Read this - Post from another hiker- details about GMH a bit..

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I get Gary L. Hilton at 812 N. Center Street in Warsaw, NC; and a birthday of 9/1/1947. Can't find much more about the Florida address.

JinxieJada said:
Wanted everyone to see these before they got buried, in case the location ring a bell with someone -


I ran the name that's out there as possiby belonging to his ex wife (ursual hilton is what I ran, in florida..nothing so far on her coming up)


Gary Hilton
DOB N/A
14578 River Beach Drive # 215
Port Charlotte, Fl, 33953

North Carolina addy

Gary Hilton
DOB N/A
812 N Center Street
Warsaw, NC 28398

Got a hit for South Carolina,

No address, just a city, phone number and his name though.



*even though DOB is not available, this name is the only one that came up when I included the DOB so I don't know what to take on it* nothing coming up in Alabama, nor Penn...what other states should I be looking at?
anyone else find/seen these?
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9/1 is a default dd/mm in a lot of databases, probably the same one I found.
 
Name:Gary M HiltonGender:Male Spouse's Name:UrsualDivorce Date:10 Dec 1971County:Miami-Dade Certificate Number:040460
 
I read on Steve Huff site Hilton's dob is 11/22/46 - Ted Bundy born exactly two days later.

The stuff you guys are digging up on the trailblogs is fascinating!
 
happy2bn10ec said:
http://www.traildays.info/index3.html

Here's a link for anyone with some time on their hands who wants to look through pictures from Trail Days - it's a festival they have every year in Damascus and there are thousands and thousands of hikers there every year. It's like a big hiker reunion - lots of people plan their hikes so they will be in Damascus during that week. Some people even hike on past and come back for it. Anyway, I think there are lots of links to albums on here from different years, so maybe one of us can find him there...ya never know!
Click to expand...

Ive went through the bottom three sets of photos - they all appear to be in groups for the event though. I have a lovely poster who I've befriended on Whiteblaze who is sending me some links to look though for photos from Trailbloggers on The GA trails...I have a feeling we're going to see him and possibly dandy in at least one...No guarantees just that gut hunch....
 
Beyond Belief said:
Name:Gary M HiltonGender:Male Spouse's Name:UrsualDivorce Date:10 Dec 1971County:Miami-Dade Certificate Number:040460
Click to expand...

Incidentally, his ex's name is misspelled in the records. It was Ursula. Her maiden name was Gros, and she may have originally been a German national. It appears as though she married two more times and died in 2001, after an extended illness.

Steve
 
Not sure if this has been posted anywhere yet.

I didn't think that what we already knew of this horrible crime could get any worse, but this article shows otherwise...

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15011719/detail.html



I pray for Meredith's family, that God give them an abundence of strength to get through this nightmare!
 
Reannan said:
I just about jumped up out of my chair at that comment about having used the computer at the library!!! From what I have seen on tape of Hilton, and from the interactions of people who have encountered him, he is brazen and confrontational. Using a computer at the library makes perfect sense. LE need to know about this possibility also, because like us, they may not be searching for an internet account since he was "homeless". Big mistake - even the homeless in America can be connected to the world via the net. :doh:
Click to expand...


In some areas, The homeless even have voicemail! I'll try to dig up the article but it was about making them more productive ie - being able to call on housing, benefits, jobs etc. Do we know if he didn't have one of these? It wasn't a city/county type program it was nationwide (IIRC) paid for by a homeless nonprofit group.
 
I live near the AT in Georgia, and I have hiked this section many times. I know of a Cooper Gap on the AT near Blood Mountain, where Meredith was taken. (But for all I know, there may be a Cooper Gap in Pennsylvania!) Down here, the sequence goes like this: Cooper Gap, Gooch Gap, Woody Gap, Jarrad Gap, Freeman Bird Trail WSW trailhead, Slaughter Gap, Blood Mtn summit, Mountain Crossings Store at Walasi-yi (Neel's Gap), and, altogether, this represents, if memory serves, about 25 miles.

I tried to read all the posts, but I may have missed something. You may already have this article from the Gainesville Times in north Georgia, which discusses how Hilton's presence on the AT, at Gooch Gap especially, was known to LE for the past nine months!

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/2551

In case I got the url messed up, the article discusses how hikers complained of Hilton "taking over" the Gooch Gap shelter, spreading his stuff around, running them out when the through-hikers tried to stay there, and so forth.

To me it's a mystery why LE didn't hide out and lay some binocs on him in order to roll him up for "disorderly conduct" and toss his van. I thought if you were an ex-con, LE doesn't need a search warrant. Does any one know about this? If Luminol had turned something up in that van, Meredith would still be with us, maybe!...Unbelievably sad!

I'm thinking of heading up there this weekend to see if any the coves around Gooch Gap shelter have anything unpleasant buried in the leaves. If LE didn't bestir themselves for nine months prior to Meredith's tragedy, I wonder how much, really, they've bestirred themselves since.

By the way, did anyone hear a story about a "store clerk" seeing Hilton walking behind Meredith "near the trailhead" with his baton in hand? I have that in my notes, but missing the attribution. I wouldn't have thought the store would be open on New Year's Day. Have to check on that because the trail to Reece Loop, where her car was parked, is at the end of a different trail from the one that leads to Mountain Crossings Store at Walasi-yi. If she was seen walking to the store, it may have meant that, suddenly, finally, she'd gotten scared and was obeying martial arts rule number one: get to a public place if you can.
 
Alex said:
I live near the AT in Georgia, and I have hiked this section many times. I know of a Cooper Gap on the AT near Blood Mountain, where Meredith was taken. (But for all I know, there may be a Cooper Gap in Pennsylvania!) Down here, the sequence goes like this: Cooper Gap, Gooch Gap, Woody Gap, Jarrad Gap, Freeman Bird Trail WSW trailhead, Slaughter Gap, Blood Mtn summit, Mountain Crossings Store at Walasi-yi (Neel's Gap), and, altogether, this represents, if memory serves, about 25 miles.

I tried to read all the posts, but I may have missed something. You may already have this article from the Gainesville Times in north Georgia, which discusses how Hilton's presence on the AT, at Gooch Gap especially, was known to LE for the past nine months!

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/2551

In case I got the url messed up, the article discusses how hikers complained of Hilton "taking over" the Gooch Gap shelter, spreading his stuff around, running them out when the through-hikers tried to stay there, and so forth.

To me it's a mystery why LE didn't hide out and lay some binocs on him in order to roll him up for "disorderly conduct" and toss his van. I thought if you were an ex-con, LE doesn't need a search warrant. Does any one know about this? If Luminol had turned something up in that van, Meredith would still be with us, maybe!...Unbelievably sad!

I'm thinking of heading up there this weekend to see if any the coves around Gooch Gap shelter have anything unpleasant buried in the leaves. If LE didn't bestir themselves for nine months prior to Meredith's tragedy, I wonder how much, really, they've bestirred themselves since.

By the way, did anyone hear a story about a "store clerk" seeing Hilton walking behind Meredith "near the trailhead" with his baton in hand? I have that in my notes, but missing the attribution. I wouldn't have thought the store would be open on New Year's Day. Have to check on that because the trail to Reece Loop, where her car was parked, is at the end of a different trail from the one that leads to Mountain Crossings Store at Walasi-yi. If she was seen walking to the store, it may have meant that, suddenly, finally, she'd gotten scared and was obeying martial arts rule number one: get to a public place if you can.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that link-I for one hadn't seen it and it contains good information.
 
Welcome Alex!
And thank you for your great post and for the link.It breaks my heart that Meredith Emerson couldn't have beed saved from the horrors I'm sure she endured prior to the creep murdering her! Sad!

Alex, be safe when you are out there!
 
I appreciate the welcome, and will do my best to behave myself. Don't hesitate to tell me if I break the rules. I have admired you folks' smarts since a google alert link took me over here after Meredith's tragedy. I surfed through a bunch of similar sites, but IMO you guys are the best. As I recall, some of you had GMH's whole criminal history posted, while for the next two days, local LE and the press were still scratching their heads, saying, "Who is Gary Hilton? We've got nothing on him!"

Local press here is saying the GBI (real cops) are plowing up the woods with a vengeance in those areas where GMH camped, so my wife and brother have prevailed on me to keep my nose out of there...for the time being. I guess I'll stay at home and paint the stairs or something.

It did dawn on me why GMH chose to base himself out of that particular shelter, but I suspect the mods wouldn't want me to post that, since it would amount to a primer for copycats. Dang! But take my word for it, we need to tell the ATC to tear that shelter down and move it!
 
Welcome to WS - Alex!!

your quote:
I thought if you were an ex-con, LE doesn't need a search warrant. Does any one know about this?

Actually - if you are on parole or on probation - then YES! Police can search ANYTHING of yours... house, car, or your person!! :eek:
 
Alex said:
It did dawn on me why GMH chose to base himself out of that particular shelter, but I suspect the mods wouldn't want me to post that, since it would amount to a primer for copycats. Dang! But take my word for it, we need to tell the ATC to tear that shelter down and move it!
Click to expand...
Why not just post it and let the mods remove it if that's the way they feel?

I personally don't think the ATC needs to be tearing anything down just b/c of Hilton. There are tons of shelters on the AT that attract unsavory locals, partyers, etc. Knowledgable hikers know to avoid these and many thruhikers avoid all shelters as a rule anyway...
 
Alex said:
You may already have this article from the Gainesville Times in north Georgia, which discusses how Hilton's presence on the AT, at Gooch Gap especially, was known to LE for the past nine months!

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/2551
Click to expand...

Quote from that article:

"And after Hilton’s photo appeared in the media, many people recognized him. "Lots of my customers are now saying, ‘Yeah, I ran into that guy.’" Porter said. "One customer said they met him on the trail Saturday (the day after Emerson is believed to have been killed)."
"
Not possible. Hilton was arrested Friday night, the same day he killed Emerson. He was in custody on Saturday.
 
I just want to say that this thread has some great sleuthing going on!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:​

I think all of it ought to be printed out and mailed to the police in that area, or e-mails should be sent. Those are some creepy encounters!

I never would have thought to read online trail journals, even though I've read Bill Bryce's Appalachian Trail book twice!

As for hikers using the library - I'm sure that's true. Homeless people use libraries in every town and city, and that's a good reason not to ever leave your purse or valuables on a table and walk away from it. (I used to work in a library.)

This case has scared me half to death. I live near that area, and drive through there all the time. My family always stops at scenic overlooks, and we've definitely had some strange encounters with trucks circling the parking lots.

This guy seems to have stayed near the main roads, but there are some really remote places around. I keep thinking of the Cherohala Skyway between TN and NC - a long, lonely stretch of road with alot of overlooks. We drove it once in early spring and we were about the only people there, and now I realize just how vulnerable we were - it makes me shiver. I love the woods and I've lived around here all my life, but I'll never really feel too safe again.
 
Pure Maple Syrup, Great catch! You'd think the journalist herself would have seen the discrepancy. She's got an email address up there. Maybe one of us should email and ask her. "What's up with that?" Maybe she just mis-thought when she was typing it up. Or maybe the hiker quoted meant the Saturday BEFORE New Year's Day--I have in MY notes that the store staff had been unnerved by Hilton's seedy presence at the trailhead for two or three days prior. ... Or maybe frightened people will be seeing Hilton on the trail for decades after the plunger gets pushed.

I didn't just go ahead and post that stuff about the GG shelter because I didn't think the mods would be up at 2 am when I was able to get the post together.

It is important to this thread--and I know we're supposed to stay on the thread-- because if we're looking for other missing hikers and other encounters with Hilton on the trail, we ought to draw up the best picture we can of his MO. Without being too specific about GG, let me say that I think we are looking for entries near road crossings at the AT, the faster and harder the road, the more secluded the road, the better. The serial killer literature--I wish there were no such a thing--seems to suggest that serial killers like to hang around trailheads. Whack 'em quick, toss 'em in the van, speed away! Does anyone know how far from the trailhead Irene Bryant's body was found? One can only surmise that Hilton forced John back to the parking area so he could keep him tied up, riding around in his van, until he extracted a workable PIN number. A map of those trails up there near Bryson would be informative, but, unfortunately, the bulk of my USGS maps pertain to Georgia, so I may not have anything to offer on that point.

In Georgia, we are looking for Gooch Gap entries and Cooper Gap entries and Hawk Mtn entries in the trail journals...those are CLOSEST to a fast dirt backroad. Maybe Plumorchard Gap and Low Gap, also. (There may be one or two others, but, due to a housekeeping debacle, I have been unable to access my notes.) I think the trail entry already cited for Cooper Gap is definitely him and not just because of the proximity to Gooch Gap. It just sounds like him. I used to work as a psychiatric attendant, a thousand years ago, but the instincts I had to develop then still serve me. His complaining about his knees(?), all that "I am not harmless" schmooz, and the rest, really sounds just like him. But the other journal entry, the one from VA, the one with the songs about Jesus and the Devil...that's someone else. Hilton is not someone who worries about his relationship TO God; Hilton thinks he IS God and no doubt about it.

Thanks for the info about parole and probation versus time-served. Am I correct, though, that ex-convicts cannot possess any klnd of weapon? Is the baton considered a weapon? Also, in the deputy's dashboard video encounter, did that deputy run his tag and not just his driver's license? If the stolen tag was on his van at that point, wouldn't it have had to match the driver's name and vehicle VIN number? What would LE do if an obvious trespasser were to refuse to let his bag be checked for weapons? Would the refusal itself constitute "probable cause"? How come the VIN/ Tag mismatch didn't raise a red flag? I just can't accept that this spider slipped through every net!

I don't know where the rest of you all are located, but here in GA, the local papers have begun to run stories about LE rounding up homeless people and throwing their tarps and gear into the back of sanitation trucks. County plans to build a homeless shelter, finally. I guess where there's a will, they can find a law.

One final word. I seem to recall someone saying that experienced hikers know how to avoid the "party shelters" or something like that--Was Hilton giving a party?. ( Forgive me if I got it wrong.) I've got to say that in forty years of hiking those mountains, with far too much time on that carnival road, the AT, I somehow lost my former, "Life is dangerous,--so what!" philosophy. Because, before I started hiking exclusively off-trail, I saw so many really pitiful souls sallying forth so hopefully on that damned AT, with their boots still unbroken-in and with them never having even spent the night in their backyard, and myself having read so many of their shelter journal entries saying, " I cried all night", that I just can't hike away with the all-purose motto, "Well, it's not my problem!" If we are the ones with the experience, and if it's our bravado (mostly false) that has called these lonely gawky folks out here in search of "character-building" and "adventure", it must be our responsibility to look out for them a little bit, don't you think?
 
Alex said:
One final word. I seem to recall someone saying that experienced hikers know how to avoid the "party shelters" or something like that--Was Hilton giving a party?. ( Forgive me if I got it wrong.)
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Re: shelters. There are numerous shelters on the AT that are well-known to the AT hiker community to be "trouble spots". By that I mean shelters which, due to their proximity to a road or town, attract partying locals/teenagers, etc who go there to drink, raise hell, etc. There is an entire area of whiteblaze.net devoted to discussion of each shelter, BTW.

I checked there, no mention of Hilton at all, or any partying/trouble at Gooch. As far as what he was doing there, well, he was homeless, and Gooch Gap Shelter is a relatively new, modern, clean shelter (I stayed there myself last spring during my hike). He had to stay somewhere. It's also a place from which he could pick and choose potential victims as they hiked past. Alex, do you have other info or ideas why he choose Gooch?
 
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