Murder With My Husband - 42. Lauren Giddings - The Law Student

Episode Date: January 5, 2021

In this episode of MWMH, Payton tells Garrett the story of Lauren Giddings LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkRjIq8Cp2A – Psychology    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snVqd7tooW0 – video clips by stephenn   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVeWGZtiqxA – Press Interviews   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiEKKmRL3uk – sped up interview   Dateline Secrets Uncovered S9E16, The Watcher   Nightmare Next Door S9E9, Master Key Murder   The Bizarre Case of Stephen McDaniel – JCS Criminal Psychology   https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/truly-evil-grisly-murder-of-georgia-law-school-student-back-in-spotlight/85-17ec0d7e-0e45-4ca4-878d-5a117061b614   https://media.macon.com/static/media/projects/McDaniel/sinclair.jquery/McDaniel/   https://www.macon.com/news/special-reports/lauren-giddings-murder/article28614994.html   https://abovethelaw.com/2011/08/chilling-internet-postings-linked-to-stephen-mcdaniel/?rf=1   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwhTruYrjT0  Follow our socials https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBaEKY6u7w Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Yes, you energy, energy for everything. Captain Banner now to our podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. We hope you guys all had an amazing holiday. I know we did. It was super fun. It was super relaxed, but we're excited to be back. So, we've been talking about it for a while now, and it took us a while to set up, and so we thought we would start off the new year with a Patreon. So, we just opened up our Patreon, and on there, there's actually an opportunity to get

an extra episode each month. And I know a lot of you have been asking for that, so we're really excited about it. And we hope that we can continue to grow and produce more content because we really do love doing this for you guys. Our Patreon also just serves as general support for the podcast, so we want to say thank you in advance and we love all of you guys so much.

We also are back doing another YouTube video for this episode, which we're really excited about. So if we sound a little nervous, that's why we're on camera again. Garrett Goods, or Garrett. I get really camera shy. So it's kind of hard. But anyways, we're really excited about it.

Also, this episode will have a lot of visual to go along with it. So if you are wanting that side of the story, YouTube will be a great way to do it. We are MWMH podcast on there. YouTube does get a little picky about the word murder. So just type in MWMH podcast, subscribe, and see all the visual that goes along and you can also look at us for once.

It'll be fun. We also need to do Garrett's 10 seconds. Now I do know that last week we missed it and we heard about it. So we won't forget about it. Garrett, what is your 20 seconds this week because we missed that? 20 seconds.

So for Christmas, I got, well, you actually got it for me. So I've had tools for a while now, but they're not the best tools. So Payton got me new tools and like a tool goes to show that I don't use them very much, but I don't know. What would I call it? Like a work, a work.

I'm gonna start using it, I promise. Like a work bench. I got a big tool work bench to store all my tools and everything. Also, my dad listens to this podcast. He's going to the heart that you just said that I got the tools and he got the tools. Payne's dad got me the tools

and she got me the workbench. Yeah, we won. That's my 10 seconds. And part of that is I'm going to start building stuff. Oh, for me? Yes, for you. I'll start with vanity. So check back in next year to see

the title of their vanity. OK, I'm holding you to it. OK. OK, do you want to just jump right into today's? Yeah, let's do it. OK, our sources are a lot of YouTube videos. So all of those will be linked. So YouTube is a source for us. There's a psychology video that just kind of dissect the psychology behind this case and stuff like that. I also watched

an episode of Dateline Secrets Uncovered. It was season nine, episode 16 called The Watcher. There was also a really, really good one called Nightmare Next Door, season nine, episode nine, and it's called Master Key Murder. And then the bizarre case of Stephen McDaniel, and that's covered by JCS Criminal Psychology, and I will be using that a lot for this week, and he's amazing. He's a psychologist who just goes through and dissect interrogation videos. And I love him. He's so amazing. So great. So by YouTube videos, do you mean like different documentaries

or videos like that? Videos like that. Okay. Just kind of like outsources, kind of like us. ABC.com, media, macon.com, macon.com, above the law.com, and just some more YouTube. So yeah. RK starts in Mac and Georgia.

It's a friendly, safe town with Mercer University, which is a prestigious law school and medical school. So there's a university in the town. 27-year-old Lauren Giddings is attending Mercer as a law student. She was a good student, confident, and smart, also beautiful. She had grown up in Maryland and is said to have made friends wherever she went. She was passionate about law and in the summer of 2007 she is studying for her bar exam. Awesome. So she's graduated and the last step is to just take her past her bar exam. Yeah. She wanted to be a public defender which would mean if someone comes in like a loud order. Yes, can't afford a lawyer. Uh-huh. Has committed or is being accused of a crime she would defend them. Okay. which would mean if someone comes in, like a law order? Yes, can't afford a lawyer,

has committed or is being accused of a crime, she would defend them. Okay. Kind of think legally blonde. This girl is like, blonde, beautiful, pretty studying loss, super smart, she even has a little dog, and it's named Butterbean.

So she kind of is like, defying the odds here basically. Okay. On Wednesday, June 29th, Lauren's sister gets a call from one of Lauren's friends. She tells her that she has been trying to get a hold of Lauren, but she isn't answering. Her calls are going straight to voicemail and Lauren isn't even answering texts. Lauren's sister is worried, so she calls their mom to see if she has heard from Lauren, but their mom to see if she has heard from Lauren, but their mom has

an either. Lauren's sister reaches out to her best friend from college, Ashley, to see if she is heard from her. So like no one from her hometown has heard from her. So they reach out to people that she knows at Mercer University and says, have you guys heard from her? Ashley says no. Everyone in their friend group had been studying for the bar exam all week, but tells Lauren's sister that she will go over and check on Lauren at her apartment to make sure everything's okay. All of her friends are also studying for bars and knowing to see each other. Lauren lived in a second story apartment right across the street from the's house, she knocks on the door but no one answers. Lauren's sister tells Ashley to use the spare key and let herself into the apartment. Now worried that Lauren could be hurt inside. When she checks inside, Ashley discovers Lauren's purse, wallet, and keys.

Oh no. But no Lauren. So like we see in every other case, this is immediate like worry. And every single case, I feel like we kind of talk about this, but I always wonder if my family would be like, oh, Garrett doesn't call to me in a couple of days, or if it would be like weeks, or how long it would take. Ashley decides that it's time to call the cops. After she calls them, she calls anyone and everyone

she can think of to see if anyone had heard from Lauren, but no one had. Police sent an officer out to perform a welfare check and Ashley decides to begin searching for her friend. Ashley's boyfriend, Lauren's ex boyfriend, and Lauren's neighbor's Stephen all begin searching for her. Wow. Looking around inside her apartment, as well as around the school they even drive. Looking for her. They found a Zack's B's receipt from four days earlier. Have you read exact? I haven't. No, have you? No, but we have. We have one. Yeah, I'm going to say that. It's kind of like, what's it? Taco time? Not taco time. Um, I think it's chicken. No, I'm talking about the other restaurant that we always drive by. Oh, oh, oh, Taco Migo.

There we go. Anyways, keep going. They check Lauren's computer and discover that her last activity had been an email from Saturday to her long distance boyfriend. The email stated that Lauren felt like someone was stalking her and even had tried to break into her house the night before. It's so weird that like, they're talking about that on email right not text because now it's just like oh they texted this person. Yeah well so this is 2007 I think. Yeah oh so I mean I guess

I was texting. I think you'll find out later but her boyfriend is older I think he's in his 30s and so I think email was just like a better I don't know I feel like just older people use email I feel like as soon as I got to a certain age, it was like everyone used email all of a sudden and I lost. Because I use email all the time now. Yeah. Not that 30 is old, okay, not that 30 is old, but the next morning, a detective Scott Chapman was handed Lauren's missing person case and immediately heads out to her home.

When he arrived, he met up with Lauren's friends who were still helping search and talked to them when he learned that Lauren was actually supposed to be moving out of that exact apartment that weekend. So the next day she was supposed to be moving out. Okay. They go in and search her apartment and nothing is packed up. So they're like how long ago? I mean no one had heard from her since Saturday. It's now been like four days, I think five days. Where were she supposed to move to? Do you know? Her boyfriend's the longest since boyfriend. Oh, that's weird. The 30-year-old, yes.

Okay. So after searching her house and hearing about her life, Detective Chapman is convinced that Lauren has met foul play. She had just graduated. She had plans. She was moving. She was about to take the bar exam. He does not believe that she just like up and ran away. Chapman dismisses Lauren's friends to continue searching on their own while he works the scene with more investigators. He's

like, we appreciate your help, but like, let's let the professionals take over. As they were searching around the apartment, an odor begins to emerge as the wind picks up that side of the apartment. That's not good. Yeah. So they searched the trash cans around the apartment where they believe the odors coming from and they find two trash bags Inside this trash can so it wasn't smelling before though like it took the wind to so it was like the next day It started to hit the middle of the day They hit up was like in the 90s and the wind started to pick up and that's when they smelt it. Oh my gosh So the first garbage bag is just full of trash like they pick it up and it's just trash

They move on to the second bag that was underneath it and when they open it they were shaken Inside the bag was a woman's torso. No way right outside of her apartment It's a woman's torso in a trash can. That's unbelievable So they put up a tent to keep the media out because they didn't want the media seeing that they had found this It's like it's a crucial piece of evidence. And they were not even sure if it was Lawrence yet, but they were kind of like, what are the chances? They went back into Lawrence's house

and they sprayed her bathroom with Lumenol, which do you know what that is? No idea. So it's like a spray that you can spray on and then you turn the lights off, you put a black light on. And if there's any substance, it glows. Yes. So they were stunned to find that her whole entire bathtub lit up. And it wasn't just like in spots, it was like from the drain all the way up to about two inches to the top.

So, but what a, okay, I guess I'm a little confused because blood would be red, so they're not looking for blood. They're looking for... So if blood was washed with bleach, it still remains... It would still come up with the lumenol. That's why they do that test. I know, dear. So even if you bleach blood all the way down and everything you clean it up,

it's completely gone from the surface, lumenol can show traces of blood. Wow, okay, I didn't know that. So after finding this blood evidence, investigators are almost positive that the torso outside was Lawrence. Like, why would there be that much blood in her apartment? She's missing and then a torso comes up.

Police round up Lawrence closest friends, including the ones that had searched for her the night before. They take all of them to the station in order to get their statements. It's just normal procedure. While the friends are at the station, a call comes into a local news station tipping them off to the body. They call it a body, not a torso, to the body that had been found in a trash bin outside of Lawrence apartment building.

Wait, so they'd already found the body. Then someone called and said, Hey, there might be a body inside the trash can. Someone calls the news. And says that the police found a box. Remember the police tried to keep it hidden. Uh-huh. It's literally reported within hours that the police had found who called who called me. I don't think it was someone close to the investigation

because they would have said it was a torso. Uh-huh. But in this case, they said it was a body thinking that like this girl's missing and a body is found in the how did they know of the happens all the time people tip people up like a new stations will pay for that information. But I'm did they so did they pay one of the friends or you just don't know not sure we just don't know I still don't know who tipped them off.

Okay. Although police had been doing their best to keep it under wraps it's somewhat it had somehow got out and immediately released to the public. Lawrence father who had already been on his way to make making, because remember they live in Maryland, instantly went to the sheriff's station to identify his daughter, because how his family, how her family found out was someone went, did you see the news? And they were like, no, we're in Maryland. And they were like, they found a body outside of Lawrence apartment. And she's missing. Why? So the police didn't even call her family.

So that's how her family found out that there was a body which was actually a torso. Why didn't no one call her family? Because they were still trying to keep it everything under. What if someone from the family had done it? They didn't want to release any information about the evidence they had since the... I mean, they only found out last night she went missing.

Yeah. Just moving very fast. Lauren's father goes down, he tries to identify his daughter and detective Chapman tells them that he won't be able to identify her with what they found in the trash bin because it's not her head. And so then he has to tell her dad. Oh my gosh. It actually wasn't a full body.

You won't be able to identify her. Oh my gosh. That's so horrible. Horrible. I still can't believe it's just a torso Oh my gosh. That's so horrible. Horrible. I still can't believe it's just a torso. That blows my mind. So as police are taking statements, they learn about Lauren's new boyfriend and ex-boyfriend.

They look into both men as those who would usually be your first suspects, right? But they eventually rule them out. They talk to the apartment complex as maintenance man who also happened to be a student at the school. And he tells police that he hadn't seen Lauren out and about for a while around the apartment complex. Next, they interview her neighbor of three years, Steven, who had helped search for her that night. He tells police that he hasn't seen Lauren for about a week or so. He's completely talkative and

helpful. Tells police that he was actually in his home all weekend, but he hadn't heard anything. So this girl goes missing. There's all this blood in the bathroom and this kid's like, I was right next door, but I didn't hear anything in an apartment building. But her head and legs are missing. Yes. And so police are kind of like, okay, whatever.

So nobody had seen her. Nobody had heard anything. I asked this every single time. Security cameras. Was there any around? Nothing. Nothing came up in the. Okay. So police finished their interviews with the young kids and dropped them all back off around Lauren's apartment because that is where most of their cars are, where they live, because that morning, police had taken them all down. They

finished their interviews, taken back. The friends and neighbors are stunned to find a media circus around Lauren's apartment. Keep in mind, they hadn't had their phones during their time at the police station because you don't bring your phone into an investigation. So when the news released that the body had been found, none of these kids knew. They had been searching for her all night, her closest friends and family were all at the station. Oh, so they still didn't know. They come back and there's all these media trucks because now everyone thinks there's a

body there and none of these kids know. They just are like, dang, you know, that's. So this next part is a huge part of this case and we will insert the audio and if you're watching on YouTube, you will see the video. But body language is vital for the rest of this case as it's on camera, so I would highly suggest going to our YouTube MWMH podcast to watch this. The media at this point immediately grabs the friends as they get dropped off because these are the people who are closest to Lauren. They want to interview them. And Steven, her neighbor is eager to jump in.

Steven does not look like a law student. You will see he's skinny, pale, has super curly hair that's long and bushy, almost like Afro like, but it's down to his shoulders. He almost looks like he could be like trendy and cool, you know what I mean? Like hipster. Yeah, but it comes off a little bit, and I don't want to like,

I don't want to like put a judgment on someone, but it comes off like a little nerdy instead of hipster Although it depending on how he acted it could go either way now. I'm gonna play you the first part of his interview Okay with the media She just recently graduated from nursing. Yeah, she and I were we were both JD students We graduated back in May Well kind of person was she I mean how did you did you, what did she see? I mean, she's as nice as can be. I mean, very personable, very much people person. Do you know anybody

that any enemies you might have had somebody that I want to hurt her? No, I mean, we're, we all know where she is. I mean, the only thing we can think is that maybe she went out running and someone snatched her. So do you get the gist of the video? Yeah, I didn't seem like too suspicious to me. I don't just seem like you's answering questions. Just answering questions like full on just answering them. So this is important. The interviewer does not know that Steven is unaware of the body torso body part being recovered

around the apartment complex. Steven obviously doesn't know about it. We just don't know where she is. What about in the parking lot area? I know they've been doing a lot of, I think that's where they have recovered the body or whatever they recovered from there. Adi?

Had you heard it? It had just seen anything there? Had just seen anything there? Hi. I mean, we don't know if this is the same person. You know what I mean? Like, they took out a body there earlier. We don't know if this is the same person, you know what I mean? Like they took out a body there earlier. We don't know if this is the same person or not. That's how we're trying to ask people if they know who live there.

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and manage your expenses the easy way. By going to rocket money.com slash husband. That's rocket money.com slash husband. Rocket money.com slash husband. I mean, money.com slash husband. Rocket money.com slash husband. I mean, I guess what goes through my mind is two things. One, he either just shocked because his friend, his brother found from his missing friend. Or two, he, you know what?

He killed her and he's like, holy crap, they just found the body. Yeah. I don't know which one like, holy crap, they just found the body. Yeah. I don't know which one though, because honestly, like those reactions would be pretty similar, I think. Yeah, for me, when I first watched that, it was so chilling when she's like, you know,

the body, body part, do you know anything about that? Have you, you know, and he just goes body? Oh my gosh. That's insane. And then she's like, yeah, do you know anything about it? Dada and he doesn't answer. The next thing that comes out of his mouth is I need to sit down. He looked like he's going to pass out very much.

Those that are listening, if you get a chance, you need to watch that. That was crazy. And it will, I will show the whole video on our YouTube video of this episode. So he comes back on and finishes his interview. Like after he sits down and takes a second, they're like, can we finish our interview with you? He comes back up and he finishes it and is physically and audibly shaken and upset. He's crying. He's like breathing until they start to ask him another question and then he calms down, answers it. And then in between questions, he's like like come like just yeah not okay completely different than what he was just looking like

while he was answering questions cops are present during this interview they just dropped them back off and they see Stephen do this whole thing they see this whole thing live they had already had cadaver dogs all around the apartment and so that means it was also around Steven's apartment and they said like the dogs hinted at something but they didn't know like it could be anything and so they decided to bring Steven back down to the station again after watching his odd behavior. Now once again this part is important and I know I say this every time but watching this second police interrogation with Steven keep mind I already talked to him once.

He was super helpful. He was talkative. He tells him all these things about her. They bring him in again. The second interview is one of the audits and just like most goose bumpy interview interrogations I've ever watched. Okay. And I mean, I know I like have a thing for weird interrogations.

But this one, this I was I was uncomfortable It was just cringy. Yes Police brings Stephen in and it appears as if he's gone into a catatonic state He is not moving. He's barely answering questions. He's monotone. So he's shocked basically. Yes, it looks like he's in shock He's in a days It's almost like he's not there. Keep in mind his first interview's in shock. He's in a day's. It's almost like he's not there Keep in mind his first interview earlier that day. He's chatty. He's helpful I'm going to just play a segment here for you guys

But I would highly encourage you to look up the whole interview on YouTube and watch the whole thing So I'm just gonna show you like a second a segment of his okay You know I'm gonna take the patterns and right? Yes, you remember Okay. You don't have to take the patterns, right? Yes. You remember, put your hands up here. You remember us talking earlier tonight, right? You remember me earlier in the day?

Yes. When it came down here and talked a little bit and then we left, yes. Okay. He's completely different than news interview. And all, all like post a section, even audio for them to hear that. That was crazy.

The whole interview, it's yes. No, I don't know. Yes. The whole time and he sits with his hands like that. He's like this. The whole time. Does it does not barely move at all. He looked real, I mean, it could have been the camera,

but he looked like a ghost. Yeah. So there's a video where someone sped up the whole interview. And I want you to know this interview last two hours. It starts at 11 and they end into the early morning hours of the next day. Is he just saying yes and know the whole time? There's a sped up. I can show it to you if you want me to. There's a sped up portion of the two hours into like a minute. It's crazy. The amount of movement is like unhuman-like. Like he literally just sits at the whole time. The detectives are moving everything and he just sits there.

It's so, so uncomfortable to watch. Like you're just, you creeped out. Like you're just like something's wrong. Something is obviously not okay. Police get absolutely nothing out of this interview because Stephen won't engage and they change up their tactics multiple times. They are soft and sympathetic, aggressive and loud. They lie to him saying that they have her blood

in his house and at the end, they even become mean and degrading, but none of it faces Stephen. So they like or just all over the place. Like these detectives are one-aiding, trying to get him to just like react, like not be dead basically, and nothing phases him, nothing. It's so weird.

One part that stood out to me when I was watching the the JCS criminal psychology video is from that perspective and might I just say he's amazing. I love his channel. But anyways, he explains how the interrogator decides to shift his tactic to an aggressive manner and do this thing that they are trained to do, which is to move closer to the suspect and kind of corner him in and then stare him down while they ask questions. Are they just trying to get him to react? Yes.

They're trying to get him to confess if he did this. They thought his behavior was odd. And so they come in hard, like trying to get him to say anything about his odd behavior. And interrogators are told to stare the suspect down until the suspect is forced to look away because it's that uncomfortable. And this is to make the suspect feel like he's losing. Even if he had been confident up to that point, to lose like a staring contest that isn't like a noun, so they just do it.

So then they're forced to look away. It's to make him feel little. Does that make sense? It's a tactic they use multiple it. So then they're forced to look away. It's to make him feel little. Does that make sense? It's a tactic they use multiple times. And the interrogator decides to do this. He moves to the seat directly by Stephen. He looks at him in the eyes. But up until this point, Stephen is looking forward,

like we saw in the video. And he's just staring down at the table not moving. And so the interrogator does it, and he tells Stephen to look at him in the eyes because when he moves over, Stephen doesn't react. So he says, look at me table not moving. And so the interrogator does it, and he tells Stephen to look at him in the eyes because when he moves over, Stephen doesn't react. So he says, look at me in the eyes. And Stephen turns his head like catatonically slow

over to the interrogator who is like all up in his face at this point and just stares at him. Like just robotically. Like just like, yes. Like a horror movie kind of? Like literally just, yes, like a horror movie kind of literally just yes like a horror movie like he just goes like this and stairs right into his eyes and keep in mind the interrogator was like in his face. So when he turns his head, they're like this because the interrogator didn't he thought if

he when he turned he would like move like adjusts his body to move and he didn't so their faces are like he's got to be in shock. They're cast to be. So their faces are like that. And so they're uncomfortably close. And due to the aggressive nature of the interrogator, but you know, he's like, oh, he's going to back up. Steven just remains the same, completely collected. It's so creepy. And at this point, they like sit there for a minute, because the interrogators like, K, well, I got to keep doing this tactic. The interrogator is the one who moves his eyes, sits back, moves the other seat, ends up leaving the interrogation because he's that uncomfortable. Oh, man, this is like a train guy who was supposed to, like, he's trained to

make this on, he, like, um, the psychologist said this sometimes last like 10 minutes of them doing this until someone looks away, but because of Stephen's behavior, this guy didn't even last a minute. That's so crazy. And he's the one who gave in. That's so crazy. And same. So during this very eerie, but unsuccessful interview, other investigators were combing through

Stephen's apartment. They found a drawer of condoms, which usually wouldn't, okay, this is funny when I was doing this research, I yelled to Garrett, I said, how do you spell condom? Yeah, I did. I was like, oh, why? And I was like, I need to know. That's funny. I was laughing about that. But anyways, so they find the store of condoms and this wouldn't be that weird,

except for the fact that in his- Sorry, I thought- I was wondering why you asked me that, like, were you just like searching in a Google condom? Like, I was so confused. In Steven's first interview that earlier that day, he was all-tombed, please, I'm a virgin, I'm saving myself from marriage, like, I'm a good guy. Why was he telling them that? Because he was so open and talkative the first interview, like overly talkative. Okay. So then during his second interview,

the police find condoms, they call up the interrogators, they're like, we just found a drawer full of condoms. Isn't this guy supposed to be a virgin? So they go back in and they're like, Stephen, we found a drawer full of condoms. Like what is this about? And he's just like, I don't know, you know, he's all kind of tonic, but this is definitely weird. So he ends up telling them, I stole them. I stole them from other apartments. Yeah. Why didn't he think I stole from the gas station?

I know. Right. He literally just admitted that he broke into other apartments in his apartment building. So weird. So police decide and keep in mind, they're a little upset with him at this point because this interview is, it's frustrating to watch. Like, while I was watching it, I was like, come on, just say something. So they decide to charge him with burglary of these condoms, and they hold him while they gather more evidence.

So they end this interview by arresting him for stealing condoms. And he never asked for a lawyer once? No, and keep in mind. He's in law school. Oh, yeah, I forgot the whole law part. And like a smart, like he's smart. Like this is a prestigious law school. And he didn't ask for, whoa, that's actually a big deal.

I forgot about that whole part. And he would have known that if he admitted to the, oh, I just, I know, but I was just preparing for when I do. That's what he could have said. He didn't have to say I stole those. He knew that he would completely, he just admitted to a felony. I'm, yeah, okay.

So weird, huh? Yeah. So police continue searching around the apartment complex and they head into the maintenance closet where they find a hacksaw with a blood stain on it. So at Lauren's apartment complex and Steven's apartment complex, in the maintenance closet, there's a hacksaw with blood on it. This is a good clue, except the only person

who had a key to the closet is the maintenance man. So they're like, well, it wasn't Stephen. So they bring the maintenance man back in and he tells them that he didn't buy the hacksaw. It was new. He didn't even notice it in there. He didn't know who put it in there. It was in the closet. In the closet. Confused, they tried some keys that they had found in Steven's room on the maintenance store, just like, okay, well, maybe, maybe, right? One of them was a match. No freaking way. So he did have a key for the closet that had a hacksaw with blood in it.

Curious, the detective bring the other key up to Lauren's apartment, just to see, like with these two random keys sitting on his dresser, who might as well try it, to their surprise and horror, it fits. It was a master key to all of the apartments in the building. Oh, that's where you got all the condoms from. So they discover packaging in Stephen's room for the hacksaw in the maintenance closet, as well as a sheet with blood on it in the laundry area of the maintenance closet. Please head back and charge Stephen McDaniel with the murder of Lauren Giddings.

What, what was he thinking? I mean, being in law school, keeping the keys, not saying that he should have got away with it, but I just don't understand. He would think he would be a little bit smarter. Yeah. So despite his creepy behavior and the evidence they had, the state was actually worried.

They have enough to nail him. He was studying to be a lawyer. He thought he was smarter than everyone in the room and he was smart. Could he somehow get away with this? They hadn't found the rest of her body. And there was no DNA evidence of him in her apartment or of her in his. All they had. What about the blood in the sheet?

Yeah, but they don't have any DNA to time to that either. It could have been anyone who put the sheet in the maintenance closet. Could have been anyone who put... Is that how they look at it? Yeah, a jury, yes. That's how his defense team is going to play. He's gonna look at it.

And he's smart, so he'll do it. You know what I'm saying? So they're like, we actually have no physical, like he had the keys, but we have no physical DNA evidence that puts him with her or her with him. Oh, man. So police continue searching for evidence.

They find a mask made out of women's underwear in his apartment. He literally made a mask of women's underwear. Like a face mask or like an eye mask? No, like a face mask. Like a Halloween type of mask? Yes. Oh my gosh.

Like put it on over your head. And it's all women's underwear. OK. They find heavy pornography searches on Steven's computer that also include child pornography. Within these extra searches, they found sadistic searches on his computer. Searches of murder, violence, torture, literally

in Google how to be a serial killer, how to kill someone while they're sleeping, even comments on online discussion boards about how he would commit murder if he were to do it. What a freak. Essentially, this was a serial killer in the making. They find video in his things that are the proof they need. The night of the murder, Steven had attached his camera to a stick, gone outside their apartment and lifted the stick with the video camera up into Lauren's window.

No, and I will put video because they have they've released the video, I'll put the video of what he caught. This was not the first time he had done this. So they had the evidence they needed at this point. He had stalked her. He had videos the night of the murder. But they were friends. Yes. Which is so interesting that he stalked her. Well, I mean, maybe that's not that weird that friend was stalked. He's not like friends that would go to a party and hang out with all the other law school

students. It was like we're neighbors of three years. Hey, Steven, hey, okay, I thought they were like in the same friend group. He tells. Yeah, Steven, hey, okay, I thought they were like in the same friend group. Like the friend circle. Yeah, no, no, he tells police that he had gone, he had been in her apartment like with her casually twice. Okay. So it's not like they were like part of the friend group, you know what I'm saying? But it was like when they went to search for it, they were like, Oh, Steven, yeah, come help. Like you're her neighbor. You might have heard, you know what I'm saying? That makes sense. So he had entered her apartment while she was gone and also took video.

So there's also video of him just like, what in the world? Moving things in her apartment. He had been obsessed with her after she had denied going on a date with him when they first met. He asked her to date. She said, no, but I still want to be friends after this evidence came out, Steven decided to plead guilty. And in doing this, he got life in prison with the possibility of parole.

He just played guilty. He didn't fight it at all. Well, he's a law student. He knows that with the video evidence they found and his searches on his computer, no jury, was going to be like, he took video of the girl, but he didn't kill her. And all the other evidence combined. So that he say what he did or that he just plead guilty? So he admitted to entering her apartment using the master key in the middle of the night and strangling her to death.

So he had all these plans of like sexually assaulting her, but she woke up before he could get over to her. And so he just immediately strangled her because he panicked. He then dismembered her body in her bathtub. He put her torso in the nearest garbage can and the rest of the pieces of her body in a different garbage can on campus. So only her torso was put outside and the rest were put in a different garbage can. He doesn't say why he did that. The rest of the body was never found. Had he put that torso somewhere else, her whole body would have never been found. They searched landfills. They never found her. They probably would have never searched anything in Stevens.

Because the only reason the police brought Steven in was because of his reaction about her torso being found. Had her torso not been found, he would have continued playing normal. To an extent, what goes around comes around. That's just so crazy. They said that they did find pieces of her fingers down her toilet. Oh. That was according to Dr. Todd Grande's YouTube video. She had taken off his mask in the middle of the attack.

It wasn't the underwear mask, I don't think. Oh my gosh, I was gonna say he was wearing that mask. They never specified, but I don't think it was. So she ended up taking off his, she fought back, he had scratches on his body. She took off the mask and she recognized him. And addressed him like, Steven, what are you doing? Oh, that's so sad. And she was right. Someone had been stalking her. Someone had been in her apartment. She wasn't making it up. That was part of the reason she was moving. It's believed that

Steven would have gone on and become a serial killer. He did it for pleasure. He just sucked at being a killer. So he got caught on his first try. So he just literally wanted to be a serial killer. According to ABC10.com, in February, 2018, McDaniel filed a petition asking for a new trial. In the 73-page document filed in Richmond County Superior Court, McDaniel argued that his constitutional rights were violated throughout the investigation and pretrial process.

McDaniel represented himself before the judge. He argued that investigators on the scene documented that he was verbally unresponsive and staring off into space, which he was, and they did not allow him to be cleared by a medical staff before asking for consent to search as a department. So he gave them consent in that weird, catatonic face. So he's arguing I was on well, I was mentally unstable, and they didn't ever let someone see me before I gave consent, but I was unable to give consent. That's what he's saying.

So he argued this and in addition to his former attorney's failure to dispute the matter in court, it caused him to have an improper trial. So that's why he's saying I want a new trial. The judge rejected the bid for his new trial and he is eligible for parole in 2041. Oh, so he's eligible for parole. I thought he'd live in prison with the possibility of parole. Oh, okay. Because he pled guilty instead of going to like instead of going through with, I'm innocent. Got it. So yeah, that's the story. Wow, did you did someone send that in or did you find that?

No, I was actually watching, like I said, oh, a big fan of that psychologist and so I was watching, I watched his interrogation videos all the time and I watched this when I never heard of the story and I was like, shut up, Garrett's gonna freak. So then I was like, I have to do this story. That's insane.

Yeah. I can't believe he made a mask out of underwear. That's the part. I that part didn't even like, buckle my mind. I'm surprised that's weird. That's just weird. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of things that are weird. For me, it's the interview of him going body. And then the whole interview, he was just sitting like this in the catatonic phase. Yeah. That's so freaky. It was so that part, I'll, I'll, it makes sure we insert that part where he looks at him in the detective backs off.

It is so a horror movie. That's what I would relate. It's that was a great reference. Totally. So like I said, this has a ton of content, visual content. So we will be posting on our social media, but we will also be posting on our YouTube channel. Please, please check it out.

Subscribe. It helps us out more than you know. Don't forget about our Patreon. We love you guys, we know that you guys support us in every way and we're really excited to get this Patreon up. We actually are really excited to get it up. It should be really fun. Baby steps towards making this bigger and better for us and for you guys. Yep. So yeah, we will see you guys next week in another episode and the other episode will also be on YouTube. So yeah, I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.

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