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

[Alex]

Pure Maple Syrup, US 19 and US 129 are routes which at that point lie on the same roadbed. Whichever number you use, it's the same road (see Google Maps.) "Seen following her on the trail" is not explicit enough since there are three separate trails in the area at the foot of the mountain. One (the AT) leads directly to the store; one (the Bird Trail) is the one her roommate said she had planned to hike; the other is the AT access trail to the Reece Loop. My remarks were meant to describe a hypothesis consistent with a store clerk saying he/she saw Meredith walking ahead of Hilton at some distance and Hilton having his baton out in his hand. If the store clerk were in the store the only explanation would have to be that Meredith was seen approaching US 19/129. How she got back towards her car is at issue. Having arrived at the store, would she hike back upslope on the AT to the secluded AT access trail? Maybe... if she and Hilton had become fond acquaintances. But, No... if she was in flight from him. If she was comfortable with him why would she be walking "some distance" ahead of him? and why would he have his baton out and in his hand? HIlton probably would not have known where she had parked her car. Sometimes dayhikers ignore the signs posted and park at the store anyway, especially if the store is closed. The clerk could have been closing up, doing inventory, or something. Could Hilton have been thinking of taking her right there and using her car to get away in? Perhaps the matter could be settled if we knew upon which of the three trails the ex-cop found her water bottle and sunglasses. And where, on the Reece Loop in relationship to her car, the leash and baton were found. But...Incomplete info.

I repeat, I am not advancing what is a proven description by any means. It is only one possible scenario consistent with the incomplete reports I have at hand.

The fact no one came forward with a story of a hiker hiking down US 129 near a hikers' store would not be remarkable to me. Given the reckless the way the locals drive that highway, I would be surprised if they even noticed themselves.

 

[Alex]

I've begun to suspect that I know what the problem may be. You all live far away and have no inkling of how many stories we locals here were deluged with that day that Meredith was declared missing. I must have heard an on-the-scene, local TV report every hour that day. All sorts of supposed "facts" and "details" were spewed out. Who knows what was right and wrong? All I could do, given my daily tasks, (I'm caring for my parents, two 91 year olds, at home), was listen when I could to the TV which stayed on while I was in and out of the room. I'm a pretty keen observer, I think, having majored in biology and chemistry, and I think, even with my diminishing capacities, that I heard the stories right. Those of you who are far away in Chicago or Timbuktu, would not have been flooded with such detail and may be bewildered by new or conflicting information I have tried to point to here. All I can do is say I'm sorry. I'm doing the best I can.

 

[Tallytowngirl]

Maybe... if she and Hilton had become fond acquaintances. But, No... if she was in flight from him. If she was comfortable with him why would she be walking "some distance" ahead of him? and why would he have his baton out and in his hand?

I wonder where Hilton parked his van? I can't imagine it was in the store parking lot, esp. of the store were open.

And how on earth did he persuade Meredith to get into the van with him? I figure he'd knocked her cold and dumped her in it... but if Meredith were a distance away from him, and all he had was the baton, how did he get close enough to do that?

I wonder if he got hold of Ella somehow?

 

[Native New Yorker]

I think that she never did have Ella back on the leash, and ran without her, planning to just get away, get Ella later....there would have been NO time to reach down an unleash a leashed dog...
Trust me, I have seen many people in dog parks who are unable to catch their unleashed dogs when they wish to leave
Anyway, I think that he got Ella to come to him, because she was with Dandy, and he used her as a threat to get Meredith to get in his van somehow...
the whole thing just horrifies me...it all must have unraveled so fast...

I also wonder if someone saw something, and just assumed it was a "domestic" perhaps father and daughter...you know, people are often afraid ( fear? politeness?) to get involved!!!

 

[Tallytowngirl]

Anyway, I think that he got Ella to come to him, because she was with Dandy, and he used her as a threat to get Meredith to get in his van somehow...

Exactly what I'm afraid happened... Dandy was well trained, and Ella is a puppy. she'd have followed Dandy, I'm pretty sure. Hilton calls Dandy into the van, Ella follows, Meredith is in despair and goes close to try and get her puppy back, Hilton pulls her into the van and slams the door shut...

I also wonder if someone saw something, and just assumed it was a "domestic" perhaps father and daughter...you know, people are often afraid ( fear? politeness?) to get involved!!!

Didn't somebody post something about that here on Websleuths just recently? That when there are more people around, everyone "assumes" that others will intercept and so nobody does...

 

[Native New Yorker]

I am making a personal promise to myself to get involved, somehow,if I ever see anything creepy.... without risking my own safety...perhaps asking a dumb question...I would have asked either GMH or Meredith what kind of dog they had, anything to be able to stop and assess...
they say that if you witness a child being mistreated in public, that you should try to intervene, without directly addressing the abuse...try and distract the parent somehow...

Could this have been Southern politeness at work? Without generalizing, I know that here in Chicago, people are sometimes too quick to speak up...and have witnessed several public spats...in higher class areas, too...
woe betide you if you cut into a line, too!!!

a big however, though...I grew up in NYC, and was old enough to have heard of the horrifying Kitty Genovese case...a young woman stabbed to death in an alley, screaming, and not one neighbor went to her aid...hearing about that made a huge impression on me....

 

[Native New Yorker]

From Wiki:"Solitary individuals will typically intervene if another person is in need of help: this is known as bystander intervention. However, researchers were surprised to find that help is less likely to be given if more people are present. In some situations, a large group of bystanders may fail to help a person who obviously needs help. An example which shocked many people is the Kitty Genovese case. Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in 1964 by a serial rapist and murderer. The murder took place over a period of about a half hour, after which it was reported that dozens of alleged "witnesses" failed to help the victim. For this reason, the name Genovese syndrome or Genovese effect was used to describe the phenomenon at the time. In 1972, Dr. Wolfgang Friedmann, professor of law at Columbia University, was murdered in broad daylight and bled to death on the sidewalk. The death of Deletha Word near Detroit in 1995 after witnesses failed to thwart her attackers, as well as the James Bulger murder case, may have been other well-publicized cases of the effect."

 

[panglossian]

From Wiki:"Solitary individuals will typically intervene if another person is in need of help: this is known as bystander intervention. However, researchers were surprised to find that help is less likely to be given if more people are present. In some situations, a large group of bystanders may fail to help a person who obviously needs help. An example which shocked many people is the Kitty Genovese case. Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in 1964 by a serial rapist and murderer. The murder took place over a period of about a half hour, after which it was reported that dozens of alleged "witnesses" failed to help the victim. For this reason, the name Genovese syndrome or Genovese effect was used to describe the phenomenon at the time. In 1972, Dr. Wolfgang Friedmann, professor of law at Columbia University, was murdered in broad daylight and bled to death on the sidewalk. The death of Deletha Word near Detroit in 1995 after witnesses failed to thwart her attackers, as well as the James Bulger murder case, may have been other well-publicized cases of the effect."

I had been hit on the side of the head by my ex as we exited a crowded concert. Hundreds saw me on the ground bleeding from the ear as he walked away. No one helped me up, one woman asked if I was alright as she continued walking. I was very dazed and got into the ladies room and asked someone to find one of the LE. Now, I had never been struck in my life before this and this alone stunned me on another level.
I think GMH struck Meredith enough to stun her and helped her walk into his van. I don't believe from what I have read of her background that, like me, she had ever been struck before. I don't think she was watching for it or expected it, so it wouldn't matter where he was in relative position to her. I think the Ella was still dragging her leash around in the parking lot and was very easy to lead into the van. My opinion.

 

[Pure Maple Syrup]

I think the Ella was still dragging her leash around in the parking lot and was very easy to lead into the van. My opinion.

I knw theres a lot of mis-info and stuff out there, but two facts have consistenly been reported as fact since day one. One is that the dog leash, treats, water bottles, etc were found ON THE TRAIL a short distance from the parking area. That means that Ella could not have been walking on-leash on the road near Walasi-yi nor could have been dragging her leash around the parking area.

The other fact is that the same person who saw Hilton following Meredith down the trail was concerned enough that when he got back down to the parking area, he took down the plate numbers of the vehicles there. Those vehicles included Hiltons and Emersons.

Based on those, it appears that the most reasonable scenario is that Hilton did something up on the trail to cause Emerson to drop all of those items. Then, somehow, they all ended up down at the parking area and Hilton somehow got them all into his van and drove away. How he did these things, we'll never know unless he confesses.

 

[Native New Yorker]

I had been hit on the side of the head by my ex as we exited a crowded concert. Hundreds saw me on the ground bleeding from the ear as he walked away. No one helped me up, one woman asked if I was alright as she continued walking. I was very dazed and got into the ladies room and asked someone to find one of the LE. Now, I had never been struck in my life before this and this alone stunned me on another level.
I think GMH struck Meredith enough to stun her and helped her walk into his van. I don't believe from what I have read of her background that, like me, she had ever been struck before. I don't think she was watching for it or expected it, so it wouldn't matter where he was in relative position to her. I think the Ella was still dragging her leash around in the parking lot and was very easy to lead into the van. My opinion.

I am truly sorry that you had such an awful experience. That is sad. Glad he is now your ex.

I agree about Meredith, except for the part about the leash, and I think that Maple Syrup is on target about that.....

 

[Tallytowngirl]

From Wiki:"Solitary individuals will typically intervene if another person is in need of help: this is known as bystander intervention. However, researchers were surprised to find that help is less likely to be given if more people are present. In some situations, a large group of bystanders may fail to help a person who obviously needs help.

Thanks NNY! I hadn't any idea that there was an actual psychological explanation for it. After reading your post, I did a bit of Googling, and found this bit: (it's only a theory, but it makes sense)

Bystanders go through a five-step process, during each of which they can decide to do nothing.

• Notice the event (or be in a hurry and not notice).
• Realize the emergency (or assume that as others are not acting, it is not an emergency).
• Assume responsibility (or assume that others will do this).
• Know what to do (or not)
• Act (or worry about danger, legislation, embarrassment, etc.)

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/bystander_effect.htm

sorry, getting a bit off topic here... But it explains so much!

I like your personal promise, NNY, to intervene. I know I've been guilty of looking around to see if anybody else is doing anything, and when I see no one is, I assume that nothing's wrong. Now I know that's not something to assume.

 

[Alex]

http://www,ajc.com/metro/content/me...eedays_0201.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

I got to hand it to you, Pure Maple Syrup, you've got more consistent news sources than I. I never heard any two reports that were the same about where the items were found. But apparently Meredith WAS fooled by him till the last second. At least she put up a hell of a fight after that.

 

[Alex]

Dang! Looks like the url was too long for the system, went into two lines and wouldn't wrap. Sorry. Just go to ajc.com and put Meredith Emerson in the search engine and you'll find the article dated tonight.

 

[sweetmop]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/me...eedays_0201.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Does this link work?

 

[sweetmop]

Thanks Alex.

Looks like Meredith put up one hell of a fight!
And she never gave the monster her pin number!
If only that story had ended differently.
God bless her.

 

[Alex]

And, poor Ella!... Ella must have been with Meredith the whole time Hilton was torturing her for the PIN's. This is all so hard to take.

Thanks, sweetmop, for helping straighten out the link.

 

[galvino]

This absolutely breaks my heart. Sweetmop- I live in Hooterville as you do. Freakishly, I am from T'hasee (where Cheryl is from) and lived in Marietta when this guy lived there as well- I got my 1st doggie not long ago,(he is a setter like Dandy), so all of this is eerie.

Regardless, I am absolutely heartbroken for this special young lady and her family. As long as I have been following 'cases' on ws, I have never been as affected as I have been by Meredith's tragic death. I so hope that Leon County and/or Transylvania cty can force this to actually speak up and ADMIT to what he has done.

 

[Alex]

Panglossian, about what happened to you at the concert--I would like to apologize for the miserable creatures in the gender I belong to, but there' no amount of words...I hope you got the guy prosecuted.

 

[panglossian]

Thank you Alex and Native New Yorker regarding my ex. That is ancient history with lessons learned. When we haven't been given sufficient facts in these cases, we are forced to draw upon our own experiences and see if there's a fit somewhere to fill in the blanks.

I just know he will clam up on the other killings. I'm sure that living in the woods was getting old and now he has a warm bed, food and shower. Why rock the boat. But no Dandy.

I am so sad for this family knowing what he did to their beautiful vibrant daughter and knowing that he will live. Each day he lives really belonged to Meredith.

 

[Pure Maple Syrup]

Any word on where he will be sent to serve out his sentence? I wonder if they can arrange for his to be in solitary at a supermax...make conditions so harsh that Hilton will offer up more confessions in return for some privileges or seeing Dandy or something.