♪
[crickets chirping]
[heartbeat thumping]
[shallow breathing, footsteps crunching]
[dog barking]
- In the 21st century, we leave behind
the digital story of our lives--
a chronicle of our greatest triumphs,
but also our darkest nightmares.
♪
- Lauren.
- She just was a joy from the moment she was born.
[children singing]
She had such a great personality.
And I just thought, that's how kids are.
- Everybody's little darling.
She was the first-born grandchild in our family.
- Lauren, hold that up.
- Popups.
- She was the role model for all of her cousins.
- She was a go-getter.
She was always a really hard worker.
She was the first in our family to graduate
from college at all, and then
to go on to law school was such a big deal.
[birds chirping]
During Lauren's final year at Mercer,
her teacher had her write a law journal
to see her reflect on the work that she was doing,
and how it was obviously changing her perspective
of criminals, people being accused of different things.
[keyboard clacking]
[stirring music]
[computer chiming]
[applause]
♪
[romantic violin music]
♪
[guests giggling]
- Aww.
- In light of the promises that you've made to each other,
and by the authority granted...
- 1, 2, 3.
- So I think I told at least everyone at that table,
I had written this really long, like, six-page speech.
[laughter]
Um...
[chuckles]
But you're not going to hear it, so don't worry.
I think it's Hillary Clinton has the book--
don't worry, I'm not getting into my politics--
[laughter]
I promise.
The title is, "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child."
And everyone who was invited here today,
this is their village that raised them.
And just in the last, really, two years, I've gone to--
it seems like a wedding almost every weekend.
And unfortunately, you don't always go to a wedding
where both families, every person in the room
is happy about it,
and just so excited about this couple getting together,
and committing themselves to each other forever.
[indistinct chatter]
- Lauren's boyfriend, David Vandiver,
also made the trip to my wedding.
We had met him a few times at that point.
David seems like a really nice guy.
There was some talk about Lauren moving in with David
once her lease for her apartment was up.
[soft tense music]
♪
[message chimes, mouse clicks]
[dramatic music]
♪
[messages chiming]
[ominous music]
[dramatic music]
[phone ringing]
♪
- Hi. This is Lauren. Leave me a message.
[phone rings]
Hi. This is Lauren. Leave me a message.
[phone rings]
Hi. This is Lauren. Leave me a message.
♪
- Welcome to "True Crime Garage."
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing,
thanks for listening.
I'm your host, Nic.
And with me, as always, The Captain.
This week, we have a case of a missing person.
Everyone was desperately trying to reach anyone
who might know where Lauren could be.
This is getting stranger by the minute.
[insects chirring]
- So she did not find Lauren, but found all of her stuff.
So her cell phone that was dead, her keys to her car.
All that type of thing that, if you did leave home,
you would have taken with you.
So that was a big concern.
- The last time anyone heard from her
was an email that she sent out
and no one's heard from her since.
- Did you see her hang out with anyone at the time,
anything like that?
- I mean, no.
No one has seen her since Saturday.
I haven't seen anything.
I always hear noise outside,
but it's just people walking by, pretty much.
- Mm-hmm.
And you--she just recently graduated from Mercer?
- Yeah.
She and I were-- we were both JD students.
Um, we graduated back in May.
- What kind of person was she?
I mean, how did you-- what did you see her as?
- I mean, she's as nice as can be.
I mean, very personable.
Very much a people person.
♪
She said the last e-mail on there
had been sent at 10-something PM
on Saturday night.
♪
- I ended up calling like, hospitals and different places
around the area, just to check to see
if they had a random Jane Doe.
You know, that kind of thing.
I woke my dad up.
It was probably 2:00 AM at that point.
I let him know.
So he kind of woke up and just took off towards Macon.
♪
- We follow where the evidence takes us.
As we get more clues, or learn of more evidence,
if we have to go back to the apartment or go elsewhere,
that's where we're going to go.
♪
[door clicking]
- David, I want to talk to you over here.
- Yes, sir.
Because we're...
- I mean...
[foreboding music]
♪
- Yeah.
- No.
[somber music]
You didn't call her?
Check in with her, nothing? - No. No.
And my--this has been--
- Have you ever been in Lauren's apartment?
- Very quickly to tonight's case alert,
the disappearance of a Mercer University law student,
now a homicide investigation.
Cops find the torso of a young woman
outside the apartment complex
of 27-year-old Lauren Giddings.
♪
- Do you know anybody that-- any enemies she might have had,
somebody that might want to hurt her?
- No.
I--we're--we don't know where she is.
I'm--the only thing we can think is that
maybe she went out running and someone snatched her.
Because I'm--we went at-- we went over.
One of her friends had a key.
We went inside and tried to see if there was anything amiss.
But I mean, she had a door jamb that was sitting right by it,
so there was no sign that anyone broke in.
I mean, the door was locked when everyone got here.
I--we just don't know where she is.
- What about, um, in the, like, 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.
- Body?
- Had you heard-- had you seen anything there?
Have you see anything there? - I--
- 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 it's the same person or not.
So that's why we're trying to ask people
if they know who lived there.
Are you OK, sir?
- I--I think I need to sit down.
- OK.
[tense music]
♪
- Want to ask the public
to help us with this investigation.
[camera shutter clicking] The victim was dismembered.
So if the public smells any kind of foul odor,
to please, uh, contact the police department.
We have not found all the body parts yet.
♪
- How does this make you feel, that this happened,
like, right here? - Right now,
I feel like I could throw up all over everywhere.
- What's going on in your mind right now?
Like, what are you thinking?
- [voice breaking] Why would anyone do this?
- You didn't hear anything?
- No. - You didn't see anybody?
- I... [shaky breathing]
If I just heard something, maybe I could have helped.
[sobbing]
- It's OK. Don't worry.
♪
- We found a body.
We don't know if it's her or not.
- I just heard that. - OK.
- The social worker told me on the way down.
- All right.
Never been in my life.
I mean...
- OK, fair enough. - I mean...
- I understand.
- Uh-huh.
- So...
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah.
- What--what first came to your mind?
That's what I want to know. - Yeah.
I was afraid it might be suicide.
- Yeah.
- Mm-hmm.
- No.
- I haven't made statements--
[tense musical sting]
- All right, we're getting ready to go.
♪
- 2:15 PM,
a handler and two cadaver dogs
arrived on the scene
and started their search of the area.
They hit twice at Lauren's apartment.
This was just outside of the front door
and in her bathroom.
They alerted at the apartment complex's laundry room.
The dogs alerted at Stephen McDaniel's front door.
♪
- Look at me when you talk to me, son.
OK?
♪
- Lauren's family, friends, and even community members
who didn't know her have shown support
outside of her apartment.
But now, they're also stepping forward
to help with the homicide investigation
by donating $11,000 to Crime Stoppers.
♪
[keyboard clacking]
- Right now, Lauren's apartment, the one below hers,
McDaniel's apartment, and other rooms
within Barrister's Hall apartment complex
are considered possible crime scenes.
- He was somewhat a recluse.
It's strange to even think that he was in the law school
because he just kept to himself.
She would encourage him to come out with the class.
♪
- You're not--you're not planning on staying in Macon?
- No, sir.
- You're not concerned if that's her or not?
[somber music]
♪
- All right, come on.
They're ready to take you back.
♪
- Police are now saying that they're treating
the homicide case as if the body found does belong
to missing Mercer Law graduate Lauren Giddings.
Macon Police Chief Mike Burns won't confirm
the identification of the body
because they're still waiting on DNA testing.
But he says they do believe the body is Lauren's.
- At first, my dad was supposed to identify the body.
So when he got to Macon, he met with the sheriff
and was quickly told that that would not be happening,
because of the state that her body was in.
[tense music]
♪
- [sighs]
[dramatic music]
♪
[camera shutter clicking]
- Stephen McDaniel, the neighbor
of missing Lauren Giddings.
He was arrested Friday morning on a burglary charge.
During his first appearance hearing today,
he was charged with an additional count of burglary,
and was denied bond.
♪
- Police discovered a large, bloody sheet
in a washing machine at the apartment complex's
laundry room.
They found a hacksaw with human flesh on it.
It was found in a locked storage closet
in the laundry room.
And then, even more damning,
they find the packaging for this saw...
- Ah. - In his apartment.
He's accused of having a computer flash drive
with child pornography on it.
- Ugh.
- They found a pair of Lauren Giddings' panties
in a drawer in his bedroom.
- Macon police have been waiting on results
from forensic evidence sent to the FBI in Virginia,
hoping the outcome will lead to an arrest
and close the Lauren Giddings homicide investigation.
♪
- Today, I want to announce an arrest warrant on a charge
of felony murder was issued last night
against Stephen McDaniel.
He was formally charged at 9:30.
The warrant was served by Detective Patterson.
♪
I hope this arrest will bring comfort to the family,
and our community.
♪
[heartbeat thumping]
[tense music]
♪
- Recent evidence uncovered by
GBI computer forensic investigators
may have compelled McDaniel to accept a plea deal.
Cook says investigators found pictures of Giddings
on the camera McDaniel used to spy on her.
District Attorney David Cook laid out
the deal offered by prosecutors,
a written confession detailing what McDaniel did,
and the waiver of his rights to appeal.
♪
- Stephen's story was this.
He said that at 4:30 AM on Sunday, June 26,
he broke into her apartment, dressed all in black.
He used the master key to get into the apartment.
He stood there watching her sleep
before he startled her awake.
He leaped across the bed onto her
and grabbed her around the throat.
They struggled and tumbled out of the bed to the floor.
During the struggle, Lauren managed
to rip the mask off of McDaniel's face.
He said she recoiled in horror when she recognized him.
She pleaded, "Stephen, please stop."
McDaniel clenched his hands around her throat
for 15 minutes until she stopped moving,
and then dragged her into the bathroom
and placed her in the bathtub.
He then returned to his apartment next door.
Then, in the evening, he returned with a hacksaw
and cut up her body.
He said, "I removed her limbs and head,
"wrapped them in several black trash bags separately,
and discarded them in the Mercer Law School dumpster."
He said he put Lauren's torso into the apartment trashcan
on June 28, two days before it was found.
He went on to say,
"It's difficult for me to explain why I killed Lauren,
and attempted to conceal my deed the way I did."
He grieves Giddings daily,
but doesn't expect forgiveness from her family.
He said, "If I could take it back, I would."
♪
[somber music]
♪
- McDaniel is sentenced to life in prison.
Cook says the deal offers closure
to Giddings' friends and family.
- I wanted them to be in the position
where we knew justice was not only certain,
but justice was final.
♪
- It's been 10 years since Lauren's murder.
Not a day goes by that I don't think about her,
my family doesn't think about her.
When I think of her now,
it's more about Lauren
and less about her murder.
It's good memories.
So we do all sorts of things to keep Lauren's memory alive.
My favorite one is my daughter,
Lauren Magnolia,
who is obviously named after my sister.
I mean, at this point, Lauren would have, um,
seven nieces and nephews.
And we know she would think we were ridiculous
for having so many kids so fast.
I know that for sure.
- I did want to say how special this wedding is,
obviously not just because this is my sister's wedding.
And please join me in toasting the happy couple.
[cheers and applause]