GARY MICHAEL HILTON/SERIAL KILLER?
tiny dancer
It's hard to believe he only just started a murder spree these last few
months or years.
Hilton 'prime suspect' in Fla. woman's death
Death penalty still an option in Emerson case, prosecutor says
By CHRISTIAN BOONE, TIM EBERLY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/08/08Dawsonville - Charged in one killing, named the prime
suspect in another and under investigation for two others, evidence is
mounting that drifter Gary Michael Hilton might be involved in a murderous
spree spanning three states within the last three months.
Hilton, 61, in jail for allegedly kidnapping and killing Buford hiker
Meredith Emerson last week, may face more charges in Leon County, Fla.
Investigators there say they are focusing on Hilton in the slaying of Cheryl
Hodges Dunlap, 46, of Crawfordville, Fla.
Dunlap, a Sunday school teacher, was found dead Dec. 15 in Apalachicola
National Forest near Tallahassee. A masked person suspected in Dunlap's
slaying used her ATM card on three occasions following her disappearance on
Dec. 1.
Leon County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Rob Reisinger said during a news
conference Wednesday that deputies can place Hilton in the area at the time
of Dunlap's disappearance and that he is considered the prime suspect in her
death. Florida officials said that a state forestry agent came in contact
with Hilton after Dunlap disappeared, writing down his vehicle's tag number.
Meanwhile, the sheriff investigating the presumed double murder of an
elderly North Carolina couple said he is "optimistic" the case will be
solved based on leads developed from recent meetings with Georgia
authorities.
Avid hikers John, 79, and Irene Bryant, 84, were last seen alive on Oct. 20
in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina near the borders of Georgia
and South Carolina. Her body was found bludgeoned three weeks later while
John Bryant remains missing and is believed to be dead.
Transylvania County (N.C.) Sheriff David Mahoney said there are many
similarities in the killings of Bryant and Emerson.
In each case -- including Cheryl Dunlap's slaying -- the victims' ATM cards
were used. Emerson, Dunlap and Irene Bryant were all found in state or
national forests.
In the two most recent slayings, the bodies have been disposed of in
gruesome fashion. Georgia authorities said that Emerson was decapitated, and
reports have circulated around Tallahassee that Dunlap's head and hands were
severed from her body. Local officials won't confirm it, but Maj. Mike Wood
of the Leon County Sheriff's Office told the Tallahassee Democrat there are
similarities in the cases that deputies weren't at "liberty to discuss."
Yet another unsolved slaying in which the victim was dismembered has
investigators in LaGrange wondering whether Hilton may be involved in yet
another killing, though officials are quick to dismiss any known connection.
Still, there are "obvious coincidences," said Capt. Mike Nixon, chief
investigator for the Troup County Sheriff's Department.
On Dec. 6, a passing motorist discovered the body of a woman -- still
unidentified -- missing hands, feet and head. The mutilated body was in five
black plastic garbage bags along Stitcher Road in LaGrange, which is west of
Macon near the Alabama line.
Although an attempt was made to burn the bags, some evidence was recovered,
including a Domino's Pizza coupon from Chamblee. The address on Hilton's
arrest warrant for Emerson's kidnapping is on Clairmont Road in Chamblee.
Nixon said investigators believe the woman was killed in metro Atlanta.
"We're looking into Hilton. We're looking into everything," he said.
Rumors have spread in LaGrange and Tallahassee that the slayings are
connected, as each corpse was dismembered and the bodies were discovered
within nine days of each other. Nixon said he's heard the speculation but so
far nothing links the two cases. And as of now, he said, Hilton is not a
suspect in the LaGrange slaying.
Meanwhile, Forsyth County officials say they are investigating whether
Hilton may have been involved in the slaying of Cumming beauty salon owner
Patrice Endres, whose body was found a little more than two years ago in
Dawson State Forest, about a mile from where Emerson's body was located
Monday.
Hilton is accused of abducting and bludgeoning to death Emerson, 24, who
disappeared while hiking with her dog in the North Georgia mountains on New
Year's Day. He is charged with kidnapping with bodily injury in Union
County, where Emerson disappeared in Vogel State Park. Hilton also faces a
murder charge in Dawson County, where Emerson's body was found Monday and
where police say she was killed.
Dawson County prosecutor Lee Darragh said Wednesday he would not comment on
whether he will seek the death penalty for Hilton.
Hilton was denied bail on the murder charge Wednesday.
Hilton's court-appointed attorney, Rob McNeill, said he could not discuss
the case's details, but said Hilton "realizes the gravity of the situation."
At the hearing Wednesday in Dawson County, Hilton was made aware of the
murder charge against him. He did not enter a plea.
Hilton never spoke aloud, but nodded when Chief Magistrate Judge Johnny
Holtzclaw asked whether his date of birth was Nov. 22, 1946. Upon entering
court from a side door, a handcuffed Hilton, wearing an orange jumpsuit and
holding a pair of glasses, chatted softly with his defense attorney.
The hearing lasted five minutes. It did not appear that any Hilton family
members were present.
None of Emerson's relatives came either, said Peggy Bailey, a family
spokeswoman.
Through Bailey, Meredith Emerson's parents, Susan and Dave Emerson, told the
Journal-Constitution that Hilton was not worth "our time and energy."
"Our focus is on Meredith," the couple said in a statement given Bailey.
The family was busy Wednesday preparing for Emerson's memorial service at 2
p.m. Friday at Central Presbyterian Church in Athens. Another memorial
service is planned for sometime later in Emerson's hometown of Longmont,
Colo., just outside Denver.
Death penalty still in play
Darragh, district attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, which
includes Dawson County, told reporters after Hilton's hearing that he
planned to take the case to the grand jury in early March.
Asked about the death penalty, Darragh has also said he was not a part of
any deal made with Hilton to take the death penalty off the table.
On Tuesday, Union County District Attorney Stan Gunter told The Associated
Press authorities had agreed not to seek the ultimate punishment against
Hilton if he led them to Emerson's body, which he did.
Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said the
Union County County district attorney's office discussed the deal with the
Emerson family.
Steven Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights said reneging on the
promise, even if it was made by another jurisdiction, would likely raise
legal complications for prosecutors.
"I would think if an agent of the state made a representation that induced
the defendant [to give up evidence], I would think he would be entitled to
[get] the bargain," Bright said. "We will have a hard time having a credible
justice system if the representatives of the state promise people something
and then are free to disregard it."
Jack Martin, an experienced Georgia death penalty defense attorney, said
that going back on the deal could also mean losing the ability to use
certain evidence against Hilton - including the location of the slaying and
the body.
"As a general matter, if there was a promise not to prosecute and he gave
information on that promise, that information cannot, should not, be used in
any trial," Martin said. "The evidence regarding the body would not be
admissible, which would complicate the death penalty prosecution."
An autopsy performed by the GBI on Tuesday found Emerson suffered fatal
injuries to the head before she was decapitated. The autopsy also revealed
Emerson was alive for three days after she disappeared, but the GBI has not
released any information about what happened to her during that time.
Emerson's body was handed over to a funeral home in Athens on Tuesday
evening, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.
The wanderer
Jeff Smith, of Sandy Springs, was one of thousands of people who have
reported seeing Hilton moving around North Georgia and apparently living out
of his van. Smith's encounter with Hilton provides insight into the
lifestyle Hilton was living in the months leading up to the alleged slaying.
Smith said he found a makeshift camp Hilton set up on Oct. 26 at the
entrance to a privately leased woodland area off Lake Alataoona in Cherokee
County. The camp is supposed to be accessible only to members of a hunting
club which leases the land, but Smith said Hilton's white van was parked on
the dirt road blocking the gate.
When Smith approached the van, trash was strewn on the ground, several
sleeping bags were in the mud and a stash of plastic storage containers was
stacked head-high and covered with plastic.
Hilton told Smith he was merely stopping for a rest on his way to the
Cohutta Wilderness, east of Dalton. The story didn't make sense to Smith,
who noted that their location was 8 miles off I-75 and 2 miles inside a
remote, heavily forested area.
"Immediately I thought wait a minute, this guy is hiding from something,"
Smith said.
Smith advised Hilton he was trespassing, then walked away after Hilton
became belligerent and called the police.
A Cherokee County sheriff's deputy who responded to the call videotaped a
20-minute exchange with Hilton, who admitted having a baton with him.
Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison said the deputy ran a check on Hilton
through federal and state criminal databases before letting him go. There
were no outstanding warrants, Garrison said.
After Emerson's disappearance, Garrison said detectives searched the wooded
area in Cherokee County where Hilton was camping, but they found nothing
suspicious.
http://www.ajc.com/wireless/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/08/emerson_0109.html
tiny dancer
Waitress says Hilton stopped in restaurant to use phone
ATLANTA - A waitress at a Huddle House in Pickens County says murder suspect
Gary Michael Hilton stopped there just hours before authorities released his
photograph.
Waitress Amanda Peacock -- who lives in Ball Ground -- tells The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution that Hilton was agitated and kept asking to use a pay
telephone Thursday. She says he was told the restaurant had no pay phone and
was allowed to use the restaurant's phone.
A few hours later, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents arrived at the
restaurant with photographs of Hilton, asking whether he had been there.
Authorities believe within 24 hours, hiker Meredith Emerson was killed by
the 61-year-old Hilton. Authorities found her body Monday night in Dawson
County -- about 10 miles from the restaurant.
Peacock says Hilton left the restaurant about 5:05 p.m. and thanked her for
the use of the phone on his way out. She says he told her -- quote -- ``I
just got my job back. That phone call helped me out a lot.''
Authorities say an autopsy showed that the 24-year-old hiker was alive for
three days after she was kidnapped on a hiking trail in north Georgia on New
Year's Day. She was decapitated.
Hilton was ordered held without bond Wednesday in Dawson County on a charge
of murder in Emerson's death and authorities say he is now the prime suspect
in a similar killing in Florida -- and the Dawson County District Attorney
says he wasn't privvy to the deal cut with Hilton to waive the death penalty
if he led investigators to Emerson's body. (See separate story.)
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=205633
Ago@faraway JonesieCat
"tiny dancer" <tinyda...@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MZqhj.48986$_m.1...@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
One of the articles posted here had an interview with a woman who worked in
the warehouse where he once worked. She said he quit to go spend time in the
wilderness 7-8 yrs ago (IIRC). And his statement to the officer when he got
caught trespassing, about being on permanent field maneuvers or something
like that? Maybe that's when he began. Agreed, even that is still late in
life to begin this sort of thing. Maybe he did the odd murder from time to
time before that, going back years? Those bodies still may turn up. It seems
to me we have run across other unusual ones from time to time though...?
jc
tiny dancer
mysterious *phone call*, at least one of them anyway. Apparently he also
made that phone call at a convenience store.
From longer article posted at link below:
Barkley said one of his servers was just getting off of work at 5 p.m., and
she was leaving at the same time Hilton was walking out.
She is 18 years old, and, as they both walked outside to their vehicles,
Barkley said she began to feel uneasy.
"She was very nervous" because of the way she said the man who turned out to
be Hilton looked at her. "She didn't know why, at the time, but she just was
nervous about it, because he was watching her."
One hour later, authorities released Hilton's name and photo, asking the
public's help in finding him. Before Jim Barkley could call the GBI about
Hilton having just been in the restaurant, the GBI showed up. Agents took
his restaurant's surveillance tape.
But Gary Hilton, with Meredith Emerson, was already long gone.
"I just wish that we had known then what we know now," Barkley said. "Maybe
we could have done something to save her life."
So who did Gary Hilton call from the restaurant? Barkley said the GBI agents
told him they know who it is -- it's someone who immediately called the GBI
about Hilton's call, as soon as the GBI announced that Hilton was wanted for
questioning.
And that's how they tracked Hilton to that restaurant.
Emerson's body was found on Monday in Dawson County, an hour's drive away
from where she went missing.
Dawson County lies in a different judicial circuit than Union County.
Authorities there made a deal with Hilton, that they would not pursue the
death penalty if he led them to Emerson's body. Whether Dawson County
authorities will honor that deal is unclear.
"Neither I, nor any of my staff was made aware of, involved in, or invited
to be any discussion," said Dawson D.A. Lee Darraugh.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109301&provider=top
tiny dancer
"JonesieCat" <Long Ago@Far Away> wrote in message
news:47863fd8$0$13959$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
This one though goes all the way back ten years ago, and one of those
sketches looks a lot like Hinton, doesn't it? The age range given also
fits.
http://www.ganet.org/gbi/homicides/frady.html
td
>
>
Amy Guskin
(in article <MZqhj.48986$_m.1...@bignews4.bellsouth.net>):
What's funny is how Mr. Bryant's age keeps getting lower in each article that
I read. According to the FBI's page on this, he was days away from turning
81 when he disappeared.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/bryant_jd.htm
Amy
--
"In my line of work you gotta keep repeating things over and over and over
again for the truth to sink in, to kinda catapult the propaganda." - George
W. Bush, May 24, 2005
Ago@faraway JonesieCat
I saw those sketches. But to me, they don't look like him so much as the
description that inspired the sketches *sounds like him, if that makes
sense. Also, it makes me wonder if this might be his first victim. Young,
smaller, more vulnerable - less risk, more chance of success.
You know what interests me about these POSes? Their fantasies, the ones that
precede and then grow subsequent to their crimes. What are they really,
those fantasies? I don't think any of 'em fully elaborate, but only allude
to them. Where to they come from? Why are they so consuming?
I feel sorry for that boy, having that POS's face as the last one he saw on
earth, if this is who did it. Seems likely.
jc
Ago@faraway JonesieCat
Of course other jurisdictions will not honor the deal. Thank gawd.
Interesting that his phone contact called LE quickly. Who was it this guy
called, I wonder? Same person as from the conven store? It annoys me that
the article says "But Gary Hilton, with Meredith Emerson, was already long
gone." It makes it sound like she was at the restaurant with him, which the
rest of the article seemingly belies. Tho Meredith probably WAS in his van -
tho he may have left her on the forest floor before returning to her after
dinner. I used to think it was bunkum when people talked about the eyes of
serial killers. I don't now. A sorority girl in Florida actually left a club
because of Ted Bundy's gaze, scared her to death. Well, not to death. That
happened later that night, to her sorority sisters. I think it may be the
same gaze Souza felt at the SF Zoo.
jc
Millhaven
those 2 hikers were shot. Also wonder if robbery was the real motive
since he was using their ATM cards.
tiny dancer
"JonesieCat" <Long Ago@Far Away> wrote in message
I thought the tall skinny guy very much resembled him, especially since the
sketch would have been from 10 years ago.
As for the fantasies, I"ve listened to a few interviews with Jeffrey Dahmer
where he talks about some of his *fantasies*. Very creepy and very
disturbing. I believe there was an independent film done a couple years ago
on the Dahmer crimes. It was far more graphic in nature on the subject of
fantasies and motivations than what we'd heard in the news.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285728/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahmer_(film)
td
>
>
tiny dancer
"Millhaven" <mill...@intergate.com> wrote in message
news:4ea97322-9e6f-4482...@s19g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>I know it's a long shot but wonder if this guy was in Seattle when
> those 2 hikers were shot. Also wonder if robbery was the real motive
> since he was using their ATM cards.
I doubt robbery was the *real* motive, the decapitations are too grizzley
IMO for that to be the case. Plus, he only used the elderly couples bank
card one time, and they hadn't even been reported missing yet. He could
have used it more times if money was the motive IMO. I think the money was
simply an added *bonus* for him.
td
Ago@faraway JonesieCat
Thank you. I'm marking this post as unread, so I can retrieve these links
later. I've followed a lot of these, so will be interested to learn if I've
listened/seen these or not. He was so weird, Dahmer. I think he was happy to
be killed in prison.
jc
tiny dancer
"JonesieCat" <Long Ago@Far Away> wrote in message
>>
>> td
>
> Thank you. I'm marking this post as unread, so I can retrieve these links
> later. I've followed a lot of these, so will be interested to learn if
> I've listened/seen these or not. He was so weird, Dahmer. I think he was
> happy to be killed in prison.
>
> jc
If you pop *Dahmer film* in google you will come up with more about this
film. I watched it once on the Independent Film Network, but it was already
partway through the movie, and it was late at night. It was a much more
disturbing account.
td
>
>
Wild Monkshood
JonesieCat wrote:
>
> Thank you. I'm marking this post as unread, so I can retrieve these links
> later. I've followed a lot of these, so will be interested to learn if I've
> listened/seen these or not. He was so weird, Dahmer. I think he was happy to
> be killed in prison.
Based on what? I've never seen anything to indicate that he would have
been accepting of "God" killing him while he mopped floors....
WM
>
> jc
>
>
Ago@faraway JonesieCat
"Wild Monkshood" <Wild_Mo...@windstream.net> wrote in message
news:d1810$47864f43$62102b3c$40...@ALLTEL.NET...
Not sure about the "G*d" part. IIRC he'd attempted suicide at some point,
maybe early on. And there were other indications that he wished he weren't
the way he was, but now I forget what all it was that made me believe he'd
be happy to go sooner rather than later. And there always seemed to be a
melancholic air about him that was different from other serials. <shrug>
jc
Kris Baker
"Millhaven" <mill...@intergate.com> wrote in message
news:4ea97322-9e6f-4482...@s19g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> those 2 hikers were shot. Also wonder if robbery was the real motive
> since he was using their ATM cards.
Shooting doesn't seem to be his MO, but overpowering someone he perceives as
weaker (and using their credit cards) certainly is.
Without the money from his victims, he couldn't be as mobile (and maintain a
vehicle) with no visible means of support.
Now that he's tied to two killings, I'm thinking his grisly crimes are going
to stretch back for several years. He's a little old to start new tricks,
now.
Chris T. Harris
>> agents told him they know who it is -- it's someone who immediately
>> called the GBI about Hilton's call, as soon as the GBI announced that
>> Hilton was wanted for questioning.
>>
>> And that's how they tracked Hilton to that restaurant.
>>
page.
tiny dancer
"Chris T. Harris" <Ran...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:9badneXlvP0WdBva...@comcast.com...
>
Little Known of Suspect in Hiker's Death
By GREG BLUESTEIN - 3 hours ago
ATLANTA (AP) - The man accused of kidnapping and decapitating a 24-year-old
hiker in the Georgia woods and a suspect in a Florida death was a drifter
known to spend his time in parks.
To some hikers and joggers who Gary Michael Hilton met, he was talkative,
lively and even rather engaging, if strange. To others he knew, he was a
loner who seemed to have a dangerous dark side.
"He could be very friendly, and he could be very unfriendly," said his
former boss, John Tabor. "It just depended on what day it was."
Little is known about the wiry 61-year-old charged with the murder of
Meredith Emerson, who was bludgeoned to death three days after she
disappeared during a New Year's Day hike. Florida authorities also say he is
a prime suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found last month in a
national forest there.
Hilton had no fixed address and lived most recently in a white van that
roamed north Georgia. A few details about the man are emerging from court
hearings, government records and park visitors who saw him regularly.
According to records, Hilton was married - and divorced - twice between 1977
and 1979. The AP was not able to reach either of the ex-wives for comment.
Court documents also show he has a criminal record that includes drug and
theft charges and spans the metropolitan Atlanta area.
Around 1997 he answered a help wanted ad for Insulated Wall Systems, said
Tabor, the company's owner. For the next 10 years Hilton worked "on and off"
to help the siding company market its services.
"He didn't have any contact with customers," added Tabor. "He kind of worked
by himself."
His last listed address was a midtown Atlanta apartment building in 1999.
Since then, he appears to have drifted from place to place.
One of his known hangouts was Murphy Candler Park, a 135-acre tract 15 miles
north of Atlanta, where residents regularly saw him walking his dog. One
resident, Karen Whitehead, told reporters she saw him with a hunting knife
in his right hand. When she asked him about it, he told her he was
protecting his pet from wild dogs in the area.
He had a minor run-in with police officers in October 2007, when a deputy
evicted Hilton after finding him squatting on a private hunting reserve in
north Georgia's Cherokee County.
The law officer's car-mounted video camera captured a rambling 20-minute
conversation in which Hilton claimed he was a paratrooper doing "perpetual
field maneuvers" and told the deputy he had an expandable baton - and not to
get nervous. "Hey, I love ya," Hilton told the officer as he drove away.
Two months later, Hilton had apparently made his way to northwest Florida.
Police there say that citizen witnesses and the account of a forestry
officer place Hilton in the Apalachicola National Forest in early December.
This week, after Georgia authorities arrested Hilton, Florida authorities
named him the "prime suspect" in the killing of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap. Her
body was found on Dec. 19 in the Apalachicola National Forest, southwest of
Tallahassee.
Not long after Emerson went missing, he was named a "person of interest" in
her disappearance. He was charged with her kidnapping on Saturday, and
murder charges were added after authorities said he led them to her body two
days later.
One of the last people to see Hilton before he was arrested was Amanda
Peacock, a restaurant waitress in Marble Hill, Ga., who let the man use the
restaurant's phone on Thursday. She remembers him as being fidgety, loud and
"suspicious."
She said he told her, "I just got my job back," as he left, thanking her
repeatedly for her help.
Tabor, Hilton's former boss, said he's the person that Hilton called. He
would not discuss the details of his conversation, but hours later
authorities arrived at the restaurant looking for Hilton.
Peacock said she is still haunted that she came so close to the suspected
killer without knowing it.
"I'm glad he was finally caught, I just wish we would have known before it
was too late. It just makes me feel real small - none of us knew anything
about it," she said.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iAMqzN5MVUP5W2xvpdifTvBRzRvQD8U3BR9G0
tiny dancer
More information is emerging about Gary Hilton and the time he spent after
allegedly kidnapping Meredith Emerson.
Thursday, while at a Pickens County Huddle House, Hilton called his former
boss, John Tabor.
"He said he needed some money to get started," Tabor said. "So I told him I
would leave a check for him at the office on Clairmont Road for him to
retrieve the following day, Friday."
What Gary Hilton didn't know when he called Tabor was that Tabor had already
called the GBI about Hilton. Tabor said he called the GBI as soon as he
heard that Meredith Emerson was missing from the hiking trail on Blood
Mountain in Union County. Tabor knew Hilton camped in the wilderness there,
and based on what he knew of Hilton, suspected Hilton might be the one who
kidnapped Emerson.
So Tabor had already given the GBI Hilton's name, van description and
license tag numbers. Right after Hilton called Tabor, Tabor called the GBI
again, and the GBI raced to the Huddle House, trying to catch up to Hilton
and Emerson.
Hilton worked for Tabor's siding business, Insulated Wall Systems, on and
off for ten years. In fact the office on Clairmont Road in DeKalb County was
listed as Hilton's suspected address on his initial kidnapping warrant.
at a Huddle House restaurant on Highway 53 in Pickens County.
What neither Tabor nor workers at the Huddle House restaurant on Highway 53
in Pickens County could have known when Hilton picked up the phone was that
was alive and restrained inside Hilton's van in the restaurant parking lot.
The GBI said Hilton killed Emerson the next day in Dawson County, one day
after calling his former boss to plan his future.
"That was the last contact I had from Gary Hilton," Tabor said. "And
apparently when they picked him up, he was en-route to get that check."
Tabor said he wants Meredith Emerson's family to know that he did everything
he could to help police catch Hilton and save Meredith.
Tabor is out of state and expects to return home to Metro Atlanta in a few
days. He said he never really intended to re-hire Hilton, after a falling
out they had last year. He is grieving along with the people at the Huddle
House, wondering and agonizing over what more they could have done.
Hilton remains in the Dawson County Jail, waiting for his next court
appearance. In the meantime, two other law enforcement agencies are looking
at Hilton as a suspect in unsolved cases.
One mug shot of Gary Hilton shows him as seen after a 1995 arrest in Cobb
County for simple battery. Gary Hilton has a history of arrests but none
that would foreshadow a crime as heinous as the murder of Meredith Emerson.
Now, investigators in three states are trying to figure out if Hilton was on
a three-month serial killer rampage, stalking victims and dumping their
bodies in state or national parks.
On October 21, Jack and Irene Bryant disappeared in North Carolina's Pisgah
National Forest. Irene's body was found in the forest, but her husband is
still missing. A suspect used their credit card at an ATM in Ducktown,
Tennessee.
Five days after the Bryants disappeared in North Carolina, Gary Michael
Hilton was caught trespassing on private land in Cherokee County. The
Sheriff's Deputy who stopped him, let him go after checking to see if he had
any outstanding warrants.
On December 1, Cheryl Dunlap, 46, was last seen at her Crawfordville, Fla.
Home. The next day, a man was seen using her ATM card on a bank surveillance
photo. Dunlap's body was found in the Apalachicola National Forest.
On Wednesday, Florida investigators said Hilton is their prime suspect. They
said they can place him in Florida at the time of her death.
On January 1, Meredith Emerson disappeared in a national forest. Her body
was found in Dawson Forest on Monday.
A man used her credit card shortly after she disappeared. The similarities
in the three cases are staggering. Hilton has only been charged with
Meredith Emerson's death.
Remembering in His Own Special Way
While many people are planning to attend Friday's memorial service to
Emerson on Friday morning in Athens, some people are remembering Meredith
Emerson in a different way.
They are going to one of the places Meredith loved most -- it's a place
where she may have come face to face with a killer.
"It'd make sense it's raining," said Meredith's friend Steve Segars. "I can
feel her tears."
Segars holds back his own tears as he follows the path of Meredith Emerson's
final hike on Blood Mountain.
"I went up there, and took some flowers," Segars said.
One more rock for the makeshift memorial, placed at the spot where some of
Meredith Emerson's belongings were discovered. Water bottles, a dog leash, a
police baton were found scattered on the ground there. Segars said he
believes it is the spot where Gary Hilton attacked his girlfriend.
"He's had six decades on this planet and has squandered it," Segars said of
Hilton. "She gave up a lifetime in 24 short years."
Those close to Meredith Emerson want her remembered for the way she lived,
not the way she died.
"She was a light beyond description," he said. "She just shined."
A memorial service for Meredith Emerson will be held Friday afternoon at
2:00 at Central Presbyterian Church on Alps Road in Athens.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109373
tiny dancer
By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/11/08
The first time she met subcontractor Gary Michael Hilton, Robyn McKinney
said he made her uneasy.
"He was a crazy man," said McKinney, who, along with her husband, hired
Insulated Wall Systems to do some work on their Snellville home in 2004. "He
had rotted teeth. He acted and talked really strange."
Several people who encountered Hilton found his personality jarring and
unpleasant.
He made a modest living generating leads for the siding company, owned by
Duluth attorney John Tabor, said Adam Kurzeja, who formerly subcontracted
for Insulated. The company solicited the McKinneys, who said they were
impressed with the presentation by Tabor.
But he never showed up to supervise the project, and instead sent Hilton to
work on repairs to the couple's back deck, McKinney said. She has since
filed a lawsuit against Tabor alleging fraud and breach of contract.
Hilton has been charged in the murder of 24-year-old hiker Meredith Emerson
and is being held without bond in the Dawson County Jail in North Georgia.
Although Hilton was believed to have been living out of his van shortly
before the crime, he had a long relationship with Tabor, who employed him
and gave him a place to live. Their relationship dates back to at least
1999, clients confirmed.
Tabor refused comment to the Journal-Constitution, but he told WXIA-TV that
he helped detectives who were searching for Hilton set a trap to nab the
61-year-old man. Hilton called his former boss from a Huddle House in
Pickens County on Thursday, and after a long animated conversation, Hilton
told a waitress that he had gotten his job back.
Within the next 24 hours, officials believe, he killed Emerson. Hilton also
has emerged as the prime suspect in the decapitation of a Florida woman and
is being investigated in the presumed double murder of an elderly North
Carolina couple.
McKinney said Hilton's work on her deck was shoddy, but it was his erratic
behavior that bothered her most.
She recalled him comparing felony convictions with a co-worker "loud enough
so I could hear. I think they were trying to intimidate me."
"I was afraid to complain to Tabor about his [Hilton's] work because I was
afraid he would come back and get revenge on me," she said.
Finally, she decided she just wanted him away from her house. "I called
Tabor and he said, 'Too bad, he's the only worker I have available,' "
McKinney said.
Hilton completed his work without incident, but he left an impression. When
McKinney first heard he was suspected in the disappearance of Meredith
Emerson, she called the GBI.
"I told them I knew where he lived, I knew where he worked," she said. "He
was so scary, so scary looking, so scary acting."
Not everyone found Hilton so intimidating. Kurzeja recalled him as being
"pretty nice." "I was really shocked to hear about this hiker," the Atlanta
subcontractor said. "I don't know what happened to him. He used to tell
people he was in Vietnam."
Co-workers and clients say Hilton lived where he worked, residing at
Insulated Wall Systems on Clairmont Road a few blocks from DeKalb-Peachtree
Airport.
McKinney said that during a meeting with Tabor at a neighboring real estate
office, she was warned by a Realtor before going outside to smoke a
cigarette.
"She said I should be careful, there's a crazy man living next door," said
McKinney, who at the time didn't know where Hilton lived.
Cliff Sargent, a gutter subcontractor, said he heard Tabor and Hilton had a
falling out not long ago. "He wasn't paying rent there," said Sargent, of
Monroe. In November, Tabor began renovating the house where his business is
based, causing Hilton to move out.
Lawrenceville broadcaster Larry Grover also had a bad experience with
Tabor's company, he said. "We were very dissatisfied with the work," said
Grover, music director for a Christian radio station.
At first, he said, Hilton - whom he never met, but talked to whenever he
called Insulated - was understanding about his complaints.
"He was warm to a point, but the more we talked, I got the impression he was
a bit strange," Grover said. "One thing that struck me was that he sounded
very educated."
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/10/hilton0111.html
Ago@faraway JonesieCat
Oh no. I was hoping she was out of it, even tho alive. This makes it sound
like she was indeed 'with it'. This poor poor woman.
And WTF is a Huddle House, btw?
jc
Wild Monkshood
JonesieCat wrote:
> "Wild Monkshood" <Wild_Mo...@windstream.net> wrote in message
> news:d1810$47864f43$62102b3c$40...@ALLTEL.NET...
>
>>
>>JonesieCat wrote:
>>
>>>Thank you. I'm marking this post as unread, so I can retrieve these links
>>>later. I've followed a lot of these, so will be interested to learn if
>>>I've listened/seen these or not. He was so weird, Dahmer. I think he was
>>>happy to be killed in prison.
>>
>>Based on what? I've never seen anything to indicate that he would have
>>been accepting of "God" killing him while he mopped floors....
>>
>>WM
>
>
> Not sure about the "G*d" part.
The Guy that killed him was self nicknamed as "God", IIRC.
WM
bonni...@aol.com
> "tiny dancer" <tinydancer...@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Just a thought, Hilton has hundreds of victime all across the East
from Vermont to Florida. This move on attitude is why he was able to
accomplish. We have to recognize that there is a problem, and we need
to utilize our resources, all of them, this includes communication of
information. Remember, he is not the First, Last, or Only.......
The Vinny Sequel continues...
By the way, Hilton's trial, verdict, and sentencing, took less than 30
days, have you ever seen a judicial process move this swiftly? WHY?
The Dekalb County records for his; 3 murder attempts by Arson;
Vanish, do you not want to how and why? Is these two related to the:
Brian Nichols Case? Wasn't it over a year since, Retired Senior
Judge Hilton C. Fuller, made the statement about Brian Nichol's
guilt, inquiring minds want to know....