as a brilliant artist. she just loved art, and her art teachers loved her. are there times, particular times when she comes into your mind or-- every day. keith morrison: --comes to visit you? every day. we talk. i say hello. make sure she's doing ok. she is. her spirit will live forever. beautiful, beautiful kid. my sarah. . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." at shes the reason

why i am who i am today. i would tell her thank you. craig melvin: lauren giddings, law school grad with the world at her feet. keith morrison: fiercely intelligent? katie ohare: and fierce with her opinion. ashley muller: she made friends wherever she went. craig melvin: so it was strange when she dropped out of sight. kaitlyn wheeler: didnt take her car. didnt take her purse. we realized there was something wrong. craig melvin: they couldnt possibly have guessed how wrong. joe kovac: theres another level of evil here. the person who did this was trying to create a vanishing. craig melvin: who could do such a thing? steve gatlin: first thing you look at whos closest to her romantically or geographically. craig melvin: the list was long. a boyfriend, an ex and fellow students. had somebody been studying more than textbooks? david cooke: he would ask other people, how would you commit the perfect murder? mike burns: his roommates said he always thought he was smarter than everybody else.

smarter than law enforcement. craig melvin: smart, maybe. but had he slipped up? david cooke: what they found told us everything we needed to know. craig melvin: a confounding case that would come down to a damning piece of video that no one was supposed to see. ashley muller: sick, twisted. keith morrison: what was it like to see that? david cooke: i knew we had him. craig melvin: hello and welcome to dateline. lauren giddings moved south for law school and immediately felt right at home. smart and vibrant, she turned heads on campus but kept her own eyes on her bright future. then suddenly she vanished. turns out, someone close to lauren was a hiding a secret, and hiding in plain sight. here's keith morrison with "the watcher."

keith morrison (voiceover): it was a summer morning in the heart of georgia. heat rose, thick and damp, among macons grand old antebellum mansions. as the sweaty morning traffic crawled by, something in the air that morning. something off. maybe just the trash truck. joe kovac: this was a ninety-degree day toward the end of june. there was a hot wind blowing that day. keith morrison (voiceover): joe kovac was down at the local paper. crime reporter there. and all of a sudden-- joe kovac: i can remember the buzz in the newsroom. keith morrison (voiceover): oh, this would be big. big and disturbing. like sometimes things can be in the south, said joe. joe kovac: it was a shock--a shock to the system, yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): but theres something else about the south. something sweet, magnetic. it draws people in.

and macon, with its storied history and its cherry blossoms, is its very heart. ashley muller: its slow. relaxing. everyone here is welcoming. keith morrison (voiceover): even for a new yorker named ashley muller (mew-ler), who signed up at the mercer law school here. ashley muller: you never meet a stranger, i guess, in the south. thats what makes it so wonderful and comforting. keith morrison (voiceover): its where she met lauren giddings. ashley muller: when we found out we both were from the north, we just instantly connected on that. keith morrison (voiceover): but then, why wouldnt she want to connect with lauren? she was bigger than life. ashley muller: she was infectious. i mean, you couldnt be around her for more than five minutes and not already be having a good time. keith morrison (voiceover): she was the adored eldest of three sisters. youngest, sarah. sarah giddings: we would always go on runs together. keith morrison (voiceover): kaitlyn in the middle. kaitlyn wheeler: she was more the book worm. she loved to read, academics.

keith morrison (voiceover): lauren grew up in maryland, halfway between baltimore and dc, with her friend katie ohare. katie ohare: she was a riot. the things that would come out of her mouth sometimes didnt have a filter. keith morrison: why did she go south to go to school? katie ohare: she loved the south. she was a country girl at heart. and when she got there, she loved it. she didnt want to come back up here. keith morrison (voiceover): and lauren certainly knew what she wanted. wanted to be a lawyer. but not one of those corporate types, or even a crusading prosecutor. lauren wanted to be a public defender, a voice for the poor and the accused. keith morrison: why did she want to do that? ashley muller: because she always wanted to help people. keith morrison: ah. ashley muller: always. keith morrison (voiceover): and mercer law school, perched on its hillside in one of macons sweet spots, seemed just right for her. katie ohare: she was a fan of nancy grace. nancy grace graduated from there. keith morrison: oh, well. keith morrison (voiceover): lauren found a great apartment, right across the street from the law school. it was full of aspiring lawyers. her next-door neighbor was a classmate.

even the maintenance man was a student. and soon she was everywhere. running in the park. active in her church. eventually president of her law schools federalist society. she was hard to miss. ashley muller: she showed up in her pink outfit. keith morrison: always pink? ashley muller: always pink, or even seersucker. keith morrison (voiceover): and always with her dog butterbean. ashley muller: fluffy, blonde haired, just like she was. keith morrison: and she carried it around all the time? ashley muller: always. she basically was elle woods in legally blonde, so we always, kind of, jibed her for that. keith morrison (voiceover): it was no surprise she attracted a lot of men. ashley muller: she always had people, kind of, infatuated with her. thats how she was. keith morrison (voiceover): like david. she interned at his law firm in atlanta. he was twenty years older, but their relationship seemed pretty serious. until, apparently, it wasnt. kaitlyn wheeler: being in school is hard.

and they werent living in the same city or anything. keith morrison (voiceover): and, besides-- ashley muller: lauren was a flirt. i mean, she liked attention. keith morrison (voiceover): and she got it. from a classmate named joe. kaitlyn wheeler: he was more, like, goofier side. and, you know, her age. keith morrison (voiceover): so they became an item. but there was something about david. some chemistry that drew her back. and she gave joe the bad news. katie ohare: lauren was up front and told joe, and that was that. keith morrison: a little bit broken-hearted on joes part. katie ohare: i think so. i think so. he really liked her. keith morrison: yeah. katie ohare: who wouldnt? keith morrison (voiceover): anyway. at graduation time, may 2011, david was there to cheer her on. it was a big event for the whole family. sarah giddings: we went out after her graduation with her friends and then got to know everybody. keith morrison (voiceover): and just a month later, another celebration up north. her sisters wedding.

lauren giddings (recording): i did want to say how special this wedding is... keith morrison (voiceover): lauren was maid of honor. and then, back to macon for the final hurdle--the bar exam. a busy and scary time for a young lawyer-to-be. ashley muller: absolutely. keith morrison (voiceover): but first-- ashley muller: it was everybodys, kind of, last hurrah. keith morrison (voiceover): it was friday night. end of june 2011. the graduates gathered at a local bar for one last blow out before hunkering down to study. they closed the bar, went to ashleys boyfriends place. laurens ex, joe, was his roommate. ashley muller: eventually we just all, kind of, decide were going to go to sleep now. i mean-- keith morrison: yeah. ashley muller: mind you, there was alcohol involved, so-- keith morrison: surprise, surprise. ashley muller: yeah, right. keith morrison (voiceover): lauren stayed the night in joes room. and the next day, everybody was moving a bit slowly. ashley muller: i did not see lauren that morning. i didnt see joe that morning either. we just kind of assumed they were in the room together. keith morrison (voiceover): and then,

it was time to buckle down. all of the friends, joe included, went off to cram. ashley muller: really, you kind of just go into this hole and study constantly and dont really have any contact with anybody. keith morrison (voiceover): so it took a few days to realize no one had heard from lauren. craig melvin: no reason yet to assume anything was wrong. but soon, there would be. craig melvin: coming up katie ohare: i immediately was like, this isnt right. (photo of lauren giddings and katie ohare; ashley muller; exterior of apartment complex; apartment door) craig melvin: --alarm bells for one friend. while another steels herself to enter laurens apartment. ashley muller: i said, are you ready for whatever were going to see when we walk in there? craig melvin: when dateline continues. keith morrison (voiceover): it was stay ahead of your child's moderate-to-severe eczema with dupixent as they welcome the feeling of touch with clearer skin and less itch. the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists helps heal their skin from within. severe allergic reactions can occur.

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qunol. the brand i trust. photos from that wedding trip up north that set off the alarm. the selfies katie ohare snapped and then nine days later, texted to her friend down in macon--lauren giddings. katie ohare: and they were kind of, like, funny. so i know shes going to respond to me and be like, oh, my gosh, if you post that online-- keith morrison: yeah. katie ohare: im going to get you. keith morrison (voiceover): but no response. was she studying too hard to look at a few photos? katie tried again the next day and the day after that and again no response. katie ohare: thats not normal for her and i-- we would-- keith morrison: sure. katie ohare: --talk a lot.

keith morrison (voiceover): katie called laurens cell phone. katie ohare: and her phone was off. and i immediately was like, this isnt right. so i called her sister kaitlyn, and i said, laurens phones off. she hasnt been answering me for days. have you heard from her? keith morrison (voiceover): no, she had not. so kaitlyn reached out to laurens law school friend, ashley. ashley muller: her sister contacted me over a message on facebook. kaitlyn wheeler: hey, like trying to get in touch with lauren. have you seen her? like, let her-- can you let her know were trying to get in touch with her? like, we havent heard from her. keith morrison (voiceover): this was wednesday and now thinking back, ashley hadnt seen lauren since that pre-study party friday night. ashley went to laurens apartment. her car was there. she knocked at the door. ashley muller: when she didnt answer, i didnt think anything of it. i assumed she was running. i assumed she was studying somewhere. keith morrison (voiceover): so, she let it go. but then a few hours later-- ashley muller: her sister contacted me again and said,

hey, this is an emergency. weve been trying to call her and she still is not answering. keith morrison (voiceover): now ashley began to worry. so she and her boyfriend returned to laurens place and used a spare key to go inside. first, she warned her boyfriend. ashley muller: i said, are you ready for whatever were going to see when we walk in there? because at that point in time, you just have this almost, sort of, dread. keith morrison (voiceover): it was dark by then. ashley muller: we had to walk pretty far back into the apartment to find a light to turn on. keith morrison: uh-huh. ashley muller: searched her bedroom. shes not in there. keith morrison (voiceover): but what they did find was quite puzzling. ashley muller: her purse, her keys, her cell phone, her id, all on the couch. her laptop on her bed. keith morrison: as if shed just gone out for a run or something. ashley muller: ex-- exactly like that. keith morrison: but no her. ashley muller: no her. ashley muller: and butterbean, her dog, had been at home with her parents in maryland. so the fact that butterbean wasn't even there wasn't concerning to us.

the fact that she wasn' t there hours later, you know, that's when it became real. keith morrison (voiceover): something else occurred to them-- lauren was due to move out the next day, june 30th. but-- ashley muller: nothing was packed in boxes, but it definitely looked like she was getting her stuff together to be able to pack it. keith morrison (voiceover): shed already told her friends her plan was to move to her boyfriend davids place in atlanta, an hour and a half up the highway. ashley muller: i mean, that was supposed to be the plan. that was laurens plan. keith morrison (voiceover): even though some of laurens friends thought they werent right for each other. katie ohare: i dont know if i want to use the word "flaky," but her relationship with david was flaky. keith morrison (voiceover): laurens family called david. he said he hadnt talked to her in days. kaitlyn wheeler: i remember specifically him, like, hanging up and then calling back, like, a couple minutes later like, wait, like, whats go-- you know, like, what is going on? keith morrison (voiceover): back at the apartment, ashley rounded up laurens law school friends, including that ex-boyfriend, joe.

with whom shed spent the night last time any of the friends saw her. ashley muller: joe immediately went to the law school to search the law school for her. keith morrison (voiceover): while the other friends took a careful look around the apartment. they found some food wrappers and in her car a receipt from a zaxbys restaurant drive-thru. it was time stamped saturday, 6:08 pm. the evening after that pre-study party. but now it was wednesday night. ashley muller: the zaxbys was, at that point in time, four days old. keith morrison (voiceover): so where did she go? for a run? did she have some sort of accident? or was it something even worse? laurens friends knew she spent time visiting prisoners when she was an intern at the public defenders office. keith morrison: it would make you wonder about some of the people she encountered. ashley muller: she encountered all sorts of people. you know, she would visit the jail often. keith morrison: yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): maybe someone took an unhealthy sort of liking to her. and then they remembered something lauren said the night of that last pre-study party.

ashley muller: she had thought she-- someone had been stalking her. but we didnt really pay much attention to it because of who lauren was. keith morrison (voiceover): she was the girl who always had admirers, who stood out. just about everybody who lived in the apartment complex knew lauren, including, of course, her fellow student and next-door neighbor. and he wanted to help search for her. he asked about window locks. keith morrison: somebody check her windows to see if theyre opened or-- ashley muller: yeah. keith morrison: --locked? ashley muller: i think one mightve been unlocked. keith morrison (voiceover): friends also checked laurens computer and discovered that her last online activity was an e-mail sent saturday night. this was disturbing. ashley muller: it was an e-mail to david. it was eerie. keith morrison: whatd it say? ashley muller: essentially that she thought someone was trying to break into her house a night prior. i think she referred to the person being a hoodlum. macon hoodlum. keith morrison (voiceover): the ultimate fear. that some evil stranger had taken their friend,

lauren giddings. craig melvin: coming up, investigators search laurens apartment with a forensic tool that reveals a critical clue hiding in plain sight. steve gatlin: it was like a light switch. becoming a. craig melvin: when dateline continues. keith morrison (voiceover): there >> safety concern? >> are you. >> worried about. >> the. >> cost of. >> a. >> bathroom remodel. >> that could. >> go on. >> for weeks. >> and weeks? >> well. >> now you can have a gorgeous new bath. >> or shower. >> with a one. >> day jacuzzi bath remodel that's. safer at a price you can afford. >> it's incredible that they were able. >> to. >> do. >> this in one day. >> oh my. >> gosh. >> it is beautiful. >> oh. >> you have to see it. it was amazing how they fixed that bathroom in a day. you know what i like? also, it's. >> easy to clean. >> jacuzzi has been making

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when a loved one is missing. keith morrison: go to sleep that night or-- kaitlyn wheeler: no, i basically had the laptop in front of me, and my cell phone, and kept going back and forth. keith morrison (voiceover): around 2 am thursday, laurens sister woke up their dad. kaitlyn wheeler: he has a hundred questions. and i didnt have an answer to any of them. i didnt know anything, you know. her apartment was empty. her stuff was there. keith morrison (voiceover): unable to sit and wait for answers, laurens dad packed up his car and started the eleven-hour drive to georgia. macon police, now part of the sheriffs department, looked around laurens apartment the night before. but by morning, with still no sign of her, detectives were called in, and with them, crime scene investigator steve gatlin. keith morrison: do crime scene techs go work on missing persons cases normally? steve gatlin: not normally. but this was something that was a little different. keith morrison: she was a social animal and she would-- you know, they dont just vanish, right? steve gatlin: exactly. to just disappear with-- with no trace of not talking to anyone, it was unlike her. keith morrison (voiceover): so, gatlin looked up at laurens front door.

second floor, left side. nothing seemed amiss. out front, a garbage truck lumbered up. but, blocked by the police cars, was unable to empty the complexs trash bins. the truck moved on. by then, lieutenant gatlin was in the apartment, looking around. steve gatlin: it just looked like somebody walked out and shut the door. keith morrison (voiceover): puzzling. the day was hot already. a humid breeze scuttered across the yard. steve gatlin: when we start coming down the stairs here, thats when the wind, kind of, hits you in the face-- keith morrison: yeah. steve gatlin: --and you could smell something. you could smell a foul odor. keith morrison: a recognizable foul odor. steve gatlin: pretty much. keith morrison (voiceover): that was a smell lieutenant gatlin was all too familiar with. he followed his nose to one of the trash bins outside the apartment. steve gatlin: i opened it up, looked in there, and i saw two trash bags. keith morrison (voiceover): he pulled out the bag on top. ripped it open. typical household trash. steve gatlin: and then, i went to the bigger one,

which is a large size package. it was a trash bag that as soon as i felt down, and-- and-- and reached down and touched it and felt it, i felt like it had-- had some human remains in it. keith morrison (voiceover): and then, to his growing horror, he realized it was just part of a body. a womans torso. nothing else. steve gatlin: we started to cordon everything off with crime scene tape. even used sheets to put up barriers on the other side of the fence so the news media and the general public couldnt see what we were doing because at that time with this investigation, they didnt need to know yet. keith morrison: no. steve gatlin: just in case. we didnt want to mess anything up if it got out too quick what we had found. keith morrison (voiceover): and meanwhile, better take a closer look at that apartment. steve gatlin: we started systematically taking each room and trying to find any evidence that we could, using all the techniques and science that was available to us at the time. keith morrison (voiceover): one of those tools was luminol, a spray that turns blue when it comes in contact with blood.

lieutenant gatlin sprayed it in laurens bathroom, and-- steve gatlin: it was like a light switch. i mean, the whole bathroom glowed. keith morrison: what did you think when you saw that thing light up that way? that tub? steve gatlin: i probably cant say on camera. ill clean it up. i was thinking, oh, crap. because the whole tub, all the way up to almost two inches from the top, had the same glow. keith morrison (voiceover): but, this was strange. when they dusted for finger prints and checked for hairs and fibers, they didnt find much at all. steve gatlin: did somebody wipe everything down? because you would think you would find other peoples fingerprints and things like that. keith morrison (voiceover): this wasnt going to be easy. police had already rounded up laurens friends and her neighbor. didnt want them to know about the discovery. took them all downtown to record their statements. and while they were there-- joe kovac: there was a call to our newsroom. keith morrison (voiceover): macon telegraph reporter joe kovac. joe kovac: thered been a body found outside an apartment up on coleman hill. keith morrison (voiceover): police had tried to keep their discovery quiet.

but didnt take long before the news was online. and back in maryland, where laurens family had gathered-- kaitlyn wheeler: my uncle came in, and he asked, you know, have you heard the news? and we were like, no, we havent. i mean, we-- were in maryland. tell us what youre talking about. and he said, well, they found the body. and at that point, you know, it was just hysterics. keith morrison (voiceover): was it her? must be. downtown, investigators resorted to method. steve gatlin: whos closest to her, romantically or geographically? keith morrison (voiceover): start close, as they say. close to the victim. but, how close? oh, they had no idea. craig melvin: coming up, police look at the men in laurens life. her boyfriend david and her ex, joe. they wondered, could there have been a love triangle gone wrong? keith morrison: some people react badly to that sort of thing.

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>> i'm richard lui with a news update. a second measles death has been reported. the new mexico department of health confirmed, confirming its first in west texas. cases are spreading rapidly, with more than 150 now reported. most infected patients were not vaccinated, including a child who also died. and in northwest syria, at least 400 people have been killed as fierce clashes escalate between government forces and loyalists of former president bashar al assad. this marks the deadliest clash since the fall of assad three months the fall of assad three months ago. for now, back i'm craig melvin. lauren giddings had been missing for days when lieutenant steve gatlin made a gruesome discovery. following the trail of an unmistakable odor,

he found a human torso in a trash bin outside her apartment. there was now little doubt lauren had been murdered and detectives were eager to talk to her inner circle. meanwhile, the police chief faced a heartbreaking task. here again is keith morrison with "the watcher." keith morrison (voiceover): lauren giddings father was on the road to macon when he heard the terrible news. it was, likely, lauren whose body they found. and so he went to police headquarters to meet with now retired chief of police mike burns. mike burns: he wanted to identify his daughter. we told him, no. and then he was insistent he wanted to identify his daughter. so i cleared the room, told him that it wasnt chief to father, its father to father. he didnt want to identify her. i told him, thats not the last way you want to remember your daughter.

keith morrison (voiceover): and then chief burns told laurens father what theyd found. and that he didnt need to see that. mike burns: he just sort of stared at me. and he said, i agree. and that was pretty much the end of our conversation. keith morrison: wow. mike burns: you give a lot of death notices, but that was tough. i mean, i got a son and three daughters. and it was tough. keith morrison (voiceover): but who? who would commit such a violent crime, dismember a victim, then cover his tracks so carefully? like someone had planned it, was killing to satisfy some sick craving. did you think that morning that maybe were dealing not only with a sick individual but potentially a serial killer? mike burns: that was one of our concerns. that somebody, a serial killer, couldve gotten off the interstate, killed her, got back on the interstate and was gone. keith morrison: yeah? or could still be lurking around town somewhere. mike burns: that was another concern.

keith morrison (voiceover): meanwhile, laurens friends and neighbors were sitting in separate interview rooms without their cell phones, cut off from the news outside, answering questions. among them, the apartment complexs maintenance man, also a law student, who said he hadnt seen lauren for a while. her neighbor said he hadnt seen her either. stephen, the law student right next door who helped try to find her. unidentified man (detective; interrogation video): youve been home all week, right? all weekend? stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): mm-hm. unidentified man (interrogation video): and you stated that youve-- the last time you seen lauren was-- stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): either-- either last week, or the week before. unidentified man (interrogation video): but its--it's been a few days? i think-- stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): stephen didnt exactly look like a lawyer-to-be, but hed been her neighbor for three years, had served with her in the local branch of the federalist society. so he certainly knew her, but like everyone else he said hed been busy studying. stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): with bar prep we-- we just work on it, and work on it.

keith morrison (voiceover): there were more friends and cops talked to all of them, even a running buddy who joined the party that friday night at the bar. unidentified man (detective; interrogation audio): and you kind of hung out with-- with her for a little while? unidentified man (friend; interrogation audio): um, i was there with her for probably forty-five minutes that night. keith morrison (voiceover): but he said he hadnt seen lauren since. unidentified man (interrogation audio): do you know where lauren is? unidentified man (interrogation audio): no. keith morrison (voiceover): nobody was immune from suspicion, even among that group of friends. ashley muller: youre thinking about your friends and youre questioning your friends. youre never asking them, hey, did you do something to lauren? but youre-- youre wondering in your mind. keith morrison: cant stop that wondering. ashley muller: no, i mean, who do you trust? you cant really trust anybody. and thats terrifying. keith morrison: did that include joe? ashley muller: yes, im ashamed to admit it, but yes. keith morrison (voiceover): joe, the ex.

keith morrison: what did you learn about him? mike burns: theyd dated for a couple months and lauren called it off, that he didnt call it off. keith morrison (voiceover): joe told detectives lauren spent the night in his room friday night, but she left the next morning. said she was going to the pool at a local country club. but did she make it there? detectives checked and-- mike burns: we was able to trace down her credit card which she made a purchase at the same pool. keith morrison (voiceover): and that zaxbys receipt her friends found? that was time stamped six-oh-eight, saturday. so they pulled the video. hard to tell which was laurens car and if anyone was with her? joe, for example, had he rejoined her? impossible to tell from this. ashley muller: really no one could vouch for him because we were all doing our own thing. we were all studying. keith morrison (voiceover): it seemed pretty certain lauren was still alive and well at 10:13 pm, because thats when she sent that strange e-mail her friends found on her computer.

ashley muller: essentially that she thought someone was trying to break into her house on a night prior. keith morrison (voiceover): the recipient of that e-mail was the man she intended to move in with, david. now the detectives wondered if they were dealing with a love triangle gone wrong. had david found out about laurens night with joe? keith morrison: some people react badly to that sort of thing. mike burns: very badly, sometimes. keith morrison: yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): so down at the station detectives questioned david on tape. unidentified man (interrogation video): we found a body. we dont know if its her or not. david vandiver (interrogation video): i had heard that. unidentified man (interrogation video): okay? david vandiver (interrogation video): thats what my co-worker told me on the way down. unidentified man (interrogation video): all right. so i need your help. david vandiver (interrogation video): youve got it. unidentified man (interrogation video): well, somebody knows something. keith morrison (voiceover): david told the detectives he was far away the weekend lauren disappeared. mike burns: he had taken a golf trip to california. keith morrison (voiceover): said he hadnt talked to her in a while. unidentified man (interrogation video): so youre telling me, the whole time you were gone to california, you didnt call her? david vandiver (interrogation video): no. unidentified man (interrogation video): check in with her?

nothing? david vandiver (interrogation video): no. unidentified man (interrogation video): then you land in atlanta, and just got back to your apartment, or house, and you didnt even call her and tell her you were home, or anything? david vandiver (interrogation video): no. if-- if you look at the e-mail she sent-- keith morrison (voiceover): really? mind you, the detectives had already heard from laurens law school friends. unidentified man (interrogation video): people that she goes to school with says that yall have had problems-- david vandiver (interrogation video): weve never had-- unidentified man (interrogation video): --recently. david vandiver (interrogation video): weve ne-- well, in march, we kind of stopped talking. and then, through may, and thats when-- her graduation. she sent me an e-mail saying, "would you at least please come-- " unidentified man (interrogation video): im just asking. the-- they-- thats what they told me. david vandiver (interrogation video): no, i understand that. but-- and-- no. but its because its never been, like, fluid and continuous, because when i felt the pressure of the commitment, i just kind of backed off. keith morrison (voiceover): but of course they couldnt just take his word for it. they asked david for proof, receipts, documents to show he was away in california when lauren was murdered. keith morrison: so did he just hand them over or what? mike burns: he didnt have them with him. unidentified man (interrogation video): all right, come on. keith morrison (voiceover): david was free to leave

the police station. theyd follow up with him of course. and back at the apartment complex they found something. but what did it mean? craig melvin: coming up, one of the men investigators have already interviewed is about to attract their attention all over again. craig melvin: and then, a discovery in a maintenance closet at laurens complex. steve gatlin: it looks like blood. craig melvin: when dateline continues. keith morrison (voiceover): lauren giddings more, more breathtaking, more heart racing, more soul mating. it's here where that all consuming, life. >> giving, full body butterfly thing called. >> love just. is be more where love is. be more here. unlimited

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friends and neighbors had spent hours at police headquarters, answering questions, but getting no answers back themselves. so when police dropped them off near the apartment they were surprised by quite a scene. ashley muller: it was completely blocked off. news reporters were there. sheriffs office was there. crime scene was there. keith morrison (voiceover): the tv people knew a body had been found. thats why they were here. but some of those whod been down at police headquarters werent quite up to date. like stephen. her fellow law student and next-door neighbor. joe kovac: hes telling, you know, yeah, weve been trying to look for lauren. weve been out trying to find her. we dont know where she is. keith morrison (voiceover): when stephen started talking to local station wgxa, he seemed relaxed, chatty. keith morrison (voiceover): but then the reporter broke the news to stephen that a body had been found. heres what happened then: unidentified woman (reporter): i think thats where they had recovered the body, or whatever they recovered from there. stephen mcdaniel: body? unidentified woman: had you heard-- had you seen anything there?

keith morrison (voiceover): stephen stopped, as if struck. unidentified woman: are you okay, sir? stephen mcdaniel: i-- i think i need to sit down. steve gatlin: i thought thats odd. keith morrison: mm-hm. steve gatlin: its very odd. keith morrison (voiceover): lieutenant gatlin checked on him. steve gatlin: he was sitting on a cooler outside of our command post, someone was trying to talk to him and he just stared like he was staring off into space. we even shook him and he just still kept staring off into space. finally i had to end up doing a sternal rub on him. i'm a paramedic as well. keith morrison: a sternal rub? steve gatlin: it's called a sternal rub, which is a small painful stimuli that you give someone to ch-- keith morrison: on the-- on the sternum? steve gatlin: on the sternum to check to see if they are unconscious or alert. keith morrison: so that perked him up a little bit? steve gatlin: it woke him up. he all of a sudden-- like he came to life and said, "what happened?" don't know what was going on in his mind that made him act like that. keith morrison (voiceover): was it just surprise, or-- or what? stephen had already allowed detectives to bring a cadaver dog into his apartment and it did show some interest

but it was hard to know if it meant anything. but that combined with stephens odd behavior was enough to take him back downtown to the station for another chat. the questions, a little more pointed now. unidentified man (interrogation video): was you friends with lauren? stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): yes. unidentified man (interrogation video): look at me and talk to me son. okay? was you friends with her? stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): yes. mike burns: every answer was yes, no. hands on the table. we had to tell him to look at us when you talk to us. unidentified man (detective; interrogation video) stephen, did you hurt lauren? stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): no. unidentified man (interrogation video): i know this is hard for you to tell it. but its weighing on you right now, aint it, stephen? stephen mcdaniel (interrogation video): i didnt do it. keith morrison (voiceover): stephen didnt budge. he insisted he had nothing to do with the murder and didnt know who did. as he talked, investigators combed through his apartment. no blood, no sign of any trouble. but this was interesting: mike burns: they found some condoms in his dresser drawer.

keith morrison (voiceover): wouldnt be unusual of course for a guy stephens age to have condoms, except stephen had told investigators he was a virgin and saving himself for marriage. keith morrison: interesting. mike burns: so, the detective that was interviewing him sort of changed course and says, why do you have condoms? the atmosphere changed a little bit. he got quiet. i guess he was thinking. and then he says, i got them from so-and-sos apartment. keith morrison (voiceover): an admission that he stole condoms? yes, he admitted. right out of the apartments of two of his neighbors. mike burns: so we charged him with burglary. keith morrison (voiceover): and while they held him, they took a good hard look all around the apartment complex. steve gatlin: this is like a community laundry room for the residents. so its got washers and dryers in there. keith morrison: uh-huh. keith morrison (voiceover): and inside-- steve gatlin: this is the maintenance room. keith morrison (voiceover): --they found this other door, a maintenance closet, locked up tight. they used a key, looked inside and found something, a hacksaw,

with something on it. steve gatlin: it looks like thats blood on each end of the sawblade where obviously somebody had rinsed it off, but didnt do a thorough job. keith morrison (voiceover): but, wait a minute. who had a key to the closet? the maintenance man. mike burns: he had a master key to all the apartments in the complex and the door, where they kept supplies in the laundry room. keith morrison: so did you bring him in for questioning? mike burns: we brought him back in. keith morrison (voiceover): the maintenance man said he didnt buy that hacksaw. and provided an alibi. but by then investigators knew the maintenance man wasnt the only one with keys. because in stephens apartment-- mike burns: we found two keys on his dresser that stood out. keith morrison: mm-hm. mike burns: one of them was a brand-new key. and the other was a key with a georgia bulldog emblem on it. keith morrison (voiceover): they tested the georgia bulldog key. it was a master key to the complex,

including the maintenance closet, and that second key-- steve gatlin: was cut to fit her apartment, that was a key to her apartment. keith morrison: to her apartment? steve gatlin: to her apartment. yes. keith morrison (voiceover): a key to laurens apartment, why on earth would stephen have that? they got more search warrants to stephens place and this time found womens underwear. test results proved they were laurens. and then they found this. steve gatlin: we found packaging for that same type of hacksaw in his apartment. keith morrison: it was the same type as the one found in the maintenance room? steve gatlin: same size and brand and everything. keith morrison (voiceover): now they felt certain they had their man. they cleared laurens boyfriend david and ex-boyfriend joe. no surprise at all to laurens friends. katie ohare: i had never thought it was david. i never thought it was joe. keith morrison (voiceover): they eventually cleared the maintenance man, too. and on august 2nd, five weeks after lauren disappeared, stephen mcdaniel, the quiet young law school grad

was charged with murder. he maintained his innocence, pleaded not guilty. and really? a crime so awful. a dismembered victim? stephen had seemed so harmless, had no criminal record, the evidence against him was circumstantial. the district attorney wasnt confident. david cooke: i was worried that unless we had more, that this would be a case where everybody knew that he did it, but nobody could prove it. keith morrison (voiceover): so, time to take a harder look at the evidence. craig melvin: coming up, investigators are about to discover a certain piece of deleted video. keith morrison: what was it like to see that? david cooke: i knew we had him. craig melvin: do they, though? craig melvin: when dateline continues. craig melvin (on cam): welcome back. this is what joint pain looks like. when you keep moving with aleve. (♪♪) just 1 aleve. 12 hours of uninterrupted joint pain relief.

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how was it possible their odd, nerdy, classmate, stephen mcdaniel, could do such a horrible thing? ashley muller: he was trying to make it seem like he was this innocent bystander and a friend of lauren. keith morrison (voiceover): when bibb county district attorney david cooke took over, it was already a death penalty case. but he wasnt so sure it should be. after all, they had no evidence to prove the cause of death. and this was a gruesome crime, yet none of stephens dna was found in laurens apartment and aside from the underwear none of laurens dna was found in stephens place. and the circumstantial evidence they did have? a good defense attorney could raise reasonable doubt, perhaps claim stephen had been framed. david cooke: he could reasonably argue that the crime scene, particularly his apartment, wasnt adequately secure. keith morrison: uh-huh. sure. david cooke: and that other people had access. keith morrison: indeed, they did.

david cooke: and therefore, you cant prove i did it. keith morrison: yeah. david cooke: so there was a certain swagger that he and his team had i think they felt, not unreasonably, that they could win it. keith morrison (voiceover): and sure enough stephens highly regarded macon attorneys had already accused the state of getting evidence from improper search warrants. frank hogue: i think there were eight or nine searches of stephens apartment. keith morrison (voiceover): and laurens underwear, and the apartment keys, and the hacksaw packaging, all of that evidence, said attorney frank hogue, should be thrown out. keith morrison: did you believe that the prosecution was particularly worried about your challenges? frank hogue: yes. i did think they were. keith morrison (voiceover): this, though defense attorney hogue had known and admired lauren. frank hogue: i was her teacher in a transition course from law school into law practice. keith morrison (voiceover): a fact hogue told stephen before joining his defense team. stephen was alright with it. anyway thats why hogue knew lauren herself was

opposed to the death penalty. so he took it as a victory lap when the da withdrew it. and then? technology. the georgia bureau of investigation had searched stephens computers, didnt find much. but now they had new software. the da asked them to take another look. david cooke: i thought there is no way that this guy committed this kind of murder and doesnt have an internet history that would blow your mind. keith morrison (voiceover): so he asked the experts to look for anything related to lauren giddings, or sex and violence. david cooke: and when they did, it just exploded. its obvious that he has a fascination with sadistic pornography. murder, torture, dismemberment. keith morrison (voiceover): vile and yet still not proof that he murdered lauren. so, spring 2014, nothing was certain as laurens family and friends prepared

to go to macon for trial. katie ohare: its like the rest of my life stopped. it was all about lauren and this trial. keith morrison (voiceover): and as the two sides were ready to face off in court with stephen still claiming his innocence, the fbi probed the secrets of stephens digital camera, and recovered this. oh my. david cooke: the video was him spying on her the last night she was alive. keith morrison (voiceover): he was all stealth must have taped his camera to a long stick, said the prosecutor. so he could peer through laurens window and into her apartment. chilling. here was a predator in the final stage of planning. david cooke: he was spying in there to see if she was home. because that is the night i think he planned to kill her. keith morrison (voiceover): lauren was right, she did have a stalker, someone was

trying to break into her place. keith morrison: what was it like to see that? david cooke: i knew we had him. i just-- i knew we had him. keith morrison (voiceover): attorney hogue had to agree. frank hogue: that wouldve been virtually insurmountable evidence at trial. keith morrison (voiceover): and so in late april 2014 stephen cried uncle. hed make a deal. plead guilty and confess to murdering his neighbor lauren giddings. david cooke: he admitted that he came into her apartment in the middle of the night. and that he attacked her. keith morrison (voiceover): stephen said he strangled lauren to death, then dismembered her body, put her torso in the trash bin at the apartment. the other remains in the law school dumpster. over the years police and volunteers searched for countless hours. even dug up a landfill but never found anything. laurens loved ones, including boyfriend david looked on as stephen was sentenced to life in prison.

hell be parole- eligible in 2041. keith morrison (voiceover): stephen, the da believes, had been planning to kill for a long time. and took pleasure in what he did to lauren. david cooke: it was an obsession for him. his dream was to commit murder and to get away with it. keith morrison (voiceover): and he almost succeeded had the police not turned up to check out what was then a missing persons case. had their cars not prevented a garbage truck from picking up the bin outside the apartment. david cooke: the body would have never been discovered. and we never would have captured stephen mcdaniel. and we never would have gotten justice. keith morrison (voiceover): and now memories -- of a friends last parting. katie ohare: i remember hugging her. saying goodbye. keith morrison: in retrospect, does it matter now that you did that, that you hugged her? katie ohare: oh, absolutely.

keith morrison (voiceover): memories for a family, of a daughter and sister who loved to run. sarah giddings: im happy when i think about her when i run. it pushes me to run farther. kaitlyn wheeler: my daughter is named lauren magnolia after lauren. keith morrison (voiceover): memories of a vibrant woman fully alive. lauren giddings. ashley muller: i would tell her how much i miss her and that i love her, and that shes the reason why i am who i am today. i would tell her thank you. craig melvin: that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." i arrived at the office.

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