The Nightmare Next Door: The Case Of Lauren Giddings

[Music] the city of mon in Central Georgia today we meet 27-year-old Lauren Giddings born to parents Karen and Bill Lauren had two other sisters Sarah and Caitlyn and she was the oldest they were very close and said that the real star of the family was Lauren's dog Butterbean Lauren had always been driven and her dream was to become a public defender in the spring of 2008 she made the move from Maryland to mon Georgia to pursue this residents in mon say it is slow and relaxing every everybody is welcoming you never meet a stranger and it's generally a quiet and peaceful place to live and study Lauren gelled with her new home instantly she was in a long-distance relationship with David Van diver a corporate lawyer and they had met at his Atlanta Law Firm four years before even though she was two decades his Junior they had so much in common and David said she was wise Beyond her years they clicked right away shared the same work ethic the same dry but Al silly sense of humor and they supported each other through some very challenging personal and professional times David said she was outspoken intelligent and very level-headed Lauren even managed to charm his very protective older sister something he joked was impressive as nobody had managed to do that before little did Lauren know David was planning on proposing to her he had already chosen the perfect spot however the vast distance between them since her move had made things hard and they briefly broke up Lauren had started seeing another student called Joe but she quickly realized she still loved David a lot and really wanted to make it work so she called things off with Joe and he was pretty upset but they did remain good friends flash forward to June 2011 and Lauren had just graduated from one of the oldest law schools in the United States Mercy University's School of Law naturally her dog Butterbean was there to watch her graduate as was David and her whole family Lauren was now looking forward to taking everything she had learned and throwing herself into the next chapter the next big step was passing the Georgia bar exam and every spare second she had was going into prepping after graduation she attended her sister Caitlyn's wedding back in Maryland and told people after this she really needed time to knuckle down and focus on her work the family all knew it was the last time they'd be together for a while and this made Caitlyn's big day even more special like many students after graduation Lauren had opted to stay in mon instead of going back to Baltimore she lived on the second floor of the Barr's Hall unit 2 Barr's Hall was a place built exclusively for law students and it was situated directly across from the campus still being able to go in and talk to lecturers and use the library while she was studying for the bar just meant it made sense for her to stay there a while longer back at her apartment though her safe and quiet space soon felt very different Lauren had spoken to her sister about something that she couldn't prove and knew sounded strange but was convinced was happening she could feel things were being moved around like someone was coming into her apartment when she got home after being out there was a weird energy she couldn't explain she felt someone was watching her but there had been no signs of a forced entry so she had no idea how this could be happening this uneasy feeling she had had not subsided and on June 25th 2011 late into the evening she sent an email to David about her concerns David told her not to worry and said it was probably just some hoodlums messing about but not actually intent on doing anything and she was working hard and not really leaving her apartment much so it was possible she had been going a little stir crazy without realizing Lauren sent out a mass message which read in parts hey guys I'm hunkering down to study for the bar please don't be offended if I don't respond to texts or emails and in the following days no one heard anything from her apart from going to church and making time for the occasional workout she was doing little else apart from reading so a few unanswered messages or phone calls was not something that was immediately alarming but her best friend Katey and her sister Caitlyn had repeatedly tried to check in with her but were being met with silence Caitlyn was on her honeymoon and sharing photos and it was strange that she wasn't replying to any of them it didn't feel that she was just focusing on other things it started to feel like something was wrong a fellow student Ashley got a call from Caitlyn asking her to stop by her apartment and check in before Ashley went she tried calling her too but Lauren's phone was now going straight to voicemail Ashley and her boyfriend pulled up at her apartment and noted that Lauren's car was still parked outside using a spare key they let themselves in Lauren's belongings were sort of strewn everywhere but this didn't seem that odd because she was due to move out and move in with David but when they saw her calendar and realized the date she was actually supposed to move out the very next day June 30th then they found Lauren's purse lore books cell phone and laptop upop things everybody could agree she would never have just disappeared without taking so where was she Ashley called some friends and people she knew lived in the same complex even Lauren's X Joe started searching the university and everyone else was looking nearby the consensus was the last time anyone had heard anything from her was at an end of year party 4 days ago but she had left the morning after and everything was fine and a few hours later she had emailed David talking about her worries being in the apartment the following morning with still no luck it was time to call the police and her family set off on the almost 12-hour drive to Georgia to help at 9:00 a.m. officers got to number to the Barr's hall right away they noted that there were no signs of a forced entry no signs of a struggle and nothing seemed to have been stolen but they could all agree that something was definitely wrong they started combing through her rooms and one of the first things they did was use a spray luminol to see if there were any traces of blood everything was coming up clean but when they used it in Lauren's bathroom the result was very different her bath had clearly been full of blood police believed they were now looking for Lauren's body June 30th was a hot day with a strong Breeze and as they moved their search outside to form a new plan a big gust of wind came along which forced a smell in their Direction they were stood near some bins and a distinctive odor stopped them in their tracks it was undoubtedly the smell of human decomposition one officer said while we were standing there the wind started to turn we all smell things in life that smell bad and that smell of a body or a decomposing body is one of the worst things you'll smell police opened the lids and made a Grizzly discovery that would stick with them forever it was a female torso wrapped in a black bag testing needed to be done but given the fact Lauren was missing and the luminal results from her bathroom they strongly felt that it was a part of her body I had never seen anything like that before who could have done this because truthfully only a monster could do something like that it was absolutely horrible one detective said in a weird Twist of fa the police cars being parked near the entrance had stopped the trash removal van from getting in to empty everything if the police hadn't been there at that moment blocking things off everything would have been gone by the time they had started searching as suspected testing confirmed it was Lauren Giddings torso the chief medical examiner would later confirm that there were no signs of sexual assault but could not confirm a cause of death they did believe she had been killed and dismembered on June 26th Lauren's apartment especially the bathroom was now being dusted for fingerprints and the likes but it looked like there had been a pretty thorough cleanup done and only luminol was picking anything up they had cornered off everything outside and were trying to keep what they had found under wraps if it was someone in the complex they didn't want to alert them to the fact that they had just found her in case this caused anyone to run or hide more evidence one officer said said you have to look at who is closest to the victim either romantically or geographically the people involved in the initial search Ashley Joe and the others were all asked to come in and give statements they also spoke with her partner David but he was not only devastated he had been away on a golfing trip in California and his Alibi checked out it was quite obvious that he was not at all involved Lauren's ex Joe was much the same and was quickly ruled out the authorities were Keen to search every home in the block so they could start eliminating people everybody was happy to do this everybody apart from one person 25-year-old Steven McDaniel so why would this be an issue they wondered it's the lawyer in me I'm just always protective of my space he said he was a fellow law student also prepping for the bar exam and had been living next door to Lauren since the first year of Law School Number Four he had actually been there in the initial searches for Lauren walking around with her friends and someone they had asked to come to the station a few hours before with me is her next door neighbor who lives in apartment 4 can I get your last name McDaniel Steven McDaniel when was the last time you think you seen Lauren it was either last week or the week before that I was coming back from bar prep and I was driving back and I saw her going out to run is there anything that you could tell me today or add to your statement that could help me locate Lauren I can't think of anything I we looked around to see if there was a note or if there was anything but there was just nothing that we could find to try and figure out where she was they continued to search the rest of the block but kept their eye on him his behavior was looking odd he was both refusing to help with anything but at the same time loitering around and making sure he was involved with everything Steven stayed there all day watching everything everyone was doing and walking around after the police as they were in and out of other people's homes he was Raising eyebrows even more so when the media started interviewing people he was one of the first people to talk to them and gave his theories about what could have happened to Lauren that was living there yeah Lauren was my neighbor um we're just trying to find out where she is at this point I mean no one has seen her since Saturday I mean the last time anyone heard from her was an email that she sent out and no one's heard from her since did you see her hang out with anyone at the time anything like that I no no no one has seen her sincerity I haven't seen anything I mean I've always hear noise outside but it's just people walking by pretty much I she's 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 might want to hurt her no I we're we don't know where she is I mean the only thing we can think is that maybe she went out running and someone snatched her because I mean we went at we went over one of our friends had a key we went inside and tried to see if there was anything a Miss but I mean she had a door jam that was sitting right by it so there was no sign that anyone broke in I mean the door was locked when everyone got here what about um in the like the parking lot area I know they've been doing a lot of I think that's where they had recovered the body or whatever they recovered from there had you heard have you seen anything there had you seen anything there I I mean we don't know if this is the same person you know what I mean like they took out a body there earlier we don't know if it's the same person or not that's why we're trying to ask people they know who lived there are you okay sir I think I need to sit down okay at this point only a few people knew about what they had found in the bin and after the interview was over Steven sat for ages just staring into space now they haven't confirmed at least not with us that it it was um that they found are you holding out any hope right now I I hope but you hav't heard anything about a audience that you were talking about no no as far as any of us knew they were still trying to just find her we uh Joe he got onto her computer last night to see if she had say anything she'd sent an email out to some people there was an email that she sent out after 10: that night where she she sent to I think it was someone in Atlanta a friend of hers in Atlanta she was afraid in her apartment that she thought someone had tried to break in on Thursday night and she she was afraid to stay in there but where did you hear where did you hear that from from Joe no he he pulled it up and we we read it off the screen hadn't heard anything on Thursday night never came to to tell you anything no I she was afraid in her apartment then I mean get her out of there a few hours later he finally let the police into his apartment he was stockpiling food energy drinks and lots of various weapons too they looked through the drawers and found a variety of things including some condoms when police pulled them out Steven mumbled something about being a virgin and saving himself for marriage he started talking to them about being on the dating site e-harmony but said he wasn't having much luck with getting dates he was acting so oddly and when police asked why he had the condoms he muttered something about breaking into two neighboring apartments and randomly deciding to steal them with his own admission that he had been breaking into other people's homes just feet away from where Lauren had lived police arrested him for burglary and brought him in for further questioning Ming police say a K9 unit from Dy county has volunteered to help in the search for the remains of murdered Mercer grad Lauren Giddings Mak police are following several leads in the case but so far have no official IAL suspects Gideon's neighbor 25-year-old Steven McDaniel remains in jail tonight on unrelated burglary charges police continue to gather statements from students and Neighbors in what they're calling a detailed painstaking process although he had been Keen to talk to the media and know everything that was going on he was now totally silent all right I just got to ask you a few more questions okay uh you came down ear night me and you talked all right you don't have any weapons on you do you that's just you what's wrong you know I'm detective patteron right yes do you remember put your hands up here you remember us talking I need to know about this girl right here you know her yes who is that Lauren Giddings does she live next door to you yes okay look at me when you talk to me son okay was you friends with her yes I'm asking you for help I need your help can you help me I don't know you don't know if you can help me yes I need your help help me out tell me what to do there were inconsistencies with what he was saying and he was reluctant to answer things it was mainly yes no or I don't know what do you think happened to her I don't know do you even care that no one can find her I mean I don't know do you yes well you know there was a body found in the trash can next to the apartments yes and it's a female white female's body right next to y'all's apartment we don't know 100% sure it's Lauren but we're pretty confident it is I mean who would who would do something to somebody and throw them in a trash can I don't know and you know why we''ve been working all day trying to find Lauren right yes cuz her family wants to know where she's at yes and I don't know what to tell her family so I'm asking you what do I need to tell her family I don't know it's all on you brother what do you wanted me to tell her family huh I don't know well I need to know as well as this his mannerisms were strange police said they hadn't seen anyone respond this way in an interview before he sat almost perfectly still the whole way through barely even moving his head with officers having to ask him to look them in the eyes from time to time the interview footage sped up highlights just how eerily still he sits and how unusual it looks in comparison to the officer's natural demeanor even when detectives left the room he remained in the same position staring Straight Ahead his con Conant repeating of no and I don't know was now starting to grate on detective Patterson there was no doubt in his mind that this was the person behind the awful thing that had happened to Lauren you got your ass on that [ __ ] news and stood out there and gave a media report that her mother saw you sure stood out there and ran your mouth to the news media but now you're going to get out here and you don't [ __ ] know you're just a sorry piece of [ __ ] that don't give a [ __ ] why would you not be honest with me I am being honest Stephen it just doesn't feel like it buddy you know I get the sense that there's something weighing heavy on your heart right now Stephen did you hurt Lauren no what' you do buddy I didn't do anything what' you do to Lauren I didn't do anything but it was now past midnight and they were no further forward in getting answers you going to look at this right here this little girl right here and you're going to say you don't know I know you know I don't know yes you know what are you going to say tomorrow when I say we got your hair with the body I believe that you're a good guy you've been picked on girls didn't show you the respect that you deserve you did something stupid stupid and I believe you feel bad about it and that's why you're all freaked out right now we want you to to tell it so that way people are understand you're not a monster things just you got out of control it's a sickness why'd you do it Stephen I didn't do Stephen why are you going to keep telling that you hurt that girl no I didn't yes you did Stephen I'm going take this this for me you don't deserve to look at it just stay right here okay okay I appreciate all your cooperation tonight okay okay Steven also revealed he had two scratches just above his hip as well as the interview progressed Steven's apartment was being turned upside down investigators found that he somehow had a master key to get into every room in the complex they found the packaging for a hacksaw and several flash drives which later turned out to have graphic and disturbing images and videos of children on them and a pair of underwear that once tested came back to Lauren Giddings a look into his search history showed he was often on her social media profiles and he would be searching these at the same time he was looking up and watching violent pornography they found he had written blogs about torturing and killing women too sharing his depraved fantasies on forums it was all disturbing and given the amount of searches he had made for Lauren's name he was clearly obsessed with her and one of his last and latest searches was for Mon's trash collection times it's all over anyways the game's over I mean we know what you did to so we just want to know what you if you were going to tell it or not I didn't do anything well that's what you say but we know different so you're [ __ ] either way so you can sit there with that dumb look on your face but it's over I don't know what you want me to say I don't want you to say nothing you're [ __ ] either way thought you were smarter than everybody somebody always leaves something in a crime scene you [ __ ] up first I didn't really believe you had anything to do with it they said man it couldn't have been him he used to work down DA's office with us he's a good guy he used to help us out friendly guy and everything couldn't be him he could have done something like that the sad thing about it is you probably could have made something with your life but you chose a different route because one you don't have a girlfriend and two you're never going to get a girlfriend for in the maintenance room in the complex they found the hacksaw that matched the packaging found in his apartment there was blood on [Music] it CCTV had confirmed it was him buying the hack or to they also found a bloody sheet and both of these came back to Lauren the maintenance worker had already been ruled out and the only other person that somehow had a key to get into this room was Steven this was Lauren's killer but who was Steven McDaniel and why on Earth had he done this classmates of Steven said he was uncomfortable to be around very awkward and difficult to talk to he would ask people weird things about death fixating on a zombie apocalypse and committing the perfect murder he would quiz people on how they would hypothetically kill someone and cover it up in school Steven was actually voted most likely to be famous his fellow law students said he definitely thought he was the smartest person in the room smarter than everyone and arrogantly so always ready for a debate even if he was totally wrong he would bicker with everyone Lauren included and other students said he was quite happy to disagree and argue he wasn't there to make friends that was clear one person said they along with their teachers said he was an average student he wasn't someone that really stood out in anyway but he sure spoke like he did now he was finally coming to the end of his time at University and he was unsure as to where to go next he was finishing school with no friends and no future plans he was somewhat a drift from the minute they started Living Next Door in 2008 Lauren had really tried hard to be his friend and be supportive she even stopped to introduce him to her mother Karen when they saw he was hurriedly walking alone around the complex Karen met him again on the eve of their graduation there was something about him she said after she spoke to him for the second time she couldn't help but think of him living next to Lauren I thought it was odd that he always kept the windows and curtains closed you never saw him she said but as nice as Lauren was trying to be he had the same effect on her that he did on most people he just made her feel uncomfortable in an email that Lauren wrote to David in 2008 the same year she moved in she spoke about Steven's behavior and wrote about butting heads with him in class she said got the stink eye he's out to get me but Steven had definitely taken a shine to Lauren and had asked her to go out on a date a few times but as well as being in a relationship she just wasn't interested in him like that from this point on she was only being polite if she saw him but was definitely keeping her distance with everything they had found on August 2nd 2011 Steven McDaniel was charged with the murder of Lauren Giddings he was also later charged with seven counts of child sexual exploitation too Ste how are you Budd all right ask questions I had nothing to say without myne you don't want to hear I want my attorney despite his lawyers requesting his bail be set at $100,000 it was set at almost a million a grand jury indicted him on one count of murder and once all of his devices had finally been analyzed 30 counts of child exploitation too the case building against Steven McDaniel and the murder of his neighbor Lauren Giddings is getting stronger today a grand jury announced there's enough evidence to prepare for trial one count of murder and 30 counts of sexual exploitation of children those are the heavy charges stacked against McDaniel who's been in jail since July 1st on unrelated burglary charges more than 20 grand jurors heard from the District Attorney's office this morning before deciding there's enough evidence to let this case go to trial this indictment says evidence shown today leads the grand jury to believe Steven McDaniel did did kill murder and cause the death of Lauren Giddings a human being by inflicting bodily harm in a manner unknown to the grand jury at this time including decapitation of said victim since the grand jury has decided there is enough probable cause in this case the next step is arraignment that's when McDaniel will enter his plea and according to his attorney Floyd Buford it'll be not guilty although everything against him was really strong the prosecution did note that it was still a largely circumstantial case apart from the underwear there was nothing tying his DNA to her nothing of his was found in the bathroom and none of his DNA was on the hacks or either in terms of the underwear he could potentially explain it away as something he stole just as he had done with the condoms they still could not prove a cause or time of death either but nonetheless they were confident and ready to take him to trial more evidence would soon be brought to their attention which really did cement everything and it was chilly to watch on a memory card taken from his apartment they found a video which proved that Steven had been stalking Lauren for quite some time her feelings and worries about someone watching her and breaking in were not unfounded at all on the same night Lauren was murdered he had been filming her home through the window he had taken a wooden pole which he had duct taped a camera to the end of and then held the pole up to be able to see into her rooms through her blinds prosecutor David Cook said the second he saw this he said that's the guy a few days later hundreds of people filled out the St Mary of the Mills church for Lauren's funeral despite the best efforts of everyone it was still only her torso that had been recovered so that was all they could bury that day today the bib County District Attorney's Office announced it plans to seek the death penalty against Steven McDaniel Steven McDaniel pleaded not guilty and the defense were preparing to position the idea that the police were framing him and had entered his apartment many times to plant things in another twist one of Steven's defense attorneys who briefly worked with him had actually been one of Lauren's teachers in a transitionary course from law school into law practice he said he had admired Lauren and enjoyed teaching her but one thing he did remember was that she was opposed to the death penalty so knowing that the prosecution were already pushing for this he was pushing to throw it out as everybody prepared for what would be a very tough trial the prosecution agreed to drop the child sexual exploitation charges and offered him a deal and this meant Steven with the advice of his lawyers had a change of mind in April 2014 just a week before the trial was due to start Steven McDaniel finally pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering Lauren for nearly three years two huge unanswered questions hung over the death of Lauren Giddings what happened the night she died and what happened to the rest of her body since only her torso was found after the murder today Steven McDaniel spelled out the answers to those questions in chilling detail as part of his plea deal with prosecutors McDaniel agreed to write an allocution a document detailing what he did and H Sten McDaniel is a psychopath who cowardly allowed darkness and evil to consume him he should never be permitted to prow the streets of this world again that is the voice of Karen Giddings the mother of Lauren Giddings the Mercer lrad who was killed almost three years ago Steven McDaniel entered a guilty plea to the murder of Lauren Giddings his guilty plea provides finality to this case and assures Justice that cannot be undone because of this guilty plea Steven McDaniel will never again be able to deny that he and he alone is responsible for Lauren Giddings death one of his old attorneys said the case took a turn for the worst for McDaniel when the computer evidence started coming out and it just kept coming they were continuing to find more and more evidence related to his computer and camera and finally he agreed that was enough to get a conviction before he was set to be sentenced the prosecution presented the evidence which attested to his character they showed the recording of Lauren's home and read out some of Steven's alleged Forum posts one of which read graduate from law school party hard by drinking alone in front of my computer computer see my sexy neighbor SL classmate come home late invite her up for a night cap make her a special drink called a Mickey fin a drink designed to knock someone unconscious she's out cold I finally lose my vCard oh no she's ODed and died I barbecued her legs and arms to celebrate losing my vCard not into organ me but threw her torso out L it on TV while the cops are discovering her remains you mad virgins however the legitimacy of this came into dispute as some people claimed it was some trolling online and although the prosecution firmly believe it was him it does remain up for discussion as part of his plea deal he had to admit to the court what he had done that day and this was what he said happened at around 4:30 a.m. he unlocked her door using the master key he was wearing all black with gloves and a mask he said he stood watching her sleep but she must have felt something was wrong as she woke up abruptly before she could get out of bed or even process what was happening he leapt onto her and put his hands around her throat the pair struggled and fell onto the floor he said Lauren grabbed his mask and pulled it off and when she realized it was him she called his name and screamed at him to stop she cried and tried to fight him off for almost 15 minutes as he was strangling her before she ultimately stopped breathing he dragged her into the bathroom and put her into the tub he left her there for the rest of the night and following day and on the evening of June 27th he returned with some to including a hacksaw and proceeded to dismember her which he described in graphic detail he put parts of her into different bags which he said he dumped in bins around the University campus but her torso he put into the bin next to the apartment block thinking it would be taken shortly he cut up his mask gloves and shirt and flushed them down the toilet the medical examiner had revealed there were no signs of a sexual assault and Steven said he had not sexually assaulted Lauren she was wearing pink running shorts when she died and I never removed them they were found on her torso just as I had left them he told the court even though it had now been almost 3 years people still couldn't believe it Lauren had been nothing but friendly and kind to him from the second she met him something Steven acknowledged too he claimed from that night on he was in a dreamlike delusional State and had convinced himself that Lauren was still alive he said it's difficult for me to explain why I killed Lauren and attempted to conceal my deed the way I did I know that it was very wrong I am not delusional or without all morals or decency something in my makeup my psychology my neuropathy my own particular pathology perhaps must explain it he told the family he was sorry and Grieves for Lauren every day but doesn't expect forgiveness from them there is no way I can ever deserve it if I could take back what happened I would he said the only reason the prosecution did not end up seeking the death penalty was because Lauren herself was so against it her family respect Ed that and said they hoped he lived a long life in the worst possible way in prison Steven McDaniel was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2041 after he was sentenced from prison he wrote a lengthy letter claiming he had been the victim of police intimidation and his case from the start had been unfair we continue to get new glimpses into the psyche of Steven McDaniel in a neatly handwritten two-page document filled with small lettering Steven McDaniel outlines his exper expences with making police he complains that police yelled at him and intimidated him in an interrogation room for hours during the early stages of the investigation and wouldn't even let him go to the restroom without permission McDaniel details being so upset he suffered a seizure and required medical help but it was only told that the EMT could look at him if he'd allow police to search his apartment he says even after they got into his apartment police never gave him Medical Care he demanded a new and in his eyes Fair trial so 4 years later he filed an appeal where he represented himself and called more than 10 people to be interviewed including his old lawyer whom he was seeking damages against now things really didn't pick up until later in the afternoon as mid Danel began questioning his former attorney Floyd Buford and MD Danel decided to wave his attorney client privilege meaning that Buford had the ability to speak freely regarding his discussions with stepen McDaniel up until the last couple weeks of your case strongly in your corner the graphic specific detail confession which we were shocked about in the jail uh and then combine that with the searches on the internet the fact that you had done searches about having sex with dead people things of that nature all of that combined to a heavy heavy evidentiary problem in your case on top of that you possess the most horrific child pornographic photos I've ever seen now in McDaniel's habus he claims that Floyd Buford Frank hog and the rest of his defense team failed to represent him effectively here's what Buford had to say today about that started off facing a death PTY ending up life possibility grow you could get out in his complaint Steven asked the court to award damages from his lawyer in the amount of $50,000 for legal fees and another $250,000 in punitive damages for his lawyer's alleged negligence he also filed a motion against bib County Judge Howard Sims claiming he had shown Prejudice towards him this appeal was denied the now 37-year-old filed another appeal again in 2022 which claimed that the prosecution had stolen documents his rights are being violated and his lawyers were incompetent he was requesting his conviction be overturned and he be released from prison Steven's dad Mark stood behind this and said we're hoping that the truth comes out that's all we're hoping but the judge said he could not even consider this appeal as he filed it over a year late and this was also denied had McDaniel exercised reasonable diligence rather than blindly assuming the Georgia Supreme Court was to blame he would have realized that his motion was untimely the judge added Steven has already filed another appeal and this is still ongoing some of Steven's family and friends still believe he is innocent and his dad even started a g fundme to help with his legal fees but it raised nothing and the page was quickly removed Lauren sister Caitlyn called it pathetic and delusional his grandfather Hollis before he died gave an interview inter about visiting him in jail he said if all this that the police of God is true then I guess I'm a brokenhearted grandfather you come in and he's just sitting there quiet and you can't get nothing out of him you feel like picking him up and taking him to the doctor but he's grown he's not a little boy so it just breaks your heart you have to accept what is in front of you whether you like it or not I did what I thought was right at the time to get him a lawyer immediately I thought he'd go over there and pay his bail and then take him home but my god when I saw him he just looked different his mother Glenda defended him as well and seemed certain that at the time he was arrested he was innocent I have a big hug for him when he gets out and he has one for me she said adding that she has visions of him becoming a Supreme Court Justice one day but as far as the police prosecution and Lauren's family were concerned the trial was over and the correct decision had been made all those years ago Lauren sister Caitlyn said it seemed like she might have been one of the people who was actually nice to him and gave him some attention even though he might have been a loner there's no story here about telling your kids to lock their car when they get in or don't go to this side of town you know there's no she shouldn't have done this and it wouldn't have happened because you should always be nice to people you should always be nice to your neighbors just because someone looks different doesn't mean they are but in this case he just was detectives believe they stopped a serial killer in the making a predator and a anger to children that day once voted most likely to become famous when he was younger he is now Infamous in one of the most shocking crimes the community had ever seen the police praised Lauren's family and friends for being so quick and they acknowledged that if the trash collection Services had emptied the bin where her torso was located the case may have gone cold and they might have never caught Steven investigators also believe that Steven has never been entirely truthful about what happened and there is more to the story I'm sure there are things he'll never tell anyone said detective David Patterson Lauren Sister Sarah added obviously we know she died but we don't really believe anything Steven McDaniel has said I don't think he is a very honest person I think he can make up a million stories he has a very vivid imagination they continue to search for Lauren's remains believing they might even be in a 62 acre area owned by one of Steven's family members although he is ible for parole in 2041 legal experts think he will spend the rest of his life Behind Bars Lauren's family celebrate every Milestone and every event she should have been there for as if she is there and joining in they also organize runs in her memory every year too her sister Caitlyn named her baby girl Lauren Magnolia after her Mak have two Memorial plaques dedicated to her and these can be found at merca law school and on a pink bench in Washington Park in merca's downtown district somewhere she loved to run Lauren's family also established the Lauren Theresa Gidding scholarship in the law firm where she briefly trained Lauren was always known for wearing bright colors especially pink they even named Wednesdays pink Wednesdays after her joking that she was like L Woods from Legally Blonde a close friend of hers said that her choice of color in a famously monochromatic working environment always made people smile as well as started a conversation she immersed herself in a profession that's known for black Pinstripes pink was her way of saying bring it on to the world she said and friend said that that summed Lauren Giddings up she made herself hard to miss and was Unapologetic about it driven a go-getter and ready to take on anything that came her way Caitlyn said it's not like she doesn't exists in our lives she does it's just very different [Music] thank you all for tuning in if you'd like to support our Channel and help us to continue to make content please don't forget to like comment share and subscribe it helps us so much and we really appreciate [Music] it [Music]

Channel: Truly Criminal

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Id: DIFtCVs35A8

Length: 44min 28sec (2668 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 03 2024