Snipet:Convicted murderer Gary Hilton's campsite found in Georgia woods
By Ashley Wilson • September 17, 2009 12:15 AM
FANNIN COUNTY, GA. — A campsite belonging to convicted murderer Gary Michael Hilton was found in northern Georgia.
Hilton is suspected in the slayings of Henderson County couple Jack and Irene Bryant, who disappeared in October 2007 while hiking near the Cradle of Forestry in Pisgah National Forest. Hilton has not been charged in their killings.
A hunter scouting for deer signs stumbled on the campsite Friday in Chattahoochee National Forest in Fannin County, Ga., near the border between Georgia and Tennessee, said Sgt. Justin Turner of the Fannin County Sheriff's Department.
The hunter contacted the U.S. Forest Service, which determined the campsite was Hilton's. He was known to frequent that area of the national forest, which is remote, Turner said.
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Gary Hilton, confessed to the abduction, torture, rape, murder, mutilation and decapitation of hiker Meredith Hope Emerson, who disappeared while on a New Year's Day hike in Vogel State Park, 01/01/08.
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From the interview of GMH, by the GBI on 01/07/08 enroute to Dawson Forest WMA where Meredith's remains were located: The following comments by GMH, is why he ended up in Dawson County on 01/01/08:
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=113395
CB: UH, OKAY, SO WHEN YOU LEFT THE BANK ATTEMPTS DOWN, DOWN IN GAINESVILLE, WHICH WAY DID YOU GO? GMH: BACK TO DAHLONEGA. NOW IT'S TOO LATE AND I, I'VE HAD IT. I, I'M LIKE (UI), WITH THE M.S. SOME DAYS I CAN'T GET OUT OF BED AND SOME DAYS I'M GOOD FOR A FEW HOURS. (UI) . . . WHEN I GET TO THIS POINT I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER ANYTHING (UI) CB: WHAT, WHICH, WHICH DIRECTION DID YOU GO TO GO TO DAHLONEGA? GMH: HIGHWAY SIXTY, YEAH, HIGHWAY SIXTY AND FOUR HUNDRED. CB: OKAY. GMH: YEAH. HIGHWAY SIXTY TO THE HEAD OF FOUR HUNDRED. CB: OKAY THEN WHAT DID YOU DO WHEN YOU GOT UP THERE? GMH: OH NO, NO. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. THAT'S WHEN I WENT, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, HIGHWAY SIXTY TO FOUR HUNDRED AND THEN SIXTY GOES RIGHT ON IN TO DAHLONEGA. YEAH, YEAH, YEAH. CB: WHERE DID YOU STAY IN DAHLONEGA? GMH: OKAY. THEN I ATTEMPTED TO GO UH, NORTH, UH, ONE TWENTY NINE AGAIN, BUT WE WERE NOW HAVING SNOW, COMING AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. AS I GOT HIGHER ELEVATIONS I WAS GONNA FIND A PLACE TO CAMP BUT I WAS SHOT BY THEN. I COULDN'T THINK STRAIGHT. CB: OKAY. SO YOU ACTUALLY CAME SIXTY UP TO DAHLONEGA AND THEN YOU CUT BACK ACROSS TO ONE TWENTY NINE, OR . . . GMH: NO, ONE TWENTY NINE GOES INTO DAHLONEGA. CB: NO . . . GMH: IT'S A BYPASS AROUND DAHLONEGA CB: ARE YOU, THINKING ABOUT . . . GMH: ONE TWENTY NINE GOES OVER NEAL'S GAP. AM I NOT RIGHT? AM I CORRECT? CB: (UI) GMH: WE CAME ONE TWENTY NINE. CB: OKAY. ONE TWENTY NINE (UI) SS: (UI) GMH: AND ACTUALLY FOR SOME REASON AND I'M NOT SURE WHY I, I WENT INTO DOWNTOWN DAHLONEGA AND UH, I DIDN'T GO THE BYPASS. YOU KNOW, I WENT TO (UI) AND I JUST GOT ON IT, PERHAPS, AND UH, I'M NOT MENTALLY FUNCTIONING BY THEN. AS I AM NOW. I'M START, I'M STARTING TO FLAG OUT RIGHT NOW. SO (UI) AND UH, I STARTED . . . CB: I, I MAY BE, I MAY BE TOTALLY LOST, BUT I WAS THINKING ONE TWENTY NINE RAN FROM GAINESVILLE TO BLAIRSVILLE. IS THAT . . . GMH: IT DOES. CB: OKAY. AND WHERE, AT WHAT PART, PART OF ONE TWENTY NINE . . . GMH: I JUST COULDN'T . . . CB: GOES AROUND DAHLONEGA? WHERE, WHERE WE (UI) GMH: (UI) NO, NO. TD: IS THAT SIXTY? GMH: YEAH, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SIXTY PROBABLY. TD: YEAH, BUT ONE TWENTY NINE IS (UI) GMH: INTO TOWN, YEAH, OH YEAH . . . TD: RIGHT? GMH: OH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH. IT'S NOT ONE TWENTY NINE AT THAT POINT. CB: ONE, ONE TWENTY . . . GMH: IT'S NOT, IT COMES IN, IT'S SIXTY, IT COMES, OR WHATEVER . . . CB: OKAY. GMH: IT COMES INTO IT AT TURNER'S CORNER IS WHERE IT COMES, YOU'RE RIGHT. YOU'RE RIGHT. CB: THAT'S THE WAY, THAT'S THE WAY WE BASICALLY JUST CAME. GMH: YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH. UH, SOME WAY OR THE OTHER I ENDED UP GOING THROUGH DAHLONEGA. I'M NOT SURE WHY. CB: OKAY. GMH: I COULDN'T EVEN REMEMBER STRAIGHT. CB: RIGHT. GMH: YEAH. AND I STARTED NORTH TO UH, WITH THE OBJECT OF GETTING A CAMPSITE SOMEWHERE. AND THE SNOW WAS COMING IN AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS. AND IT WAS ACCUMULATING RAPIDLY. AND THERE WAS PROBABLY TWO INCHES ON THE GROUND, ON THE ROAD, VERY QUICKLY, AND I WAS LOSING TRACTION AND CONTROL. AND THEN UH, I CAME AROUND A CURVE AND A CAR HAD SORT OF SLID OFF THE ROAD AND THERE WAS A SHERIFF'S DEPUTY THERE CAR WITH IT'S BLUE LIGHTS. AND I WAS STRUGGLING UP HILL. AND I KNEW IT WAS JUST GONNA GET WORSE (UI) IN A HIGHER ELEVATION AND I KNEW HE, HE WAS, THE SHERIFF'S DEPUTY WAS ENGAGED UH, WITH, WITH THAT CAR, BUT I KNEW THAT MORE THAN LIKELY HE WAS ROAD, GONNA ROADBLOCK THAT ROAD AND TELL EVERYONE HEADED UP HILL NOT TO GO. CB: RIGHT. GMH: TO, TO ADVISE THEM NOT TO GO. OKAY. SO I KNEW THAT IF I DIDN'T TURN AROUND THAT HE WAS GONNA COME AFTER, UH, OR HAVE SOMEONE GET ME AND SAY HEY, YOU'RE NUTS. DON'T GO UP THERE. AND HE WAS RIGHT. I WOULDN'T HAVE ATTEMPTED IT. I WAS LOSING TRACTION AND SLIDING. NOW WE HAD ABOUT TWO INCHES OF ICE AND SNOW . . . CB: OKAY. GMH: SO, IT WAS NOT SO MUCH GOING UP HILL THAT YOU MAY JUST LOSE TRACTION AND NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE. BUT GOING DOWN HILL YOU PUT ON YOUR BRAKES AND JUST KEEP SLIDING AND YOU WRECK OUT. CB: RIGHT. GMH: UP HILL, YOU JUST CONTINUE NO FURTHER. DOWN HILL YOU'LL WRECK. CB: RIGHT. GMH: UH, WITH THAT KIND OF STUFF ON (UI) CB: OKAY. AND WHEN, WHERE DID YOU WIND UP? GMH: SO THE SHERIFF'S CAR WAS THERE AND I KNEW IF I DIDN'T TURN AROUND THERE OR WHERE HE COULD SEE ME, THAT HE WAS GONNA COME GET ME OR SEND SOMEONE AFTER ME. CB: OKAY. GMH: UH, YOU WANT TO GO STRAIGHT TO DAWSON, DAWSONVILLE. SS: NO, WE'RE, WE'RE . . . GMH: OH, THIS, OH, I'M SORRY. YEAH, YEAH, OKAY. SS: YEAH. GMH: NOW THIS IS THE INTERSECTION WE CAME THROUGH. YEAH. OUT OF GAINESVILLE. WE CAME THROUGH, THAT WAY, TO DAHLONEGA. CB: RIGHT. GMH: I'M NOT SURE EXACTLY WHAT THE HELL I HAD IN MIND. AT THIS POINT, I WAS LOOKING FOR A CAMPSITE. CB: OKAY. GMH: SO I TURNED AROUND, SOON AS I PASSED THE SHERIFF'S CAR I JUST TURNED AROUND AND TURNED OUT, YOU KNOW, PULLED OFF THE ROAD, AND GLAD I GOT TRACTION. IT WAS IN SOMEONE'S FRONT YARD BUT YOU COULDN'T TELL THAT AT FIRST BECAUSE IT WAS JUST A SNOW PIT. CB: OKAY. GMH: BUT IT SURE SOMEONE, OR TURNED INTO SOMEONE'S FRONT YARD. CB: RIGHT. GMH: AND TURNED AROUND AND WENT BACK DOWN JUST RIGHT PAST THE SHERIFF'S DEPUTY . . . CB: OKAY. GMH: SHE SAW THE BLUE LIGHTS AND EVERYTHING BUT, AND WAS ONLY LOOSELY SECURED AS FAR AS (UI) AND WENT DOWN HILL, WENT DOWN TO HIGHWAY FIFTY TWO UH, DAHLONEGA HIGHWAY FIFTY TWO WEST
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The following link shows the proximity of the hidden campsite/staging area located by the alert Hunter in Fannin County, GA; Coopers Creek WMA:
http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=7...83.431754&sspn=3.258467,1.259113&ie=UTF8&z=11