The Stalker Next Door

WEBVTT

1
00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:37.320
Discretion is advised him needed murder.
Have you ever had that feeling where you're

2
00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:42.719
being watched, A chill runs down
your spine, the hair in the back

3
00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:46.799
of your neck stands up, and
maybe you chalk it up to being paranoid

4
00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:52.079
and shake it off. But maybe, just maybe your feeling was right.

5
00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:58.840
Lauren Giddings recently graduated from the Mercer
University School of Law. She moved from

6
00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:03.119
Maryland to make and Georgia to pursue
her law degree in two thousand and eight.

7
00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.439
In May of twenty eleven, she
completed her degree and was preparing for

8
00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:11.560
the next step and reaching her goal
of becoming a criminal defense attorney. On

9
00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:15.799
June twenty fifth, she was studying
for the bar exam. That's what she

10
00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:21.920
had been doing most nights since graduation. Lauren had decided to really limit her

11
00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:26.640
social interactions during that time to allow
herself the time that she needed to prepare

12
00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:30.760
for what would probably be the biggest
test of her life. She had the

13
00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:34.920
support of her family and her boyfriend, but they did miss the frequent phone

14
00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:38.359
calls from her. Lauren's boyfriend,
David Van Derver, was out of town

15
00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:42.120
on June twenty fifth. He was
actually on the other side of the country

16
00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:46.920
playing golf in California, when he
got an email from Lauren telling him that

17
00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:51.319
she felt like she was being watched
in her apartment. She even thought that

18
00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:56.280
somebody had tried to break in.
Not wanting to cause unnecessary concern, she

19
00:01:56.359 --> 00:02:00.400
did downplay it a little bit,
although she had previously mentioned but a few

20
00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.640
times when she entered her apartment,
things were in a different place than where

21
00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.680
she remembered leaving them. But that
would mean that someone was going into her

22
00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:13.000
apartment, and that seemed impossible because
she always locked the door behind her.

23
00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:17.360
On June twenty ninth, Kitlyn Wheeler, Lauren's sister, became concerned that she

24
00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.719
had not heard from her in a
few days. Lauren knew that she was

25
00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:24.319
busy studying, but she wasn't even
returning phone calls when she had time.

26
00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:30.639
Caitlin was worried. She started contacting
some of Lauren's friends to see if they

27
00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:34.280
had heard from her. Lauren's friend, Ashley, went to her apartment to

28
00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:37.599
check on her. Her car was
in the parking lot in the front of

29
00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:42.000
her apartment, but she wasn't coming
to the door. Lauren had a hidden

30
00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:46.879
key in her apartment and Ashley knew
where it was. As Ashley unlocked the

31
00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:51.879
door and stepped inside, she started
to look around. She immediately saw that

32
00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:57.000
Lauren's books, keys, and purse
were all still sitting there, so she

33
00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:00.919
walked around the apartment but couldn't find
Lauren, so she decided to call nine

34
00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:07.080
one one. The police arrived shortly
after the call and started to investigate.

35
00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:12.240
They couldn't find any signs of forced
entry on the windows or doors. Everything

36
00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:15.360
appeared to be in place, and
it did not look like a struggle had

37
00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.360
occurred inside. There was no visible
blood anywhere, so where was Lauren?

38
00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:23.400
Where would she have gone without her
purse, keys, or books to study?

39
00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:29.800
The investigators sprayed luminol around and turned
their light on the bathroom. Walls,

40
00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:34.719
floor, and bathtub all glowed.
It became clear that they were no

41
00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:38.639
longer searching for a missing person.
They were now working a homicide case and

42
00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:44.199
something sinister had happened in that bathroom. The crime scene was taped off and

43
00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:47.400
detectives walked around the outside of the
apartment to look for any clues as to

44
00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:53.400
what may have happened to Lauren.
The wind shifted and they recognized a terrible

45
00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:59.439
smell, a very distinctive smell that
homicide detectives know all too well, one

46
00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:04.240
of the worst possible smells. There
was a decomposing body nearby. They started

47
00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:09.080
looking for the body when they found
something even more horrific than the smell in

48
00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:14.039
the air. They found a female's
torso wrapped in plastic that had been thrown

49
00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:18.160
away in one of the apartment complexes
trash cans. They couldn't find the legs,

50
00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.879
the arms, or the head.
Chances are that the torso belonged to

51
00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:26.000
Lauren, but without the head,
they would have to run a test to

52
00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:30.160
verify. At the same time the
torso was being discovered, a local television

53
00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:35.279
station was there interviewing people at the
scene. Stephen McDaniel was talking to the

54
00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:40.560
interviewer at the time. He was
a former classmate of Louren's and lived in

55
00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:44.519
a neighboring apartment. He was telling
the news that the police said the front

56
00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:47.360
door was locked and they couldn't find
any signs of forced entry. He expressed

57
00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:50.519
concern for his friend and hoped that
they would find her, and as the

58
00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:55.839
interview continued, Stephen was informed that
a body part had been recovered and his

59
00:04:55.959 --> 00:05:00.680
whole demeanor changed. He became speechless, his face lost color, and he

60
00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:03.240
had to go sit down for a
few minutes before he could continue answering questions.

61
00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:09.439
Stephen had just found out, apparently
on TV, that Lauren Giddings was

62
00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:13.839
dead. Yeah, Lauren was my
neighbor. We're just trying to find out

63
00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:16.319
where she is at this point.
I mean, no one has seen her

64
00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:20.800
since Saturday. I mean the last
time anyone heard from her was an email

65
00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:26.199
that she sent out, and no
one's heard from her since. And then

66
00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:28.759
you got to her hang out with
anyone at the time, anything like that.

67
00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:32.319
I mean no, no, no
one has seen her sincerity, I

68
00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:36.959
haven't seen anything. I mean we've
always seen the noise outside, but people

69
00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:43.399
walking by pretty much. And she
just recently graduated from person. Yeah,

70
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:48.120
she and I were, we were
both JD students. We graduated back in

71
00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:51.399
May. What kind of person was
she? I mean, how did you

72
00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:55.199
did you see? I mean she's
as nice as can be, I mean,

73
00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.279
very personable, very much people person. Do you know anybody that any

74
00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:01.160
enemies you might have had, somebody
that might want to hurt her? No,

75
00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:05.680
I'm w where. We don't know
where she is. I mean The

76
00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.800
only thing we can think is that
maybe she went out running and someone snatched

77
00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:14.120
her, because I mean we went
a we went over. One of her

78
00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:16.759
friends had a key. We went
inside and tried to see if there was

79
00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:23.000
anything amiss. But I mean,
she had a door jamb that was sitting

80
00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:27.040
right by it, so there was
no sign that anyone broke in. I

81
00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:30.319
mean the door was locked when everyone
got here. I mean, we we

82
00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:33.680
just don't know where she is.
And what about in the like the parking

83
00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:36.079
lot area. I know they've been
doing a lot of I think that's where

84
00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:41.800
they had recovered the body or whatever
they recovered from there. Body. Had

85
00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:46.000
you heard any had you seen anything
there? Cool? Had you seen anything

86
00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.959
there? I mean, we don't
know if this is the same person,

87
00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:51.439
you know what I mean, Like
they said got a body there earlier.

88
00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:54.560
We don't know if this is the
same person or not. That's how we're

89
00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:59.800
trying to ask people. They know
who lived there? Are you okay?

90
00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:06.040
So I think I needed to sit
down. On July first, Stephen voluntarily

91
00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:11.639
went into the police station as one
of Lauren's neighbors to answer some questions and

92
00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:16.279
give a statement. His interrogation lasted
twelve hours. While he was there,

93
00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:20.920
he gave them permission to search his
apartment. In his apartment, they found

94
00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:26.439
memory cards and flash drives, the
packaging for a hacksaw, and a pair

95
00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:31.240
of underwear that tested positive with Lauren's
DNA. In the apartment complex's laundry room,

96
00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:35.560
they found a hack saw that matched
the package in Stephen's apartment, and

97
00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:42.040
a bloody sheet that, after testing, matched Lauren. On July second,

98
00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:46.079
Stephen McDaniel was placed in jail while
the investigation continued. They were able to

99
00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:51.000
link him to the hacksaw and Lauren's
underwear after looking at the memory cards taken

100
00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:55.959
during the search. They were also
able to confirm that Stephen had been stalking

101
00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:01.560
Lauren that eerie suspicion she had been
feeling that she was being watched was valid.

102
00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:05.040
It appeared that he had taken a
wooden pole and somehow attached a camera

103
00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:07.920
to the end of it so that
he could hold it up to see inside

104
00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:13.360
her windows. A search history of
his computer revealed that he often looked up

105
00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:18.879
pictures of Lauren on her social media
accounts while also watching violent pornography. Some

106
00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:22.199
of the other memory cards had pornographic
images of kids. During the search.

107
00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.920
They also found a master key to
the apartment complex, giving Stephen complete access

108
00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:31.959
to Lauren's place. He didn't need
to break in, he had a key.

109
00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:37.320
The police had plenty to charge him. On August second, twenty eleven,

110
00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:41.120
Stephen McDaniel was charged with murder,
burglary, and thirty counts of sexual

111
00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:46.279
exploitation of children. But in April
twenty fourteen, a week before his trial

112
00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:50.919
was supposed to start, he made
a plea deal. Although he initially pleaded

113
00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:56.480
not guilty, he accepted the offer
to plead guilty in exchange for all charges

114
00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:01.279
other than the murder to be dismissed
and the opportune unity to avoid the death

115
00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:05.200
penalty. Part of the deal was
that Stephen had to give an actual account

116
00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:09.279
of what happened that night, and
here is what he said. At four

117
00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:13.639
thirty am during the early morning hours
of July twenty sixth, he used a

118
00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:16.960
master key to gain access to Lord
and Gidding's apartment. He wore a mask

119
00:09:18.039 --> 00:09:20.879
and gloves. At first, he
just watched her sleep, but as he

120
00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:24.960
moved closer to her, the bed
made a creaking noise and it startled her

121
00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:30.440
awake. She immediately started screaming and
so he jumped on top of her to

122
00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.879
cover her mouth and grabbed her throat. She tried to fight him, but

123
00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:37.200
he tightened his grip around her and
strangled her. He dragged her body into

124
00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.120
the bathroom and then walked back into
his apartment. Later that day, after

125
00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:46.600
it was dark, he returned with
a hack saw. He dismembered her body

126
00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.840
in the bathtub. He disposed the
pieces of her body in various trash cans,

127
00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:54.919
hoping that that would reduce the risk
of being found. Then he went

128
00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:00.399
back home. All but the trash
can with a torso had already been picked

129
00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:05.240
up and emptied. By June twenty
ninth, after he recorded his account of

130
00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:09.519
what happened and taken the plea deal, he was sentenced to thirty years in

131
00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:15.679
prison. However, in twenty eighteen, Stephen McDaniel's father started a GoFundMe page

132
00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:20.120
to raise money for an appeal.
The page was quickly taken down, but

133
00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:24.200
that didn't stop Stephen from representing himself
in the argument for a retrial. He

134
00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:28.919
argued that his constitutional rights had been
violated. He stated that he gave consent

135
00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.279
for his apartment to be searched before
being cleared medically and that he was not

136
00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:37.039
in his right mind to do so
at that moment. He also claimed that

137
00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:39.960
he had done a lot of research
for his own defense and that the district

138
00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:46.159
attorney confiscated it all. He believed
that he was not adequately represented by his

139
00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:50.720
attorneys, and even filed a malpractice
complaint against them. The judge denied all

140
00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:56.480
of his appeals. In twenty twenty
two, another habeas corpus petition was filed

141
00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:01.440
by Stephen McDaniel requesting his conviction being
overturned and he be released from prison,

142
00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.600
but again his petition was denied.
He will be eligible for parole in twenty

143
00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:13.039
forty one. So how many times
had Stephen McDaniels been in Lauren Gidding's apartment

144
00:11:13.159 --> 00:11:18.200
before that night? How many times
had he gone in while she was there?

145
00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.679
What were his intentions that night when
he entered her room while she slept.

146
00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:26.720
She was scheduled to move out of
her apartment the week she was killed.

147
00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:30.440
Did he see it as a last
opportunity to have an encounter with the

148
00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:35.080
woman he had been stalking. Whatever
the case, Lauren was bright, and

149
00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.840
she had a promising future ahead of
her. She was loved by her family

150
00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:41.559
and friends. She was a good
student and a good person. Her goal

151
00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:46.519
was to pass the Georgia Bar and
become a criminal defense attorney. She wanted

152
00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:52.200
to delve deeper into the cases of
people wrongfully accused of crimes. In a

153
00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:56.960
different scenario a year later, if
Stephen had allegedly killed a different woman,

154
00:11:56.519 --> 00:12:07.960
Lauren could have been the attorney to
defend him in court. That's ten Minute

155
00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:11.639
Murder for today, brief and binge
able true crime. I'm Joe the host,

156
00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:15.399
and thank you for listening. If
you're new to ten Minute Murder,

157
00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:20.399
make yourself at home, get comfortable, and subscribe wherever you're listening right now.

158
00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:22.480
When you become a subscriber, you
can more easily catch up on all

159
00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:26.679
the back episodes of ten Minute Murder. On social media, you can connect

160
00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:31.039
with ten Minute Murder see pictures of
what we're talking about here in the podcast.

161
00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.279
It's nothing gross and graphic, but
what you will see, for example,

162
00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:39.200
today Stephen McDaniel, you'll see pictures
of him, and you're thinking,

163
00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.240
right now, why what I want
to see pictures of this guy? He

164
00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:43.840
doesn't look like you would think.
He looks like That's what I'm saying,

165
00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:48.600
and that's kind of the reason why
I put photos of the people involved on

166
00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:52.679
social media. It's for the same
reason that like, if someone cuts you

167
00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:54.480
off in traffic, you kind of
just want to know what they look like.

168
00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:58.000
Do they look like someone that's going
to cut some money off in traffic?

169
00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.360
You want to know if this guy
looks like murderer. The answer is

170
00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:05.120
yes, he does. He's got
wild hair and he's kind of strange looking.

171
00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:09.000
But those photos are going to be
on social media and you can connect

172
00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.799
to the Ten Minute Murder and see
all that stuff. I post them all

173
00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:13.919
of all the episodes. Links are
in the show notes of this episode,

174
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.240
or you can just go to social
media places you want to follow and type

175
00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.240
in Ten Minute Murder. One of
the most often asked questions I get for

176
00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:24.960
Ten Minute Murder are people asking what
they can do to help the podcast.

177
00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.799
Obviously, I love when you guys
send me episodes to talk about because I

178
00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.399
want to talk about the stories that
you want to hear, so that's great.

179
00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:35.720
Also, people have offered to research
cases for me. A couple people

180
00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:39.720
have wanted to do music for the
show. Various things, but the biggest

181
00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:46.200
thing that helps this podcast is when
you tell people about the podcast let people

182
00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:48.720
know about ten Minute Murder. Tell
your friends, tell your family. And

183
00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:52.639
that's how ten Minute Murder grows.
The more it grows, the more I

184
00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:58.000
can afford to put more energy and
resources into making more episodes. So it's

185
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.600
not like you're not getting something for
it. So help me, help you,

186
00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:05.480
help me help you. Okay,
thanks for listening to another Ten Minute

187
00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:09.919
Murder podcast episode. I will see
you on the next one. Bye.