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Stephen McDaniel Went on TV — Hours After Dismembering Her Body | True Crime Documentary — Transcript

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0:01That was living there? Yeah, Lauren was
0:03my neighbor. Um we're just trying to
0:05find out where she is at this point. I
0:07mean, no one has seen her since
0:09Saturday.
0:10I mean, the last time anyone heard from
0:12her was an email that she sent out and
0:16I mean, no one's heard from her since.
0:17Did you see her hang out with anyone at
0:19the time and anything like that?
0:21I mean, no no no one has seen her since
0:24Saturday. I haven't seen anything. I
0:26mean, I always hear noise outside, but
0:28it's just people walking by pretty much.
0:32July 1st, 2011,
0:35Macon, Georgia. A news crew is standing
0:38outside an apartment complex called
0:40Barristers Hall. They're filming a
0:42segment on a missing woman, a law school
0:45graduate named Lauren Giddings, who
0:47hasn't been seen in 5 days, and they've
0:50pulled in a neighbor to comment, a
0:52classmate. His name is Stephen McDaniel.
0:55He's calm, articulate. He talks about
0:58Lauren like someone who's genuinely
1:00worried. He says he hopes she's okay,
1:03that she was kind, that they were
1:05friends. And then, in the middle of that
1:08interview, there's movement in the
1:10background. Officers gathering near a
1:12trash can outside the building, voices,
1:15commotion, because hours earlier, police
1:18had found a torso in that trash can, and
1:21Stephen McDaniel already knew exactly
1:24where Lauren Giddings was. He put her
1:27there.
1:28But here's what makes this case
1:30extraordinary. It wasn't the hacksaw
1:32they found, wasn't the videos, wasn't
1:35the computer searches. It was what
1:37happened inside an interrogation room.
1:39When a detective told Stephen they'd
1:41found a body, he didn't speak. He didn't
1:44move. For 3 minutes, he just stopped,
1:47stared at the wall, like his brain had
1:50shut down.
1:52That moment
1:53of a predator realizing his invisibility
1:56is gone
1:57would become one of the most disturbing
1:59pieces of evidence in true crime
2:01history.
2:02This is the story of Lauren Giddings, a
2:05law school graduate, the first in her
2:07family to attend college, days away from
2:10taking the bar exam, and the man who
2:13lived 30 ft from her door, who watched
2:15her, studied her, and killed her. To
2:18understand what happened to Lauren
2:20Giddings, you have to understand who she
2:22was.
2:24Lauren Teresa Giddings, born April 18th,
2:281984 in Laurel, Maryland. The eldest of
2:31three sisters, her family described her
2:34as vibrant, warm, fiercely intelligent.
2:37She was the first person in her entire
2:39family to attend college, and she didn't
2:41just attend. She went to law school,
2:44Mercer University School of Law in
2:46Macon, Georgia. She graduated in May
2:492011. Her plan was to become a public
2:52defender. She wanted to help people who
2:54couldn't help themselves. Her friends
2:57said she had her life mapped out. Law
3:00school, bar exam, career, family. She
3:04was organized, prepared, always had a
3:07plan. She kept a handwritten journal,
3:10blue ink. She wrote about her goals, her
3:13fears, her hope that she'd pass the bar
3:16exam on the first try. She loved
3:19running, early mornings around the
3:21Mercer campus, headphones in, same route
3:24every time. She texted her younger
3:27sister, Caitlyn, every night. Good
3:29night. Love you.
3:31Without fail. She was cautious, always
3:34locked her doors, always aware of her
3:37surroundings.
3:39By the summer of 2011, Lauren was back
3:42in Macon preparing for the Georgia bar
3:44exam, 1 month away from the career she
3:47dreamed of.
3:48Living in Barristers Hall, the on-campus
3:51apartment complex where many Mercer law
3:54students lived, apartment 1, ground
3:57floor. She was preparing for the Georgia
4:00bar exam, studying every day, focused, 1
4:05month away from the career she dreamed
4:07of.
4:07Living right next door, in apartment 2,
4:10was Steven Mark McDaniel. He was 25
4:13years old, also a Mercer law graduate,
4:17also preparing for the bar exam. They
4:20had been classmates for 3 years. They
4:22were both members of the Mercer
4:25Federalist Society, a student
4:27organization for conservative and
4:29libertarian law students. Lauren had
4:32served as president, Steven had served
4:34as vice president. On the surface, they
4:37were two ambitious young people with
4:39bright futures, but what Lauren didn't
4:41know, what no one knew, was that Steven
4:44McDaniel had been watching her for
4:46months, and he wasn't just watching, he
4:49was planning.
4:51Steven Mark McDaniel, same apartment
4:55complex, same law school, same
4:57graduating class, but where Lauren was
5:00social and ambitious, Steven was
5:03different. Classmates described him as
5:06awkward, quiet, withdrawn. He didn't
5:09have friends, didn't date, didn't go to
5:11parties. He was the guy who sat alone in
5:14the library, the guy who showed up to
5:16Federalist Society meetings, but never
5:18really spoke, but he was always there.
5:22In the hallways, in the parking lot,
5:25near Lauren's apartment. Neighbors would
5:27later say they'd see him standing
5:29outside, just standing, watching. What
5:33they didn't know was that Steven had
5:35something Lauren didn't, a master key.
5:39Barristers Hall was university housing,
5:42and somehow, investigators would later
5:44discover, Steven McDaniel had obtained a
5:47master key that could unlock any
5:49apartment in the building, including
5:51Lauren's, and he'd been using it. For
5:54months, Steven had been entering
5:56Lauren's apartment when she wasn't home,
5:59going through her things, touching her
6:01belongings, taking items, but it wasn't
6:04just the physical access. Steven had
6:07also been filming her. Using a camera,
6:10he recorded videos of Lauren through her
6:12apartment window, videos of her getting
6:15ready in the morning, videos of her
6:17studying, videos of her going about her
6:20life, completely unaware she was being
6:23watched.
6:24The most recent video was filmed on the
6:26night of June 25th, 2011,
6:30the night before Lauren disappeared.
6:34But here's what makes this even more
6:36disturbing. Steven wasn't just watching,
6:40he was researching. Investigators would
6:44later find search history on Steven's
6:46computer.
6:47How to commit the perfect murder.
6:52How to dispose of a body. Chloroform
6:55effects.
6:56Time of death determination. This wasn't
7:00impulse. This wasn't a moment of rage.
7:03Steven McDaniel had been planning to
7:05kill Lauren Giddings, and on June 26th,
7:092011, he did.
7:12June 25th, 2011,
7:15Lauren attended her younger sister,
7:17Caitlyn's wedding in Maryland. It was a
7:19joyful weekend, family, celebration,
7:23love. Before she left, Lauren told her
7:25family not to worry if they didn't hear
7:28from her much over the next few weeks.
7:30She had the bar exam coming up. She'd be
7:34studying non-stop. She flew back to
7:37Macon on the evening of June 25th. She
7:40arrived at her apartment at Barristers
7:42Hall late that night. She texted her
7:44sister, Caitlyn,
7:46Made it home safe.
7:47Love you.
7:49That was the last message anyone ever
7:52received from Lauren Giddings. According
7:54to the account Steven McDaniel would
7:56later give to police, at approximately
7:584:30 a.m. on June 26th, he used his
8:02master key to unlock Lauren's apartment
8:05door. He wore a mask. He wore gloves. He
8:08entered her bedroom, and he strangled
8:11Lauren Giddings with his bare hands.
8:14She was 27 years old. For the next 3
8:17days, no one heard from Lauren.
8:20At first, her friends and family assumed
8:23she was deep in her studies, exactly as
8:26she'd said she would be. But by June
8:2829th, the silence felt wrong.
8:32A friend called Caitlyn.
8:34Have you heard from Lauren?
8:36No.
8:37She hadn't. Text messages were going
8:39unanswered. Phone calls went straight to
8:42voicemail. No one, not a single friend,
8:45not a single classmate, had heard from
8:47her.
8:48Lauren's father drove to Macon
8:50immediately to file a missing person
8:52report. Her mother booked a flight.
8:55On June 30th, 2011,
8:584 days after Lauren was last seen, Macon
9:02police began searching the Barristers
9:04Hall complex. Officers went
9:06door-to-door, talked to neighbors,
9:09asked if anyone had seen Lauren. Steven
9:12McDaniel was there, standing outside,
9:15watching the search. And when a news
9:17crew arrived to cover the story, he
9:19volunteered to be interviewed.
9:21The footage of that interview would
9:23later go viral, because when you
9:25understand what Steven McDaniel did, his
9:27behavior in that moment becomes one of
9:30the most chilling things in this case.
9:32The reporter asks him about Lauren.
9:35Steven says they were classmates,
9:37friends, that he's worried about her.
9:39He's calm, composed, almost too
9:42composed. He talks about how kind she
9:44was, how he hopes she's found safe. And
9:47then, in the background, there's
9:49movement. Officers gathering near a
9:52trash can outside the apartment complex.
9:55Earlier that morning, the morning of
9:57June 30th, maintenance workers had found
10:00something in a dumpster on the Mercer
10:02campus, a black trash bag. Inside, body
10:06parts.
10:07And now, officers were opening another
10:09trash can outside Barristers Hall.
10:12Inside, a torso.
10:15Steven can see the commotion. He knows
10:17what they found because he put it there.
10:20The reporter doesn't yet know what's
10:22happening, but Steven does. He finishes
10:25the interview. He goes home.
10:29That interview of Steven McDaniel being
10:32questioned about Lauren's disappearance
10:34while her remains were being discovered
10:36mere feet away has been analyzed by
10:38forensic psychologists, body language
10:41experts, and millions of people online.
10:46Later that same day, Steven McDaniel
10:49went to the police station. Along with
10:51other neighbors and friends, he gave a
10:53statement. Detectives were watching him
10:55closely. His interrogation lasted over
10:5912 hours. At first, Steven was
11:02cooperative. He answered questions,
11:04stayed calm, used his legal training to
11:07navigate the conversation. But
11:10investigators noticed something,
11:12scratches on his stomach, fresh ones
11:15consistent with fingernail marks.
11:17Steven's explanation, "I must have
11:20scratched myself while I was sleeping."
11:23Detectives asked to search his
11:24apartment. Steven refused. "It's the
11:27lawyer in me. I'm always protective of
11:29my space."
11:31Eventually, he allowed them to walk
11:33through, but only if he accompanied them
11:35the entire time under the pretense of
11:38looking for Lauren. But by the next day,
11:41police had enough for a search warrant.
11:43And what they found in Steven McDaniel's
11:46apartment would confirm what they
11:48already suspected.
11:51July 1st, 2011,
11:54investigators executed a search warrant
11:57on Steven McDaniel's apartment. What
11:59they found was damning, a hacksaw. The
12:03same hacksaw Steven had used to
12:05dismember Lauren's body in her bathtub
12:07the day after he killed her. A master
12:10key. The key Steven had used to unlock
12:13Lauren's apartment at 4:30 in the
12:15morning. A mask, gloves. The same items
12:19he wore when he entered her apartment,
12:21items stolen from Lauren's apartment.
12:25Underwear, personal belongings, things
12:28Steven had taken during his previous
12:29entries into her home. But the most
12:32disturbing evidence was found on
12:33Steven's personal computer, videos,
12:36dozens of them, all filmed by Steven
12:39McDaniel, all of Lauren Giddings. The
12:42videos were recorded from outside
12:44Lauren's apartment window, timestamped.
12:47Some dated back months. The most recent
12:50one was filmed on June 25th, 2011, the
12:53night before he killed her.
12:56Investigators also found search history.
12:59How to commit murder.
13:01How to dispose of a body. Chloroform.
13:06Time of death.
13:08This wasn't a crime of passion. This
13:10wasn't spontaneous. Steven McDaniel had
13:13been watching Lauren for months,
13:15planning, waiting.
13:17On August 1st, 2011, Steven McDaniel was
13:21formally charged with murder. He was
13:23held without bail, and he would sit in
13:26that jail cell for the next 3 years.
13:29But there was one more piece of
13:31evidence. One more moment that
13:34investigators and the world would never
13:38forget.
13:39It happened during that 12-hour
13:41interrogation, and it's the moment that
13:44reveals everything you need to know
13:46about Steven McDaniel's psychology.
13:51This is where most channels stop. They
13:52show you the hacksaw, the videos, the
13:54computer searches, the evidence. They
13:57move on. But this is True Crime Buried,
14:01and we don't just ask what happened, we
14:03ask why. And in the case of Steven
14:05McDaniel, the why takes us into one of
14:08the darkest corners of criminal
14:10psychology, voyeurism, obsession, and
14:13what happens when a predator realizes
14:15his invisibility is gone. So let's dig
14:17in.
14:19During Steven McDaniel's 12-hour
14:21interrogation, detectives tried multiple
14:24approaches. They asked about his
14:26relationship with Lauren, his
14:28whereabouts on June 26th, the scratches
14:31on his stomach. Steven remained calm,
14:34guarded, careful. But then, a detective
14:38said four words.
14:39"We found a body."
14:42And Steven
14:43stopped.
14:45He didn't speak. He didn't move. He
14:47didn't blink.
14:48For 3 full minutes, Steven McDaniel sat
14:51completely still, staring at the wall,
14:54like his brain had shut down. Detectives
14:57later described it as one of the most
14:59unsettling things they'd ever witnessed.
15:02It wasn't denial. It wasn't anger. It
15:04wasn't fear. It was nothing, complete
15:08dissociation.
15:10So what happened in that moment? What
15:12happens in the brain when a predator
15:15realizes he's been caught?
15:17Let's break it down.
15:19Voyeurism as escalation.
15:22Steven McDaniel didn't start with
15:24murder. He started by watching. For
15:27months, possibly years, Steven had been
15:29filming Lauren.
15:31Videos through her window, entries into
15:33her apartment when she wasn't home.
15:36This is voyeurism. And in criminal
15:39psychology, voyeurism is rarely an
15:41endpoint. It's a gateway. Voyeurism is
15:45about power, the power to see without
15:47being seen, to know someone intimately
15:50without their knowledge. It's a form of
15:52control. But for many voyeurs, watching
15:56isn't enough. The fantasy escalates.
15:58Watching becomes touching. Touching
16:02becomes taking. Taking becomes
16:05controlling. And for Steven McDaniel,
16:08control meant possession. Total,
16:11permanent possession. The master key
16:14gave him access. The videos gave him
16:16surveillance. But killing Lauren gave
16:19him something else, the ultimate power,
16:22the power to decide whether she lived or
16:25died.
16:27Compartmentalization.
16:29Hours after hiding Lauren's body in a
16:32trash can, Steven McDaniel stood in
16:34front of a news camera, and he looked
16:37normal, concerned, articulate, genuine.
16:41This is compartmentalization.
16:44Compartmentalization is a psychological
16:46defense mechanism. It allows someone to
16:49separate conflicting realities. In this
16:52case, reality number one, Steven is a
16:55law student, a classmate, a concerned
16:59neighbor.
17:00Reality number two, Steven is a killer.
17:04He murdered Lauren. He dismembered her
17:06body. He hid her remains.
17:09For Steven to function in that news
17:11interview, he had to keep those two
17:13realities separate. He had to turn on
17:17the mask. The normal guy, the worried
17:20friend. Psychopaths and sociopaths can
17:22do this. They can wear the mask so
17:25convincingly that even trained
17:27professionals can't detect it. But the
17:29mask is fragile. One crack, one trigger,
17:33and it collapses. For Steven McDaniel,
17:36that trigger was four words. "We found a
17:39body."
17:40Dissociation.
17:42When the detective told Steven they'd
17:43found a body, his brain stopped. This is
17:47called dissociation.
17:49Dissociation is a psychological defense
17:52mechanism that occurs when the brain is
17:54overwhelmed. It's the mind's way of
17:57protecting itself from unbearable
17:59reality. In Steven's case, the reality
18:02was this, his fantasy, the fantasy of
18:05control, of invisibility, of getting
18:08away with it, had just shattered. For
18:11months, Steven had been in control. He
18:15had the key. He had the access. He had
18:18the power. Even after killing Lauren, he
18:21believed he was invisible.
18:23He gave the news interview. He walked
18:25among the searchers. He acted normal.
18:28But when that detective said, "We found
18:31a body," Steven's brain couldn't process
18:33it. The fantasy was over. The
18:36invisibility was gone.
18:38And his mind
18:40shut down.
18:43For 3 minutes, Steven sat in complete
18:45silence.
18:46This is what a psychological break looks
18:48like. It's not dramatic. It's not loud.
18:51It's just nothing, a total disconnect
18:55from reality.
18:56Forensic psychologists who've analyzed
18:59that footage say it's one of the
19:01clearest examples of dissociation
19:03they've ever seen. It's the moment a
19:05predator's carefully constructed reality
19:08collapsed, and he had nowhere left to
19:10hide.
19:12The guilty plea.
19:14For nearly 3 years, Steven McDaniel sat
19:17in jail awaiting trial. And then, in
19:20April 2014, he accepted a plea deal. He
19:23pled guilty to murder. In exchange, he
19:26would receive life in prison with the
19:28possibility of parole after 30 years.
19:32He would avoid the death penalty, but he
19:34would also avoid something else, a
19:37trial.
19:39If Steven had gone to trial, every piece
19:41of evidence would have been presented
19:43publicly. The videos, the computer
19:46searches, the interrogation footage, his
19:49entire pattern of behavior, the months
19:52of stalking, the voyeurism, the planning
19:55would have been laid out for the world
19:57to see.
19:58By pleading guilty, Stephen avoided that
20:01exposure. He gave a full account of what
20:03he did, the master key, the mask, the
20:07gloves, the hacksaw, but he never had to
20:11face a psychological evaluation. We'll
20:14never get an official diagnosis, but his
20:17behavior tells us everything we need to
20:19know. Voyeuristic disorder, obsessive
20:23control, compartmentalization,
20:26dissociation.
20:28Steven McDaniel is a textbook example of
20:30a predator who escalated from watching
20:33to killing, and the interrogation
20:35footage remains a window into what
20:38happens when a predator's invisibility
20:40is gone.
20:42Verdict, April 24th, 2014.
20:47Steven McDaniel plead guilty to the
20:49murder of Lauren Giddings. He was
20:51sentenced to life in prison. He will be
20:54eligible for parole in 2041. As of
20:57today, Steven McDaniel is incarcerated
21:01at Hancock State Prison in Sparta,
21:03Georgia. He has filed multiple appeals,
21:06all of them denied. Lauren's body was
21:09never fully recovered.
21:12At Steven McDaniel's sentencing,
21:14Lauren's family gave impact statements.
21:16Her mother, Karen, her father, Billy,
21:19her sisters, Caitlyn and Katie, they
21:22spoke about the daughter and sister they
21:23lost, the law student who worked her
21:26entire life to become a public defender.
21:29The girl who texted, "Good night. Love
21:31you." every single night.
21:33The young woman who was 1 month away
21:35from taking the bar exam.
21:37In the years since Lauren's death,
21:39Mercer University School of Law has made
21:41changes. Security upgrades, key access
21:45protocols, student safety initiatives.
21:49A scholarship was established in
21:51Lauren's name, the Lauren Giddings
21:54Memorial Scholarship, awarded annually
21:56to a Mercer law student who demonstrates
21:59commitment to public service, the kind
22:02of work Lauren dreamed of doing.
22:06Lauren Giddings never got to take the
22:09bar exam. She never got to become the
22:11public defender she worked her whole
22:13life to be. She was the first in her
22:16family to attend college. She made it
22:19all the way to law school graduation,
22:21and she was taken at 27 years old by
22:24someone she trusted as a neighbor and a
22:26classmate. Lauren Teresa Giddings, born
22:30April 18th, 1984.
22:33Died June 26th, 2011.
22:37She loved running. She loved her family.
22:40She loved planning her future. She
22:42deserved to pass the bar exam. She
22:45deserved to help the people she wanted
22:47to defend. She deserved to feel safe in
22:50her own home.
22:55This is True Crime Buried. We don't just
22:57tell you what happened. We dig deeper to
22:59find the why.
23:01Two questions for you.
23:03What do you think went through Steven
23:05McDaniel's mind when the detective said,
23:07"We found a body."?
23:11And do you think voyeurism cases should
23:14be treated more seriously by [music] law
23:16enforcement as potential precursors to
23:18violent crime?
23:20Drop your thoughts in the comments. If
23:22you want the deepest breakdowns of the
23:24psychology behind the crime, hit
23:27subscribe. New case every 2 weeks. We've
23:30only just started digging. I'll see you
23:32in the next one.

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