Lauren Giddings /// Part 2 /// 342 | Forensic Files

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check out our weekly show off the Record and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a
chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime thank you [Music] on the morning of June 30th 2011 police
located the body of Lauren Giddings they located horror her torso and we talked about the events that took
place that morning we talked about the initial stages of the investigation it was once
a missing person's case and then unfortunately they found her torso yeah I believe they were able to do a DNA
tests with her mom to determine that the body was actually Lauren's at 2 15 PM a
Handler and two cadaver dogs arrived on the scene and started their search of the area now forgive me Captain for
being graphic but all they have found so far is a torso and they are looking for the remaining
parts and also looking to see where some of the remains may have been concealed moved
and so on right and like I said uh we know that half of the trash was actually picked up so they started thinking that
maybe if her if her torso was found in one trash bin that maybe other parts would be found on
in different bins two dogs the two dogs this is Cinco and chance they hit on eight locations and there
these locations are as follows they hit twice at Lauren's apartment this was just outside of the front door and in
her bathroom they hit twice and the vacant apartment which was located immediately below
Lauren's apartment alerting in the living room and in the bathroom the dogs alerted at Stephen McDaniel's
front door and in his bedroom they alerted at the apartment complex's laundry room in two places once at the
front door and then again inside this laundry room as well so they walked these dogs all over the property for the
apartment complex they only hit in eight locations and of importance obviously they hit in her
apartment but they hit in Steven's apartment they hit in the apartment below her which was vacant nobody was
living in there and then they hit in the apartment complex laundry room now police because of this
they want to seriously interview Stephen McDaniel he is now coming to into the spotlight let's say and emerging as a
interesting suspect at this time if anybody wants to you can go to YouTube and there is a what is it
Captain about a two hour long video yeah where it's very grainy and the audio quality is very poor yeah we thought
about playing some of it here but the audio is not great uh you know it's it's an interesting
video to watch because it is Stephen McDaniel being interviewed or interrogated question whatever you want
to call it by detectives at the detective Bureau one of the first things that said by the detective is Stephen
put your hands on the table so let's just call it an interrogation well and you know what and I I love
um I love the South I love how people talk in the South and he says uh I don't know the detective's name so forgive me
he says now put your hands on the table for me son and he calls him son a few times and he says uh now look at me when
I'm talking to you boy yeah yeah I like to use the the boy term and where I might sound aggressive there he doesn't
come off to me as being aggressive he comes off as being authoritative but he also
kind of like he's trying to be Steven's friend at times he even says to him at one point we are friends you and Lauren
are friends we need to know what happened to your friend I'm asking you for help can you help me right and this
whole time you heard Stephen talk in those interviews he's not talking like that when he's at the detective Bureau
when he's being questioned he no ask me a question I'll answer it like him okay uh when was the last time you saw Lauren
I don't know have you ever seen Lauren wearing this dress I'm showing you a picture of her
in a dress no does Lauren have a boyfriend yes did you think you were Lauren's boyfriend
no what are you doing with guns in your apartment Stephen I don't know why do you have them
I don't know yeah his answer was to have them because they kept yeah they kept asking him they're like have you ever
fired a gun and he's like no I've never never fired a gun they're like well then
why why do you have three firearms yeah and he doesn't say like protection or anything like that that like he's kind
of talking about in his on camera interview with the local news he just simply says to have them yeah if you
have a sword and you said to me did you have you ever used a sword no I haven't why do you have it to have it that makes
sense yes why do you have a gun uh to have it have you ever shot a gun no but I decided to buy three of them he did
say at one time he was a collector of Swords yeah um so that so for the samurai sword
which it's it's a it's like a cheap knockoff it's not one of these five six hundred seven hundred dollar jobs but
right right but that's why I don't find it that odd no because people collect people collect swords yeah and people
call select guns as well but that's not the answer he provides regarding the gun
right but most people that collect guns actually shoot those guns yes they do use those guys they usually shoot them
um the important thing here in it throughout the course of these he's doing multiple interviews multiple
questioning periods with the police and detectives throughout the day and well into the night the the what we
were just referencing I believe takes place at about 11 pm or just before midnight yeah and as said the video that
you can find online is two hours long I don't know if that's the entirety of the
actual questioning I I think there's probably more out there but right and I just want to point out again here's
here's a individual Stephen where he's Cooperative with the police initially then hesitant to let them in his
apartment and then obviously I'm guessing that they obviously once they found the body that they got
um the rights to search apartments and that's that's when they brought in the cadaver dogs but now you're down at the
station and you're a law student and they're asking you these questions where you should assume you're a suspect
and he's not asking for a lawyer yeah yeah to be clear regarding the the cadaver dogs I don't think that that's
technically the Handler's term for these dogs but that's what the state documents
would refer to these dogs as is cadaver dogs okay and in the in in the documents
they say for a lack of a better term that's what they're going to call them to just keep it simple and that's what I
refer to them as here with the cadaver dogs and regarding these earlier searches these are all
permission was granted by the residents in each situation so they weren't they they haven't you know got the the the
legal channels involved yet for uh search warrants into just really scour the area well these are like but like
you said it goes along with now he's at the detective Bureau Stephen McDaniel 26
years old and he's not asking for an attorney he was very helpful and very vocal to the local news when he did the
interview but now when he's at the detective Bureau he there's a transformation there and it's it's
physical and it's audible it's you can he looks like a damn Zombie by the time that he's being questioned at the
detective Bureau and he sounds like or is trying to sound like a scared little boy yeah I mean I think this is him
acting again or or pretending again yeah at some point during this interview the detective notices a red mark on
Stephen's face this is near his nose and he asked Stephen if he has any other marks on him and Stephen shows him that
he has two scratches on his abdomen that is troublesome for Stephen and it's interesting to detectives because now we
have this guy who looks like he might have been in some kind of physical altercation yeah and this is a guy
that's pretty much for the most part holed up in his apartment staying in there according to him he's studying and
he hasn't seen Lauren and I believe he says in this interview one to two weeks okay
this is where things get very weird [Music] um go down the weird road with me the weird
path always so holding hands police found in his apartment in Steven's apartment they've
he found they found four condoms now that doesn't seem like that big of a deal however he has told the detectives
through the course of his interviews that he is a virgin and that he is happy to be a virgin he's saving himself for
marriage again you could explain that away you're on campus they're passing them out for
safe sex and you grab a couple and no big deal but he doesn't do that he went so they push him they push him and
push him and push him and they want to know if you are saving yourself if you have no intention to have sexual
intercourse why do you need condoms why do you have them in your possession eventually he explains that the condoms
he stole from people so two of the condoms he stole from his sister and I don't know when that went down but
the other two we have a better idea because he tells the police that he stole condoms from two of the
apartments in his apartment complex so Stephen admits to the officer that he entered two different apartments one
apartment he entered in December on December 26th of 2008 and the other one on January 31st 2009
and each time he stole a condom from each of the uh Apartments now as he's saying he's he broke into them or he
just entered them I'm a little unclear on that um the the wording in the report says
that he entered now they're going to consider this as a as a breaking and entering I must
they find a master key in his apartment eventually they've not they've not located that yet right but this master
key will allow him into a lot of different places throughout that apartment complex creep
and so when they say entered I'm guessing that he has either told them that he has this key or they've figured
out that he didn't break into the place he just unlocked the door and went in right and
the thing here is Captain by this point even before they get this weird information about the condoms
they believe Stephen knows more than what he's telling them they believe he may have killed Lauren Giddings yeah
he's their number one suspect once he explains to them that he took condoms from other apartments they go okay cool
thank you for telling us that we are going to arrest you for burglary we're going to arrest you for burglary
and now we have a reason a legal reason that we can hold you we need to try to build this murder case
against you because all we have right now is circumstantial evidence and our suspicions
now when he is arrested when Stephen is arrested for the burglary and hold on and go ahead and your creepy stare and
your creepy demand meaner and and all the weirdness about you or you know this adds to it right
Stephen McDaniel's maternal grandfather this is Hollis Browning who he was very close with Stephen
he hired an attorney for his grandson to represent him regarding these burglary charges
Browning was in his 80s at the time he was very close to Stephen as I said this attorney that he hired is Floyd Buford
who practices both criminal and civil law from my understanding Beaufort is a well-known well-respected attorney in
these parts yeah so this is not a public defender or this is not someone who does
not know what they are doing this is considered a high level high-priced good attorney
Hollis Browning had a lot of hopes for his grandson a lot of high hopes for the boy that he doted on well heck he was in
law school yes he was hoping that the young man would land a legal job yeah get married someday
he in fact was planning to pay he'd be able to use those condoms you're right he was in fact planning to pay his
grandson's first month's rent once Stephen passed the bar exam and found a new place to live right now you had
mentioned search warrants um it was after all of this this questioning that goes down that they did
in fact get the proper warrants so it was on July 1st it's they're questioning him late into the night
after midnight from June 30th now we're into July 1st at 1 50 at 150 a.m in the morning police obtained signed warrants
from Judge Enos for yeah not to be mistaken with judge penis well it might be Ennis I I'm having
trouble reading my own writing um the warrants that they got that they received from the judge were
for Stephen's apartment for his car for his body for his DNA for his hair for his fingerprints for his finger nails
and for full body photographs so what do they find during these searches okay so let's get the photographs out of
the way that is simply to document these potential injuries the scratch marks that they had already observed right
okay regarding what they find in his apartment we already talked about the one master key
they find two keys that are of concern one is a master key to the apartment complex the second one is a key to
Lauren getting's apartment wow great they find a shirt that remember we said the Torso was
found with pink jogging shorts on I want to be very clear the Torso is wearing these shorts the
that's the only thing only clothing on the Torso there's nothing under the shorts
the shirt that they found they can't 100 percent State this in in 100 you know it's not a
confirmed fact but it matches the jogging shorts right so it's believed that it's it's the pair
it's it's one of the pair to this jogging short very suspicious thing to find in his apartment yeah
in Lauren's apartment they determine that on some of the walls there somebody had applied fresh paint
to some of the walls and it's believed that whoever did this was painting over blood
or other types of evidence yeah the 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 now this apartment complex like many of them have a laundry room a
laundry facility to be clear everybody that lives there has access to this room right
what everyone does not have access to is this locked storage closet the master key found in Stephen's
apartment will open that closet but the master key that he has would be the same as you would expect to find on
the landlord's keychain or the maintenance man's keychain so a few people do have access to this
storage closet it's a limited view and we can prove that Stephen Giddings or Stephen
uh McDaniel I apologize has access to that closet because of the key they also found a large cooler near the front door
of Steven's apartment they don't go into detail with this cooler I'm guessing they may suspect that
remains may have been in this cooler at one point they found a foam cup with the name
Lauren written on it inside his apartment now Stephen owned a geoprism that's like
a small vehicle small car the police found what they believed to be blood stains on the front and rear
seats of this car now on the Torso itself when the Torso was located inside the trash bag inside that trash can on the
apartment complex's property they found some hairs on the Torso some of them would have
been consistent with Laura Lauren getting's hair she had long blonde hair some of these hairs were consistent with
Stephen McDaniel's hair he has as we described like brown kind of a white boy afro thing going on he's got longer hair
um they also found hairs similar to this inside his apartment as well we've never
received confirmation that I could find that those were in fact his hairs right but they do get confirmation that they
find uh hairs Lauren's hairs on the hacksaw well they determined through DNA testing that that her DNA was on that
hacksaw right and where do they find her hairs it's her hair was found believed to be
in the trash bag with the Torso okay um again there's never been confirmation on where those hairs who they came from
but that's what it states in their reports that they believe them to some of them to be Lawrence and some of them
to be Stevens we just pointed out her DNA is found on that hacksaw that was found locked in a storage closet in the
laundry room that Stephen had access to he has access to and then even more damning they find the packaging
for this Saul in his apartment so it appears that he purchased this saw took it out of the
package used it for something and we know that her DNA ends up on it he locks it up in this storage closet
and yet he forgot to throw away the packaging for the saw which is later found in his apartment
so regarding all this information and and everything that they're working on and working towards in the case that
they're building against Stephen McDaniel he's arrested as we said for those burglary charges but it wouldn't be
until 33 days later the prosecutors tacked on a murder charge he was accused of um murdering Lauren Giddings
now because of this murder charge there they they're still building this case against him because they don't have a
slam dunk case against Stephen McDaniel well it's never a slam dunk right but what further investigation would
determine they are pouring through his computer now mind you this man spent a lot of time on his computer and he had a
lot of flash drives he had a lot of uh flicky flicky drives he had a lot of tech uh let's say
he's accused of of having a computer flash drive with child pornography on it because they say that they found 54
images of child pornography to the scumbag and then on top of that Captain they said that they found
a pair of Lauren Giddings panties in a drawer in his bedroom now the very strange thing here
I I mean we're already in a weird space yeah he and I take great pause before I say apparently somebody took these
panties and and made them into a mask okay that's that's how I I've not seen pictures
but that's how the detective describes it when he's asking Stephen about these panties I mean I wear my underwear on my
head every now and then when I get really drunk but that's just to be funny so but I don't make masks out of
underwear yeah and they determined that these came from Lauren they were Lauren's and as said
the only clothing found on the Torso was just a pair of of shorts right so they're they're
thinking is that after whatever happened that he kept these as a souvenir and then he turned
these into a mask yeah yeah and then I I've also thought maybe if he did have access to her apartment maybe these yeah
maybe he stole them prior to June of 2011. well like we said there was that email where she was saying that
she thought maybe somebody broke into her apartment but would later find out that you know she she mentioned to
people multiple times that you know she would come home and she felt like maybe somebody had been there or or something
had been moved yeah or that something was missing but she just thought well maybe I misplaced it but it was
happening enough where she thought somebody was entering her apartment and messing with things that's very Golden
State killer-ish you know the Golden State killer is reported to have entered people's homes
when they weren't there and moved things to later help him perpetrate the crimes
later that night or the next day yeah which is different than some this to me you know we know Steven has access to
her apartment so how many times was he going in there and taking things uh it seems like his how often was he going
into everybody else's apartment at least two times that he's admitted to police yeah and a lot of this stuff to
me Captain is because a lot of people have said look this dude was he had finished law school you can hear him
talk he's an intelligent individual but people question why would he have all these weird things in all this evidence
that they would later collect if he in fact did kill her these are people that say well maybe he didn't do it and maybe
some of this evidence was planted evidence to plan well and on top of that I really think that if I think it was
just stuff he had not got around to yet I think there were things that he would have discarded keep in mind he would
have been moving out at some point right I think it was just things he had not got around to yet and when pushed when
he was pushed by police by detectives who he he may have thought at one point that he was smarter than them we know
that he interned at the prosecutor's office at one point so maybe he felt that he could outsmart police if he had
to but to me it's when he's pushed when he's pushed back in a corner it's almost
like well I better give them access to something if if I don't I'll look guilty [Music]
all right cheers mates cheers to you Captain so Stephen McDaniel is going to claim he is innocent of this he's now
being charged with murder right can you imagine we have his his grandfather who probably had the best of
intentions by hiring an attorney for his grandson he hired this attorney for his
grandson when his grandson was charged with burglary after hiring the attorney you find out that okay he's now going to
be charged with possession of child pornography and for murder so this attorney is going to continue to
represent Stephen and as said Stephen is going to claim that he is innocent of these charges
it takes quite some time for this thing to get to trial because as said the police are going to continue to build a
case against him the prosecutor is going to continue to build a case against him
one thing that happens is we have a former roommate of Stevens who comes forward to law enforcement and
he's got a story to tell law enforcement yeah once upon a time there was a creepy
man that liked to play flicky flicky well I'll read from the court documents what you don't have to I just wait he'll
do the story statement was so it says this individual shared a dorm room with McDaniel during the fall of 2007 while
the two were students at Mercer pursuing their undergraduate degrees the roommate
related the following information regarding conversations he had with McDaniel during that time
he is a self-proclaimed psychopath he proclaimed often that he has no conscience and was incapable of feeling
emotion he talked almost nightly about how he would go about the perfect murder he would wear shoes that were too small
he would do something to make him appear bald so that people wouldn't Point him out because of his big hair
he detailed different scenarios all of the time in fact I was scared sometimes that said Stephen
liked and trusted me and I knew that that's why I felt safe enough to stay where I was
I couldn't pick my own lock in my room I tried several times just to see if I could do it Stephen could do it in under
10 seconds he demonstrated it to me once just to show how easily he could get to
me if he wanted and then he grinned when I responded that I was twice his size he told me he would use chloroform
so that it would not matter how big I was what Stephen relishes is power he'll tell you
you don't have to ask him everything he does is the result of a power play he is
in odd duckling who looks weak but has one of the sharpest Minds I've ever seen Stephen said if he killed someone he'd
do it in a way to establish dominance over them he always said he wanted to feel the power of having someone's life
In His Hands he said he wanted them to beg and then to take it I'm not sure what he did here but he once said if he
did kill someone he'd dismember them soak them somehow then scatter the parts through the woods so that no one would
ever find them he was convinced he was smarter than everyone else and often bragged that if he did murder someone
that he'd never get caught yeah and now we're seeing this play out in real life the doc yeah the document goes on to say
when I heard the news about the murder in Macon and heard that Stephen was somehow involved I watched the
interviews he gave to the news media at the scene while watching one particular interview it struck me that Steven's
tone of voice demeanor and hand movements were not Steven's normal mannerisms but instead nearly mirrored
dialogue which he gave during a theater performance when we were both undergraduates at Mercer University I
also recalled when seeing this he informed me that he had no interest in the theater but wanted to test himself
to see if he was believable when telling a story yeah what I told you it was bad
acting right but now we're seeing that it's probably practiced right that he has schooled himself and educated
himself in a way to to fool some people to fool some people but but probably to eventually carry out his
family his Mark yeah his murderous fantasy that he has now look this is this is where it gets a little tricky
though because you have this individual and we have some evidence against him right yeah and it's piling up
and but we all know some friends of ours that were maybe picked on in school maybe bullied
that maybe you're just a little strange and instead of being nice and trying to get people to
like them they they push back by being weirder well if I'm just even more weird than then they're not disliking me
they're disliking this weird character that I'm presenting to them so when you're looking at this case this
is at the point to me where you go well all signs are pointing to this guy's guilty
but as we're researching I said let me hold back a little bit you know maybe maybe some of this stuff was planted
but this is where it gets a little strange and it's the icing on the cake let's say
they find a USB drive and his apartment the cops believed that it was a USB drive from Lauren it was hers that she
it was a bunch of photos of her um I actually don't believe it was Lauren's thumb drive
I think it was actually Stevens and when he was going into her apartment to mess
around with things that he went onto her computer and pulled off whatever pictures he could find some of these
pictures were posted online but most of these were just private pictures on her own computer
what is weird is that they were able to do search history so as he was looking at violent porn
he wouldn't they were able to determine that he would watch these violent porn things
and then go look at these pictures of her and then go back to the porn and then go back to the pictures of her
well and a lot of this stuff is coming out at his trial you know they they've put together a case against Stephen they
carry it Forward one other thing that came out in court uh well actually we'll get to two but first
this is from district attorney Greg Winters he read this in court out loud this is a graphic and profane Post in
which McDaniel allegedly wrote about an encounter with an attractive acquaintance
it says um here okay 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 has wanted and this is removed and
replaced with a certain piece of my anatomy for three years invite her up for a night cap make her a
special drink called a Mickey Finn she is 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 her torso out lose it on TV while the cops
are discovering her remains new Mad virgins after the D.A read this by the time he
was finished reading this again this is a online post right that is believed to have been from McDaniel and the reason
why they think that it was from McDaniel was he would often use a moniker and I think it was something like the Sons of
Liberty or son of Liberty something like that and that moniker was used with this
post and also a lot of what it's describing is his situation you know lose it on TV
while the cops are discovering her remains uh talks about having this sexy neighbor that lives next door to him by
the time that that Greg Winters is done reading this McDaniels eyes are shut in court yeah he he doesn't he's it's it's
almost like he's trying to mentally get himself out of that room as this is being read well I'm going to the other
thing the the even more icing on the cake or if you want to say the cherry on top
so the authorities they did find something else and this was through a lot of um computer forensic work yeah I've seen
it reported two different ways that this was either on his uh [Music] they found this from a camera or that
they found this on his computer well you should know regardless of what it was it
had been deleted and they needed that's why they needed the forensics to locate this so they called in crispy Colonel
yeah well studied computer what they found and this is going to really he's at trial
now but this is really going to break the whole damn thing wide open it's basically video clips and I've
watched some that have been released there's not really any audio for them and and even with the audio you wouldn't
understand what you what what we're looking at the video clips you can find them online you can see them for
yourselves they were obtained and released by the make and Telegraph of it eventually
they say that these videos were taken by Stephen McDaniel the night he killed Lauren Giddings the videos are of
Lauren's apartment and were taken between the hours of 9 30 pm and 12 30 a.m in court they described this as
Stephen using a camera attached to a six foot long wooden stick standing beneath
her second floor apartment and videoing her and he they will go on to say once they release
this information and show this video in court they're going to go on and say he spied on Lauren for months prosecutors
said that Stephen McDaniel had become obsessed with Lauren his next door neighbor at barristers Hall Apartments
across the street from Mercer University law school where they had been classmates and that Stephen became
devastated because they were both graduating and they would never see each other again now court documents State a
possible motive as Lauren was beautiful and outgoing Stephen was a loner had no girlfriend and because Lauren was nice
to him he became fixated on her and at some point he believed she should die and he went to Great Lengths to try to
cover it up the showing of the video of Stephen spying on Lauren peeking through the
blinds into her apartment was going to be Steven's undoing and because of this he now wants a plea deal
he's going to confess to murdering his fellow classmate and next door neighbor a full confession was part of the deal
they were able to work out a deal unfortunately her family was in court and had to hear the confession
Stephen's story was this this is according to the the Macon Telegraph he said that at 4 30 a.m
on Sunday he broke into this is 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 she
saw him and said very calmly get the [ __ ] out Stephen said he leaped across the bed
onto her and grabbed her around the throat they struggled and tumbled out of the bed to the floor her legs and lower
body went under her bed this preventing her from getting away or from kicking him 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 according to his confession he then returned to his apartment next door
and spent the entire day on his computer then in the evening he returned with a hacksaw and cut up her body
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 trash can on June 28th two
days before it was found McDaniel has denied raping Lauren he says in his writing quote she was
wearing the pink running shorts when she died and I never removed them they were
found on her torso just as I had left them in the days after the murder McDaniel attended classes and even
joined the search party Lauren's father Billy Giddings told the Macon Telegraph that he believes only
one-third of McDaniel's account saying quote he's had a long time to put it together that's about as good as he
could get it and that's pretty horrible he goes on to say quote we just don't want him in our thoughts anymore I hope
he lives a long life in the worst possible way during the course of his confession
McDaniel attempted to justify his or the murder yeah he described himself as a divided mind unable to account for how
he could have committed these horrible acts and that at the same time he was also able to carry on daily routines
he went on to say quote it's difficult for me to explain why I killed Lauren and attempted to conceal my deed the way
I did I know that it was very wrong I'm not delusional or without all morals or decency something in my makeup my
psychology my neuropathy my own particular pathology perhaps must explain it he expressed remorse
regarding according to the newspaper saying he Grieves Giddings daily but doesn't expect forgiveness from her
family he said if I could take it back I would so since he is pleading guilty and confessing then what is his
sentencing well he ends up getting life with the possibility of parole um he is eligible for to request parole
in 2041 but district attorney David Cook said quote I fully expect Stephen McDaniel will spend the rest of his life
behind bars now just a little over a year ago Captain there was a habeas corpus proceeding this was not whether
McDaniel murdered or dismembered Miss Giddings this was asking the judge if McDaniel's
rights were violated whether his guilty plea was voluntary and whether his lawyers according to this article a pair
of the brightest criminal defense Minds in the region if they somehow failed him
one thing that that was pointed out during this whole situation and I think it's very funny but it's very accurate
many people have stated this was a chance for Stephen McDaniel to step into a courtroom and play lawyer
McDaniel claims in part the searches of his apartment were improper and that he was despondent catatonic even and in no
state to allow searches or provide statements to law enforcement many have said that his appeal efforts afford
McDaniel something he truly craves which is attention and the spotlight but the truly magical moment during this
whole Court proceeding thing here Captain came late in the trial when McDaniel put his defense attorney his
one-time defense attorney Floyd Buford on the stand yeah McDaniel asked Buford if he
recalled his demeanor in their first visit at the county jail and Buford simply replies weird
uh Stephen tried to call in a question buford's representation of him Buford said McDaniel tried to help in his own
defense but McDaniel's efforts quote were from a law student's perspective as the article puts it then Buford took off
the gloves saying now keep in mind he is addressing Stephen McDaniel who put him
on the stand and is questioning him Beaufort says quote you've never been in a courtroom in your life we called the
shots not you you started off facing the death penalty you ended up receiving a life sentence with the possibility of
parole you didn't want to go to trial you wanted to plead guilty Buford revealed that after being
confronted with the finding of the video showing McDaniel spying on Lauren on the
night that she was murdered McDaniel broke down and confessed The Killing to his attorneys right Buford with the
judge's blessing recalled the moment from the stand how McDaniel described the murder in full
saying quote up until the last couple of weeks of your case I was strongly in your corner believing you were innocent
I felt you were innocent but this evidence that came in that was very important Buford went on to tell the
graphic and detailed jailhouse confession that McDaniel gave to him and co-counsel Franklin Hugh about how you
killed Lauren Giddings and how you went about decapitating her or carving up her
body how you even sat down and cut off every finger and bone in appendage on her hands and then threw them all in the
toilet and flushed it all at one time Beaufort said that coupled with the information authorities discovered on
McDaniel's computer including what he says is quote the most horrific child pornography as well as internet searches
for sex with dead people all of this prompted what was very much in McDaniel's best interest requesting and
taking a plea deal that the whole appeal thing does not make McDaniel look any better it does
not clean anything up for him in fact McDaniel went on to lose this appeal and it's it's awful because here's this
monster of a person living almost this hermit life having these fantasies and people not seeing the warning signs
or or seeing some warning signs but not not speaking up about them and then you have on the other hand
Lauren which is a beautiful person a smart person very driven was actually nice to Stephen
this guy that a lot of people found odd and and for him to want to sit there and try
to play the system and at the end of the day her family um they were never able to find
um other parts of her her of her remains to have a a proper you know a proper burial yeah I don't know what he was
hoping to achieve with this appeal but I I think what these people suspect is probably accurate he's what he's hoping
to achieve is is attention and to put himself in the spotlight right but he also thinks he's smarter than everybody
so you know he sits there and brags years before if I do this I won't get caught and I'll do this and well the
thing is you try to live out your fantasy and and you got caught well and that's why I went through buford's
quotes of things that he said to Stephen while he was forced to be on the stand because Stephen called him to the stand
and I loved hearing his former defense attorney really just call the shots and say look man you
what what are you appealing here we did everything for you we did things that were in your best interest whether you
understood them at the time or not it doesn't matter right is it he's kind of it's a it's a very lengthy and
um roundabout way of telling Stephen you're not the you're not smarter than me you're not smarter
than the court you're you're not the smartest guy in the room you're well right in fact you're very dumb and you
in a very dumb situation and what happened right and what happened was they caught that they caught this
evidence like I said it was the the cherry on on the top of the pile of of a mountain of evidence and when that
happened and you realized when you had to realize yourself Stephen had to realize himself I'm not that smart I'm
not all these things that I thought I was you know whether you say there's two sides of you even the evil side of you
realized you ain't that smart and and then that's when you confess to your lawyers
so you know and well and he's 100 a complete psychopath and 100 percent piece of [ __ ] and unfortunately Lauren
Giddings live next door to him was his neighbor and was nice to him and it's just really truly a sad sad
story in the past there have been walks there have been softball tournaments uh all of these events are in Lauren's name
and in her memory there is a scholarship fund set up in Lauren's name as well and
the third annual Lauren Giddings 5K walk is Saturday October 19th from 8 30 a.m to 12 30 at Central City
Park in Macon Georgia [Music] you can go to True Crime garage.com and check out our recommended page we have
all kinds of recommendations there for you this week a little recommended reading we are recommending hello
Charlie letters from A Serial Killer by Charlie Hess you'll want to check that out and while you're at our website make
sure you check out the store page as well thanks everybody for listening this week join us back here in the garage
next week until then be good be kind and don't litter thank you [Music]

Lauren Giddings /// Part 2 /// 342

Part 2 of 2

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Lauren Giddings was missing for four days when her friends and family jumped into action. The next day her remains were found not far from her apartment. Join Nic & the Captain in the Garage as they discuss the Lauren Giddings case. Beer of the Week - Awestruck Dry Apple + Oak Garage Grade - 3 and 3 quarter bottle caps

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Brief Summary

Lauren Giddings was murdered by neighbor Stephen McDaniel, who later confessed after overwhelming evidence was found against him.

Key points

The Sausage King of Chicago. Nick introduces Abe Froman, the self-proclaimed Sausage King, setting a lighthearted tone.
Stephen's Confession. Stephen admits to stealing condoms from apartments, raising suspicions about his character.
Discovery of Evidence. Police find a hacksaw with human flesh, escalating the investigation's seriousness.
The Shocking Evidence Against McDaniel. Video footage reveals McDaniel spying on Lauren before her murder, leading to his confession.
Stephen McDaniel's Disturbing Confession. McDaniel confesses to murdering Lauren Giddings, detailing the horrific act and aftermath.
The Horrific Confession. Buford reveals McDaniel's graphic confession about the murder of Lauren Giddings.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Why do you have three firearms?

Police questioning Stephen about his guns.

7:25WatchNov 21, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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