Analysis of murder crime
Description of the crime
In this case, Stephen McDaniel who graduated recently from Mercer school of law is accused of murdering his former classmate Lauren Giddings and throwing some of her body parts in the dust bin. McDaniel and Giddings used to live in the same apartment after graduating from the school of law. Giddings was seen for the last time on the evening of June 25 together with her friends spending time together, and since then her family members, friends, and corps have been looking for her everywhere. After searching for five days, corps found some of her body parts wrapped in a plastic bag and thrown in one of the garbage cans in the building. Though McDaniel when approached said he had no conflict with the victim, the report from the authority in the area indicated that he was caught by corps on the day of incident stealing condoms in the two neighboring apartments. The police said that he had a master key for opening all the apartments in that building. After McDaniel was arrested, he was locked in the jail in Bibb County where he refused to talk with investigators concerning the case.
According to the data crime, police have collected about two hundred pieces of evidence and conducted interviews with the victim’s close friends that can be used as evidence against the accused. This is a crime of murder and in fact, the accused has already been served with a warrant of murder (Resto-Montero, 2011). He will be charged in court for killing and dismembering his classmate.
Motive of the crime
The author of the article does not give any possible reason for this killing since police are still doing their investigations and the accused refused to talk to the investigators when he was arrested. However, the killing can be associated with love matters between the victim and the accused. This can be supported by the fact that the two were former classmates and friends and they used to live in the same apartment (Resto-Montero, 2011). In addition, the police records showed that the accused was caught in the night of killing trying to steal condoms in the nearby apartments. This can suggest that the two had a love affair and probably disagreed in the process which led to the accused killing the victim. However, these accusations can only be concluded after further investigations.
Place of the crime
This crime seem to have been committed in the apartment where the two used to live since the torso of the victim was found in the garbage can in the same apartment (Resto-Montero, 2011). The place of crime may support the allegation that the crime was related to love affairs and not any other thing which could be happening outside the building such as car accident.
Prevention of this crime
There are several ways that can be used to minimize these types of crimes: first, law enforcement agencies ought to punish those people who are found guilty of murder more seriously to warn others who may be intending to commit the same crime (Rodriguez, 2009). Secondly, young people ought to be taught how to solve their conflicts especially those related to love affairs. Finally, people should be taught the importance of being law abiding citizens and the consequences that follow for breaking state laws.
References
Resto-Montero, G., (2011). Georgia law student accused of killing and dismembering classmate, Lauren Giddings. Daily News, August 4. Retrieved from: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/08/04/2011-08-0
Rodriguez, V., (2009). Six unconstitutional homicide statutes: rational basis review and the problem of harsher punishment for less culpable offenders. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 158(1), 231-259.
