Who is Stephen McDaniel?
American convicted murderer Stephen McDaniel was born in Lilburn, Georgia USA, in 1989, and although his exact date of birth remains undisclosed, it’s believed that his zodiac sign’s Gemini. He’s probably only known as the murderer of Mercer Law School student Lauren Giddings.
Education and early life
Stephen was raised alongside his four sisters in Lilburn, by their father Mark McDaniel who holds a PhD degree and is a retired seminarian and house painter, and their mother Glenda McDaniel who’s a housewife.
He studied at a local high school, and it’s been revealed that it was during his four years there that Stephen became violent towards girls, and that he imagined all kinds of ways in which they could be tortured; the police learned this following Stephen’s arrest, after having found a blog post which he’d written on torturing women.
He matriculated in 2007 and then enrolled at Mercer University, Walter F. George, which was also how he met Lauren; Stephen graduated in 2011, and then found work so that he could financially support himself.
The killing of Lauren Giddings
Stephen was a neighbor of Lauren Giddings, whom he asked to date him but who refused, stating that she was already in a relationship, with a man who was later revealed to be David Vandiver.
Stephen wasn’t happy with Lauren rejecting him, and he thus managed to steal the master keys of all the rooms in his and Lauren’s building, and entered her apartment on 26 June 2011 early in the morning. He found Lauren sleeping in her bed, and although she heard him and woke up, Stephen jumped onto her bed and choked her to death.
He then put her body in the bathtub and cut it in many small pieces with a hacksaw, so that he could dispose of it in a trashcan on the lowest level of the building.
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Arrest and conviction
It took four days for a Lauren’s friend, whose name hasn’t been disclosed, to report that she was missing.
Stephen was invited by the police for an interview, during which he behaved as if he were a distraught neighbor shocked by what had happened to Lauren. After he began avoiding some of his interviewers’ questions and kept telling them that he had nothing to do with the murder, Stephen became the main suspect in the case.
After the police obtained a search warrant for Stephen’s apartment, they found master keys to the entire building and the hacksaw which he had used to cut Lauren’s body; they also found her torso in a trashcan.
Stephen had already spent close to 10 months in prison by the time he pleaded guilty on 21 April 2012, and was sentenced to spend his life behind bars. He’s currently held at Valdosta State Prison, and although he’ll become eligible for parole in 2041, most people believe that Stephen will never be released.
Lauren’s family have also filed a civil case against Stephen, asking for $5 million from him for their daughter’s death.
Love life and girlfriend
Stephen hasn’t spoken of any girls whom he’s dated, and most of the people on the internet believe that he hasn’t had a girlfriend; it’s also believed that he was obsessed by Lauren, as well as convinced that she was to become his first girlfriend.
Stephen bullied the girls whom he liked while attending high school, as well as later at college – the only thing that he’s revealed about his love life and sexual orientation is that he’s straight.
Some of Stephen’s fans have claimed that there’s a possibility that Stephen was molested when he was a child, and that this led him to behave towards women the way he does, but this remains unconfirmed.
Stephen is unattached as of October 2022, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Stephen enjoyed watching TV on a daily basis, and was perhaps mostly into watching crime shows, which was more or less how he developed the idea to kill Lauren; he’s also a fan of Hollywood movies, with some of his favorites being “Inception”, “The Silence of the Lambs” and “North by Northwest”.
He often took long walks and sat in a park close to his home, as it was easier for him to think when he was outdoors.
It’s believed that Stephen’s an avid chess player, although this hasn’t been confirmed by him.
His parents haven’t been close to him since he turned 18 and left home, and they’ve revealed that they weren’t aware that their son would have been capable of killing someone; it’s believed that Stephen’s parents have now cut all ties with him.
YouTube videos
Many videos about Stephen have been uploaded onto the video sharing service YouTube by various users; most of these show him during his police interviews and court trials, others offer an insight into his entire life; we’ll mention three of the most viewed videos amongst these.
The #1 video “The Bizarre Case of Stephen McDaniel” was uploaded by JCS – Criminal Psychology on 16 June 2020, and has since been watched over 16 million times. It features a psychologist as he’s talking about Stephen’s crime, and what had perhaps led him to commit it.
The #2 video “McDaniel’s first media interview” was uploaded by The Telegraph on 21 April 2014, and has since been watched more than 4.5 million times; it’s the first interview that Stephen gave to media following Lauren’s death.
#3 video is “El aterrador caso de Stephen McDaniels (REAL)”, uploaded by DrossRotzank on 19 November 2019, and has since been watched over four million times; it offers an insight into the entire case, but the video’s in Spanish language.
Height, eyes and wealth
Stephen’s either 32 or 33 years old. His eyes are blue and he has long brown hair, he weighs around 155lbs (70kgs) and is 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall.
Stephen’s net worth’s been estimated at about $10,000 as of October 2022.
