Authorities say they have evidence linking a hacksaw to the man accused of killing and dismembering Mercer University law school graduate Lauren Giddings.
The Telegraph of Macon reported Thursday that the arrest warrant served on 25-year-old Stephen Mark McDaniel says investigators found packaging material from the saw inside his apartment. The saw was found at the apartment complex where McDaniel and Giddings were next-door neighbors.
Tests on the hacksaw by FBI experts revealed traces of Giddings’ DNA, the Telegraph reported, citing an unidentified law enforcement officer.
On the day Giddings' body was found outside her Macon apartment, McDaniel described his classmate as "as nice a person as could be ... "
"I don't know why anyone would do this," a visibly distraught McDaniel said to reporters outside the Barrister Hall apartment complex.
Late Tuesday the Bibb County District Attorney charged McDaniel, an aspiring prosecutor, with the murder of Giddings, 27. The 25-year-old's mother told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's reporting partner, Channel 2 Action News, her son is innocent.
"The truth will come out," Glenda McDaniel said. "We have information concerning who did do it. The D.A.'s office has been told."
McDaniel said police zeroed in on her son because of his shaggy-haired appearance. She described him as a "bright, gentle, very loving person" who had participated in mission trips with Mountain Park First Baptist Church in Stone Mountain.
"We don't believe a Christian can murder and cut someone's body up," she said.
McDaniel said her son and Giddings were friends, serving as president (Giddings) and vice-president of Mercer's Federalist Society. Both were studying for the bar exam.
"Lauren was and always will be Stephen's friend," she said.
McDaniel even assisted Giddings' friends in the search for the Maryland native after she disappeared June 25, telling reporters they located an e-mail in which the Agnes Scott graduate relayed concern about "Macon hoodlums" who she said had tried to break into her apartment.
In the June 3o interview, McDaniel said he was home the night Giddings disappeared and did not remember hearing any unusual sounds.
"If I had heard something maybe I could've helped," he said moments after being told police had recovered a torso wrapped in plastic in a garbage bin beside his Georgia Avenue apartment building.
McDaniel, 25, was incarcerated soon after on two unrelated burglary charges. Police identified him as a "person of interest," though not yet a suspect, in the slaying and dismemberment of Giddings, whose body has not been fully recovered."
The Parkview High School graduate has said nothing to investigators since his arrest.
"He didn't say a thing," said Bibb County District Attorney Greg Winters, who served him with a murder warrant Tuesday.
Authorities gave few details about their investigation at a press conference Wednesday, refusing comment on a possible motive in the case.
"I hope this arrest will bring comfort to the community," Macon Police Chief Mike Burns said.
Members of Giddings' family were in Macon as McDaniel was being charged, assisting in the search for their daughter's remains.
--Fran Jeffries contributed to this article.
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