Macon police confirmed Wednesday that the body of Mercer University Law School graduate Lauren Giddings was dismembered, and they said some parts of the body were still missing.

DNA tests confirmed that remains found outside Giddings’ apartment building on June 30 were hers. No arrests have been made in connection with her death.

A friend who had not heard from her since the previous Saturday contacted police after going to her apartment and discovering that she was not there. Friends had initially assumed that Giddings was just busy studying for the bar exam, but family members had not heard from her in that time either.

Lauren Giddings

Police said Thursday that they have been taking statements from people connected to Giddings through the school and the community.

“We have been asked repeatedly about the number of ‘persons of interest’ or suspects in this case,” Macon Police Chief Mike Burns said in a press release. “We are interested in a number of people – but the process we are utilizing entails eliminating or excluding people from consideration; determining who has an alibi and could not have perpetrated this crime.”

One neighbor who has been identified as a person of interest, Stephen McDaniel, remains in jail without bond on two unrelated burglary charges for allegedly stealing from other neighbors’ apartments in late 2008 and early 2009.

A K-9 search and rescue team from Dooly County was expected to be in Macon Friday conducting a search in the area surrounding Giddings’ apartment building. Police said the building “remains the focus of the investigation.”

Earlier this week, police sent some forensic evidence to the FBI in Quantico, Virginia for testing, but they have not received results yet. They have also worked with the city engineering department to search the storm drainage system near the apartment. Meanwhile, they are still trying to establish a definitive timeline of Giddings activities prior to her disappearance.

The police report filed by the officer who was initially dispatched to Giddings’ apartment on June 30 details a suspicious scene. Giddings’ purse and the keys for her door and her car were sitting on her couch inside the locked apartment. Her cell phone was on her bed with a dead battery. When officers turned it on, they found it had not been used to make calls or send messages since the previous Saturday night.

Officers also found Giddings’ laptop and schoolbooks in the apartment. Her car was parked outside. As they continued to investigate, they discovered the dismembered remains outside the building.

Anyone who finds, sees or smells anything unusual or suspicious in the downtown Macon area is asked to call the Macon Police Department at 478-751-7500 or Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME. Police are especially interested in eyewitness accounts.

A memorial mass for Giddings is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 pm at St. Joseph’s Church in Macon.

Casey Anthony will be staying in jail a little longer than we thought.

Although court officials said Thursday afternoon that Anthony would be released on July 13, a statement sent Thursday night corrected that date to July 17.

“After receiving the signed order this afternoon on the sentencing of Casey Marie Anthony, Orange County Corrections conducted a detailed recalculation of the projected release date,” jail public information officer Allen Moore wrote.

He added that no additional information will be released about the time and method of Anthony’s release “so as to preserve the safety of the individual and the public.”

Anthony was sentenced Thursday to four years in jail for her conviction on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement, but she received credit for time served since her 2008 arrest and good behavior.

On Tuesday, a jury found her not guilty of murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse in her daughter Caylee’s death.

According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll, 64% of Americans believe Anthony definitely or probably murdered her daughter. 27% of women polled said they were angry about the verdict, but only 9% of men did.

One angry woman, Michelle Crowder, has taken action, setting up an online petition for a federal law that would make it a felony for a parent or guardian not to report a missing child. The petition had over 675,000 signatures Friday afternoon. Nancy Grace will be interviewing Crowder on tonight’s show.

Lawmakers in several states, including Florida, have said they plan to draft similar laws.

Two former roommates of Casey Anthony speak out to HLN's Nancy Grace.