Rotten Mango - #41: The Law School Murder (Case of Lauren Giddings)

Episode Date: February 23, 2021

When a law student goes missing - you can’t help but suspect everyone in her class. Was this law school jealousy, a love triangle, or a random crime? What if one of these very law students wrote about how to commit the perfect crime? Is this a situation of How To Get Away With Murder? Source notes on rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Boom, it's a mini-sode. So today's mini-sode is gonna get crazy, but before we get started, I just wanna say are you looking for true crime? I know you are because you guys are always telling me more murders, more crimes, I need it all. And I just want you to go into your YouTube search bar right now and type in Stephanie Harlow because I've been sucked in on her channel and you are gonna get sucked in. The amount of research that she does is extensive and the way that she tells these stories, they just hook you into it. She recently did the Bonnie and Clyde series and mind you, I've watched documentaries on Bonnie and Clyde

and I have never seen any of them, even go 50% in depth the way that Stephanie Harlow does. I mean, this series is blowing my mind, it's amazing, and if you guys are interested in body and Clyde, I know most people are, I mean, everyone dresses up as them for Halloween and stuff, you need to go check out that series. So now, let's get into the mini-sode.

I mean, this mini-sode is wild. My YouTube feed is just all sorts of weird, so I've got like food videos on there, I've got cooking videos, I've got clothing halls, and then I've just get like a bunch of interrogation videos recommended to me non-stop all of the time. And I recently watched one with Stephanie Lazarus, her interrogation video. And it was so mind-blowing, and then it led me to another rabbit hole of another interrogation video. And somehow I ended up with this case. I mean, this case is going to blow your mind. First of all, the interrogation video that's connected to this case is

the creepiest shit I've ever seen. Like, I don't know what else to say. It's so creepy that you're just like, is this person trying to be as creepy as possible? There is a point in the interrogation tape where I can even see the detective like backing away physically from the person who is not armed. Like I mean this person is just really really creepy. And this case- So interrogation tapes are all public. Um, not all. But a lot of them do get released, you know?

So this one was released and this one also has other fascinating, um, like I guess videos that are connected to it because this person found out about very big updates in the case on live TV. So like imagine getting someone's reaction and not just hearing from the police like, oh this person's reaction was a little weird but actually getting to like see it yourself. It's just- Yeah, it's the strangest thing. It's the strangest thing. And it happens in my home state of Georgia. And I don't know why it was in 2011.

I never really heard anything about this case. Maybe I was too young. I never remembered it being on the news or anything. But it's the case of what happened to Lauren Giddings. A lot of people call this the law school murders. I kind of feel like it reminds me so much of the how to get away with murder series. You're talking about a bunch of law school students.

One of them ends up missing. Everyone looks guilty. And everyone even starts getting suspicious of each other at one point, all of the friends of the person who went missing. And you'll see why. There's lots of love triangles going on. I know straight up how to get away with murder.

So this is the story of Lauren Giddings. She was born in Maryland, and she's the eldest of three daughters. So this family is full of girls. She was just in Maryland and she was the eldest of three daughters. So, you know, this family is full of girls. She was just kind of described as like a vibrant person. I feel like everyone describes everyone like that, but just to like go in depth to like paint this picture for you. She is blonde. She wears pink all the time and she has this cute little dog called Butterbean. I know what you're gonna say. I know your eyes. Butterbean? No!

What is it, Butterbean? what you're gonna say. I know your eyes. Butterbeam? No. What is a butterbeam? Like our intro is butterbeam, but a boom. Her dog's name is Butterbeam. So she has this cute little dog, like this tiny little dog called Butterbeam and she takes that dog everywhere. She loves the color pink. Like she will show up like head to toe and pink.

And people said that she was a good time. She's like loved, she's vibrant, some people would say that sometimes she doesn't have a filter and she's always smiley so I mean it just seems like she was just full of life and her purpose in life really early on like all of her family members remember that she just said I want to grow up and I want to help people and she didn't really originally know how exactly she was going to do that like am I going to be a doctor am I going to do this or like an advocate and eventually she was like you know how exactly she was gonna do that, like, am I gonna be a doctor, am I gonna do this, or like an advocate? And eventually she was like, you know what,

I'm gonna be a lawyer. Not only am I gonna be like a lawyer and like open up a private firm and like make a shit ton of money, like that's not the type of lawyer I wanna be. I don't wanna be a judge, I don't wanna be a prosecutor who like catches these bad dudes. I want to be a public defender.

I wanna help the people who are poor and who are accused of crimes. Which like if you guys don't know, public defenders, I have so much praise for them and they are so underpaid. So she graduates high school, she moves to Georgia to go to Agnes Scott College and everyone was so proud of her. She was the first person in her family to attend college. So everyone was like, yes, Lauren, like we're rooting for you. She graduated in 2006 with a political science degree. And she was like, all right, time for law school. Now, here's the thing. Lauren loves Georgia. So she's like, I'm going to stay in Georgia. I'm going to apply to

Mercer Law University or Mercer University Law School. And I'm going to see if I get in. And she really, really wanted to get in because her idol with Nancy Grace, who is this like legal commentator, she's like a TV personality and she graduated from Mercer. So yeah, Nancy Grace also comments a lot on true crime cases. So if you see like documentaries a lot of the times you will see Nancy Grace on there. And so yeah, she's like kind of like a crime commentator. And she was like, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go to Mercer. She gets accepted and she's like, holy shit, this is what I'm gonna do. So she gets into law school. Now, her law school, from what I can find, I try to collect a lot of stories here and there,

but everyone just said she was just on top of everything. There is nothing else to say other than, and I think this is gonna describe it. She was a runner. She's in law school and she's running. So she'd be like, okay, I'm so stressed from all this school work. I'm gonna go run a marathon to de-stress. I think this shows how much of like an achiever she was. She went to church on

the weekends. She was even the president of the Federalist Society and she also had a ton of friends. Like she was really popular. So she meets her good friend Ashley there and friends and family say that people were always infatuated by Lauren. Like she just attracted a ton of guys all the time and David was one of them So David is this older man. He is in his 40s So 20 years older than her and she had interned at his law firm in Atlanta, Georgia for a couple of I think like a couple of months And they started that just developing feelings. They had this spark. They start dating Then she decided to go to law school. So she's like, okay, like, bye, I gotta go an hour and a half away.

Like, I guess we're just gonna try to make this work. Now a lot of Lawrence friends say that David is a little bit of a commitment fob. He even tells the police that himself, like he just is scared of commitment and he was um, and I quote, like a little flaky, I guess. So the relationship wasn't like the most stable, like it wasn't like, ooh, like you and me forever, like we're gonna be like this power couple of attorneys together right and so once she gets to school. I mean the relationship gets rocky Like it's just I guess there wasn't a lot to relate to now that it's long distance She is studying all night. She's running. She's got all these things going on

He is running his own law firm. He's 20 years older. I mean it just wasn't really working out So they end up breaking up and she meets a guy by the name of Joe Now Joe had a lot more in common with Lauren So he's a lost student. He's got a very relatable lifestyle But he's also like really goofy and around the same age. They've got tons of mutual friends So Joe's roommate is Ashley, which is you don't Lauren's like best friend in college So our best friend in law school. So it's just like made sense So they start dating and it got serious,

but there was something about David. Like Lauren was like, I gotta go back. Like I just gotta see if it's gonna work with David because I just feel like I need to give it one last shot. So she breaks up with Joe. She gets back with David and Joe was pretty heartbroken. Like he was like, fuck, this is so bad. But he was like, you know what,

we're not gonna make it awkward. We still got the same friends. We still hang out around the same people. And I still really like you as a person. So like, let's just be chill. Let's just be friends. So eventually they all graduate. David comes to the graduation.

It's like, it was just a really, and I think this makes this case so much more devastating. It was such a good time in Laurence's life. So she had just graduated. She went back to Maryland because her sister just had her wedding there. And she immediately came back to make it. Now it was like this final push.

So like this final push, you just take the bar exams and then you're kind of done. Like now you can like go be a lawyer, right? And so she gets back to make it and she's like, all right, now I got to study. Like some people think that this is harder than law school itself. Like this is people will go into hibernation, like into their little isolation caves and just study for however long. So the bar exam, right? Yeah, like it's just they're like,

bye, I'm gonna go now and you'll like never see them again until after the bar. So that's just how hard it is. So all of the friends were getting ready to do that, getting their little study caves ready. So they're like, hey, why don't we just do like one more Friday night, you know, we're all about to go into our little caves. So why don't we just have one final party and then just like

that's it? We're just gonna go study. So June 24th, 2011, that's like what they decide. They're like, we're gonna all get together, we're gonna drink, we're gonna go to the clubs, we're gonna go to the bars, and then we're just gonna party. So they all go. And then after all the bars close, after all of the clubbing, it's like one in the morning, they go back to Ashley's house, which is Lauren's friend, right? And also Joe happens to live there. So her ex-boyfriend. And so they all drink some more. And eventually it just happens like most college parties, like everyone either finds their way back home, Uber's home, or just like lays on the couch and sleeps, you know? And Lauren ended up spending the night in Joe's room that night. Now I don't think anything happened, but because it's kind of important

to the whole story later on, right, and who becomes suspicious, who was the last person to see her, all of these questions, right? So she spent the night there, and she had mentioned to him and other friends that night that she felt like she was being stalked. Like she was like, hey listen, I don't know what's going on, like I know I'm about to go study for this bar, but like I feel like I'm being stalked. I feel like someone is inside of my apartment. I don't know. I just get like this weird vibe when I'm home alone at night. It feels like something's not right. Like even when I um like I would come home and sometimes things would be like moved around. And they're like, why? Like you're no. And then she's like, no I'm serious. Like sometimes

I'd come home and my laptop I thought I put it on my bed but like now it's here. And they'd be like, no, like I think you're just like tired. I think we were all tired before we graduated and you're probably like really stressed out for the bar. No one really took her seriously. They just thought that she was being dramatic. Now I think it also goes to show that Lauren did have a ton of guys who were always coming on to her. And so maybe people thought, oh, like maybe she's just getting paranoid because guys are constantly approaching her and sometimes I can get to you like oh my gosh Like what if one of them's like a creepo? Are you looking for sustainable jewelry because you should be and I want to tell you guys about Anna Louise's

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an alluisa.com slash rotten that's a and a L.U.I.S.A. Dotcom slash rotten And on top of that, when she went home back to Maryland, she had told her sisters that more than once, when she came home, things were not left like the way that she had left them. And she feels like people are moving things around. And I think this is a guy.

Is that a stalker or this is literally a break in situation? But like nothing was said that it was broken in. Like the door wasn't open, like nothing was left weird. So it's not like the door was unlocked or like a window was unlocked, like a window was open, like none of that. It's just, what is she thinking? What is she thinking?

Like some ghost moved it or something? No, she feels like someone's in her apartment. Someone's living in there. Not maybe living. I don't think it was like a situation of me being paranoid. Being like, hey baby, is there someone in our attic? Cause I had a moment where I genuinely believed to someone was squatting in our attic

for some really dumb reason. But I think she just felt like, she was being stalked somehow. Cause you know how like stalkers they get in and out without people knowing? I feel like this is like the shittiest part. I feel like people might have taken her more seriously if she was like, oh, and my front door was kicked in

You know, or my window was left open But because there was no indication that anyone came into the place It sounded like oh god. You're just being so paranoid like I'm sure it wasn't anything Unless someone came in and stole your TV and your computer and your laptop like nothing happened Yeah, and so everyone just kind of brushed it off So the next morning Saturday morning comes, right after this huge party that everyone threw, and everyone just starts like slowly leaving Ashley's place. Now, again, this is a situation like a college party.

You're not going to have everyone get up at the same time and like thank the host. Like you're just kind of like crawling to your car. You're hungover, you need water, and you look like a zombie, and you just need to get out of here, right? You want to take a shower. So nobody saw Lauren leave the house. But it wasn't alarming. Like, no one was like, oh, did she leave?

When did she leave? Because this is like the thing. Everyone just leaves whenever they wake up, right? Now Joe says, oh, she woke up early. She said that she was going to go to the country club to take a pool. So she just left. So everyone's like, oh, OK, sounds good.

Now at this point, this is when everyone starts studying for the bar, like everyone just like goes into their little caves and nobody's talking to each other. And until a friend of Lauren's from Maryland reaches out to Lauren and she had taken these like really goofy pictures of Lauren at the wedding in Maryland a couple weeks ago and she was like texting them

to her and she was like, you know what? Oh, I'm gonna post these as like a prank. Like she just wanted her to be like, no, like I look like a doofus, right? And Lauren wasn't responding. So she was like, okay, like I know she's studying, but I mean, these are pretty funny pictures. Like I can't believe she's not responding.

Like these are hilarious. And so she's like, it's fine. I'll wait until the next day. So then she tries to acting her again the next day, no response. And then the day after that. And then she's like, okay, like this is weird. Like I have never gone more than like two full days without talking to my best friend,

you know, even though she lives in Georgia now. So she calls her phone and Lauren's phone was completely off. So she's like, why would she turn her phone off, you know? So she starts calling Lauren's family and all of Lauren's sisters and they're like, whoa, yeah, I mean, I knew that she was gonna be busy studying, but that is a little weird. So I mean, this is how serious the studying was. She left her beloved dog butter bean. Yeah. She left her beloved dog in Maryland.

Like, she was like, I can't even take care of my dog. Right now, and she loves that dog. She was like, this is how intensely I need a study. Like, I'm not gonna leave my apartment. Like, all I'm gonna be doing is studying, right? And so, Lauren's family was like, maybe she's just studying. Like, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I mean, let's try. So they start calling her and she's not picking up. So this is when Lauren's sisters start fully freaking out. And they start reaching out

to Ashley via Facebook message. They're like messaging her and they're like, hey, like, have you seen Lauren? Because she's not picking up our phone and we're like freaking out. And Ashley's like, oh, I haven't seen her since like Friday night. That was like, what? Like four days ago or something like that? But yeah, I guess I could try to call her if you want. And they're like, could you actually go check her apartment or something? And she's like, yeah, totally.

So she gets to the apartment, which is across from the college, Mercer, right, university. And they see that her car is parked outside in the apartment buildings, like parking lot. So she's like, oh, she's totally inside. This is going to be fine. They go to the door. They knock on it. She doesn't answer. So then Ashley is like, oh, she's totally inside. Like, this is going to be fine. They go to the door. They knock on it. She doesn't answer.

So then Ashley is like, oh, she probably went to Starbucks to study. Like, maybe she walked to campus to study. She didn't think anything of it. And they just kind of like left. So they were like, it's fine. They leave. Now, a few hours later, Lauren's sister

keeps contacting and they're like, hey, did you get a response? Because she's still not picking up. Like, you know, you said that you saw her car out there, but she's still not picking up. So if she had just like hop that you saw her car out there but she's still not picking up. So if she had just like hopped over to campus, I mean, she probably would have called us by now, right? So she's like, okay, yeah, you're right.

Like, this is fucking weird. So Ashley gets her boyfriend and her keys to the apartment. So she had his bare key to Lauren's apartment, right? And she gets over to Lauren's place and her car is still parked in the same place. And it just, she said that she had like the Scott feeling. She had this Scott feeling and she was like, I don't know what it is,

but she turned to her boyfriend and was like, listen, you need to get ready for whatever is inside that apartment. Like, I don't know what it's gonna be, but I feel like it's gonna be bad. Because why would her car be parked out still? Like, all of it was just, at first, I think maybe when her car's there, it's kind of comforting.

Like, oh, she's here. Like, she didn't go anywhere, you know? But I think the when her car is there it's kind of comforting, like, oh, she's here. Like, she didn't go anywhere, you know? But I think the longer you think about it, it's like, why wouldn't she take her car? If she, that would mean that she's at the apartment, why isn't she answering the door? None of this is, how could she go anywhere without her car? And so they get the spare key, they walk into the apartment, now they had to walk a little bit deeper into the actual apartment unit to turn on the lights. And once they do, I think they were expecting some shit, but it was completely empty.

There was nothing. So like, you know, Lauren's purse, her keys, and phone, they were all on the couch, her phone, and her laptop were sitting on her bed. And Lauren was like, not there. There was no crime scene. There was nothing. Just Lauren was gone. It literally looked like Lauren had just walked out and just like decided not to come back. Now the reason I actually thought this was weird though, is because Lauren was gone. It literally looked like Lauren had just walked out and just decided not to come back.

Now the reason I actually thought this was weird though is because Lauren was moving tomorrow. Lauren was packing up all of her things, moving an hour and a half away to David's place. And she's looking around and none of the stuff is in boxes. So all of her stuff is just kind of like looked like someone was getting ready to pack but maybe they still had like a week or two left. It didn't look like it was ready to go tomorrow. So does that mean she's been missing for a long time? Like at least four days since the last time she was seen on Friday, right? So they're just like, I mean this is weird. Like it doesn't look like someone who's getting ready to move tomorrow, especially when you're moving like an hour and a half

away. So they're like, okay, we need to we need to figure out where she is. So they start contacting all of their friends and Joe being one of them. So he starts searching for her on campus. Like maybe she's studying somewhere, just like left her apartment. Now Ashley and her boyfriend, they start going through her apartment, Lauren's apartment, and they find like this receipt from Zach's Bees, which is like honestly such a good chicken spot. But they find that this receipt from Zach's Bees, that's that said it was Saturday night. So now you're saying the party happened Friday night and she got Zach's Bees Saturday night. Right, so they're kind of thinking, okay, so the last time she was at this apartment with Saturday night, at least. Yeah.

So they couldn't find anything else to like see what else was going on if she was here Sunday, what happened on Monday. And that's when like the major panic starts setting in. Because here's the thing with being in law school especially in Lauren's position. She actually used to intern at a public defender's office. So she would visit prisoners, like tons of prisoners. She would constantly go to prisons and meet with these people who were the public defender's clients, you know, and they just started thinking like, I mean, she's met so many different types of people and like, yeah, you want to think everyone's like this nice person, but Lauren also has this thing about her that makes men

Incredibly attracted to her because she's just like radiant and she's just full of like ambition and life and you know Maybe one of these prisoners like got the wrong idea. Maybe someone became obsessed Maybe someone became infatuated so their their brain is like running on full-on overdrive. And the next thing that they find in Lauren's apartment, they check her computer that was left on her bed, and they see an email that was sent Saturday night, to David that said, I feel like someone tried to break into my apartment like the night prior, while she was away at the party.

Like she just kept saying, like, it feels like someone tried to break it. So they're like, okay, like if this is the last thing that she's ever sent, someone like this is weird. So they weighed a little bit more. Lauren's not coming back at this point, even like the neighbors started getting concerned. So one of the neighbors, like her next door neighbor came over and was like, hey, like what's going on?

And they were like, have you seen her? Like, have you seen her yesterday? Like I know you guys are just neighbors, but like he's like, oh, I mean, I can try to help you and he was helping search around the unit and stuff. And he was like, I haven't seen her in a while, but I also have just like close my blinds and just been studying for the bar too. He's also a law student, right?

So he's like, I was just studying for the bar. Like, I don't really know. Right. And so they decided to call the police and the police immediately come and they thought it was weird. Like that just especially getting everyone's statements about Lauren, the fact that she was such a social butterfly, it just doesn't seem like the type that would just up and leave, you know?

And it's so close to a campus, I think the police had to put a lot of extra care into like making sure that this gets resolved as best as possible. So the police are searching her place, and that's when the next runaway comes up, and his name's Stephen McDaniel, and he's just like, hey, so like what is she went running and someone just like snatched her up? Like snatched her runaway? And the police are like, yeah, I mean, who are you? It's just a really weird thing to like suggest to the police so they're like, okay, like this, this is gonna be a weird situation because all of these kids are law school students. They probably don't think the same way as regular civilians, like they're all thinking like, what if it's this, what if it's that, like they've got all

these, I'm sure maybe they took like a criminal justice class or something, so they're just like, oh shit, like we got to get on this. Now Lauren's family, they start freaking out at this point, so Lauren's dad gets into a car and he makes that 12 hour drive to Georgia from Maryland. And like imagine that drive, I can't even like any time I have to take my dog to the bed and it's like a slightly emergency situation like the 20-minute drive kills me so I just don't even understand how like this drive on my heart goes out to him for this drive and so the police during this time they just immediately start interviewing everyone. I mean there's no signs

of foul play her keys her car everything's Like, it's just strange. So obviously, everyone's thinking, okay, like, where's David? Where's Joe? Because, you know, we're law school students. We kind of know what's going on. And so David is a boyfriend. She's moving in with him. They've kind of had not the best history, right? And then Joe, maybe she might have just spent the night with him. Maybe it was platonically or, you know,. We don't know it doesn't matter, but Maybe it does maybe she did reconnect with her ex or maybe Joe forced her to sleep the night I spend the night right like there just all these questions that people had and so they first immediately start questioning David And he said that he was on a golfing trip in California

So he hadn't talked to her for a few days. The place like like this is weird. They just keep asking him like, what do you mean? And he's like, yeah, I went like on like a golfing trip on the West Coast. And I ain't like that. There's such a trip called golfing trip. Yes. Like I got to take a trip to golf.

Yeah, even the golf course everywhere. Because reminds me of the the the the the TikTok you showed me of I'm playing tennis right now It just screams rich like it's like what do you I feel like golfing already feels rich But like you got to go on a trip to golf yeah But also like how do you bring your golf clubs? Do you like pay or those checked baggage? I think so they just like toss them around like that. And so he's like, yeah, I didn't talk to her for a couple days because I was on this trip

and they're like, you didn't, you don't text her, like you didn't text her that you got there, like you landed in California, you didn't text her, like you like checked into the hotel, like you didn't like, text her good night one night and he was like, no. Like, do you know how like strange that sounds like that sounds strange, right? And he's like yeah, no, but I mean I was golfing so I didn't really text her or call her And so they're like okay like this is a fucking strange relationship And they even asked about it They were like you know her friends say that you guys didn't have the best relationship

So obviously your suspicious and he was just saying yeah, I mean I would kind of like back out anytime I felt commitment but it wasn't bad She was gonna move in with me tomorrow and he was pretty helpful like he even had all of like the tickets and stuff So he had a pretty airtight alibi is what I was worried was he like trying to help Yeah, he seemed worried. He's he did try to help but I mean I think more importantly He just had like a crazy alibi. And he didn't really have no one, I don't mean from what I could tell,

it didn't seem like the police suspected him of a murder for hire situation. It seemed pretty legit. So then they start questioning Joe, who was technically the last person is here alive. And they even pulled up the security footage from that Zaxby's, remember, because she went to Zaxby's the next day.

And they tried to find her car. They tried to find if anyone was in the car with her and they couldn't see into it. So maybe Joe was still with her. Maybe Joe had left with her. Maybe Joe went to meet her at Zaxby's. They were just trying to get the low down. What happened, Joe, tell us.

And so they started questioning him. And he's like, no, like she left early. She said she was going to the pool. They did find credit card statements of her like buying something at the country club pool, and there was just nothing to tie Joe to it. They didn't completely say, you're completely innocent. Like, we're never going to look at you again,

but they were just like, okay, as of right now, like we still need to search for her, we need to find out what's going on, but Joe, you're still on the list. So they start searching Lauren's entire place, and here's a very interesting thing about this crime They they had the crime scene technicians come in before anything happened Which is really rare in a missing person's case especially in Georgia. That's what I heard

I don't know if this is true If you guys are crime scene tech and you're like no, I'm always there right maybe that's different But this is the first time I've heard of it so even before they found a body even before they knew it was a crime scene They had crime scene texts in there, but that's a good thing. No, yeah, it's a really good thing, right? It was really based on the fact that she's a social butterfly and they were like, it's just so out of character Just doesn't make any sense. So they they already make kind of make the assumption that something might have happened Yeah, like really bad. I mean also with like those emails Right and all of that it was just weird right

next to campus, like not looking good. And they just kept saying it looked like someone walked in and just like walked out, shut the door, left. Now, this is all happening. That same day, what else is happening? Garbage pickup day. So this garbage truck, they're just driving around, they're picking up all of the dumpsters in campus. And they were trying to get into Lauren's apartment building and get the dumpsters in the back of this apartment building but all of the squad cars were just blocking the way and the dump truck was like listen I'm not even gonna try to squeeze in right now like I'll just come back next week like I'm sure it'll be

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That's my soul cycle bike.com slash rotten promo code rotten So they keep searching the apartment building and as they're coming down this stairs So it's not necessarily an apartment building that's like indoor hallways You know what I mean like it's one of those smaller ones with maybe like two floors. I want to say like I I mean I saw Google pictures, but I want to feel like maybe like eight to 16 units depending on if there's like a back unit Right and they're coming down the steps and it's like a hot day. It's like summer in Georgia They don't call it hot land off or nothing. Okay, and they get like this gust of just like hot air wind as the police are coming down the steps from Lauren's unit.

And they smell just the most penetrating scent and they immediately knew, like they're looking at each other and they're like, oh shit, like where is this coming from because some shits about to go down. Like we know this smell, this is not a smell that we should be smelling right now. And so they kind of follow the strong odor

and it leads them to the garbage area. And inside of one of those garbage cans, they open it, there's these two giant large trash bags. And the first one, they open it up. Like they're like rushing, I'm sure, right? So they like open it up, and it's just household trash, like receipts and stuff, so they're like, okay, like, let's go deeper.

So they take that one out, and then they open up the second bag. And the police officer, he was actually interviewed, and he said that when he touched that bag, like he just knew there were human remains. Like it feels like a body through a bag, you know, it doesn't feel like you are throwing away like water bottles. And so they open it up, but they were surprised to find that it wasn't necessarily what they were expecting. I mean, they were expecting a body, but they just found a torso. And that's it. No limbs,

no head, no arms, no legs, just a torso. Holy moly. Now remember that trash truck? This trash was gonna be taken to the landfills today. And they found it. And the only reason that the trash truck couldn't come was because all the squad cards were blocking the entrance. Wow. So they're like, okay, like this is bad. They knew that the torso belonged to a Caucasian woman, but they couldn't really,. We don't even want to tell the families because we need to identify her, right? And so they don't tell anyone. They wanted time to investigate. They don't want this place to be an absolute shit show.

They don't want the press all over the place. And you know, they wanted to talk to Lauren's family. Now somehow the press find out about this. It gets leaked and they publish a piece on how a torso has been found across Mercer University's campus. a torso has been found across Mercer University's campus. I mean I think price is not evil, like I'm not like 100% on that side where I'm like, price, price, price, price, you know, but like I don't think that they're necessarily evil, but there have been so many times in true crime cases where I'm like, why would you do that? Well like why would you jeopardize all of these people's lives just so that you could get the first piece out there? Like I don't understand why they published this especially because

Lauren's family had no idea that they found a body. Ah, so they think she might still be alive. So they're in Maryland just like on their phones like trying to get in contact. Her dad was on the way to Georgia still and the way they found out was a bunch of family friends and their uncle was calling, being like, hey, how are you guys dealing with the update? They're like, what do you mean, what update? They found a body.

Like, see, that's what I'm saying. This is so bad. I mean, usually there's a reason why doctors and police are the ones to tell, because they get trained on how to give a notice in a way that is respectful. It's, you know, and now they're like, what the fork? Like, what are you talking about? So, Lauren's dad, he immediately goes to the police station in Georgia,

and he's like, I need to see her. I need to ID her. If this is her, like, I need to see her. And the police chief, he said, okay, like, I need everyone to clear the room. So, everyone leaves the room. And he says, listen, I'm not going to let you do that. Lauren's dad, like, oh, the hell you're not? Like, yeah, you are. Like, I'm going to ID my, do that. And when I'm sad, like, oh, the hell you're not? Like, yeah, you are.

Like, I'm going to ID my, if that's my daughter, I need to know, right? And he was like, listen, I'm not talking to you, like a police officer. I am a dad, and I'm talking to you, father to father. And I will not let you do that. Like, you're not going to do that. And then he had to tell him, it's not just because I don't want a father to see something like this, but it's because we've only found a torso. Yeah. So the press at this point, they knew that

there was a body found. So, so he doesn't want him to see it because why? You're just, you can't get this image out of your head. Like, let's say he sees, you know know I think it's interesting because from what I can tell in especially brutal cases they try not to let the family's ID the bodies I mean most of the time you can't even ID the bodies because it's been such a brutal situation right and like why would you want that in your head well how are they gonna find out then? So DNA testing. So they used DNA to ID her and it was a positive match to 27 year old Lauren Gettings. Now Lauren's dad was actually pretty thankful

that he didn't see her body, you know, but it's just, it was really shitty. So they start interviewing everyone. I mean, the police are on to everyone. Like the maintenance man at the apartment is also a law student. So it's like everyone's a fucking law student and like, imagine too, like, how daunting it is

and not only are these very, you know, nice people but they're also like really intelligent law students. Like, I feel like trying to question them. I think it's like questioning a lawyer. Like, I'm sure they're the most annoying for police officers, right? So they're like questioning all of our friends. Everyone's being interviewed.

They're questioning her neighbors, her teachers, just everyone. Everyone and their mom, right? And so Steven was her next door neighbor, so they were like, hey, when's the last time you saw her? Like was there anyone weird following her? Like did you see anyone stalking or like peeping through her windows?

And he was like, I mean, I've been her neighbor for like three years, and I've never really seen any weird activity. I don't think so. If anything, I feel like maybe she went on a run into one like kidnapped her. Because I've never really seen anyone around the apartment and he's like, yeah, I'm a member of the Federalist Society, but I mean, we're not really friends. He does mention that he was super busy studying all week for all of the bars and stuff and

all of the friends, they're questioned and they're like, yeah, I've been seen her since Friday and we were all studying for the bar. So it seems like everyone has the same response and the police are like, this is really frustrating. Like everyone was just studying. And all of the friends even started questioning each other. Like Ashley was interviewed and she even admitted, I feel so guilty admitting this,

but I was really questioning my friend Joe. Like I was like, Joe, I mean, no one was asking them straight up like, did you do it? But they were just like, oh, like what did you do the past couple days? And everyone was like, Joe, I mean, no one was asking them straight up, like, did you do it? But they were just like, oh, like, what did you do the past couple days? And I was like, I was studying for the bar. What about you? I was studying for the bar, you know? It was crazy.

And the fact that they're all like, you know, trying to be lawyers. Yeah. So they also, their minds like running all sorts of scenarios too. And I'm sure they're like, Todd, like, you can't trust everyone for what they say. So they're all like, oh, yeah, you're freaking little liar. Show me the proof where there's where there are seats, you know? So they even questioned a bunch of her running buddies. They were like, who runs with her?

Like if she did get snatched while she's running, like, is there a route that she takes? Like they're just trying to get all over this. No, at the same time, a bunch of price is all over the place. So you've got police detectives at the station questioning people you've got some still searching Lauren's place you've got some like searching her running routes and you've got a bunch of price like it's an absolute chaotic shit show and one of the price they're just trying to interview anyone like like do you know Lauren like let me try to interview you right and one of those people was Steven he was like coming home

from the police station and he lives at this apartment building so he's like okay like there's so much press here and they're like hey hey from the police station. And he lives at this apartment building, so he's like, okay, like there's so much press here. And they're like, hey, hey, hey, like do you live here? And he's like, yeah, and you know, they're like, oh, like tell me more. And so he's like, yeah, I mean, Lauren's been my neighbor for three years. I mean, she's as nice as she can be.

I mean, I think all of us just kind of think maybe she was running and someone snatched her. There's the police say there's no sign of any break in. So I don't really know. And that's when on television, right, this little recorded, the journalist or the interviewer goes, well, what about the person that they recovered? I mean, from the parking lot area? I mean, obviously, we don't know if it's her, but it's just strange that a body was found. And Steven looks at the camera and he looks away into the distance and he says, body and he stares. And they're like, are you okay? Like what's his reaction? Like he's shocked or?

So this is where opinions differ, right? And so he says, oh my god, I need to sit down. And so he sits down on the ground and he just starts crying on the sidewalk, like almost hyperventilating. And he's just like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, right? So a lot of people think that this is a really strange reaction, but I don't really know. Like I'm trying to think about it. And if I had, like we had recently, because all my neighbors are really old, and we recently saw an ambulance outside in the middle of the night, and I was pretty shocked. Like I was just like, oh fuck, like I really hope nothing bad happened.

So I feel like if I got the news that one of them had passed, I would be shocked. And so him being her neighbor for three years, she goes missing, like I'm sure that's very shocking experience. They find out that there's a body found in the apartment complex that you live in, like I'm sure it's really shocking, right? Some people think it was faked because of, we'll discuss that later, but some people think it was a faked reaction. Some people think it's a genuine reaction, but not necessarily towards Lauren being dead.

So he starts freaking out and he's just like, oh my god, oh my god. So some people think that maybe this is his reaction of evidence being found versus losing a friend. So when he was acting that way was the interviewer suspicious then? I'm not necessarily sure like from what I can tell there's like a 12-minute clip on YouTube of it. It seems like the interviewer is just trying to get a good moment to be honest. She's not like where were you that night you know like she doesn't seem like she's like huh right but I think she like wanted this like emotion for sure like I think she's like tell us more like how sad are you like I'm gonna assume this is the murder

Yes And the interviewer so this clip became viral after the fact. Yeah, but I don't think that she was like, you know, doing her own Investigative thing and like was like, oh, I think this is the guy, right? And so the police that are searching Lawrence apartment see him like they had just questioned him at the police station And now he's like falling apart on the sidewalks who they're like this dude's weird, you know like this dude is just Rubbing us the wrong way and so they're like, come on Let's bring you back in for questioning. So they bring him back downtown to get questioned.

And the first time, he's just like very fidgety. Like he's just like a weird dude. Like he's just freaking fidgeting and he's just telling them a bunch of nonsense, like how he's a virgin, he's gonna save himself for marriage, he has always wanted to stay a virgin until he gets married, all of these things. And everyone's like,

why is he saying that? Yeah, the police are like, we don't really need to know any of this. And they asked him, like, we noticed, you know, but I feel like we need to ask, what are like the little scratch marks that you have here and there? And is there anywhere else you have it instead of your face and stuff? And he sure enough had scratch marks on his stomach. This is like the preppy killer. And he was like, oh did it in my sleep. So he's like, do you mind if we search your apartment? Because like this is all leading towards some weird stuff. And he's like, yeah totally like you can search my apartment. So they go to Steven's apartment and his apartment is so freaking weird. I don't even know what to say. So he has a collection of swords. Listen, I'm into all hobbies. Do your

thing, right? So he has a collection of swords. Little startling. I like swords. I do too, but if I just knew that my neighbor had just a massive collection of swords, I'd just be like, damn, what I moved to. This is really intense, you know. I don't know if I'm inviting them over for dinner. And he just had a massive collection of guns. That's a different story. And he also had just like empty toilet paper rolls like sitting on top of a table. Like they didn't have any toilet paper on them. They're just like the cardboard. But it didn't look like he was recycling them.

You know, I totally get it if you're just trying to recycle them. But they were just like, they were just laying on a desk. Like he used up all this. Too lazy to trash it. But it doesn't look like it. Oh, he's collecting them. It looks like it. It's just weird.

Like I saw a picture of it. And it was just weird. It wasn't like he's collecting them. It looks like it. It's just weird like I saw a picture of it And it was just weird it wasn't like in the bathroom either. It's not like that. They lay like very organized. Yeah So it's just odd. I don't know what you're doing. I'm trying to make it like a DIY art. DIY vase. Yeah spray paint it five-minute craft situation going on He watched one minute one five-minute crafts He's like I got a I got a wait till I have a hundred toilet paper 5-minute craft situation going on. He watched one-minute, one-five-minute crafts. He was like, I gotta wait till I have a hundred toilet paper rolls so that I can make this vase

that they told me to make in five minutes. I know what you mean. And he also had stockpiled canned foods. Yes, so he was like really like ready to go. I get it, yeah. Okay, yeah. This one you're not gonna get, he had tons of women's underwear and he made masks out of them now

This is 2011 so it's not like a COVID mask. I mean that's weird, but like I imagine like you're trying to poke some eye holes out and Just wear women's panties as like a ski mask What so they found that I mean that's weird and they also found tons and tons of condoms and they asked him like hey Why do you have condoms? I thought you're a virgin and he was like oh? I Just I I stole those from a couple different places like different apartments. I like stole condoms different Apartments and why when he said that the police are like you admitted to stealing. We already think that you're a suspicious mother for girl. Like, you are acting really, really strange.

And now you're telling, you've got woman's scheme ask underwear, right? Like, you're weird, dude. Now we're gonna arrest you for theft. Now we have a reason to arrest you, so we're gonna go back to the station, right? And they said that driving him back to the station, he was like a new person.

It was like a totally different person. He was weird. He was monotone, he was lifeless. he was like a new person. It was like a totally different person. He was weird. He was monotone. He was lifeless. He was barely responding to people. He just turned into straight up a zombie. A zombie. Hey there.

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every week and maybe you can provide clues that can help solve these mysteries. Unsolved Mysteries the podcast is available now. Listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, radio.com, or wherever you get your podcast. So he gets to the police station, and this is when their interrogation happens. If you just watch this and just watch him, it's like that movie part, you know,

the director's always try to do those movies where one person is standing in the middle of, like, I don't know, like a New York York subway station and they're just standing still. It's like a music video moment and everyone is like rushing past them, but they're standing still. This is that interrogation. Like there's police coming in and out. The detective is like fidgeting moving and he's just upright in his chair, back completely

pinstriped with his palms on the table in front of him. Just like that. Doesn't talk. Barely talks. When he does, you know, they're like asking him questions, you just say, yes, no, I don't know. There was a part where, so there's like kind of like a police strategy where you get really up in their face. I'm like pulling, right, you get really up in their face and you're like, look at me. And because this is the sat with the detective, it's like, look at me, Sean, right? And so he's like, look at me. And he's like, right up in his face, like, look at me,

Sean. And he just, Stephen slowly turns his face to be face-to-face directly with the detective, making eye contact just so calmly in a way that the detective is the first one to break eye contact. Like, he leans back in his chair and he's like, so what are you studying, huh? What are you studying in college? What do you, what do you, what, what kind of law? So they got intimidated by here. I mean, like if you watch the interrogation tapes, I mean, I'm going to put it in source notes because

I have a website now. I know. So professional. Yeah. No, really, I do. RottenMangoPodcast.com. Hello, Squarespace. Okay, anyway. So, no, if you watch it, it's mind-blowing. He's just like slowly turns his head and maintains eye contact with the detective and he's just like, all right, so like, what are you studying? We're kind of all, and he just doesn't respond. What the heck? Now the detective is like getting a phone call on his cell phone and he picks it up and

Steven is just still staring at him. Like imagine how daunting that is. And it seems like Steven's like the police officer. Now again this is why people are saying is this as some sort of mental breakdown? Is this a psychotic break? Is this a strategy? Is this a character that he's putting on for illegal defense? Like it all comes into question

and I think I have someone of an answer, right? So he's just like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what you mean. And so they ask at one point, do you even care that no one can find her the rest of her? And he's like, yes. What's up with the underwear mask?

Do you cut it out to look like that? No. Earlier, you were acting normal. Why are you acting like this now? I don't understand Are you scared? Are you scared is that why you're acting like this? No Imagine imagine She's gonna act like he's being possessed or something

I don't know but like dude if you are interrogating someone and you're a police officer and they're acting like this and you ask them if They're scared and they say no you're the one that needs to be scared you gotta be scared I'd be so scared he was like just dead ass speaking in lowercase for like 90 minutes straight like I don't know how to explain it Like he had no emotion the police get more intense They're just like you stood out there on their freaking news and gave a media report about her and now you don't fucking know. Like you don't know shit now. Oh, suddenly you don't know shit. Yeah, they got really intense.

I'm going to be honest, okay. They keep asking about the guns and he's like, I've never, they're like, have you ever shot a gun in your entire life and he just says, no. So you bought these three guns that you've never shot. Why? To have. For what? For what? For what do you've never shot? Why? To have. For what? For what do you want this for?

To have. What? I mean, it's confusing because if you're trying to play like the lawyer tactic, I mean, you would think that the law school graduates first tactic is to get a lawyer, right? Yeah. So I don't really know what's going on,

and then the detectives go into a bluff. Like, so they're just kind of like lying and they're just like hey so I found blood in your apartment and he knew that there wasn't probably any blood in his apartment because we'll later find out that Lauren Giddings was murdered and dismembered in her own apartment in her own bathroom and the detectives even got into his face and was like you scrub you wiped but we can see through all of that don't you watch CSI? Like he straight upset that Like really intense so they keep questioning him and they just kept they were like preachers I don't know if it's the southern accent but at one point the detective just sits there and he just keeps going

Why are you being like this Steven? Why are you being like this Steven and just kept asking him because Stephen would just sit there and be like, I don't understand. So at this point Lawrence apartment still being searched, Stephen's apartment is being searched and they can't really find any blood or prints off of anyone else in Lawrence apartment, but also the fact that this was like a crime scene her friends had come in before they called the police. No one's blaming them. I'm just saying like you know it's tamper with the DNA and they did spray luminal in her bathroom and her entire bathtub lit up, which now the police think that, okay, so she

was probably dismembered in her bathtub. Two inches to the top of the bathtub was glowing. So there was a lot of blood, like they're just saying. Oh, it filled up the whole tub. Like this was intense. There was blood splatter all over the bath, like the bathtub walls, you know, oh my God. And inside of Steven's apartment, they start searching and they find two keys. They find two very suspicious keys. One was the master key to the entire complex. The second was a spare key to Lauren's apartment.

So whether he somehow made a copy of her key or broken and got her key, ran and made a copy, then brought it back, like I don't know how he got a spare key, or they just keep spares around, he stole it. How does he even have a master key? Exactly. I never could find out how he got it. Holy shit. So he just has these two keys. And so Lauren was right about someone being in her apartment. She wasn't being dramatic like she was right. Oh my God.

So Steven was stalking Lauren for, I mean, I want to say close to three years. Like they had been neighbors for three years. At one point he had asked her out and she said that like, listen, I'm dating someone like I can't, you know, what do you want me to do? Like break up with my boyfriend? I'm sure she also wasn't interested, but she did it in a way that was incredibly nice, right? It wasn't like ill, no. Like it was like, oh, I'm sorry, like I have a boyfriend, right? And they didn't really have the same friend group.

They weren't really in the same things. Like they didn't have the same interest. The one thing that I could find other than them being in the same law school and living right next to each other was the fact that they were part of the federalist, you know, I Forgot the word Literally blinking on that but they were part of the same club, right? Yeah, and so Stephen was kind of described as this squeaky squeaky squeaky squeaky

Gorky that's a new word gorky whereas Lauren is like this very popular person and it just was weird It seemed like he had become obsessed with her and he just started breaking into her apartment, tracking her schedule, tracking her movements. And I think what a lot of people think is that he was getting nervous about her moving away. So some people think maybe it's just obsession towards her, maybe it's just infatuation towards her. But now, like, what is he going to do when she's gone? Like, who is he going to spy on? Maybe he was addicted to spying on her Maybe he was addicted to stalking her it just felt like I mean the timing of it was so weird like the day like a couple days before she moves out

Yeah, out of the past three years it just seemed like he couldn't bear the thought of her being gone Is what it seems like so freaking alarm. This is the classic story of a stalker. I could embarrass you running away and just Would rather kill you. Oh my god. So they go into the maintenance room with the master key. Now the maintenance room is not in a really Suspicious spot. It's actually inside the communal laundry room So they were able to access that you need the master key to access this room So who would have it? Maybe the building owner obviously the maintenance worker Obviously now Stephen for some reason and most residents Would not have this type of access to the maintenance room, right?

And so they go inside and they find a hacksaw and this hacksaw I mean it looked like someone had really Slappily tried to clean the blood off of the handles of it But there was still a lot of blood on it. There was also human flesh like pieces of flesh on the hacksaw So they immediately bring in the maintenance man again and they he's like, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, I'm a law student. Yes, like, I go to the same school as Lauren. Yes, like, I'm a maintenance worker. But why would I? No, I've never seen this thing in my entire life. So now you have this situation where, okay, could this be the maintenance man completely framing Steven McDaniel?

Or could it be Steven McDaniel? Because obviously if the maintenance man has master keys to all the units, he could totally put a master key in Stephen's unit plus all these other things, right? And maybe Stephen's innocent and he's having a mental breakdown. And so these are questioning him. And that's when a police officer is like,

we found it, they found the packaging of the hacksaw in Stephen's apartment. So that like again, obviously it could be planted, but it just feels weird right? If we can trace down where he bought it like if we can get security cameras or match it with his credit card statements that's another story so they start digging in there. They also find Lawrence underwear in his drawers. How does it verify that? So that one took a little while but like DNA. Oh yeah. So he breaks into different women's house? I don't know how many.

They didn't have to all of them to see if they were. But probably a lot of them are front-lowering then, if she's so obsessed with her. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Super strange, right? So he gets arrested. I don't know why I think it has to do with all of the interrogations, the fact that he is acting the way that he is.

I think the maintenance worker, he had an alibi too, so it just didn't make sense to be the maintenance worker. So he gets arrested and at first this was a death penalty case, like they were seeking the death penalty, but there was just not a lot of good evidence, like everything was circumstantial. Like he could easily go to court and say, you know who else, else has all those things, the maintenance worker. You know who else could have all those things? Anyone that takes it from the maintenance worker

or who the maintenance worker gives them to. Like it's just too up in the air. It's just like a situation where it's like, literally all of our rooms couldn't so easily be, you can come into my room with this easy master key. So it was so circumstantial. There were like eight separate searches on his apartment. So there was tons of issues

with that because that's a lot of people in and out. There's a lot of different detectives. Maybe there was some mishandling of evidence, so that could be called into question and everything could be thrown out at that point. Lauren herself was against the death penalty. And so it seemed like a lot of people were, I wouldn't say happy, but a lot of people said that it kind of made sense that the death penalty on this case eventually got dropped. So they were just saying like maybe we can, instead of being really upset, maybe we can

see it as, you know, Lauren herself was against it. So maybe this is something that we can see as like, okay, well. So this is when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the GBI, they get involved and they're just saying, listen, there is no way if someone goes and murders someone, an extra neighbor, like a male, murders a female and he's a straight man and he goes and murders this neighbor and dismemberes her and throws her torso into the trash can, there's no way that someone like this doesn't have an internet history that won't blow your fucking mind. Like there's no way. Like people like

this, it always starts on the internet, they have some weird ass interests, they've got some weird ass hobbies, they Google some weird stuff, okay? That is a very, very true, if they're into such things. Sick and twisted things. Yeah, that makes... Oh yeah, that's so true, yeah. So they were like, if we are going to find any solid evidence that like the jury is going to be like, oh shit, like that's the smoking gun, we need to go through his computer. the jury is gonna be like, oh shit, that's the smoking gun We need to go through his computer. So they start searching his computers, his cameras, everything for any like digital evidence And that's when they find so much stuff So much stuff. So they find that he is constantly searching for

Sadistic and violent pornography. I'm not talking BDSM, I'm not talking 50 shades of gray. I'm talking straight dismemberment porn, torture porn, murder porn. Now, I don't really want to Google this because I don't know how it works. I mean, I know that if it's real, it's a snuff film. So is it like acting? I don't even know that, I didn't even know there was a genre for this. I always thought it was like snuff. Like it's like, okay, like you're buying really scary videos off the dark web, but they

saw that. So it doesn't specify if he was on the dark web getting snuff films or if there's like a website for stuff like this where it is all fake, but they're getting dismembered, but he was watching dismemberment porn. Like in a very sexual way. Now, they can also find that at the same time he had browsers open. While he has a browser open watching that type of porn he has a browser open viewing Lauren's social media pages. I'm talking her Facebook her fucking linked in he was he was on her LinkedIn while he's looking

at stuff like this. They can see all of that. Yeah. And he also stole a flash drive from her place and downloaded photos of her from it onto his computer. So they saw that too and downloaded photos of her from it onto his computer. So they saw that too. Like he's like importing it into his computer. At the same time, they found child pornography and his computer.

That's huge. That's huge. Just CPU alone. Yeah. And on that digital camera that they found, they found deleted footage that they were somehow able to recover a video's taken the night of the murder. Now, I don't think that there was any videos taken

of the murder. I don't think that this was a situation where he was trying to make a video of it or anything, but he did take videos of his camera was set up right outside of Lauren's window. And it looked like it had been attached to a tripod or a stick that he can kind of like- Oh, stick it in and see.

Yeah, so it seems like he was a predator stalk like kind of like Oh stick it in and see Yeah, so it seems like he was like a predator like stalking her straight up to see like where in the apartment is she is she falling asleep yet What is she doing right now so that he can find the perfect time to like bounce like counts And it would just like scan back and forth like it's really just seemed like surveillance So they found that that's like a huge smoking gun The other thing that they found was that he had a blog He was a freaking blogger and he had a bunch of blog posts and he wrote them under the name S.O.L. the son of Liberty Quick brain come on. I was trying to think of a different S.O.L.

That was really mean, but I can't think of anything right now He wrote all these like blog posts and he had this one story. It was a fictional story Which is alarming, but he said that he had just graduated from LARTS law school and he was this one story, it was a fictional story, which is alarming, but he said that he had just graduated from arts law school and he was partying hard by drinking alone in front of my computer, just like tortured soul vibes. And then that's when I look at my window and I see my sexy neighbor come home late. And you know, I talked to her occasionally in the past, but not a lot. I just know that she wants a certain piece of my anatomy. I invite her in, I make her a drink, I finally lose my B card, she overdoses and dies. I barbecue her limbs to celebrate, I'm not that into human remains, but I throw out her torso.

I'm gonna lose it on national television while the cops discover her remains. You mad virgins? What? Yeah, that was a blog post. You literally just confessed to it online? Yeah, this was like before the actual murder, but like huge, yeah. And then there were other blog posts on how to commit the perfect murder, how to use chloroform to like knock people out, how to dump someone's body. This one is the one. Why? This is how many times have we went through these days? Yeah, how many times have we gone through people being like, Hey,

do you want to know how to commit the perfect murder? I'm going to write about it and post it online. What? And it's like step number one, don't post it online. I mean, I guess it's it's step personality trait, right? Yeah, if you're like, you think you're so smart that you can have a lot of like the FBI and all of these things, then maybe you want to like brag about it. And be like, oh, let me blow your mind, right? Okay. So the next one, this is very important with the interrogation situation, right?

So everyone's wondering, was this all faked? Was this a mental breakdown? Was this a strategy? Like, what was that interrogation thing? Why was he sitting like that? Like, is something wrong with him? Is he insane? Because that matters in the court of law. And he wrote a blog post on how to get away with mass murder.

Now, this mass murder happened to take place hypothetically at the funeral of a fallen soldier, which is just the stranger. I mean, all mass murders are freaking what? But like, a funeral. And he was like, everyone's going to be grieving and that's what I'm gonna come in and kill everyone Like what and this is the part that's very interesting. So he says Afterwards, he would get on to his on the floor Hug his knees and just stare blankly. I'd remain in this state for at least a day no talking no communication Blank unfocused stairs. I do not fall asleep either Eventually new stimuli is introduced.

A family member I haven't seen in a while. A picture of my brother or something like that. And I'll shake my head from side to side. I'll blink rapidly and look around in like a panicked manner. Where am I? What's going on? Is my family okay? Why am I here?

When they ask, I'll say that I have no memory of anything that's happened after I arrived at the scene. I keep the story consistent and whenever I am asked about what happened, I look down, I put a sad look on my face, and I relay what I was told happened because I have no memory of it. I might be institutionalized for a while so they can try to figure out what caused the blackout and what's wrong with me. They may take my guns from me, but they may also take away my ability to purchase more guns. But if I stick to the story,

it's doubtful I'd end up in prison. Of course, this is all hypothetical. It's what it is. Tell me. Yeah. Yeah. What is he talking about? Yeah. Are you five? What are you saying?

Yeah. Like, we're gonna look at this and say, oh, yeah. Four men just had a blackout. But also, like you have access to a computer. If you look at any mass murder situations, there really is no leeway for, I'm insane. Like that's not something where they're like, okay, like you'll be free.

We're never gonna, they're all at ADX Florence. Like you get it, they're in Super Max. Like, you're not gonna go to a mental institution. I don't even, there's no way that that's gonna happen in the first place and I don't know why you would think that, I don't know why you would post that, obviously, but it's just so strange. And so, they kind of work on the timeline.

So, they see that he had recorded her at around 9.34 pm and then again, at 12.37 in the morning and this was all deleted footage and at around 4am he claims also that he's snuck into her apartment. Now he claims that he only he's stuck in there only to stare at her while she sleeps, right? It's not as creepy. He was wearing a mask. I don't know if it was a panty mask or a regular mask, but he was wearing a mask and he's snuck into her apartment and as she was sleeping he stood over her and he decided to get closer. And that's when like one of the floorboards creaked. And she woke up because I'm sure she was already on edge, right?

Like she had just written that email and she finally fell asleep. So she wakes up and starts panicking. And he pounced on top of her and started strangling her. And he claims that she did everything to fight back. She scratched him. She took off his mask. Oh, wait. So he's confessing? Yeah.

To everything? Yeah. Oh, just. It was because, well, we'll get into it. Yeah. And so he, she was able to take off his mask and she even said, Stephen, please stop. And then he strangled her for about 15 minutes

is what he said. And she died of a sixiation, dragged her to her own bathtub and just like left her there for a day because he didn't know what to do with her body. So then he went, he purchased that hacksaw, came back in and dismembered her and he threw all of her limbs into the college trash like the dumpsters that was across

and the garbage, like the trucks had picked that up. So they did search landfills. They even dug up some landfills and they couldn't find her anywhere. And he threw the torso into the apartment building, which would have been picked up that day if the police weren't blocking the entry. So he gets together like this team

of super expensive, just competent. They call them the dream team lawyers, you know? And one of them was Lawrence teacher was like one of his attorneys, which I just think it's really weird. Yeah, I don't know. I just feel like that's just not really ethical. Like there's gotta be something I don't know anything about law, but like that just doesn't feel right. And so he was one of the attorneys on his team and everyone said like the police were annoyed because they just like have this swagger about them. Like all of them were

fucking cocky. They were like, oh, this is all circumstantial. There's no way you can pinpoint it, right? So they were just like walking around like, he's gonna get away with it. That is so messed up, right? You go to the law school, something like this happens and one of the teacher decided to take on the murder.

And he was Lauren's teacher. I don't even know if he was Steven's teacher, but he was for sure Lauren. You know, even know if he was Steven's teacher, but he was sure Lauren isn't like with laws Like, you know obviously justice is Yeah, but with this it's like, huh, let me see if I can get away with a murder. Yeah, like it's so weird And like if I were a student I probably wouldn't want to go to that professor's class anymore Or do you think to to law student how to get away with the murder is you know what I mean or maybe it's like One of your own type situations like the police maybe like the professors are like this one of my own like this

I don't know about that. I feel like it's more of like a flex. Okay See how good of a lawyer than I am. Yeah, cuz I mean that makes sense cuz I just can't see it like Me as a person. I if that my student, and another student was accused, even if I liked both students, I'm not doing anything. I'm sorry, this feels ethically wrong to get involved and be like, hey. Right, that's how most people think, but I wonder if lawyers think differently. So they just kind of thought that he would get away with it because they just had circumstantial evidence.

I mean, the only main thing was like the CP charges. And then later they found the videos, so that the videos really fucked them up, okay? The videos through the window, that was like the smoking gun. So once they found all of that, he decided to plead guilty. Now he did make a deal that they would take off all of the CP charges if he pled guilty, which I think is forked. Because I feel like if you have CP charges that should just like you should get tattooed child pornography on your forehead, you know, like Oh does that does that change the story when he goes to prison maybe maybe because you say CP always

lands them could be at the bottom of the just like doesn't want it. There was also like the situation where yeah it's just weird because he was like that's the one I want off, right? So they took off his CP charges and he pled guilty, told them the entire story and he will be spending the rest of his life in prison. But, but, he has a possibility of parole in 2041. So after that, he made a statement. It's So bad.

And he said, it's difficult for me to explain why I killed Lauren and concealed the deed the way that I did. The difficulty in explaining it lies within my own ability to understand it myself. I know that it was very wrong. I'm not delusional or without all morals or decency. Shut the fuck up. What are you saying? So then he tried again to get an appeal and he said that it was because his attorneys were incompetent.

Now he's turning on his attorneys. And the judge was kind of confused, so were the attorneys. Like there was like a point where the attorney was like, what do you mean? Like you deadass admitted to murdering someone and dismembering them and you had the possibility of parole in 2041. Like, how am I incompetent? Like, yeah, there's one thing of being incompetent. There's another thing of being a good lawyer.

And there's another thing of like fucking being a magician. Like this is, like, it's insane that you're even up for parole. Like do you not understand that? And so he wasn't granted a retrial. Now he's claiming that this is completely unfair because the police didn't get a psychiatrist when he was acting like that during the interrogation.

He was like, I mean, I was just sitting there. You should have gotten a psychiatrist to make sure that I was mentally sane, that I could consent to this interrogation, you know, all of those things. So that's what it makes me feel like it was like a show. But if it was a show, I mean, it's totally a show, the fact that he said all these things already. And I don't want to say anything positive about him, but I think if it was a show, I just haven't seen anything like that before because you know how I said like Stephanie Lazarus is interrogation tape got me into this. Stephanie Lazarus is a police officer and she was interrogated.

So she knows all of the interrogation tactics and she kind of cracked. Whereas this dude, he just sat there like that. Like I just, I don't know. That's why another part of me is like maybe it wasn't a show or Maybe he's just like such a raging psychopath, not a diagnosis just a speculation that he just like has no feelings and he can do that Is what he did like very impressive, you would say? Yeah, just even when the police leave the room, he's still in that posture But still though, like doesn't matter, you're still fucking guilty

Yeah, so hopefully he wrought the rest of his life in prison. I mean, people highly doubt that he'll ever get out on parole. And on the bright side, Lauren Giddings does have a scholarship to be honored by. So it's in partnership, I believe, with Agnes College. And it's for people who are typically the first in their family to attend college, like Lauren was, especially if they're pursuing their law careers.

Her legacy will live on, and Steven McDaniel will rot in prison. But what the fork do I know?