5 key details about Lauren Giddings' murder as seen on Dateline, explored

In season 1 of the 8 episodic show Dateline: The Smoking Gun, an episode titled The Watcher covered the tragic story of the disappearance and murder of Lauren Giddings. She was a law student, and her body was found a few steps from the apartment.

The suspect turns out to be her neighbor and fellow law student. The story further explores his insane obsession with Giddings while Andrea Canning guides the viewers through the investigation in Dateline NBC. Read further to know five key details of the crime.

Five key details of Lauren Giddings' murder

Lauren Giddings was born on April 18, 1984. She was 27 years old at the time of the crime and had just graduated from Georgia’s Mercer University School of Law. She was also interested in politics, sports, and church and was the eldest among her three sisters.

Her untimely death significantly impacted her family, friends, and the college community and raised questions about the dangers of stalking and women's safety. Here are the 5 key details of the case as shown in Dateline:

Giddings' disappearance

Lauren was last seen on June 25, 2011, while enjoying a night with friends at a local bar. She stayed at her Ex-boyfriend's (Joe) flat and left the next morning. On June 29, she stopped responding to calls and messages, instigating a search for her.

Giddings' body was found dismembered near her apartment

Macon officials looked through her emails and found one stating that someone had tried to break into her house the previous night. The mail was sent to David her current boyfriend. On June 30, her torso was found a few steps away from her apartment complex in Macon, Georgia. Therefore this lead the investigators to comb the neighborhood for clues.

Stephan became the Key suspect

The next-door neighbor of Giddings, Stephan McDaniels's reaction to the news was quite "odd" for the investigators. Upon search of the community laundry room and adjacent closet, investigators found a hacksaw with blood strains.

“Obviously, someone had rinsed it off, but didn’t do a thorough job,” Gatlin, the investigator of the case told Dateline.

Stephan McDaniel became a suspect in the case.

Stephan had a duplicate key to Giddings' apartment

While searching his apartment officers found underwear that belonged to Giddings. Later they found a duplicate key to Giddings' apartment. Stephan was videotaping her secretly while also conducting alarming internet searches about her.

Stephan confessed to the crime

On August 2, 2011, Stephan was charged with first-degree murder. In 2014, he confessed his crime as a part of a deal with the prosecutors. He admitted that he broke into the house, strangled her to death, dismembered her body with the hacksaw, and threw the parts in different trash cans to cover his crime.