Thinman:
“He even remembers the name of the detective whose car in front of the apts. He has been paying acute attention to all the details of the investigation, more than I think is normal. “
Found Deceased GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 27 June 2011 - #4 - Page 18 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
IMO
Thinman, after reading your post on details, it made me realize the importance of attention to details in regard to what happened to Lauren.
Please remember that what I am posting is merely my opinion of how I see the events unfold from June 26 – 30 at BH Apts.
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McD was a man for acute attention to details.
But then again, you had better pay very close attention to details if you plan to get away with murder.
On top of that, throw in some good luck and near perfect timing for the
almost perfect crime.
A careful check on details was necessary in order to cover up this crime and to function with credibility to ensure its authenticity.
McD knew the best way to escape responsibility for this crime was to make Lauren a MISSING PERSON.
No body, no crime.
“… just gone.”
Sat/Sun night, June 25/26, after Lauren had been killed, McD got to work to begin the cover up with the Missing Person plan.
With careful planning, good timing, and some luck, he decided he could pull it off.
After all, what were the choices?
Confess and be charged with murder/homicide after just graduating from law school?
His whole life and career were in front of him.
He made his decision: he chose to hide the crime.
Between Saturday night, June 25, through Wed night, June 29, McD kept very busy.
No one came to the apartment to check on Lauren, and if they called and got no answer, they would assume that she was hunkered down studying for the bar; she did not want to be disturbed.
Bingo! That is precisely what everyone would later say who phoned to try to get in touch with her.
He worked hard all day Sunday - careful to clean up as he went.
Attention to details. Very important.
He was extremely careful to dispose of the body parts – no one saw him come or go with anything unusual in tow.
He was clever with this part of the plan for LE has yet to find the body parts.
Sunday came and went with no ‘red alerts’ for Lauren.
So far so good.
That left only the torso which was too big and cumbersome to carry out and put in his car.
Besides, what if he got stopped for some reason by the police or some of Lauren’s DNA accidentally got on the inside of his car.
No…. transporting the torso was way too risky - not a good option.
The best thing to do, he decided, was to preserve the torso until Thursday morning when he could dispose of it when the trash pickup stopped at BH apartments.
Lucky again: the tenant was in the process of moving out and was no longer living there.
The downstairs apartment was empty, and after all, he did have a master key!
And so, on Sunday or Monday in the late night, he placed the torso in the downstairs refrigerator.
Then comes Wednesday, still no ‘red alerts’ for Lauren.
Not one person has come looking for her.
The plan was going well with only one thing left to do:
Wed night after dark and before the arrival of Lauren's friends, he crept downstairs and removed the last piece of visible evidence from the refrigerator and placed it inside the trash can outside BH apartments.
A sigh of relief.
Evidence
almost gone.
Nothing left to do except wait for the trash pick up tomorrow morning.
No one had stopped over for Lauren, no interruptions.
Everything was going smoothly.
Trash truck coming tomorrow morning.
Almost done.
Missing Person.
Almost gone.
He went to bed feeling much better than he had the last four nights.
He was just dozing off when Lauren’s friends came trampling across the balcony around midnight.
Have you seen Lauren? they ask.
No he told them… He had not seen her.
He proceeded to join in and assist with the search for Lauren.
They looked around inside her apartment and at Mercer library.
No Lauren at Mercer.
Nothing amiss in her apartment.
All her things were there: purse, keys, phone
No break in.
Lauren was just missing.
Thursday morning when the LE converged on the BH apartments McD was still feeling pretty good about his plan.
Everything was still on track.
After all, there was no reason for anyone to suspect foul play since nothing in her apartment had been disturbed and no break in.
And no ‘body’.
Hence, no reason that anyone would go snooping in the trash.
So far so good.
McD’s attention to detail was almost the perfect crime.
However, the Macon Police Department arrived at BH apts. before the trash truck.
The hot Georgia summer weather and the plastic bag worked together to help produce an odor which drew LE attention to the trash can.
An odor?
Yes, it was the odor that blew the lid right off of McD's plan.
That was the one and only detail that had not crossed McD’s mind.
Suddenly, Lauren's status changed from a Missing Person to the victim of a heinous crime.
Prior to McD becoming aware that the body had been discovered his answers were directed at substantiating the premise for Lauren as a Missing Person.
Interview portion:
Michelle:
Do you know if she {Lauren} had any enemies or anyone that would want to hurt her?
McD:
No I…We don’t know where she is, only thing we can think of is that
she went out running and someone snatched her. One of her friends had a key …. We went inside her apartment……. Tired to see if anything was amiss….. but she had a door jam… no sign that anyone broke in …… the door was locked when everyone got here…....
we just don’t know where she is….
Michelle:
What about the parking lot area…..that is where they recovered the body….
McD:
BODY?
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At which point, he is completely overwhelmed with panic and shock.
He does not ask anything about the ‘body’.
If he were not the perpetrator then he would have at least asked the minimum question:
WHERE? Where did you find a body?
Are you sure it is Lauren?
What happened to her?
He did not need to ask these questions because he already knew all the answers.
He was overwhelmed due to the realization that he had been caught.
Had the trash truck arrived prior to LE finding the body due to an odor, then there would have been no reason for LE to search McD’s apartment, and Lauren would be a classified a “Missing Person”.
Attention to details is extremely important, but you cannot think of them all.
Please remember, this is only my opinion and I wish this had never happened for me to have one.