Investigators scour farmland for remains of slain, dismembered law grad

In the weeks after receiving her diploma, Giddings, a 2011 law graduate, was, strangled and dismembered with a hacksaw by her neighbor and fellow law grad Stephen McDaniel. McDaniel, now 39, a Lilburn native who attended Parkview High School, pleaded guilty to killing her and is serving a life sentence in state prison.

The high-profile case made headlines in the summer of 2011 when Giddings’ torso was found in a trash can beside her Macon apartment. Despite searches in Macon and in at least one landfill, her head and her arms and legs have never been recovered.

Giddings’ family has never given up hope of finding her remains and has done all it can to give her, in the words of her eldest sister, “a peaceful, proper burial.”

That sister, Kaitlyn Wheeler, received a Facebook message in March that included a tip that Giddings’ remains might be buried in the Pike countryside south of the town of Molena near the Flint River, between Griffin and Warm Springs.

McDaniel’s late maternal grandfather had lived in the area. The tip led authorities to agree to search property near the grandfather’s farm after the owners granted permission.

Giddings’ family has long wondered if McDaniel, who visited his grandfather’s home in the weeks before the killing, or someone else might have hidden Giddings’ remains in the area.

Until now, investigators have never been compelled to look there, in part because McDaniel, in his written confession, said he wrapped her dismembered limbs in trash bags and put them in a dumpster at the law school across the street from where he and Giddings lived.

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

Giddings, a Maryland native and Agnes Scott College alum, had plans to practice law in Georgia after passing the bar exam, which she had been cramming for at the time of her death.

On April 18, which would have been Giddings’ 41st birthday, cadaver dogs were taken to sniff for remains at the search site south of Ga. 74, but their efforts led to nothing significant.

Other, higher-tech methods to probe some locations were also believed to have been used, officials said, but further details were not immediately available.

Giddings, a Maryland native and Agnes Scott College alumnus, had plans to practice law in Georgia after passing the bar exam, which she had been cramming for at the time of her death.

Wheeler, who lives near Baltimore, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by phone Thursday the tipsters wished to remain anonymous.

“We’re extremely thankful for this family ... allowing their property to be searched,” Wheeler said. “They did not have to do any of that. And we really do appreciate that.”

Wheeler said the tipsters first met with investigators several weeks ago and showed them around the prospective search area.

She said searchers on Wednesday dug in a location of interest near a more-than-century-old burial plot where, around the time of Giddings’ death, someone had noticed a grave disturbed.

“They spent the whole day out there, and none of these people had to do that, so we really appreciate all the efforts,” Wheeler said.

The authorities have never, save for a massive undertaking to sift through a landfill east of Macon, sensed the need to look for Giddings’ remains outside of the neighborhood where she was slain.

There was no indication McDaniel traveled anywhere with Giddings’ remains from the time she was last seen until her dismembered torso was recovered a few days later.

Giddings’ sister says her family will keep searching for her if tips arise.

“Even though this wasn’t the outcome we wanted,” Wheeler said, “we will still continue to fight for Lauren in every way possible, including looking for her remains, making sure McDaniel stays in jail and most of all carrying on her legacy.”