Lauren Giddings
Lauren Giddings' parents entered her Macon apartment Thursday, a week after her body was found nearby.
Police cleared the family to go inside the apartment and remove their daughter's belongings. They arrived around 2 p.m. and spent much of the afternoon at the apartment on Georgia Avenue.
Macon police say Giddings, a recent Mercer Law School graduate, was murdered, and so far they have no suspects.
Her father Bill Giddings gave 13WMAZ's Lauren DiSpirito new details about the investigation:
- Police told him they have not confirmed where his daughter was killed, but they are leaning toward the apartment as the scene of the crime.
- He said there was no sign of a struggle at the apartment.
- He said that police lead the family to believe they will know more in the next two to three days.
- He said his daughter had been using her cell phone and sending emails until about 10:30 p.m. on the night she was last seen, on Saturday, June 25.
Giddings says he became worried Tuesday, June 28, when his daughter did not answer or return his phone call. Soon after, they heard that she had not responded to calls from other family members and friends.
By the next day, worry set in.
"That night, we knew there had to be trouble," he said.
Giddings says he got in his car and began to drive to Georgia from his home in Maryland, Thursday, June 30, when he found out through reports on the Internet that a body had been discovered near Lauren's home.
He arrived in Macon around 9 p.m. that night and met with police for more than three hours, he said. He met with investigators again Friday morning.
"There are no definite answers right now," Giddings said.
He called the past week a "nightmare" and said that they've gotten through only with the support of friends and family in Macon and at home in Maryland.
"There's been a lot of support," he said. "If it were not for our family and friends in Macon and in Maryland, I don't know how we would have survived. It's been an ongoing nightmare."
Giddings expressed confidence in Macon police and other law enforcement involved in the investigation and thanked them for their work. "I just hope they are doing everything they can," he said. "I have no reason to doubt them."
Macon police announced that search dogs will be used Friday to re-examine the apartment complex and surrounding area. A K-9 search-and-rescue team from Dooly County volunteered to conduct the search.