Georgia - This one isn’t looking too good. Meredith Emerson, 24, was last seen when she took her dog for a hike on New Years Day. Authorities were notified when Emerson failed to show up for work. Her 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier was found early Wednesday at a trail head at the foot of Blood Mountain, a part of Georgia’s section of the Appalachian Trail. A dog’s leash, water bottle, and pair of sunglasses were found near near the car.
WitnessesWitnesses reviews
reported seeing the man talking to Emerson. Authorities now want to identify and talk to that man. He is described as a silver-haired, white male about 60 years old, perhaps with missing teeth. The man was wearing a yellow jacket and carrying a backpack and had a dark red-colored large-breed dog answered to the man’s call of “Dandy.” The man may be driving a white minivan with Georgia license plates.
Emerson is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall and 120 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. She is athletic and fit, experienced at hiking an a blue belt in martial arts.
Update:
Police are searching for Gary Michael Hilton, 60. According to investigators, Hilton owns two vehicles, both registered in DeKalb County: a white 1996 Chevrolet Astro Van with plate number 76APZ, and a white 2001 Chevrolet Astro Van with license plate number AFQ1310.
12:02 pm on January 4th, 2008
Quick update to story, person of interest named. Thanks again, Heather.
1:05 pm on January 4th, 2008
I am so worried about this girl, the area she is lost in is about 2 hrs. north of where I live. It has been very cold here this week. This guy looks creepy and has the old white van that seems pretty normal is abduction cases. Another example of never talk to strangers.
1:44 pm on January 4th, 2008
Rosie, when you hike though and you see a fellow hiker, with a back pack on, looking rugged, sometimes it is a relief to see another face, depending on how long you’ve been hiking, but usually for me, it is nice seeing another person at one with nature….I guess it’s almost a “risk” you take heading out into the woods. I know I never fear the woods or the beasts in it, it’s always wondering if some crazed dude will come at me with a fucking ax or something. I guess if he has a backpack, yep, I’d probably say “hi” first. *rolls eyes*
Now that was one helpful comment, right?
1:59 pm on January 4th, 2008
Hey Hippy, I understand that and I am a stranger attracter for some reason, maybe because I smile at everyone I meet – makes life easier it seems. When the story first broke and they mentioned they saw her and a guy was behind her with a police type baton I was like “why have a baton in the woods” so I immediately thought something bad had happened to her.
3:28 pm on January 4th, 2008
Well, at least it is supposed to warm up today and through the weekend. Maybe with some luck, they will find the poor girl alive. It doesn’t look good, with the water bottle and dog leash being found at the car. Sounds like she never started her walk. Prayers for her safe return.
5:48 pm on January 4th, 2008
They are now thinking the guy their looking for may have something to do with the missing older couple that were hiking in the North Carolina mountains which isn’t far from where she was hiking. A guy in a yellow jacket was seen trying to use the older ladies ATM card.
6:32 pm on January 4th, 2008
So it could be the same dude, huh? God I hope they find this guy. I also hope they find this young sister alive, but damn, it doesn’t look good.
7:24 pm on January 4th, 2008
She did start her hike, Pooh. The reason they’re looking for this particular guy is that witnesses saw them walking together and talking along the trail. Also, they released their dogs and the dogs were running together.
Since it was said they “released” their dogs, I’m thinking she had the leash during the hike. And the water bottle, since she’s an experienced hiker. If the water bottle and leash were near the car at the trailhead, that tells me something happened as they got back to the trailhead apres hike…
7:45 pm on January 4th, 2008
has anyone here seen broken? the one about the serial killer abducting the woman and keeping her in the woods to cook/clean for him?
that poor woman, i will be praying that they find her and that she is safe. Though how does a 60 year old man overpower someone that is fit and a blue belt, with a dog to protect her no less?
9:06 pm on January 4th, 2008
I’m thinking a weapon.
9:10 pm on January 4th, 2008
you are right, duh
9:16 pm on January 4th, 2008
Wasn’t trying to be a smart pants…but I was thinking all along, I bet this guy had a gun hid….or a knife….but my feeling is more of a gun. He probably befriended her, as any hiker would do to another hiker in the woods, and then took advantage of the fact she was human and he is an asshole. (well… if this dude even had anything to do with it….which I’m sure he did) He got her trust up and then bam….pulled out the gun and took control. Again only speculation and a feeling.
9:25 pm on January 4th, 2008
didnt think you were, just shaking my head at myself
ur right, of course, other people saw them talking and the dogs playing together, she probably got comfortable and he took advantage of that. How many people think a 60 year old man with a dog is going to attack them? I know I wouldn’t. He probably wouldnt have given me the creeps cause I would have looked at him as a grandpa.
9:52 pm on January 4th, 2008
Yeah, remember how Ted Bundy got his victims to relax by wearing a fake cast on his arm? He’d pretend to have trouble carrying something, the nice young woman would help him, they’d get to his car in a secluded area, he’d bang her on the head with the cast. Weapon and decoy in one item.
You can bet if this old man was involved, he made sure to have what it needed to take out his victim quickly. Maybe a stout walking stick to help his arthritic old legs, then “Whack!”
10:55 pm on January 4th, 2008
HEADS UP!!!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/04/missing.hiker/index.html
Man last seen with missing hiker found
Agents will soon question the man last seen with a hiker missing since Tuesday in the north Georgia mountains, officials said. Gary Michael Hilton was found by police at a gas station north of Atlanta, an investigator said. Meredith Emerson’s dog, Ella, has also been found, after wandering into a supermarket about 50 miles from the hiking trail. The search for Emerson, 24, will continue in the morning.
Dog found 50 miles away? I have a baaaad feeling…..
11:04 pm on January 4th, 2008
Yeah, this is not going to end well at all.
11:31 pm on January 4th, 2008
To borrow an expression…..Damn Damn Double Damn!!
12:25 am on January 5th, 2008
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320309,00.html
Police Find Person of Interest Who Last Saw Missing Georgia Hiker, Rescuers Continue to Search for Her
Friday, January 04, 2008
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MyFoxAtlanta.com
Gary Michael Hilton of suburban Atlanta is believed to be the last person seen with missing hiker Meredith Emerson
Gary Michael Hilton of suburban Atlanta is believed to be the last person seen with missing hiker Meredith Emerson
BLAIRSVILLE, Ga. — Police on Friday were questioning a man they called a “person of interest” in the disappearance of a 24-year-old hiker from a state park in northern Georgia.
Gary Michael Hilton, who was reportedly seen with Meredith Emerson several times on New Year’s Day, was picked up at a convenience store in an Atlanta suburb by DeKalb County police and taken for questioning at a Georgia Bureau of Investigation office, Union County investigator Kimberly Verdone said.
Click here for more from MyFOXAtlanta.com.
“Meredith was not with him,” Verdone said. “Six four-man search and rescue teams are in the woods right now searching for her.”
Meanwhile, Emerson’s black Labrador retriever, “Ella,” missing since Tuesday, when friends said Emerson took the dog hiking, was found at a grocery store in Forsyth County. The dog wandered to the store, at least 40 miles from where Emerson’s car was discovered abandoned on Wednesday, and was identified by an implanted microchip, Verdone said.
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Person of Interest Named as Search for Missing Georgia Hiker Continues Emerson’s car was found at the base of Blood Mountain, and authorities also found a water bottle and a dog leash that belonged to her.
Clear weather Friday allowed helicopters to join rescue workers and canine teams in the search for Emerson.
Fifteen professional search and rescue teams were searching for Emerson and volunteers were asked to pass out fliers instead of searching on the trails, said Verdone. The searchers were combing a 400 square mile area of rugged terrain.
Emerson’s roommate, Julia Karrenbauer, said as many as 100 friends and family members have come to Vogel State Park to aid in the search. Emerson’s father, Dave Emerson of Longmont, Colo., headed to the mountain trails Friday with rescue workers.
“They’re frightened, scared and we’re all very hopeful,” Karrenbauer said of Emerson’s parents. “We’re all trying to stay really positive here. It’s been a really long three days.”
Karrenbauer said Emerson is an experienced hiker who has a blue belt in martial arts.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation declined to specify how investigators learned Hilton’s name and other details about him.
Emerson is formerly of Longmont, Colo., and recently became a resident of Buford, Ga., in suburban Atlanta.
One of Georgia’s oldest and most popular state parks, Vogel State Park is located at the base of Blood Mountain in the Chattahoochee National Forest
2:23 pm on January 5th, 2008
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14983460/detail.html
Missing Hiker’s Belongings Found In Dumpster
Police found items belonging to missing hiker Meredith Emerson in a dumpster Saturday in Cumming, outside a store where surveillance cameras captured the man investigators are calling a “person of interest” in the case.
The discovery triggered a new search for Emerson, 24, as police fanned out into a wooded area near the store searching for any clues.
The Kroger store is the same location where Emerson’s dog was found Friday night.
I just hope they find her right away….
2:27 pm on January 5th, 2008
new information:
1. some of her belongings were found in a dumpster behind the Kroger that the dog wandered up to.
2. surveillance video shows Hilton in the vicinity of the Kroger
3. he is not being cooperative with the police.
4. an acquaintance of his says that she helped him purchase a baton like the one found and that he always had it with him.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14983460/detail.html
2:29 pm on January 5th, 2008
Cagle also confirmed GBI agents are talking to investigators handling the presumed murder of two hikers in North Carolina.
John and Irene Bryant disappeared Oct. 20 while hiking in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest. Her body was found three weeks later; she had been beaten to death. Her husband is still missing.
Someone wearing a yellow jacket used the couple’s ATM card at a bank about an hour north of where Emerson was hiking.
Police say Hilton was wearing a yellow jacket when he was seen talking to Emerson.
From my link posted on #19
Looks like they are going to solve two cases.
She said Hilton always carried an expandable baton with him. Barbara ordered it for him off the Internet. A baton was found along the trail near Emerson’s water bottle and her dog’s leash.
Betcha that’s the murder weapon…in both cases.
Ugh.
2:33 pm on January 5th, 2008
sorry colomon, i think we were posting at the same time
2:40 pm on January 5th, 2008
Must be a quiet Saturday for you too MG?
No apology necessary. Creepy about the other missing hikers huh?
2:44 pm on January 5th, 2008
yeah it is creepy. I hope they find her alive but it is looking more and more like they will not.
3:08 pm on January 5th, 2008
Definitely does not sound good….Colomom….I have a feeling you’re right.
6:43 pm on January 5th, 2008
Gary Michael Hilton has been charged with kidnapping in the case of missing hiker Meredith Emerson.
7:16 pm on January 5th, 2008
Kidnapping…..so they don’t know where she is, just that he “took” her? We don’t know if she’s dead or alive??
7:23 pm on January 5th, 2008
Ok I should of read the links first. I read where their hiker dude is not cooperating with the police in where she is. Damn, I hope this turns out better than what I think it will. Maybe he has some makeshift place he’s keeping her….although police sound like they too think she’s already deceased. Damn again.
7:25 pm on January 5th, 2008
The cops must have found something, maybe in the van? I am very curious as to what they found in the garbage can described as belongings? Like, was it clothing. Maybe something bloody. They found something….
8:11 pm on January 5th, 2008
From cnn:
NEW: Search for Meredith Emerson no longer considered a rescue effort
damn, damn, damn
8:13 pm on January 5th, 2008
Am reading now that investigators do not expect to find Meredith alive (http://tinyurl.com/346mp7). The have collected considerable evidence from the van. Check out all those paper towels in the 2nd to the last video.
More video here: http://tinyurl.com/2utq84
No link to NC case? http://tinyurl.com/356hx4
Someone with the initials GMH should be having an interesting evening….can you spell INTERROGATION?
God, her poor family
10:00 pm on January 5th, 2008
Alright, maybe I don’t have a good criminal mind, but WTF. If I wanted to rape, kidnap, murder or otherwise harm a stranger, would I:
1. Make sure to be seen with intended victim repeatedly throughout the day I was going to make her disappear?
2. Stay in the vehicle that was being plastered all over the news and be sure to remain IN the very area in which I left incriminating evidence about the victim?
Uh, no. I’d be laying on a crowded beach in Florida with a rental car, or enjoying some time in NYC riding the subway…
WTF? Is this guy a criminal dunce or do I not understand crime?
10:24 pm on January 5th, 2008
I think the movies have severely exaggerated the intelligence of the majority of criminals. For the most part, they are pretty much all idiots.
10:35 pm on January 5th, 2008
Ok, so let’s say stupid. Thus they make stupid mistakes. What I want to know is:
Did he think he’d get away with it?
Or do you think they just kind of give up and resign themselves after realizing the severity of what they did or the size of the manhunt, etc.?
10:50 pm on January 5th, 2008
You know what, Ruby? I think in some cases, like this one, it is a mixture of their fucked up instincts and opportunity. I don’t think they look too far ahead past the moment of doing the deed. I think they just act. The whole “not looking a gift horse in the mouth” thing.
10:55 pm on January 5th, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/05/missing.hiker/index.html
Blood-stained clothes, missing hiker’s ID found
I knew it, son-of -a-bitch….
12:16 am on January 6th, 2008
Man just read on CNN, too, Colomom. This guy’s a moron, no doubt about it. Trash can with bloody clothes and a bloody seatbelt. Cops find him vacuuming and washing his van out with bleach. Oh, guess what’s missing? Yep, a rear seatbelt cut out.
Geez-o-pete. If you’re gonna do this horrific bullshit, at least have a bit of fucking pride in your work, you know?
Damn. That van would have been at the bottom of a lake somewhere if it was me. And, as previously stated, I’d be somewhere in Chinatown in New York. Not hanging out at the convenience store where I dumped the bloody clothes.
Damn. RIP, Ms. Emerson. Glad they got the stupid bastard.
2:14 am on January 6th, 2008
yeah, he was very stupid doesnt appear smart at all. However, i have a scary thought…
he is 60, i doubt that this is the first time he has killed anyone. How many more people could he have killed in the 60 years he has been on this earth. Maybe his apparent lack of intelligence in this case is because he has done it so often and is so sure of himself that he got sloppy?
4:08 am on January 6th, 2008
MG you are probably correct on that assumption. This guy’s done this before, had to of. I wonder what all they will find when the police to a check of all his stuff and where he’s been prior to coming to that area of Georgia.
It’s sad to say, but anymore, you must be cautious of everyone. No one can be trusted, and that’s horrible. I hate living/thinking/feeling that way.
4:13 am on January 6th, 2008
well my first thought of stupid was, when bryants atm card was used and it was printed the person was wearing a yellow coat with the hood up that he would of gotten a new jacket.
The did state that a blunt object killed Mrs. Bryant so it could be the baton. Mr. Bryant is a large man but then he is in his 80’s
The say he was living in the van at the park.
There is a video at the link provided – that speaks about the connection with the missing bryant couple.
The baton may not be the only source there maybe a hunting knife – three fleece tops were found with “substantial amounts of human blood” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22513150/
Also arrested him for : which is shocking but then again there is LAWS for EVERYTHING
Hilton is already in federal custody near Atlanta, held on a warrant for failure to appear in federal court for a charge of abandoning property in a national park.
**note when watching the video let it play, there is a story about a cat haivng its ears cut off ** sick people! & if you hadnt heard already about the woman that left to go to africa that left her 15 yr old with no money to care for her other 5 kids for a few months so she could marry. They describe the filth and critters in the house.
4:15 am on January 6th, 2008
*they they they
9:56 am on January 6th, 2008
Yeah but then he would’ve had to buy a new one. Have to be practical.
11:32 am on January 6th, 2008
Last night I read somewhere that they aren’t as confident as before that Meredith’s case is related to that of the elderly couple in N.C. They weren’t totally dismissing it, but not too sure. To me, it seems that there are too many similarities, with the raincoat, blunt force trauma to head, and the use of the bank cards.
12:45 pm on January 6th, 2008
I agree Jewels, have you seen how close the two crime scenes are? To me that is a big red flag as well. Check these:
Emerson Map:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/colomom/Emerson.jpg
Bryant Map:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/colomom/Bryant.jpg
I doubt that the investigators have completely given up on this possible connection….yet.
1:21 pm on January 6th, 2008
Especially with the stolen ATM card from the NC case being used in Ducktown, TN….which is an hours drive north of Blood Mountain.
1:49 pm on January 6th, 2008
Damn, you’re right. If it turns out he doesn’t have anything to do with the Bryant’s, that is one hell of a coincidence. Remember when investigators were looking for a vehicle or two parked near the Bryant’s car? Does anyone remember what the descriptions were?
2:45 pm on January 6th, 2008
Morbid…this article talks about a pick-up (picture) truck and a motorcycle. No white van. http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20071120/NEWS/711200326
New video of Hilton: http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=5401449&version=24&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1
6:04 pm on January 6th, 2008
More evidence revealed.
The blood on the clothes they found seemed fresh. They’re trying to determine whether it was frozen, thus making it seem fresh, or whether she was alive until shortly before the clothing, etc were discovered on Friday.
They’re also investigating him in another abduction/murder from 2005 where a white van was implicated. Thatwoman didn’t turn up dead for 8 months. It’s not clear from the article if her body wasn’t discovered for that long or if she wasn’t dead until then. Creepy…
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14987205/detail.html
6:30 am on January 7th, 2008
Morbid this is two people, Mr Bryant should be in the Missing category
wife went missing oct 21 and found murdered on nov 9th almost 3 weeks
http://www.dreamindemon.com/2007/11/18/irene-bryant-murdered-john-bryant-missing/
7:04 am on January 7th, 2008
Um, hence the headline: “Irene Bryant Murdered, John Bryant Missing”. And the whole article, in which Morbid explains what you just said in some detail.
Think you got something worth saying? Type it out. If you don't wanna look lame, get rid of that default avatar and go get you a gravatar! Tell 'em Morbid sent ya'. Lastly, as far as we are concerned, posting a comment means that you have read our Disclaimer.
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