|
|
| |
| |
Criminal Records - Most Wanted |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Profile |
|
| |
Name: Gary Michael Hilton
|
|
| |
Wanted for :
Malice Murder, Dawson County, GA;
Jan 04, 2008
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Location(s) |
|
| |
Last Seen : Union County, GA
Dawson County, GA |
|
| |
Possible Location : Dawson County, GA |
|
| |
Last Known : Unkown |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Traits |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Case Story |
|
| |
Police Arrest Man Believed To Be Last Seen With Hiker |
|
| |
Meredith Emerson was doing what she loved the day she went missing. New Year's Day, she left a note for her roommate saying she was going hiking with her dog, Ella, and the two were spotted on Blood Mountain in Union County, Ga. But Meredith never made it home, and as authorities searched for her, they also began to look for a 61-year-old man spotted with Meredith on a hiking trail that day.
Deputies say witnesses described a man 50 to 60 years old talking to Meredith along the trail, and police later identified him as 61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton of DeKalb County. Other hikers described him as about 160 lbs., with missing teeth and a weathered look about him, as if he'd been hiking for a while. He was wearing a yellow jacket, with a large backpack, and some sort of sheet was on one of his legs. Police say there was an unknown item inside the sheet.
Several witnesses reported seeing Hilton and Meredith talking, and say Hilton also had a dark-reddish retriever named "Dandy". Witnesses say the two let their dogs loose, chasing after them as the dogs ran ahead.
Police say Meredith's 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier was found abandoned at the base of Blood Mountain, and two water bottles and a dog leash belonging to Meredith were found near a trail. A police-style baton and dog treats were also found near the trail, and investigators say Hilton was known to carry a police-style baton while he hiked. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Person of Interest Found, Charges Filed |
|
| |
On Friday January 4, police say two people saw a man matching Hilton's description in a white van at a gas station in DeKalb County, Ga. When police arrived, they found Hilton trying to vacuum out his van and wash portions of it with a bleach and water solution. An arrest warrant also shows on Friday, Meredith's dog, Ella, was found wandering around a grocery store parking lot in Forsyth County.
Worse yet is what police found in a convenience store dumpster near the grocery store. Court papers show that some pieces of Meredith's clothing were found, soaked with substantial amounts of blood, along with her black wallet containing her University of Georgia student I.D. and her driver's license. Police also found a portion of an automobile seatbelt with what appeared to be blood on it. The warrant shows that when detectives searched Hilton's van, they discovered the rear seatbelt had been cut out.
Detectives also learned that Hilton tried to use Meredith's credit card at a Regions Bank in Canton, Ga., and have surveillance photos of Hilton at the bank. They also discovered that Hilton used a pay phone at the convenience store where Meredith's clothing was found.
Saturday, investigators announced they were scaling back the search for Meredith, calling it a recovery effort and saying they believed Meredith was no longer alive. Monday, prosecutors charged Hilton with kidnapping with bodily injury, and Hilton was denied bond.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Hours Later, Searchers Found Meredith's Body |
|
| |
Later that night, investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations announced that residents had reported seeing Hilton's van in the Dawson Forest Management Area, and teams had focused their search there. Then, authorities say, Hilton directed them to Meredith's body. She was found about 7:30 p.m. on January 7, 2008. An autopsy determined she died from blunt force trauma to the head, and she was decapitated after she was killed.
Local and federal agencies from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida are now working together to determine if there could be a connection between Meredith's case and others, including that of an elderly couple who went missing while hiking in North Carolina, and the case of a murdered hiker in Florida.
In the North Carolina case, searchers found Irene Bryant's body near a trail three weeks after her and her husband, John, went hiking. An autopsy showed she had been killed by a blow to her head. Detectives then learned someone wearing a yellow windbreaker used the Bryants' ATM card at a Tennessee bank 130 miles away. Then February 4, 2008, an autopsy confirmed that bones found in the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County, Ga. belonged to John Bryant. Police believe Hilton murdered the Bryants, but they are building their case while Hilton sits in prison on a life sentence for pleading guilty to killing Meredith Emerson.
Authorities in Florida have also charged Hilton with the murder of 46-year-old Cheryl Dunlap. Dunlap's body was found in the Apalachicola National Forest near Tallahassee December 15. Just as in the Bryant's and in Meredith's case, the suspect used Dunlap's ATM card. Leon County Sheriff's deputies say they have confirmed Hilton was in the area on two separate occasions between November and December. Prosecutors charged Hilton with one count of murder, one county of kidnapping and two counts of grand theft in Dunlap's case.
Hilton is currently serving a life sentence for Emerson's murder. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|