GUILTY GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 26 June 2011 # 8

[southern_comfort]

*Speculation Alert!*

Maybe he made two identical poncho purchases at different locations and different times, perhaps even (a) one at Wal-Mart where he knew he'd likely be on surveillance and the receipt would be traceable (in case he needed to prove where he got the ponchos later and exactly how many), but where the cashiers see a ton of customers and would be less likely to remember and (b) the other at a general store type of establishment that lacks surveillance or a sophisticated purchase-tracking system - maybe even a distance away, so the clerk would be less likely to hear of the case - where a clerk might be more likely to remember the purchase, but would have a harder time proving who made it.

That way, if one of his poncho purchases came to light, or if LG's remains or some other evidence of the crime were linked to rain ponchos, he'd have X number of ponchos in his apartment to account for his purchase, a reasonable explanation for having them (camping), and also be able to prove where he got them and exactly how many (in the hope that LE would see a receipt for 10 ponchos, find 10 ponchos in his apartment, and move along).

Maybe the reason we (or some of us anyway) are recalling two separate reports of suspicious purchases is because one purchase was discovered and then dismissed because the ponchos were found intact, in his apartment... but then the second purchase was discovered.

*End of speculation!*

 

[PsychoMom]

I did miss that... I'm sorry.

I asked because another poster suggested that it was inappropriate to dismiss the family's opinion as to motive in favor of things inferred from the "facts in evidence".

I would like to give the family's opinion proper weight. The problem is, from my particular seat, I didn't have any information about the family's opinion as to motive. I still don't, to be honest. I was aware of the article where a family member speculated that he might have had a psycho love affair with LG, but I didn't take it as being a strong opinion or to have any particular basis, other than a grieving person trying to make sense of something that is senseless.

That is why I asked. I didn't have a particular evidentiary standard in mind.

I agree. Some of the statements in MSM are too vague or poorly constructed. You would think at some point these reporters would step up their game knowing this case has garnered national attention. They would start being more thorough in their statements.

It is along the same lines of McD missing class on Monday June 27th. An article made a statement without clarifying whether or not it was proven he missed that particular class. I would love to know for sure. His attendance record could have some merit. If he made it to every other class, then missed Monday, something would appear amiss. The June 30th class, I understand him missing, but not the 27th if he regularly attended. :banghead:

 

[~SuperSleuth~]

I agree. Some of the statements in MSM are too vague or poorly constructed. You would think at some point these reporters would step up their game knowing this case has garnered national attention. They would start being more thorough in their statements.

It is along the same lines of McD missing class on Monday June 27th. An article made a statement without clarifying whether or not it was proven he missed that particular class. I would love to know for sure. His attendance record could have some merit. If he made it to every other class, then missed Monday, something would appear amiss. The June 30th class, I understand him missing, but not the 27th if he regularly attended. :banghead:

Coming Monday: Chat with the reporters covering the Lauren Giddings homicide
http://www.macon.com/2011/08/10/1661096/coming-monday-chat-with-the-reporters.html

Macon.com and Telegraph staff writers Amy Leigh Womack and Joe Kovac Jr. will be online Monday, Aug. 15, at 1 p.m. to discuss the Lauren Giddings homicide.

Hmm... this could be interesting.

Perhaps someone should get together some of these questions for this event.

I can't guarantee I would be available for this.

 

[PsychoMom]

Perhaps someone should get together some of these questions for this event.

I can't guarantee I would be available for this.

We ought to develop a list of questions. I bet they would love that. Ha Ha!

 

[Givsmetheshivers]

Schizotypal people are not known for violence. If you add some other mental diagnosis, that diagnosis may have a propensity for violence, but not schizotypal people in general.

I know, but from all of the information that we have, I would say there is a SUPER big chance that a chainmail wearing/ made up elf language talking/perparing for a terrorist attack in the form of contaminated water in Macon, GA/no real close friends/honest to gosh LONER/highly intelligent but not living up to his potential person MIGHT make him a Schizotypal.

 

[~SuperSleuth~]

We ought to develop a list of questions. I bet they would love that. Ha Ha!

If this is done, I would recommend getting the list together and emailing it to them
tomorrow night or early Monday so they can know what to expect.
Also, that comments section (which is horrible to follow anyway) will probably be chaotic.
So, they may be nice enough to reply to the email with their answers.

 

[WhoaJo]

i still wonder why it took 5 days of no contact with her for her family/serious boyfriend/friends to realize something was wrong, am i the only one who thinks that's crazy?...i mean she was close to them so it makes no sense, i would think they talked every few days, if not everyday which is more likely.
i guess looking for her sooner may not have saved her life, but then again it could have. and it most def would have uncovered her killer in the act of dismembering/disposing...


in this day and age we have cell phones on us 24/7, if you love someone you cant see everyday, then at least call them and speak with them, EVERYDAY, even if its only to say goodmorning, goodnight and i love you that way you know they are safe...

You're probably right that the perp may have been caught in the act of disposal, etc, and that it is important to keep in touch with our loved ones to make sure they're okay.

However, people close to law students know that when they go underground to study, they do sort of "disappear," and sometimes for days. Lauren's friends and family knew that she was studying for the BAR, and they knew the kind of focus that would take. Out of respect for her and the importance of what she was doing, they would not have disturbed her.

Maybe if people in this situation had a quick code they could send at the end of a day to let everyone close know they were doing well, it would solve the problem.

 

[MaconMom]

Perhaps someone should get together some of these questions for this event.

I can't guarantee I would be available for this.

I don't understand the point of their event. I doubt they would be able to tell us anything we don't already know, or they would have printed it in an article. I guess if no news is happening, they just try to make their own.

 

[PsychoMom]

I know, but from all of the information that we have, I would say there is a SUPER big chance that a chainmail wearing/ made up elf language talking/perparing for a terrorist attack in the form of contaminated water in Macon, GA/no real close friends/honest to gosh LONER/highly intelligent but not living up to his potential person MIGHT make him a Schizotypal.

If all of that is true, it might. I am not talking about McD, in particular, but only towards Schizotypal.

About McD though -- What ages did he do the elf thing? With the Lord of the Rings thing, a lot of people did strange things like that. Kind of like Trekkies using Klingon. Also, the preparing for a terrorist attack. Didn't some local mention the containers of water were pretty normal during that time due to a problem with the water system? I think they mentioned a lot of people were collecting water because it kept having to be worked on. Same with the friends. We do not know he didn't have friends. We know he didn't have the same group of friends LG did, but he may have had his own friends. As for living up to his potential. I would think graduating from law school is a pretty good example of living up to his potential.

Just some observations I have made. I guess it is all in perspective. Like one of those cars that looks purple at one angle, then green from another angle.

 

[PsychoMom]

I don't understand the point of their event. I doubt they would be able to tell us anything we don't already know, or they would have printed it in an article. I guess if no news is happening, they just try to make their own.

I would like to hear them clarify some of their own reports. :crazy:

 

[Givsmetheshivers]

I know, but from all of the information that we have, I would say there is a SUPER big chance that a chainmail wearing/ made up elf language talking/perparing for a terrorist attack in the form of contaminated water in Macon, GA/no real close friends/honest to gosh LONER/highly intelligent but not living up to his potential person MIGHT make him a Schizotypal.

Here you go:
Quotes from Macon.com:
“It was always something he was concerned about,” Glenda McDaniel says. “If there was another attack on U.S. soil, he wanted to be prepared. ... He had read up on what things would be concerns if something like that happened, such as contamination of the water source. So he had lots of soft drink bottles (in his apartment) that when they were empty, he filled them up with water and stacked them neatly under his kitchen sink.”

Last week, a dozen 2-liter soda bottles culled from Stephen’s apartment were sitting on the balcony outside Lauren Giddings’ apartment.

More from Macon.com
Eric O’Dell, who taught McDaniel at Mercer during McDaniel’s freshman year as an undergrad in 2004, recalls that “it’s fair to say that Stephen was kind of quirky. He was really bright. ... I was trying to motivate him to live up to his brightness. He was not necessarily always giving his full effort. I honestly sensed he was a lot smarter than the effort he put in. And I think Stephen might agree.”

O’Dell had McDaniel in a fall semester course that year as well as a spring semester, great books course the next. O’Dell says McDaniel, a medieval buff, was known to wear chain mail, armor mesh, to class.

“It was quirkiness inherent with freshmen,” O’Dell says. “I thought, ‘That’s different.’ It was like seeing a really bizarre tattoo. I never had another student wear chain mail (to class). I remember on (a questionnaire) he wrote that he had an interest or a collection of swords. ... There’s an undeniable and objective quirkiness that Stephen had. He called attention to himself. When I saw ... Stephen giving the interviews (June 30), it concerned me.”

Quotes from the Lilburn Mountain Park Patch:
Nick Porter, a Parkview graduate who had Latin class with McDaniel, recalled him as being a "freak with crazy eyes" in high school.

"If he got mad at you, he would hiss at you," said Porter. "I even tried talking to him, and it would be OK for a few minutes, but then it would just get weird."

Another Latin class peer, Alex Hodgson, also remembered McDaniel as being odd. "He had really long fingernails and wore biker gloves," Hodgson said, adding that McDaniel had to cut the glove tips off for his nails.

Hodgson and Porter said they both remembered McDaniel carrying a metal briefcase around Parkview. They said it contained a fantasy novel McDaniel was writing, which he claimed would "rival 'Lord of the Rings.'"

"He even made up his own elfish language," added Porter.

 

[Givsmetheshivers]

I am not trying to diagnose Stephen as a Schizotypal.

This all started in one of the first couple of threads where people were saying that he might plead insanity or that it could not be a law student and there might be a serial killer on the lose.

Psychomom, you are correct. There are plenty of people who are NERDS. I am married to a super big NERD.
Crazy hair, knife collecting, gun collecting, being quiet and possibly having a crush on your neighbor doesn't make you a killer.

There are thousands of people like that.

It is a little disconserting that McD doesn't have any friends that were close enough to him that are saying "THIS IS INSANE! I have been freinds with Stephen and he is the nicest person I know!"

There are just indications that he might have something more going on in the head.

 

[PsychoMom]

I knew the Lord of the Rings fit in somewhere. lol! I wonder if the language thing was just for the book idea.

He was a long way from being a freshman undergrad. I guess he started living up to that potential.

I mentioned the stupid hissing thing coming from some show. I taught school for a while and a lot of kids started doing it. Drove me nuts. Goes with dressing weird. Kind of an adolescent norm.

Apparently, Nick Porter didn't like him, but we don't know about his other friends.

And I have a hard time thinking of about a dozen bottles of water being considered hoarding. Of course, we have well water here. No power, no water. There are a lot of times I wish I were a little better prepared. However, the local did mention a recent problem with the water lines in Macon, so it may have a lot to do with that problem.

It is interesting information. I can see how what might look strange in one context could be perfectly normal in another. We have to wait and see how this one plays out. Even if he is guilty, these things may have nothing abnormal about them.

 

[Backwoods]

It appears I've searched for this article a few weeks ago. Tomkat and Backwoods, could this be what you guys read?




ETA: Sorry, Smooth. Didn't see your post.

bessie, that is all I have been able to find in my searching, too, so perhaps it was.

 

[PsychoMom]

I am not trying to diagnose Stephen as a Schizotypal.

This all started in one of the first couple of threads where people were saying that he might plead insanity or that it could not be a law student and there might be a serial killer on the lose.

Psychomom, you are correct. There are plenty of people who are NERDS. I am married to a super big NERD.
Crazy hair, knife collecting, gun collecting, being quiet and possibly having a crush on your neighbor doesn't make you a killer.

There are thousands of people like that.

It is a little disconserting that McD doesn't have any friends that were close enough to him that are saying "THIS IS INSANE! I have been freinds with Stephen and he is the nicest person I know!"

There are just indications that he might have something more going on in the head.

Personality disorders are not good for insanity pleas. It does not indicate you are not aware of the difference between right and wrong. I didn't bring up schizotypal. I only responded with information regarding the diagnosis.

In the comments on macon.com, a lot of his friends did come forward early, but they were beaten down by the masses. I feel their pain! And I am not even defending him. I am showing both sides of the same coin. What looks abnormal in one light can be perfectly normal in another. I keep looking for true behaviors which cannot be normalized.

The reason I keep looking is because I am trying to understand him. Right now, he reminds me of dozens of young adults I know. I can't imagine any of them crossing that line. I want to know what might have made him cross it. If it isn't there... If nothing shows up showing why or how he crossed that line, then anyone could do it. That creeps me out completely.

 

[Backwoods]

When McD was arrested on July 1, my FM who lives in Macon, was told from friends in LE that McD had scratches on his chest. I did not post this since is was and is RUMOR. Now that the scratches have entered our discussion, I am sharing this.
Again, this is only what my FM told me:
McD told LE that the scratches were due to him scratching himself while he slept during the night and that scratching himself was a common thing he did while he slept.

I know we can talk about the scratches in general now, since it has been reported in the media, but thanks for sharing the rumor about this explanation for them. That's interesting. So we have RUMORS about hunting AND about scratching himself in his sleep...

 

[Backwoods]

i thought there was a whole other thread just for links????? and that that was where we were to post them...

Sorry if this duplicates, I am just catching up -- we still post them here, then bessie compiles them on the Media Thread at


GA - Lauren Giddings, 27, Macon, 27 June 2011 *Media Links* - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[southern_comfort]

Somewhere along the way, I came upon a comment from a person who considered SM a friend, a female, who said that he and the group he hung out with (I think it was undergrad at Mercer) were just your typical group of nerds. She said that he was a great guy and that she didn't believe he could have done this.

A couple of dots connected and quick internet searches revealed pictures of her and also disclosed a keen interest in a particular series of horror movies that is coincidentally very creepy in light of what happened to LG. Now that the friends subject has come up, I just searched her name again and all of the pages with entries relating to the horror movie have been deleted (though the general content is still cached) , and I can't find the comment again either.

I'm probably not the only one who searched and found the information, and I would not be surprised if she received some nasty messages from crazy people.

I am not so sure I'd stand right up, under the circumstances. I would be supportive behind the scenes if I were his friend and believed in him, but I don't know that I would put myself in the public bullseye.

 

[Backwoods]

Snipped

Sure, you want this crime resolved ASAP. We all do but more than likely, the crime is not going to be solved or resolved here on Websleuths. That's what LE is working tirelessly to do. They are helping the state to gather evidence and present its case during the trial against SM, which will probably be about a year from now. (Just guessing) He is who has been charged with this murder and they've stated that all evidence led back to him.

So, while it's fun on this site to discuss the facts that we know, discuss or debunk rumors that we've heard, and think about possible alternatives, what's really the point in becoming combative and demanding that someone prove what they state? More than just posting a link to a media article, like you seem to want more often than not?

My point is that we are not the investigators. Let's have our fun in discussion but remember that LE have this handled, let's let them do their job to "prove" or "disprove" and "rule out the possibilities."

bessie just commented a few posts back that none of us should feel shy about asking politely for a link to prove a statement or, if the info is not from a linkable source, to clarify it as rumor (for our purposes and to our knowledge here). It's important to keeping us from mixing up the known facts and rumor

I find some of the rumors both interesting and helpful, but we need to know what we're working with

in my observations, PsychoMom is far from being one of the more "combative" posters on this thread

 

[Backwoods]

Especially for Lawette32 ~

In answer to your query, I have searched WS threads and failed to find mention that the early story about SMD attending a Giddings family party at Fish 'n Pig had been disproved. I cannot recall where I read that, but it was along the time that the "playing darts by himself at a downtown bar on Friday nite before commencement" story emerged. Thanks, Lawette32, for the correction, and apologies for my statement as if it were a fact that the Fish 'n Pig story was just rumor.

On the other hand, does the story that he did attend the Fish 'n Pig party uninvited have substantiation in print? or just in Macon.com comments?

It does have substantiation -- I'm just catching up, and if someone has not provided a link by the time I do, I will find it.