GUILTY GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 26 June 2011 #14

[bessie]

I'm here for awhile.

 

[Backwoods]

Backwoods, I loved your dog story. As my name implies, I have three. My two Scotties are old and usually just lay in their bed downstairs all day. After I typed the above post, I turned around and was surprised to see all three dogs sitting there. One has an old injury to his leg and never comes up here. I think it's true that dogs sense when we need a little comfort . My Springer below is my shadow and will help me keep vigil for Lauren today.

Your Springer spaniel is gorgeous, 3doglady (and I'm glad he?/she? kept vigil with you today). I think maybe you once had an avatar pic of him/her... and I thought so then as well. Some of Honeybelle's pups have a very distinctive piebald marking pattern and facial masking -- kinda almost wonder if they might have some Springer in their background; no really long hair amongst them though. A couple of them absolutely love to swim (as does their mom). One day I'll find an excuse to post some individual pics of them, LOL

I have to think all our animals are showing up in this vigil on account of Butterbean! Can't say for sure, of course, but I like to believe Lauren would have approved.

 

[bessie]

Trying to keep local Macon news coverage of the year-ago mark updated here. Here's another from FOX24 NewsCentral. (They're trying, I think, but I dunno ...)

The Mind of a Murderer: The Lauren Giddings Case


print article and video at: http://www.newscentralga.com/news/local/The-Mind-of-a-Murder-The-Lauren-Giddings-Case-160586755.html

The article points out some of the same characteristics we speculated about here last summer, socially awkward, isolated, daydreamer, misanthrope. Since then we've learned that McD has used these traits to describe himself. It doesn't make him a killer, but he certainly seems to fits the profile.

 

[Backwoods]

Glad to learn the pups in your avatar are rescues, I thought maybe you were a breeder and there is already too much of that in middle Georgia. I had the exact same thing happen 3 years ago, someone dumped a VERY pregnant 8 mo old dog off in front of my house and 2 days later I had 6 pups to care for. As I am sure you know, finding good homes for mixed breed pups in this area is darn near impossible, i placed 4 of the pups and kept the mother and 2 others, it's been three years now. We all survived but the timing was very unfortunate, I have always had rescues but had decided to buy a very large 1year old field raised protection dog, I was getting ready to pick him up when the pregnant stray arrived. I kept thinking "oh no, this can't be happening, this is the worst possible time" but soon realized it was happening and no rescue in the area was willing to help out.

We all survived. I am glad to hear your unexpected pregnant dog story occurred at the perfect time for you and you were able to really enjoy them. I was utterly overwhelmed, but now that they have all grown up the are truly very sweet and wonderful dogs.

No, I'm no breeder, Sonya. Though I will confess (bows head) that with all the sudden influx of animals (someone brought me a couple of other pups that were about to be shot to take in while H.'s pups were still adolescents), I couldn't get all the spaying/neutering needed done as quickly as I wanted and, despite extreme precautions, I ended up with a "whoops" litter. Not proud of it, but it happened. I have done as well as I could by them, though.

All the losing Bisket and the Honeybelle and pups story took place at a time when I was also dealing with the serious illness of a family member and adjusting to becoming a 24/7 caregiver (still my situation, though the health situation is more stable now). It was a rough spot, and yes, sometimes the pups made it almost more than I could handle, so I KNOW what you mean. At the same time, a lot of days "the babies" (as I still often call them, LOL) were my reason for getting up in the morning and the brightest spot in my days. They truly did end up to be real blessings -- still are -- but yes, a lot of work (as, it seems to me, some of the greatest blessings tend to be).

I'm not a hoarder (in case you're worried), but I was starting to feel sorta borderline there for a while!

Not involved in any formal rescue work, but grew up in a family that acquired most pets by rescue of one sort or another and taking in strays. My dad had some purebred bird dogs when I was growing up (for his own hunting, not breeding) and I have owned one purebred dog in my life, a gift from my boyfriend when I was in my early 20s. I've just loved them, mutts, purebreds and all.

Sorry so O/T.

 

[Backwoods]

Bumping for Lauren.
Since many of us share a love for animals. I've got 5 cats at my house. 2 live strictly downstairs. 2 live strictly upstairs. 1 is a volunteer cat who lives in our yard. 4 dogs: a golden retriever, a bassett houns, a Pekaweeniehuahua, and a new miniscule chihuahua. I took the volunteer cat, 1 downstairs cat, and the chihuahua to the vet this morning for checkups and yearly shots.

Thanks for sharing your animal household, pearl! (As I said a bit ago -- I think Butterbean is behind all this!)

 

[Backwoods]

This is my set up I'm supposed to be painting today. The sunflowers remind me of Lauren's bright smile. Her smile looked like it could light up a room.

That's really pretty!

And so right about that smile of Lauren's -- well, judging from her pictures, of course. She smiled like she REALLY meant it, didn't she?

For those who haven't seen them, make sure you watch the youtube tributes Knox contributed -- first page of this thread. Lauren's beautiful smile much in evidence in those!

 

[Backwoods]

Trying to keep local Macon news coverage of the year-ago mark updated here. Here's another from FOX24 NewsCentral. (They're trying, I think, but I dunno ...)

The Mind of a Murderer: The Lauren Giddings Case


print article and video at: http://www.newscentralga.com/news/local/The-Mind-of-a-Murder-The-Lauren-Giddings-Case-160586755.html

Sounds just like Stephen McDaniel to me , or at least the way he has been portrayed in the media.

The article points out some of the same characteristics we speculated about here last summer, socially awkward, isolated, daydreamer, misanthrope. Since then we've learned that McD has used these traits to describe himself. It doesn't make him a killer, but he certainly seems to fits the profile.

I have a couple of problems with this coverage.


To me, it comes across as biased and misleading. (And I will add that I truly believe I would see it that way no matter what my current personal assessment about whether Stephen McDaniel is Lauren's killer might be. But yes, I am still on the fence.) I am not sure that I believe it was intended to be either biased or misleading; I rather think that here is a second-tier news outlet trying to provide some anniversary coverage and, commendably, going for an angle that really has not been used much by local media in this case. But I think they missed the mark in professionalism.

The clinical psychologist being interviewed starts by saying (I'm paraphrasing) that several possibilities exist for a psychological profile for someone who might have committed the crime (I'd like to hear more about those, too), but she and/or the coverage (it is hard tell which) then zooms in to only the psychopathic/sociopathic model and, interestingly, yes, mostly to those traits of that model which ring familiar, at least to some extent, from LE/media/internet/gossip/self reports about Stephen -- a little from all those sources.

I'm not too sure that the expert being interviewed is super-qualified to make this kind of assessment. Oh, she's more qualified than me, no doubt! But I can't find any evidence that she has special training in criminal profiling. (She doesn't claim that, either, but the way she and her comments are showcased in the coverage seems to attempt to put her in that role.) If I knew she were a practiced criminal profiler, and one working with the type of unreleased, unknown-to-the-public information about this specific murder, crime scene, etc. that would be needed to create a profile, I would be very interested in hearing what she has to say. (But if she were that, I don't think she would be giving this interview at this time.)

Here's info about her background from her website: http://www.daphnestevens.com/about.html

I'm pretty much an advocate for mental health issues and public education about them, including stigma reduction, so I try not to take too much offense when she briefly dumbs down some psychiatric lingo to ward off any thinking from the masses that the sociopathic personality profile she has lingered over fits those with some diagnoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. I think she means well.

Problems here are: (1)Truth to be told, there are some similarities in presentation between some personality disorders and some "mental disorders", and also, while I want as much as anyone to dispel the myth that persons with mental illness are more likely to commit violent crimes than others, the fact is, sometimes, untreated or improperly treated features of those disorders DO contribute to violent behavior. (2) In the print article, the web site sort of bungles what she had to say.

I also don't think it a good practice to run continuing video footage of the accused while recounting the "most damning" traits spouted off by the good doc! That is just not good objective journalism.

But I do think this station is trying, I honestly do. I look to see some more "anniversary" coverage from them, and I hope it is less flawed.

And no matter what, it was this station that brought us the original "full Stephen McDaniel interview". That one will never be forgotten.

 

[Backwoods]

The article points out some of the same characteristics we speculated about here last summer, socially awkward, isolated, daydreamer, misanthrope. Since then we've learned that McD has used these traits to describe himself. It doesn't make him a killer, but he certainly seems to fits the profile.

Maybe part of the reason I don't like this coverage is that, to some extent (not in every aspect), so do I!

Not to worry, though -- I'm in the "treatable" category.

 

[Backwoods]

Hey, if anybody knows how (I don't), wanna bring over and repost those videos of Lauren from page 1? I know they're right here on the thread, but maybe it would be OK to repost them again this soon, since the vigil is nearing its end.

 

[Backwoods]

Welcome, everyone!

MEMORY VIGIL for LAUREN

12 noon June 25 until 12 noon June 30

​

The idea is to keep at least one person here on Lauren's thread as many hours as possible during the one-year anniversary of those days when Lauren was missing but no one realized it yet -- kind of like being here "with her" during that time.
​

:grouphug:


During the vigil, please remember to post
photos, anecdotes, quotes, and your
own thoughts to celebrate Lauren!​

 

[Sonya610]

...despite extreme precautions, I ended up with a "whoops" litter. Not proud of it, but it happened. I have done as well as I could by them, though.

Yeah the momma dog came back into season sooner than I expected too (I thought 6 months from the time she gave birth...wrong...it was 6 months from the time she conceived). As soon as I realized what was happening (my alpha male pointed it out immediately) I rushed and got some hormones to stop/delay her heat cycle until I could get her spayed 2 weeks later. There are also "morning after" shots for dogs. Just FYI in case anyone ends up with "female dog in heat" problems. Sorry for going OT but some may find the info useful and it may prevent accidental litters.

Photo of Gabe (protection dog, resting up in case important protection work is required later) with Jules (momma dog) in the background:

 

[Backwoods]

Yeah the momma dog came back into season sooner than I expected too (I thought 6 months from the time she gave birth...wrong...it was 6 months from the time she conceived). As soon as I realized what was happening (my alpha male pointed it out immediately) I rushed and got some hormones to stop/delay her heat cycle until I could get her spayed 2 weeks later. There are also "morning after" shots for dogs. Just FYI in case anyone ends up with "female dog in heat" problems. Sorry for going OT but some may find the info useful and it may prevent accidental litters.

Good info, Sonya.

In my case, it was not the "original" mom, but one of her daughters whose spay was moved to the end of the line (and there was a "line" -- financial reasons) because of a minor health problem. And I did not know she was pregnant -- I'd been very careful, still kinda scratching my head over this one! -- until about 2 weeks before the pups were born. We had thought she was experiencing the "mild" symptoms of false pregnancy, as dogs often will after heat. But -- surprise!

 

[pearl]

Moving the thread upward for Lauren.

We are blessed to have a very active and vocal animal protection society in my county. They do wonders. If someone rescues a dog or cat, the society will give them a voucher for a no-cost or much reduced spay or neuter. We have 2 small cities in my county and each has an animal shelter that keeps animals for a certain period of time. The animal protection society will take those dogs and cats running out of time to other states and find homes for them. They make several trips a year up north.

 

[Sonya610]

The animal protection society will take those dogs and cats running out of time to other states and find homes for them. They make several trips a year up north.

It is very sad that this area has to ship dogs "up north" in order to save them. Two of my pups ended up in Ohio (met a very nice woman on a livestock guardian email list and she adopted them, we stay in touch and share pics of the pups). Most of the advice I got around here was "Just bring them to Walmart and someone will take them for free in the parking lot". UGH!!!! Sort of like telling a pregnant teen "just advertise on pedo sites...lots of those people want a baby!"

 

[Backwoods]

Moving the thread upward for Lauren.

We are blessed to have a very active and vocal animal protection society in my county. They do wonders. If someone rescues a dog or cat, the society will give them a voucher for a no-cost or much reduced spay or neuter. We have 2 small cities in my county and each has an animal shelter that keeps animals for a certain period of time. The animal protection society will take those dogs and cats running out of time to other states and find homes for them. They make several trips a year up north.

You are blessed. We don't have much in the way of those kinds of things in my county, yet. Individuals pitching in to do what they can, yes, but nothing organized.

 

[Backwoods]

Sonya, I think you added the pic to your last post after I had signed out for a bit, so just want to add: I'm sure he would bite my leg off if I tried without permission, but Gabe is a handsome boy that I would like to hug! What breed is he? Miss Jules looks like a fine dog, too, from what I can see, equally hug-inspiring.

For the most part, I agree with you about the parking-lot giveaway approach -- with the qualification that SOME homes found that way might just happen to be good ones ... simply because there are some good folks who will take a pup and give it a good home mostly just to save it from going to the next "customer", who might be the kind of terror you're talking about. I pipe up with this because I know some people who have obtained now-much-loved dogs that way! But I'm in no way recommending that approach to finding homes -- you're right, the dangers are too great.

 

[Backwoods]

It seems we will hit the 100s in middle Georgia this weekend:

Macon gears up for triple-digit temperatures

http://www.macon.com/2012/06/28/2077661/macon-gears-up-for-triple-digit.html

Don't know if we were quite that hot at this exact time last year...? But it was plenty hot, I do remember that.

 

[Sonya610]

Sonya, I think you added the pic to your last post after I had signed out for a bit, so just want to add: I'm sure he would bite my leg off if I tried without permission, but Gabe is a handsome boy that I would like to hug! What breed is he? Miss Jules looks like a fine dog, too, from what I can see, equally hug-inspiring.

Gabe is an Anatolian Shepherd (a.k.a Kangal). An ancient Turkish livestock guard dog that is fairly new to the United States.

He loves the ladies! Tell him he is georgious and he is quite the charmer. However if his chewies/yard/car/human is in the slightest way threatened all h*ll breaks loose in an utterly awe inspiring way. I respect his boundaries and he protects mine.

 

[tomkat]

It is very sad that this area has to ship dogs "up north" in order to save them. Two of my pups ended up in Ohio (met a very nice woman on a livestock guardian email list and she adopted them, we stay in touch and share pics of the pups). Most of the advice I got around here was "Just bring them to Walmart and someone will take them for free in the parking lot". UGH!!!! Sort of like telling a pregnant teen "just advertise on pedo sites...lots of those people want a baby!"

sounds like here in the U.S., we have to go to China to adopt a baby if you dont' meet all the local criteria!!

No no no, not wally world!! Pet Smart in WR has something going on much of the time. I know in Milledgeville near Lowes, they have a pretty regular adoption thing going on outside

I dont' know the details on how it works however

 

[tomkat]

The River is low low low low...........Any searches