The case
Lauren Giddings had just graduated from Mercer University’s law school in Macon, Georgia, and was studying for the bar exam in the summer of 2011. She lived at Barrister Hall, an apartment building across the street from the school. A classmate, Stephen McDaniel, lived one door away.
In the early hours of June 26, 2011, McDaniel used a master key to get into Lauren’s apartment while she slept, and he strangled her when she woke. He later cut up her body with a hacksaw. Friends reported her missing on June 30, and that day her torso was found in a trash can outside the building. McDaniel was giving a television interview at the time, posing as a worried friend, and learned on camera that remains had been found. Detectives questioned him for hours, and investigators later tied the hacksaw to him.
McDaniel was charged with murder in August 2011. On April 21, 2014, he pleaded guilty and admitted the killing in a written statement. He was sentenced to life in prison, with his first chance at parole set for 2041, and child exploitation charges against him were dropped as part of the deal. The rest of Lauren’s remains have never been found. His later efforts to undo the plea have failed.
Case photographs
Where it happened
Mercer’s law school, across the street from Lauren’s apartment