Neighbor Charged in Death, Dismemberment of North Laurel Woman

A man who police say was the neighbor and classmate of a North Laurel woman found murdered and dismembered in Macon, GA, on June 30 has been charged in her death.

Stephen Mark McDaniel, 25, earlier this week charged with felony murder. He is accused in the killing and dismemberment of fellow Mercer University Law School graduate Lauren Giddings, 27, his next-door neighbor at a Macon apartment building. Giddings had been reported missing on June 25. On June 30, police found her torso wrapped in plastic in a garbage bin next to the apartment building.

During a press conference in Macon earlier this week, Police Chief Mike Burns said the evidence in the case pointed to one suspect, but did not give specifics, according to the Macon Telegraph report.

McDaniel had been in the Bibb County jail for the past month on unrelated burglary charges, according to jail records, before he was served a murder warrant Tuesday night for the death of Giddings. McDaniel admitted burglarizing another neighbor's apartment when police questioned him about Giddings' disappearance and murder, according to the Laurel Leader.

Those who knew McDaniel the Loganvile-Grayson, GA, Patch site that he kept to himself but regularly attended church services in the community. 

James Yount, a Parkview grad who attended services at Mountain Park First Baptist Church with McDaniel in Stone Mountain, GA., said, "He doesn't seem like he was that out-there, but you never know." 

Yount said he remembers that McDaniel attended church often and that he randomly scratched people with his long fingernails. 

"He was well-known for scratching people at the church," Yount said. "He was a very, very interesting fellow. He wasn't super anti-social, but he was kind of socially awkward."

Megan Mitchell, also a 2004 Parkview grad, described McDaniel as being quiet but smart.

"He was always in my gifted classes and did well," she said. "He had his quirks, but I'd say just more quiet than socially awkward. He wasn't very social at all."