GUILTY GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 26 June 2011 # 1

[alwaysonmymind]

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/article/134172/153/Bail-Revoked-for-Missing-Womans-Neighbor

?

This article points to a second POI. Has this person been ruled out?

Sent from my iPhone

 

[bessie]

This article points to a second POI. Has this person been ruled out?

Sent from my iPhone

At different times, LE has said there are two POI's and there are several POI's. Only McD has been named. LE has not stated that anyone has been ruled out.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

At different times, LE has said there are two POI's and there are several POI's. Only McD has been named. LE has not stated that anyone has been ruled out.

Thank you~


Sent from my iPhone

 

[Indy Anna]

~ Snipped ~

The murderer had several days to dismember and dispose of the body parts. After that, he had the torso to deal with. The trash pick up was scheduled for Thursday morning. Had the trash been picked up as he had planned, we would be reading a missing person report and not awaiting a homicide forensic report from the FBI labs.

In case you are interested: you can read my THEORY on page 15, Post #354.

Sandstorm: You may be right. I'd be very interested to know whether the torso was found in a trash bag and set out with the rest of the trash. The body was reportedly found only a few feet from LG's apartment, but in pictures of the building there are no noticeable overgrown areas where a body might be concealed.

IF SM is responsible for LG's murder, his shock at learning that the body had been found during the interview would be understandable, considering he planned for the torso to be taken with the trash that morning. Had that final piece of evidence been completely disposed of, there would be no murder investigation.

 

[Indy Anna]

snipped for possible violation of TOS--just being careful!

I originally quoted an article from which you can see in one of my prior posts. I mentioned that it did NOT cite a source as to whether the facts in the article were a direct quote, and they were NOT in fact in quotes. I want to be careful about this and respectful to the family which is why I linked to the article. What I said was that if it was true that her mother was surprised, it seemed interesting to me.

I just want to be clear that in no way am I trying to propagate something that is false, but rather bring attention to the article which was news to me.

Just a word of caution... not just for you but for all here, I would not put any stock in that article (as you've now realized). I read on that site a lot and, to be honest, you have to be very careful about what you accept as fact, although many articles on the site are faithful to their MSM counterparts.

 

[Sandstorm]

As you said, Indy Anna, a word of caution...
is the only source I have found that states how the torso was found:

"Lauren Giddings was discovered, dismembered and bagged, outside of her apartment near Mercer College not more than a week after she was reported missing."

http:///viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979587371

 

[Sandstorm]

I think you are spot-on, on your theory of why the torso was left (for practical reasons, not as a message). I think the murderer was hoping to get rid of all evidence and didn't have a good way to get rid of the torso (as gross as this is, limbs and a head could fit in a backpack so no one would be suspicious).

Your theory on the email only makes sense to me if the killer didn't decide to cut the body up right away. Maybe they were thinking that someone would respond to the email, show up and find Lauren and think "hoodlums" did it. Maybe after no one showed up, the killer decided it was better to get rid of the body. If the killer decided to dismember immediately, it does not make sense to send that email (time was the killer's greatest ally at that point)..

PDUBBY,

Your scenario of why the email was written, based on the assumption that it was written by the killer, definitely gives a twist in the attempt to lay out that dreadful Saturday night's horrific events.

You prompted me to consider the possibilities of how the murderer was thinking that night; the panic that ensued after he had killed Lauren must have been extreme.

As you know from my previous posts, I do not think he planned to kill her.
I believe he was infatuated with Lauren.

Once she was dead, he did not know what to do next.

If he killed her inside her apt, then it is very possible that he left her there in hopes that someone would respond to the “Macon Hoodlum break in” email and come looking for her, find her dead, and conclude that “Macon Hoodlums" killed her.

Then, after waiting a few hours? a day? and none of Lauren’s friends showed up to check on her, extreme anxiety and panic overcame him.
He decided he had to do something, i.e., cover up the crime which meant he had to dispose of the body.

He proceeded with plan #2: the missing person plan.

At this point, the killer was desperate not to get caught.
His desperation resulted in our current inhuman headline news which is the most unthinkable ending for a child any parent could possibly experience.

*************************************************************************************************
This scenario is my theory to be considered in whole, part, or not, but never as fact… until proven otherwise!

 

[goodgirl65]

Hey, Truthful... It is interesting. As a Catholic, I do find it to be surprising (if it can be confirmed) that her mother was surprised at the devout nature of LG's religious practice. I only have my own perspective as a Catholic, and the only times I've ever ramped up my attendance at mass was when I was having a life "crisis"--however inconsequential it may seem when compared with others' lives. I will say that the pastor at SJS is VERY observant---you won't get anything over on him. If he states that she's been attending daily mass it's because he's greeted her after each one. If you're not attending, he knows, too!

I totally agree with you. Although it is complete speculation, I have to wonder if there was something going on in any of her relationships (personal or professional) that proved to be a tipping point in her life. The reality is that no matter what her state of body, any blood sample obtained would likely bear a valid HcG level---positive or negative is just pure speculation and conjecture at this point, IMO.

Its possible she had a dream or premonition about her fate in the weeks or months before. Maybe a part of her felt "close to death". Or possibly she had a health scare recently that no one is/was aware of. All these things might amp up someone's church attendance also.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Yup, with each passing day with no more info my hinky meter turns more towards BF. Why have we heard next to nothing on him? In cases like this significant others are one of the first investigated. Yet we have heard nothing to dismiss him. My hinky points:
1. No word from him, sad, tragic or otherwise. Even Scott Peterson acted like he cared.
2. No mention from rents of BF, please point me to the right direction if I missed it.
3. Where he works & influence of firm.
4. Cali trip? Can we get some more info? Timeline at least...
5. If I were scared of my situation I would call my BF, not send an email re:hoodlums. (Who isn't wondering about the 10:30 email validity?)
6. Timing, her move to his city of residence.
7. Speaking of Scott Peterson, did you know murder, per a 2001 study (http://www.now.org/issues/violence/043003pregnant.HTML), is the leading cause of death among pregnant woman. Ok no facts there just a theory.
8. I have seen 2 pics of them together (I'm sure there is more just the 2 I found but...) <mod snip>. Their posture/body language is quite odd in my book, again JMO.
9. I get relationships with wide age gaps. However, not with a girl as successful as her. Not saying it doesn't happen, just seems a lil off.

Again, just my current hinky thoughts. They will probably change tomorrow.

The boyfriend was questioned immediately and was, as you have read, out of town at the time this happened. If the police were not satisfied with his alibi, they would, of course, still be investigating him thoroughly. I think the police are working very hard to try to nail down physical evidence that will lead to an arrest and conviction of whoever did this. Obviously, the boyfriend was a dead end. As for his whereabouts during all this, put yourself in his shoes. If, as was suggested earlier, he had a previous girlfriend commit suicide, don't you think this might just be more than one person can handle? I'm sure he must be trying to make some sense of it all, and yes, he was at the memorial service. <mod snip>

 

[Colonel Mustard]

PDUBBY,

Your scenario of why the email was written, based on the assumption that it was written by the killer, definitely gives a twist in the attempt to lay out that dreadful Saturday night's horrific events.

You prompted me to consider the possibilities of how the murderer was thinking that night; the panic that ensued after he had killed Lauren must have been extreme.

As you know from my previous posts, I do not think he planned to kill her.
I believe he was infatuated with Lauren.

Once she was dead, he did not know what to do next.

If he killed her inside her apt, then it is very possible that he left her there in hopes that someone would respond to the “Macon Hoodlum break in” email and come looking for her, find her dead, and conclude that “Macon Hoodlums" killed her.

Then, after waiting a few hours? a day? and none of Lauren’s friends showed up to check on her, extreme anxiety and panic overcame him.
He decided he had to do something, i.e., cover up the crime which meant he had to dispose of the body.

He proceeded with plan #2: the missing person plan.

At this point, the killer was desperate not to get caught.
His desperation resulted in our current inhuman headline news which is the most unthinkable ending for a child any parent could possibly experience.

*************************************************************************************************
This scenario is my theory to be considered in whole, part, or not, but never as fact… until proven otherwise!

I think you're probably right on all counts. If the email went out to the boyfriend (whether written by her or her killer) and the boyfriend was in California, and all of her other local friends were scattering and returning home since the school year was over, no one came looking immediately. I think the body was dumped AFTER the police came by on Wednesday night and BEFORE they got there on Thursday morning and had apparently been stored close by (like possibly in Apt. #4 in hopes that the trash would be picked up before anyone searched further. If the trash guys had arrived before the police on Thursday morning, this would most likely still be a missing person case, not a murder investigation. I think the dismemberment was out of necessity, nothing else.

 

[PsychoMom]

~ Snipped ~



Sandstorm: You may be right. I'd be very interested to know whether the torso was found in a trash bag and set out with the rest of the trash. The body was reportedly found only a few feet from LG's apartment, but in pictures of the building there are no noticeable overgrown areas where a body might be concealed.

IF SM is responsible for LG's murder, his shock at learning that the body had been found during the interview would be understandable, considering he planned for the torso to be taken with the trash that morning. Had that final piece of evidence been completely disposed of, there would be no murder investigation.

Just wanted to let you know that next to the apartments was a very thick patch of brush and trees. If standing in front of the apartments, it would have been to the right towards the backside of the building. This is not from an article. My daughter resided in one of the houses on the opposite side of the clump of trees. We have often had to cut off little limbs from the overgrown brush to keep her car from being scratched. It is my understanding during the search for body parts, the area was cleared some.

 

[PsychoMom]

Something else I feel I need to add. This article - http:///viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979617073 - implies no crime other than the burglaries allegedly committed by SM happened in the area. That is not true. My daughter's fiancé had his car parked in front of her house in this "safe" area, and the car was stolen with them at home. This was around April or May of this year and it is on Orange St. at Georgia Ave. There was crime in this area. Do not be fooled into thinking nothing ever happened here. I simply never expected anything to this caliber to happen.

 

[midstateMind]

Something else I feel I need to add. This article - http:///viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979617073 - implies no crime other than the burglaries allegedly committed by SM happened in the area. That is not true. My daughter's fiancé had his car parked in front of her house in this "safe" area, and the car was stolen with them at home. This was around April or May of this year and it is on Orange St. at Georgia Ave. There was crime in this area. Do not be fooled into thinking nothing ever happened here. I simply never expected anything to this caliber to happen.

Okay, so we've figured out that does not provide with 100% accuracy now! I'd actually never heard of it until the other day when searching for more LG articles of any kind.

What I've always felt about that stretch of GA Ave is that while it is an entrance way, per se to the pretty, historic downtown area, on the flipside, it also functions as the "mouth" out of pretty, historic downtown and into seedy, near the interstate Macon.

Zaxby's, where LG was last on video, is on a corner of an intersection that also includes 2 lousy fast food restaurants and a gas station. Just beyond the Checkers (burger joint) on one corner is a nasty looking Greyhound station. (vagrants, anyone??) Then, within feet of that is the river and multiple entrances onto the highway.

My point is that of course there's more crime than the alleged two burglaries. Perhaps if we're speaking of a 4 house area adjacent to the Law School then there were just a couple of break-ins, but I can't stress enough that GA Avenue is a thoroughfare that functions as a pass through to both the interstate area (on both ends) and multiple areas of town. It's not low traffic, and because of the university and tourism, there are a lot of out of town plates and unfamiliar cars all the time.

(Totally agree, PsychoMom!)

 

[troykan]

I think Sandstorm has a solid theory, SM is not only socially odd but is also in perfect position " to covet what he see's" which to me, notwithstanding further players, makes complete sense.

Perhaps his fantasies needed to be actualized before Lauren permanently left, this created a type of narcissistic and existential crisis in his interior world that possibly led to this crime.

I do not think SM should be deemed guilty based on his hair style or basic social proclivities alone, though I do think his odd behavior and social patterns could have significant clinical implications with possible correspondence to some type of underlying, latency of psychological problematics yet to be unraveled.

The strange dropping off of the bagged torso the night before trash pick-up and the killer's intimate knowledge of the context (i.e. LE not present late night after missing person report and search on Wed) leads me to believe the killer either lives in the complex personally, or is certainly in close proximity.

I think the dismemberment was also out of pure panic, born out of the necessity to dispose of the body and thus hide the crime. The killer had a substantial amount of time to disarticulate the body prior to the missing persons report.

I would think, based on what we do know, that the killer committed the crime Saturday night and then shortly thereafter disarticulated the body and proceeded to clean up the evidence.

Hopefully, there will be ample evidence from forensics that will help nail this monster, Lauren seemed to be an outstanding young woman full of life and promise who deserved only the best, certainly not this monstrosity.

My prayers go out to Lauren's family and friends at this time and I truly pray this monster is brought to justice swiftly.

 

[bessie]

The boyfriend was questioned immediately and was, as you have read, out of town at the time this happened. If the police were not satisfied with his alibi, they would, of course, still be investigating him thoroughly. I think the police are working very hard to try to nail down physical evidence that will lead to an arrest and conviction of whoever did this. Obviously, the boyfriend was a dead end. As for his whereabouts during all this, put yourself in his shoes. If, as was suggested earlier, he had a previous girlfriend commit suicide, don't you think this might just be more than one person can handle? I'm sure he must be trying to make some sense of it all, and yes, he was at the memorial service. <mod snip>

Welcome to Websleuths, Colonel Mustard. While we can't be sure what LE is doing behind the scenes, I agree the boyfriend is very low on the radar, and I concur on all your other points. I certainly would not expect him to to be front and center before the cameras at this time. Like all of Lauren's close friends, he's a victim, too, in this horrible tragedy, and his privacy should be respected. I wish him well.

 

[bessie]

I think Sandstorm has a solid theory, SM is not only socially odd but is also in perfect position " to covet what he see's" which to me, notwithstanding further players, makes complete sense.

Perhaps his fantasies needed to be actualized before Lauren permanently left, this created a type of narcissistic and existential crisis in his interior world that possibly led to this crime.

I do not think SM should be deemed guilty based on his hair style or basic social proclivities alone, though I do think his odd behavior and social patterns could have significant clinical implications with possible correspondence to some type of underlying, latency of psychological problematics yet to be unraveled.

The strange dropping off of the bagged torso the night before trash pick-up and the killer's intimate knowledge of the context (i.e. LE not present late night after missing person report and search on Wed) leads me to believe the killer either lives in the complex personally, or is certainly in close proximity.

I think the dismemberment was also out of pure panic, born out of the necessity to dispose of the body and thus hide the crime. The killer had a substantial amount of time to disarticulate the body prior to the missing persons report.

I would think, based on what we do know, that the killer committed the crime Saturday night and then shortly thereafter disarticulated the body and proceeded to clean up the evidence.

Hopefully, there will be ample evidence from forensics that will help nail this monster, Lauren seemed to be an outstanding young woman full of life and promise who deserved only the best, certainly not this monstrosity.

My prayers go out to Lauren's family and friends at this time and I truly pray this monster is brought to justice swiftly.

Not to mention, the stress of studying for the bar could be an added factor.
http://cooley.libarts.wsu.edu/soc3611/Documents/052408/Serial Killers.pdf

Nice first post. I hope we hear from you again.

 

[Wondergirl]

FWIW, have a look at a note Lauren wrote on Facebook. It was one of those chain email type deals where she had to write 25 random things about herself. It was written in Jan '09 and if you read #20 you'll see she says she goes to mass 3 x per week. Mods - if this is against the rules please delete and accept my apologies!

http://www.facebook.com/notes/lauren-teresa/pleasing-kristin/72679323568

The article talking about her mother's reaction to Lauren's attendance says "Although she knew that Lauren attended St. Joseph Catholic Church on Poplar Street, she didn’t know until after her daughter’s death that she often attended daily Mass." It says "often attended" as opposed to daily. I'm not totally convinced that her attendance had ramped up recently. Here's a link to that article -

Read more: http://www.macon.com/2011/07/09/1625474/police-hope-lab-results-from-74.html#ixzz1Rr3cGO3C

Just my opinion

Thank-you for posting Lauren's FB.

So many friends have changed their picture to include one of them with her. That is such a lovely tribute.

 

[Sandstorm]

I think the answer to all of these questions is that they were not serious. I know he's been described as her boyfriend but if you look at their Facebook pages (I'm intentionally not linking to his) it doesn't look like they spent much time together.

I agree with PDUBBY that Lauren was not seriously involved with what has been referred to in the news reports as the 'boyfriend' in Atlanta.

This is further substantiated by my Macon friend's comment when I ask him about the BF in our discussion at the onset of this crime.

We were discussing who could have possibly committed this crime against Lauren. My friend, who socializes with Lauren often, replied,
"What boyfriend? I didn't know she had a boyfriend."

 

[Indy Anna]

As you said, Indy Anna, a word of caution...
is the only source I have found that states how the torso was found:

"Lauren Giddings was discovered, dismembered and bagged, outside of her apartment near Mercer College not more than a week after she was reported missing."

http:///viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979587371

Exactly, Sandstorm. It would be helpful if we could verify this bit of "information" - or discount it - with a valid news source. IF it's true, it could explain SM's shock at learning that a body was discovered on the premises.

 

[mysterygirl]

If it is NOT the neighbor...........I will be surprised.