McDANIEL CHARGED IN LAUREN GIDDINGS MURDER

THE NEIGHBOR of pretty law graduate Lauren Giddings has been charged in her grisly dismemberment murder. Classmate Stephen Mark McDaniel (the creepy neighbor from central casting) was charged last night with first-degree murder--he had been held on unrelated burglary charges.
Giddings sister Kaitlyn Wheeler told the Macon Telegraph: “It’s not a good feeling, but it feels like a step in the right direction toward closure. … It’s exciting in a way that you feel sick, not happy. We know this is going to be a long, hard process. It’s one more step toward him facing judgment. … It doesn’t mean he’s been convicted.”

During the month-long investigation into the popular Mercer University student's slaying, the road kept leading back to the weird neighbor McDaniel. Lauren Giddings, 27, was last heard from the evening of June 25. Five days later while investigating a missing persons report filed after her friends and family hadn’t heard from her, cops discovered her torso wrapped in plastic in a garbage bin beside her apartment. The 27-year-old’s body was released to her family for cremation last week.

REVEALED: LUCKY BREAK IN LAUREN GIDDINGS CASE

LAUREN GIDDINGS escaped being a missing person for eternity by a mere couple of hours. cops revealed. The pretty blonde law student was murdered and dismembered June 25, her remains in garbage bags ready to be picked up. Fortunately, family and friends became concerned and cops were quickly on the scene the next morning as fears mounted.
They found Giddings’ torso stuffed in a residential trash bins with wheels on it just feet from her front door at 9 a.m. on June 30. A couple of hours later and the bins--and evidence--would have been gone.
Macon Police Chief Mike Burns said: “It’d have been a missing person from here on out. I think we beat trash day by two hours. When I got
there (to the scene), we started talking about why (the torso) was put there, and I was told, ‘Well, if we’d waited two more hours it would’ve been gone.’ And then we would have had a missing person. ... We wouldn’t have known if there’d been a crime involved or not.”
So far cops have been tight-lipped on the sickening crime as to suspects or motives. A former neighbor of the Mercer University grad, 25-year-old Stephen Mark McDaniel, remains jailed on other charges and has been called a "person of interest." FULL LAUREN GIDDINGS UPDATE

LAUREN GIDDINGS' MURDERED BY SPURNED SUITOR?

ONE OF THE persons of interest in the sickening Lauren Giddings dismemberment murder was once asked by his mom whether there was a romance brewing between the two. According to Glenda McDaniel, her son Stephen Mark McDaniel considered Lauren, 27, a friend, and the two lived in the same building in Macon, Georgia and were classmates. He told her his focus was finishing law school.
Giddings' torso was found outside her apartment building June 30 and were in such appalling shape it took nearly a week for a positive identification.


Macon police have called McDaniel a person of interest in the murder probe, but officials haven’t named any suspects or made an arrest in the case. Detectives have questioned McDaniel for about 20 hours, his mother said, adding "he's very upset."

She said: “He would have liked to have been able to help his friend."
But the wild-haired McDaniel is being held without bond on two felony counts of burglary on charges he entered two of his neighbors’ unlocked apartments two years ago and took a condom from each. His mother said he is not the lone wolf nut portrayed in the media. Mom adds that Clarence Thomas is his hero and that his goal is to be a Supreme Court Justice.
MEANWHILE, cops are still waiting for the results of lab tests being performed by the FBI on more than 70 pieces of evidence. MORE ON LAUREN GIDDINGS' MURDER

DISMEMBERED BODY 'LIKELY' LAUREN GIDDINGS

COPS are certain the dismembered remains of a woman's body found outside a Macon apartment building is missing law student Lauren Giddings. The 27-year-old blonde beauty-a recent graduate of Mercer University's law school--vanished last Saturday and was just reported missing by a pal Thursday. Later that morning cops found a dismembered body near her apartment. Her family were paying tribute Saturday: "We just want people to remember Lauren."
Chief Mike Burns said: "The condition of the body is making positive identification difficult." But in an email to a friend, the happy-go-lucky beauty reportedly said she was "concerned for her safety and believed someone had tried to
break into her apartment."
The Maryland native was getting ready to take her bar exam. Early Friday, one of Giddings' neighbors, Stephen Mark McDaniel, was arrested on a burglary charge, the Macon Telegraph reported. Cops didn't say if her was a suspect. MORE IN THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION