He killed and dismembered Lauren Giddings. Stephen McDaniel leaves medical prison.
Haggard and unsmiling in his most recent prison photograph, Stephen McDaniel, whose long-shot appeal in the 2011 dismemberment murder of Lauren Giddings was kicked to the curb last month, is now serving his life sentence at a state penitentiary in Middle Georgia.
The 6-foot, 128-pound McDaniel, who turned 33 in September, had been locked up at Augusta State Medical Prison since mid-2017. Officials have never said why he was there.
In recent days, since the denial of his appeal in late November, he has been held at Hancock State Prison on the outskirts of Sparta, roughly halfway between Macon and Augusta.
McDaniel, who is from Lilburn, pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2014 for the grisly slaying of Giddings, his next-door neighbor and fellow Mercer University law school classmate.
He has been an inmate in at least four different prisons, including lockups in Jackson and Valdosta.
The Georgia Department of Corrections does not divulge reasons for prisoner transfers.
In April 2014, on the eve of trial, McDaniel admitted strangling Giddings, cutting up her body and throwing the pieces in the trash.
He was sentenced to life, but with a chance for parole. He will be in his mid-50s before parole may be considered.
This story was originally published December 17, 2018 at 11:13 AM.