like, oh, okay, that's weird. So they go, obviously. So they go into Stevens apartment. and that gave investigators a lot more than they bargained for. Uh-oh. A lot more. So literally sitting right on top of his dresser in plain sight were two keys.

And they're like, okay, let's test these keys. One was a master key to the entire apartment complex. What? And the other was a key to Lauren's apartment. So I tried to look into like how the fuck he got a key to Lauren's apartment. What the fuck? I don't know if he found her hidden key and made a copy of it. I don't know if he was able to like break in because he had the apartment complex key and just

grab the duplicate that maybe was like lying around somewhere. Or maybe one of the times he broke into her apartment. He grabbed her spare key. Maybe he grabbed the key she had and maybe she hadn't been able to tell anyone that she didn't have her key. Yep, that's true. So maybe he took the only key. Exactly. So like I said, Lauren had told her sisters and her friends that she thought she had a stalker and she was right because it was Stephen. And so this. So, So he was described as like a quirky zombie obsessed kid. And he had been her neighbor for three years. So this like quirky zombie obsessed kid who's her neighbor for three fucking years.

He also asked her on a date once. And she was like, I have a boyfriend. Sorry. He broke into her apartment multiple times and then eventually began tracking her movements and eventually started preparing to kill her. What the fuck. So three years you live next to this creepy dude? Three years.

And he suddenly explodes like this? that's unreal. It's insane. So during an earlier search of the apartment's maintenance room, which they thought only the maintenance man had access to, they found a hacksaw, and eventually they determined that it had Lauren's flesh and blood on it. The maintenance man had been brought in for questioning, but he told the investigators he actually didn't know where that hacksaw was from, and he certainly hadn't purchased it. But now that they knew Stephen had a master key, it was obvious that the hacksaw was his because they found the packaging for it in his apartment. Wow. The stupidest criminal ever. So at this point,

he's left two incriminating keys right on his dresser. He has the key to Lauren's apartment and the key to all the apartments. He has the packaging to a hacksaw with her flesh and blood on it. And then they find a pair of her underwear in his drawer. Oh, my God. I want to like punch this dude right in the nuts. Oh, just wait. What a disgusting little goblin. one. It only gets more disgusting and more creepy. Oh, no. Squarespace. Let's talk about it. Let's do it. Squarespace empowers millions of dreamers, makers, shakers, and doers by providing them with the tools they need to bring their creative ideas to life. I think last time we talked to you about Squarespace, we talked to you about putting either wine or cats on socks. This time, I'm going to say you should do both. Yeah, absolutely. You should do both. Wine.com slash cats.

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first started off with our website. We sure did. Our website was beautiful. It was so true criny. Yeah. And it was easy to do. It was so easy to do. And set up, it's, and like you said, it's kind of to like MySpace HTML and it's so much fun to do again. Oh yeah, you feel like you're coding. Go code and head to Squarespace.com slash morbid for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use the offer code morbid to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. So Stephen's computer and a digital camera that he had were taken in to be searched as well. Oh no. He while he was booked on charges for first degree murder. Now the district attorney and honestly every other investigator working on the case,

that Lauren was killed by Stephen. Yeah. After he had stalked her for quite some time. But the DA was worried that the evidence they had was only circumstantial because there's no prints linking him to this. Oh my gosh. And he could say, you know, the maintenance guy did this and he put all the evidence in my house. Like I've been framed for murder.

Yeah. So they were like, also this was, it started off as a death penalty case. So they couldn't fuck up at all in this case. Like there was no room for fuckups. Eventually the death penalty was taken off the table for that very reason. and also because they wanted to get the trial going and get Steven's sentence as soon as possible because a lot of times death penalty cases take a long time to go to trial. So they took that off the table.

And I just thought it was important to note that Lauren herself was actually against the death penalty. Oh, okay. So I kind of guessed in a way it was like honoring her wishes. I was going to say, I'm glad that it went that way. Yeah. So like I said, they took Stevens computer and a digital camera in to like search through it all. And that's when the real groundbreaking evidence that was going to make this fucking trial. was found on his computer.

Oh, man. So he had been searching for sadistically violent pornography. And at the same time that he was doing this, they were able to determine that at the exact same time, he would also be on Lauren's Facebook page, her LinkedIn profile. And he had also stolen a flash drive from her apartment. And there were pictures on his computer of her that he downloaded. And those pictures would be up while he was on these, like, scary-ass porn sites. I hate all of this.

Yep. So his type of porn that he liked depicted torturous situations, murder, and then they found child pornography on his computer. Oh, fuck this guy. Kill him. Yep. Bye. So that wasn't just the only damning evidence, though, because that's, so that's just the evidence on his computer. They, like I said, also seized a digital camera.

On this digital camera, they found this super-eastern. video that they believe was taken the night that Lauren was murdered. Oh. So they concluded that Stephen must have taped his camera to some kind of like wooden pole or something and held it up to Lauren's window. And the video shows the inside of Lauren's apartment while the camera just peers in going back and forth slowly, just like scanning her apartment to see probably if she's like asleep because it's, I think it's her living room.

And the blinds are slightly open so you can see just like an empty living room. And it's just scanning back slowly. Yep. So that's great. And I can link the video in the show notes too. What a demon. So Stephen at the beginning of this trial thought that he was going to get away with murder because he had like a dream team of lawyers.

And he decided to enter a plea deal because he obviously, once they found the video and everything like that, he's obviously going away for quite some time. But before they had that, he was like, I could get away with this. You can't. Unfortunately, the deal that he took took off the charges of took the charges of child pornography off the table. Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah. How does it even get taken off the table?

He has child pornography on the end of story. End of story. That should never be allowed to be taken. You have it on your computer. You're going to get charged for it. Absolutely. Now, how these lawyers that did that? Like, that's fucked.

Oh, yeah. And actually, I should mention one of these lawyers was Lawrence teacher. Yeah, you're an asshole. Yeah, he's a dick. He has a pony gym. And you have a ponytail. Fuck you. Fuck you in your ponytail. Yeah. That's so fucked. Can you? Yeah, seriously. You are representing a student who killed another one of your students. All right. How do you sleep at night? Anyways. Had he not entered this plea deal, though, he would have

faced seven counts of sexual exploitation of children, and he would face five to 20 years for each individual charge. So he should. Yeah. This is, I'm so angry. So he could have gotten a minimum of 30 years just based off of that. Yeah, let's just take off the child porn charges. Let's pretend that never happened. I really hate that people even get to make deals. And when that specifically that kind of deal, like taking off, you can't take it off. It's there. I did it. But honestly, I feel like most of the plea deals that we talk about are just like they get a, like Carla Homoca and fucking, I know, plea deals, it's, it sucks because it's like they're necessary in sometimes, like in the Carla Homoca case, they felt it was necessary to get the information on.

call, who they felt was the more. But now she's out and she shouldn't be. Exactly. But it's like at what cost. Exactly. I don't. It's like there's certain times where you can see why it's done and then sometimes like this time. Fuck that.

Yeah. Fuck that. Yeah. So he pleaded guilty and in a written statement admitted to all the events that unfolded that night and explained to them. So he wrote that he made his way into Lauren's apartment at 4.30 a.m. on Sunday morning using a key that he had for God only knows how long. and just stood over her as she slept.

Now, he was wearing a mask and gloves in an effort to conceal his identity and not leave fingerprints. Now, as he walked closer toward a sleeping Lauren, a floorboard creaked and woke her up. This is nightmare. He was planning to probably kill her in her sleep, but the floorboard woke her up. He said that she calmly told him to get the fuck out, but before she could make any move, he, quote, leapt onto her and began to strangle her. Oh. He said during the struggle, she actually took his mask off and said,

Stephen, please stop. Oh, my gosh. She knows who it is. He obviously didn't, though. He strangled Lauren Giddings until he was sure that she was dead. He then either carried or dragged her to her own bathtub and left her there for hours until he decided what he was going to do next. He went back to his own apartment next door and just went about his day,

his went about his Sunday. Oh yeah. At some point he went out to purchase the hacksaw. And then he came back on Sunday night around midnight. So she was killed Sunday morning around like 4.35 o'clock. He comes back at midnight. She had been sitting in her bathtub dead all day. Now he comes back at midnight to dismember her in her own bathtub.

With a fucking hacksaw. And also a bloody sheet was later found in the wash machine in the apartment. So I guess that's how he like kept things clean. He then took her limbs and headed to the. college across the street to dispose of them. And then he threw the bag containing Lauren's torso and the apartment's trash barrels. And that's where she was found. So when he was finished, he cleaned up and just went back home and then joined the search for her. Wow. And he thought that he committed the perfect murder. Now, this is a direct quote from his confession. Quote,

it's difficult for me to explain why I killed Lauren and attempted to conceal my deed the way I did. The difficulty in explaining it lies within my own ability to understand it myself. I know that it was very wrong. I'm not delusional or without all morals or decency. What? You do, not only do you, number one, not only do you look at child pornography. You also dismembered your neighbor that you've been like acquaintances with, but obsessed with. You broke into her apartment while she wasn't there for like, God only knows how long.

and then dismembered her in her own bathtub, but you don't lack morals or decency. Yeah, he's like, come on, everybody. He's like, I'm still a human. I'm still a great person. Let's kick his ass into the Kuiper belt. I'm done with this guy. I also don't think that he has any remorse. No, of course he doesn't.

And he could have gotten away with Lauren's murder and he intended to. So listen to this. If Lawrence family and friends had decided to contact the police when they did, that day that the police were there searching, the trash, like the trash truck was due to come. take the trash away that day. But because the scene was blocked off, the trash couldn't, the trash guy couldn't come and collect that barrel. Wow. So that would have been gone, I mean, that would have been in a landfill somewhere. You never would have found it. Never, ever, ever. And he never would have been caught because what would have been

connected to it. What evidence? See, there's no fingerprints of his. There's nothing. He probably wouldn't have been a suspect. It's like, had they not found her torso, who knows what would have happened. Wow. Unfortunately, Lauren's head, though, and other parts of her body have never been found and that's something that obviously still kills her parents and her family. Of course. Because they never got the chance to bury their whole daughter. Yeah, they're like put her to rest. And unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they're going to be able to because they've dug up

landfills, trash trucks were searched and nothing has ever been found. That's so fucked. So fucked. That's so fucked. We all shop online, especially now. And we've all seen that promo code field taunt us at checkout. Spend $300 and get 0.3% off, yay. But thanks to Honey, manually searching for coupon codes is a thing of the past.

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and by getting it, you'll be doing yourself a solid and supporting this podcast. Get honey for free at joinhoney.com slash morbid. That's joinhoney.com slash morbid. So to drive home the point that this in-sell 100% killed Lauren, the DA Greg Winters, read the one post among a lot determined to have been written by Stephen McDaniels about Lauren. Oh, God. Now, he posted on a blog site using the name S.O.L. A.k.a. Son of Liberty. Literally go fuck yourself. Yeah. Now, above the law.com reports that Mr. Winters read the following to the court. Quote, graduate from law school, party hard by drinking alone in front

of my computer. See my sexy neighbor classmate come home late. She has talked to me occasionally in the past. He wanted a certain, or has wanted a certain piece of my anatomy. I think that was like redacted for three years. Invite her up for a nightcap. Make her a special drink called a Mickey Finn. She's out cold. I finally lose my V card. Oh no. She OD'd and died. I barbecue her legs and arms to celebrate losing my V card. Not into organ meat, but throw out her torso. Lose it on TV while the cops discovering her remains. You mad virgins. What? What? He wrote that? He wrote that. And also, in case you're confused, a Mickey Finn, that drink, it's like basically like a drink with Roofies in it. Yeah, like, it's called a Mickey Finn. Yeah. So he wrote that somewhere. Wow. And it was reported that Stephen McDaniels had his eyes closed while the post was read in the courtroom. Other writings of Stevens talk about committing the perfect murder, how you can dump somebody's body in a garbage can to like not, like have it not be linked to you. You can. You can. You can. use chloroform to bring them to the point of unconsciousness, etc, etc., etc.

You know, all normal stuff. All super normal stuff. Now, he was sentenced to life in prison in 2014, and he will spend the rest of his life in prison. Good. But he will be eligible for parole in 2041, and he's already tried to shoot a shot at a retrial. No. Now, get this.

In 2018, he Ted Bundied it and decided to represent himself on the argument that his counsel was ineffective and that his constitutional rights were violated during the investigation. Well, he literally tried to Ted Bundy it. He did. He called his former attorney Floyd Buford to the stand, and Buford said that he truly believed McDaniel was innocent until he went into terrific detail of the murder in his confession and that the evidence on his computer was found. Yeah. He said to McDaniel, quote, you could get out one day, Stephen. You viciously murdered and murdered a woman and dismembered her and you still could be paroled. So I don't see how that's ineffective assistance. Right? It's like, he's like, you're stupid. Now, he was unsuccessful. The judge was like, no,

I'm not giving you a retrial. You're a vicious murderer. And the judge told him, I don't know if I've heard a single threat of testimony or evidence that would compel me to grant any portion of your, and grant any portion of your petition. Good. And like laughed at him. Good. Laugh at him. I hope everybody laughs at him until the day he died. Oh, he's so nasty. So Lauren, Lauren, Lauren Giddings family continues to remember her as a breath of sunshine. A lot of laughter. Oh. Like, oh.

Now, Caitlin, Lauren's middle sister that I kind of mentioned a lot throughout this. Yeah. She was married just before Lauren was murdered. And Lauren was the maid of honor at her wedding. So Caitlin named her daughter Lauren Magnolia. Stop. After her big sister. And- With my heart out.

Lauren's memory also lives on through the scholarship that her family established with Agnes Scott College. And a scholarship helps students. with, quote, strong academic credentials or a demonstrated need, especially those who are in their first, who are the first in their immediate family to attend college. And those who are interested in pursuing the careers in legal profession or special education. Wow.

And there's also a 5K run that's held every year. And that's organized by Mercer's Association of Women Law Students. And the proceeds from the 5K go directly to Lauren's scholarship. I love that. I always love when something good comes out of this stuff. I do too. And I, um, in the, there's a ton of stuff to link in the show notes, but I can link where you can donate in Lauren's memory. I love that. Wow, what a fucked up tale. So crazy. Man. He had been breaking into her apartment for, like, who even knows how long. What a disgusting little goblin he is. Yeah, exactly. And just an in-cell.

Literally the definition of an in-cell. Oh, that's so gross. He's so gross. He's so gross. And we'll post a picture of him. And like, I'm not one to like hate on people's looks, but if you murder somebody, you deserve it. Yeah, if you murder someone, I'm a shit all over your looks. Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross. Yeah, he's truly disgusting. He's nasty. And for him to sit there on TV and pretend to lose it, the worst acting you have ever seen.

But when you watch it now, knowing what he did to her, only, you know, hours or whatever it was or before that. Like, you're like, you, that person sitting there in front of the camera. on this news station just dismembered this woman. And you're sitting there like acting like you're so distraught. And also the fact that he- She's not kind as can be. Yeah, nicest can be. And also the fact that he could have gotten away from it

if they didn't call the police when they did. Like of goodness, they did. If that scene wasn't blocked off, they never would have uncovered her torso. There's no way. Because think about it. Right now, they can't find her head or anything. It would have gone, I mean, it's both in the same area.

So I'm sure it would have gone to the same landfill or something. But it's like landfills are massive. It's like you'll never find it. Right. Wow. That's truly something. I know. It's so sad.

Wow. So that was a lot. Yeah, Christmas is over, guys. Everybody put locks on your doors and, you know, take your friends seriously when they say that they think something weird is happening in their apartment. Uh-huh. Even if they're that crazy friend that you're like, oh, they do that sometimes. They're just silly. Take it seriously.

It's better to take it seriously than to ignore it. Right. Because, you know, you take it seriously, you get proven wrong. It's fine. I wish one of them was like, you know what, why don't you like stay with me? and then I'll go help you during the day, pack up your apartment. Yeah. I don't want you to stay there alone.

Yeah, I'd be like you're not staying at your apartment alone. Like, it doesn't matter if you're being dramatic. Yeah. It's like if you're not feeling safe, come stay here. And if you think things have been moved in your apartment and nobody's listening to you, get the fuck out of there yesterday. Yeah, you got to get out because that's really scary. Oh, that hurts my heart.

I know. I hate this guy so much. RIP, Lauren. I hope that he never gets paroled. He better not get paroled. And the fact that he was able to make a plea deal where seven counts of child pornography were taken off the table. I can only hope that people in prison know that that was part of it. I hope that has leaked back to them, that child pornography charges were part of that. And he just

gets eaten a lot every day. Eat in the life. I hope so. So yeah, that was the case of Lauren Giddings. And again, I'm going to post where you can donate to that scholarship. Perfect. And you guys should all do it. Wow. Yeah. If you're able to. Thanks for that. You're welcome. So yeah, you can check out some of the horrific pictures of Stephen and you can see how beautiful Lauren was on our Instagram at Morbid Podcasts. Hit us up on Twitter at a Morbid Podcast. Send us a Gmail. Morbid Podcasts at Gmail.com. And I think that's it. We hope you keep us on it. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you suck. Bye.