Case 5: The Georgia Voyeur

Explicit content warning

06/09/24 • 22 min

Lauren Giddings was a promising twenty-seven-year-old law school graduate, eagerly awaiting the start of her career as a public defender. But just weeks after graduation, as she prepared for her bar exam, Lauren vanished from her apartment right across the street from her law school in Macon, Georgia. Her friends and family grew increasingly worried as days passed with no word from her. When police finally entered Lauren's apartment, her belongings were untouched, and there was no sign of a struggle. But a horrifying discovery in a curbside trashcan soon confirmed their worst fears. As authorities investigated the disturbing crime scene and interviewed Lauren's neighbors, suspicion quickly fell on Stephen McDaniel, a socially awkward law school classmate living in the apartment next door. Witness the chilling investigation and mounting evidence that shook this quiet community and the final revelation of what really happened to Lauren Giddings in the place she called home.
For photos pertaining to this case, visit the online appendix at TrueCrimeCaseHistories.com.

For more information on this story and others in the True Crime Case Histories book series, visit us at JasonNealBooks.com or check us out on Amazon.

For more information on this story and others in the True Crime Case Histories book series, visit us at JasonNealBooks.com or check us out on Amazon.

Previous Episode

Case 4: Where is Heather?

On a summer afternoon in 1996, Tim Walthall was testing out his new high-powered telescope along the banks of the Ohio River bordering Indiana and Kentucky. But instead of the usual wildlife and barges, he witnessed a horrifying crime through the lens: the abduction of a young woman sunbathing on a remote beach across the river. Tim immediately called 911, but by the time police arrived, the perpetrator and victim had vanished. The missing woman was identified as twenty-three-year-old Heather Teague, a former honor student and beauty queen whose life had recently taken a troubled turn. Eyewitness testimony and a suspicious vehicle description soon pointed to one man, Marty Dill, who was well-known to police in the area. But what exactly happened to Heather that fateful day? Join us as we unravel a mother's desperate quest for the truth about her missing daughter, a convoluted investigation spanning two states, and a tragic case that remains shrouded in mystery to this day.
For photos pertaining to this case, visit the online appendix at TrueCrimeCaseHistories.com.

For more information on this story and others in the True Crime Case Histories book series, visit us at JasonNealBooks.com or check us out on Amazon.

Next Episode

Case 6: The Werewolf Butcher

In 1994, nine-year-old Penny Davis disappeared near her rural home in Okanogan County, Washington. Six months later, her body was found in a shallow grave. The prime suspect was Jack Spillman, who had a criminal history and had dated Penny's mother. In 1995, Spillman brutally murdered Rita Huffman and her fourteen-year-old daughter Amanda in their home in Wenatchee, Washington. Evidence linked Spillman to both crime scenes, and while in prison, he revealed disturbing details about the murders to his cellmate. To avoid the death penalty, Spillman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
For photos pertaining to this case, visit the online appendix at TrueCrimeCaseHistories.com.

For more information on this story and others in the True Crime Case Histories book series, visit us at JasonNealBooks.com or check us out on Amazon.