Lauren Giddings - Macon, GA - Found Dead 6/30/11
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Lauren Giddings - Macon, GA - Found Dead 6/30/11
by Maat on Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:23 am
Body is Lauren Giddings, police say
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK, JOE KOVAC JR. and PHILLIP RAMATI - Telegraph staff writers
Macon police asked for the public’s help Wednesday in their quest to solve the slaying of Lauren Giddings.
DNA test results confirmed that a body found beside Giddings’ apartment building June 30 was hers, Police Chief Mike Burns said. The body had been dismembered, he said, and “we have not found all the body parts yet,” despite searches in and around the Barristers Hall apartments on Georgia Avenue.
Burns asked for the public to report any finds -- or any foul odors -- to the police department at 751-7500 or to Macon Regional CrimeStoppers at (877) 68-CRIME.
Burns said police don’t know how the 27-year-old died because of the condition of her body, and they would not speculate about a possible motive in the slaying.
Police have expanded their initial search of the neighborhood to seven to 10 blocks from the apartments, looking for clues that would help them solve the homicide. In the past week, they have searched in and around the apartments, along the Ocmulgee River, at Macon’s landfill and in drains and sewers near the apartments.
“As of now, we are not looking at any other (crime) scene,” Burns said, referring to the apartment complex.
Unsure of when -- and who
He said police are “not sure of the exact time (the body) was dumped” beside the apartment building.
Police have said they have two “persons of interest” in the slaying, but no one has been charged with the slaying. Burns said Wednesday police have interviewed about a dozen people in the case.
Story continues ...
http://www.macon.com/2011/07/07/1623060/body-is-lauren-giddings-police.html
This is a very sad and very scary case. The apartment complex where this happened is right behind the house where my daughter was living until earlier in June. There was a small wooded lot between my daughter's back door and the dumpster where she was found. She has been driving back and forth to Macon this last month month between classes at Mercer.
This tragedy has terrified the town. I am worried as my daughter heads back to Macon in the morning. She had been trying to move into those apartments, but the manager had not called her back and she found another place to live. She is still living in the 7-10 block radius they are searching for more body parts. Things like this only happen in the movies, not in your own backyard.
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Re: Lauren Giddings - Macon, GA - Found Dead 6/30/11
by Piper on Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:19 am
Maat, this is awful! I can only imagine your worry and concerns for your daughter. I hope they find a suspect soon. OMG.
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Re: Lauren Giddings - Macon, GA - Found Dead 6/30/11
by sitemama on Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:17 pm
Maat, so sorry to hear your daughter is going through this terror. Hopefully the two POI are related to this woman in some way, and no one else is in danger.
Keep us posted on anything new that happens. Thanks
Keep us posted on anything new that happens. Thanks
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Re: Lauren Giddings - Macon, GA - Found Dead 6/30/11
by FystyAngel on Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:03 pm
Lauren Giddings Dead: Mercer University Law School Grad Dismembered, Police Seek Remains
07/ 7/11 04:28 PM ET
MACON, Ga. -- A few hours after Lauren Giddings was reported missing, officers made a macabre discovery outside the recent law school graduate's apartment building: Her dismembered body.
Now that DNA tests have confirmed the body was hers, investigators are pleading for help finding the rest of her remains. Who killed the 27-year-old woman – and why – remains a mystery.
Giddings, a tall, popular blonde, graduated from Mercer University Law School in May. She then went home to Laurel, Md., to be in her sister's wedding. She had returned to Macon just long enough to study for the bar exam, consider a couple of job offers and pack her things.
"What seemed to be everything falling into place has turned into a nightmare," Bill Giddings, the slain woman's father, said Thursday in Macon, where her family had gathered. "We can't wait to find who did this and we can't wait to find the rest of her. It's just wrenching in both cases."
Family and friends said it's hard to imagine why anyone would harm Giddings.
During the three years she studied law at Mercer, the young woman attended Mass every Sunday – and often several times during the week – at St. Joseph Catholic Church in downtown Macon, said the church's pastor, the Rev. Allan McDonald. Members of the local running club she belonged to saw a less serious side of Giddings, who as a newcomer hopped into a small creek to cool her legs not realizing the water was deeper than she could stand in. Friend and fellow runner Jason Keith said a soaked Giddings laughed off the goof without a shred of self-consciousness.
She was a striking blond who stood about 6 feet tall, so tall that law professor Sarah Gerwig-Moore said she dreaded standing next to Giddings in group photos.
"We're all shocked and sad. A light has gone out," Gerwig-Moore said. "Mercer is a small, close-knit community, and we've lost a member of the family."
Giddings also had a soft-spot for underdogs. Her professor said she had wanted to be a capital defender, representing suspects facing the death penalty. Neighbors would see her walking her one-eyed dog, Butterbean.
"She never had a beef with anybody, ever," said Keith, who lives a block from Giddings' apartment. "That's the thing that just kills us. Why would you do this to such a beautiful person?"
Police say Giddings was last seen by friends during a night out June 25. Keith said he didn't worry after not seeing her for several days, figuring she was hunkered down studying for the bar exam.
A friend reported Giddings missing to police the evening of June 29. Officers found her keys, her cell phone and her wallet inside her apartment, and no sign of a break-in or struggle. They also found an email she had sent her boyfriend, an Atlanta lawyer, saying she feared someone had tried to break into her apartment the week before, said police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet.
Outside the apartment building, an officer smelled a foul odor and found the body. Giddings' father told The Associated Press on Thursday that police found only a torso. Police Chief Mike Burns said Thursday that he could not release more details on the case.
Burns did acknowledge police are still looking for some of the woman's remains at a news conference Wednesday, when he announced that DNA tests – using hair from a brush that belonged to Giddings – confirmed she was the victim.
Gaudet said police have been answering a steady stream of calls from Macon residents reporting odd smells or freshly disturbed patches of dirt. They also searched the landfill the same day fresh garbage was delivered, combed the banks of the Ocmulgee River that runs through downtown Macon and used camera probes to peek inside storm drains near the apartment.
So far, they have found nothing.
No arrests have been made in Giddings' slaying, but Gaudet said police have several persons of interest and are working to eliminate them as suspects. A motive for the killing remains unclear, Gaudet said.
Police have identified only one of them – 25-year-old Stephen McDaniel, a fellow law student and Giddings' next-door neighbor. McDaniel spoke with police the day they searched Giddings' apartment, and he later was arrested and jailed on unrelated burglary charges stemming from two break-ins at their apartment complex in late 2008 and early 2009.
McDaniel's attorney, Floyd Buford, did not return phone calls Wednesday and Thursday.
Giddings' father said he had met McDaniel a few times.
"I would describe him as very average – didn't speak a lot, kind of awkward," Bill Giddings said. "He seemed to be a light-weight, kind of a bookworm."
A memorial service for Giddings was scheduled Saturday at the Macon church she attended. Friends have fashioned a makeshift memorial in front of her apartment building, hanging ribbons and mementos on the wrought iron fence that faces the sidewalk.
There's a gavel hanging from the bars, a team photo from when Giddings played softball for Agnes Scott College, outside of Atlanta. On one large, white ribbon someone had written in black and gold ink: "Love leaves a memory no one can take."
___
Bynum reported from Savannah.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/lauren-giddings-dead-merc_n_892595.html
07/ 7/11 04:28 PM ET
MACON, Ga. -- A few hours after Lauren Giddings was reported missing, officers made a macabre discovery outside the recent law school graduate's apartment building: Her dismembered body.
Now that DNA tests have confirmed the body was hers, investigators are pleading for help finding the rest of her remains. Who killed the 27-year-old woman – and why – remains a mystery.
Giddings, a tall, popular blonde, graduated from Mercer University Law School in May. She then went home to Laurel, Md., to be in her sister's wedding. She had returned to Macon just long enough to study for the bar exam, consider a couple of job offers and pack her things.
"What seemed to be everything falling into place has turned into a nightmare," Bill Giddings, the slain woman's father, said Thursday in Macon, where her family had gathered. "We can't wait to find who did this and we can't wait to find the rest of her. It's just wrenching in both cases."
Family and friends said it's hard to imagine why anyone would harm Giddings.
During the three years she studied law at Mercer, the young woman attended Mass every Sunday – and often several times during the week – at St. Joseph Catholic Church in downtown Macon, said the church's pastor, the Rev. Allan McDonald. Members of the local running club she belonged to saw a less serious side of Giddings, who as a newcomer hopped into a small creek to cool her legs not realizing the water was deeper than she could stand in. Friend and fellow runner Jason Keith said a soaked Giddings laughed off the goof without a shred of self-consciousness.
She was a striking blond who stood about 6 feet tall, so tall that law professor Sarah Gerwig-Moore said she dreaded standing next to Giddings in group photos.
"We're all shocked and sad. A light has gone out," Gerwig-Moore said. "Mercer is a small, close-knit community, and we've lost a member of the family."
Giddings also had a soft-spot for underdogs. Her professor said she had wanted to be a capital defender, representing suspects facing the death penalty. Neighbors would see her walking her one-eyed dog, Butterbean.
"She never had a beef with anybody, ever," said Keith, who lives a block from Giddings' apartment. "That's the thing that just kills us. Why would you do this to such a beautiful person?"
Police say Giddings was last seen by friends during a night out June 25. Keith said he didn't worry after not seeing her for several days, figuring she was hunkered down studying for the bar exam.
A friend reported Giddings missing to police the evening of June 29. Officers found her keys, her cell phone and her wallet inside her apartment, and no sign of a break-in or struggle. They also found an email she had sent her boyfriend, an Atlanta lawyer, saying she feared someone had tried to break into her apartment the week before, said police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet.
Outside the apartment building, an officer smelled a foul odor and found the body. Giddings' father told The Associated Press on Thursday that police found only a torso. Police Chief Mike Burns said Thursday that he could not release more details on the case.
Burns did acknowledge police are still looking for some of the woman's remains at a news conference Wednesday, when he announced that DNA tests – using hair from a brush that belonged to Giddings – confirmed she was the victim.
Gaudet said police have been answering a steady stream of calls from Macon residents reporting odd smells or freshly disturbed patches of dirt. They also searched the landfill the same day fresh garbage was delivered, combed the banks of the Ocmulgee River that runs through downtown Macon and used camera probes to peek inside storm drains near the apartment.
So far, they have found nothing.
No arrests have been made in Giddings' slaying, but Gaudet said police have several persons of interest and are working to eliminate them as suspects. A motive for the killing remains unclear, Gaudet said.
Police have identified only one of them – 25-year-old Stephen McDaniel, a fellow law student and Giddings' next-door neighbor. McDaniel spoke with police the day they searched Giddings' apartment, and he later was arrested and jailed on unrelated burglary charges stemming from two break-ins at their apartment complex in late 2008 and early 2009.
McDaniel's attorney, Floyd Buford, did not return phone calls Wednesday and Thursday.
Giddings' father said he had met McDaniel a few times.
"I would describe him as very average – didn't speak a lot, kind of awkward," Bill Giddings said. "He seemed to be a light-weight, kind of a bookworm."
A memorial service for Giddings was scheduled Saturday at the Macon church she attended. Friends have fashioned a makeshift memorial in front of her apartment building, hanging ribbons and mementos on the wrought iron fence that faces the sidewalk.
There's a gavel hanging from the bars, a team photo from when Giddings played softball for Agnes Scott College, outside of Atlanta. On one large, white ribbon someone had written in black and gold ink: "Love leaves a memory no one can take."
___
Bynum reported from Savannah.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/lauren-giddings-dead-merc_n_892595.html
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Re: Lauren Giddings - Macon, GA - Found Dead 6/30/11
by Maat on Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:55 pm
I don't think it was the McDaniel character. I think he is just a dumb kid who made some mistakes. Getting busted on stealing a few items 2-3 years ago is quite a stretch from this crime. I don't know who the other person of interest is.
I know my daughter is back in Macon today. I hope she is being extra cautious. I know her friends still live in the house next to this apartment, and she still has her furniture there. She visits her friends often, but they have all changed a lot of their routines. No more walking to and from the campus, or to the restaurants and bars downtown, especially alone. They are all arming themselves with pepper spray, knives, and who knows what else. It has changed the mood in the area.
She convinced us how safe an area it was before we agreed to the house she was living in. It has always been one of the safer areas. However, she has had people follow her when walking to and from school and tell her the things they were going to do to her. She just holds her pepper spray and keeps walking. I wish she would just drive there. There are a variety of homeless people who live in and around the parks in the area. And Macon does have a lot of crime. But this is beyond anything I have ever heard of there. I don't think a homeless man just wandered up to this apartment and did this. I think it took someone with some skills and means to pull this off without anyone knowing for so long.
I know my daughter is back in Macon today. I hope she is being extra cautious. I know her friends still live in the house next to this apartment, and she still has her furniture there. She visits her friends often, but they have all changed a lot of their routines. No more walking to and from the campus, or to the restaurants and bars downtown, especially alone. They are all arming themselves with pepper spray, knives, and who knows what else. It has changed the mood in the area.
She convinced us how safe an area it was before we agreed to the house she was living in. It has always been one of the safer areas. However, she has had people follow her when walking to and from school and tell her the things they were going to do to her. She just holds her pepper spray and keeps walking. I wish she would just drive there. There are a variety of homeless people who live in and around the parks in the area. And Macon does have a lot of crime. But this is beyond anything I have ever heard of there. I don't think a homeless man just wandered up to this apartment and did this. I think it took someone with some skills and means to pull this off without anyone knowing for so long.
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