Maggie Daniels was a teacher turned guidance counselor — former Teacher of the Year — originally from the Cleveland area and living in North Carolina. She was found dead in her apartment last Saturday around 10:30am; she was apparently face-down and the only signs of a struggle or misplaced item was a broken mirror on the floor. Cops have been very tight-lipped about this case, although a search of her home was “successful,” without any elaboration. According to some reports, the FBI is involved in the case; I haven’t seen that confirmed everywhere, though. That would be an important distinction because the FBI typically has jurisdiction on state-line cases, and according to the custodian at Daniels’ apartment complex (ostensibly the last person to see her alive, about 22 hours before her body being discovered), she had a boyfriend who lived in South Carolina. If true, I haven’t been able to track down the boyfriend’s name (ideally law enforcement has).
If you check out that 911 call above (embedded), it’s a bit disaffected. There’s no identification other than “a friend of mine” — while referencing another friend in the apartment — and there are de-personalization elements such as “I didn’t want to touch it” (the body). It’s theoretically possible that 1 of the 2 people being referenced on the call (the caller and/or the person he mentions) is connected here as well; maybe there was tremendous guilt after the fact.
Again, all of the above is obviously speculation.
The search warrant has been sealed and autopsy results aren’t being released in this one, so there isn’t much to go on. There are a couple of elements of note, however:
1. She tended to leave her door unlocked; that’s not uncommon in a place like North Carolina, but — and I don’t mean this in an awkward way — that’s never a wise decision for a woman living alone, perhaps especially one with an active social media presence of pretty-attractive selfies. It’s possible someone in the complex became infatuated with her; you kind of saw something similar with the Jonathan Holt case.
2. Similar vein: she was also frequently sunbathing in the complex. Again, possible infatuation developed.
3. The broken mirror angle, which was released to the press. A struggle? A sign that the eventual killer thought she was too self-absorbed? Something to do with drugs? (I saw the latter theory on Jane Velez-Mitchell’s show, but I believe you tend to do drugs off small mirrors, and the description here seemed like a large one.)
4. The boyfriend — there’s some info somewhere on this, because I’ve seen TV spots claiming they were visiting each other twice a month (once each way). Hopefully law enforcement is on this and have determined his deal, if he even exists.
5. Here’s a map of her complex.
It’s pretty much on the same block as this dance club and this night club. Remember: Daniels was last seen Friday around lunchtime by the complex custodian; her body was discovered Saturday morning around 10:30am. The intervening period is, of course, Friday night. That’s a big dance club night, and these places are stumbling distance from the complex. Go back to the unlocked door thing above and you may have something here.
Regardless, hopefully this gets resolved soon. If you hear anything new, post it in the comments — and of course, if it’s relevant, tell the authorities.
If you follow her tweets she was particularly fond of a former coach that retired to N Myrtle Beach, SC. who can be seen in pics visiting visit his former school and mentioned by her to be in town visiting. He is much older than she, Just an observation that anyone could make through social media.
That’s good stuff, sir. Thank you.
Yes, I would guess that Coach fancied himself in love with her. Not sure what her feelings were but obviously they were beyond your average feelings for a friend. I’m sure they are looking at him. I’m wondering if his wife has seen these messages before.
This is only my opinion based on the news articles I’ve read, but when I read the initial story, I found it…odd…that the custodian knew she often left her door unlocked. That would not be the sort of information a young, attractive female would volunteer to a male, in my opinion. Also, he claimed that she had a boyfriend from South Carolina who visited her once or twice a month. That seems like it is pretty specific information from someone doing work around the complex, even if they are on friendly terms. No forced entry, so the door/window was unlocked or open, she let the person in voluntarily, or the person had a key. The custodian was also the last person to see her alive the day before her body was found.
The police probably know more than they let on and just aren’t releasing information until various test results come back.
It has been 1 month since maggie was murdered in her own home, in the middle of the day! The women who found maggie was the mother of her boyfriend. The boyfriend called a good friend to go check on her bc she wasn’t answering any of his calls or text messages on Friday after 12 noon…he went Friday night, no answer, her car was there…he went back Saturday morning this time with the boyfriends mother and sister…and this time “the sister tries to turn the knob and it opens”…I don’t blame him for not trying on Friday late night…he prolly thinks she’s sleeping…he see’s her car so he’s not worried she’s missing or not home…not to mention no one wants to get charged with B/E….why did the mother claim to be the one who went to her apt on Friday night!? When in fact it was the boyfriends friend? Was she just afraid people would think he had something to do with it and she didn’t want anyone thinking that? The police in Newton don’t have any answers, and now this community has more questions then a month ago…unseal the warrants, maybe it will help the community!!! The janitor has two arrested and one is for breaking and entering..the other driving while impaired.
What’s your theory, Lana? Do you have one?
I remember when hearing the 911 call wondering how the caller was able to predict how long she had been deceased to the acuracy that was later released! The fact that he wouldn’t touch her bothered me too. If it was my friend I would have been seeing g if she could be saved….he seemed to want to be just close enough to get info….that was my first gut instinct….
First of all…other than the custodian who has stated that she left her door unlocked (especially for students?) Have any students said they enter her apartment any time they wanted to? I really doubt this! I know she was a nice person and cared about her students but I seriously doubt she let students freely enter her apartment or be that involved in her personal life! Also since she had previously been afraid of a neighbor this doesn’t add up! I feel she opened the door for someone she knew well or the custodian let himself in!