Police Charge Classmate in Murder of Mercer Law Grad Lauren Giddings
A classmate has been charged with the murder of Mercer University law graduate Lauren Giddings, 27, whose dismembered body was discovered in the trash outside her apartment building on June 30.
Police charged Stephen Mark McDaniel, formerly identified as a person of interest in the case, report the Macon Telegraph and 13WMAZ. He was already being held in jail on charges of stealing condoms from two apartments in the building in Macon, Ga., where both he and Giddings lived. McDaniel had a master key that opened all the apartments in the building, according to a neighbor who spoke to reporters earlier this month.
Police have scheduled a news conference for this afternoon to provide an update on the investigation.
Authorities have said McDaniel first came to their attention after he gave television interviews to reporters covering the case. McDaniel told journalists that he and a group of friends searching for Giddings had entered her apartment after she was reported missing and looked at emails on her computer. He said they indicated she was afraid because someone recently tried to break in.
McDaniel worked for about three months this spring as an intern in the Bibb County, Ga., district attorney’s office, during his third year of law school. A judge ruled earlier this month that the connection does not disqualify the office from prosecuting McDaniel on the burglary charges.
