GA - Meredith Emerson, 24, Blood Mountain, 4 January 2008

[LinasK]

Police find bloody clothes, say man tried to use hiker's ATM card

By TIM EBERLY, JEFFRY SCOTT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/05/08
Blairsville — The search for a 24-year-old Buford hiker will resume after daybreak today in the North Georgia mountains, but authorities fear the worst after finding three blood-soaked fleece shirts they believe belonged to Meredith Emerson.
Family members were told by authorities Saturday night "the chances are slim to none that she's alive," said Peggy Bailey, a spokeswoman for Emerson's family.
Shortly afterward, at about 5 p.m. Saturday, Gary Michael Hilton, the 61-year-old man police say was the last person seen with Emerson, was charged with kidnapping with bodily injury. He arrived at the Union County Jail at 9 p.m. Saturday.
In the arrest warrant, among other evidence, police revealed that surveillance photos taken at a Regions Bank in Canton showed "an individual attempting to use a credit card belonging to Emerson. The individual was determined to be Gary Michael Hilton." more at link:http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/05/newmissing_0106_web2.html

 

[SuziQ]

Oh, fine.

:blowkiss:

 

[MeoW333]

It sounds like GMH got cocky after getting away with other murders. They're all in close proximity to one another. His getting "sloppy" with Meredith's case may more so be a case of GMH feeling "cocky" that they still haven't caught him for others, so he pushes his luck. Lucky for us, he got caught.

Seeking, i agree on FL being a state he would frequent. Didn't one of ya'll on here find some arrests that GMH had in FL? I forget what years that was though. They probably have more unsolveds there too..

 

[SewingDeb]

My opinion is you would try to clean things up with bleach at the time you would do something stupid... not wait days

Could he have held her for awhile and only recently killed?

 

[SuziQ]

The Miami-Dade theft case was from 1972. According to a poster at Huffs, Hilton has been in Georgia since 1979. Also according to Hilton's friend who helped him order the baton, he had been living and working out of a two story building near her for about 7 years. Until he went to go live in the woods a couple of months ago. That would be the building of the siding company that he distributed flyers for.

 

[STEADFAST]

Please see revised post 489. I've been mapping the location they discovered Meredith's things and where Hilton made a call, not where they caught him. They caught him in North Atlanta. (Now you don't really need to go back to 489!)

 

[Elphaba]

Thank you, thank you, thank you that WS is back up and running... there's no place like home.

On to this case: over the last few days I have read that his friend claimed that he has MS and is in a lot of pain, and supposedly was told he only had 6 years to live, thus he retreated to the woods because that is what you do with the illness. Let me say: that is just plum crazy. First off: 90% of deaths in MS patients are not the direct result of MS... MS just makes it hard to fight other illnesses. Case in point: for about 10 years, my SO was his friend's caretaker... she had MS which compromised her ability to fight the pneumonia that eventually took her life. Now, there are those 10% that do die from it, but it is known to happen quickly... and "quickly" doesn't equate to 6 years. And retreating from society is NOT what you do with MS... because as it progresses most of the time you end up needing help from others because MS makes it hard to take care of your ownself, in its advance stages.

If Hilton has MS and is able to get up and around to the point of kidnapping and killing Meredith, I seriously doubt it's the rare form of MS that kills. As well, if he is in a lot of pain, this usually means he is dealing with a flare-up... and believe me, having watched a friend deal with MS flare-ups, the ability to even do the small things in life, is a chore... having the ability to physically kidnap and exert the energy to be violent and kill the young lady, just doesn't seem like something an MS patient going through debilitating pain during a flare-up would have the ability to do, without causing their selves much more pain and exhaustion. Plus, during a flare-up, most of the time an MS patient is dealing with coordination issues... balance issues... as well as other things that really wreak havoc on their quality of life and ability to do things efficiently. If he is in a flare-up, more thank likely he would have been at a huge disadvantage when he kidnapped Meredith... she would have had the strength and physical advantage over him.

SO... if he has MS, he doesn't have it as bad as he made it out to be, to his friend... or he is lying completely in an attempt to gain sympathy. Or to cover up his want to retreat to the woods where he could prey on others, he used the "pain from MS and need to retreat" line. He could have played the MS sympathy card with Meredith, to get her help... but as soon as he saw an opportune moment, he attacked.


(disclaimer: I am not a medical professional... my knowledge on MS comes from being around others with it, my SO talking about he went through with his friend, and reading up on it)

Link to article where his friend talks about him having MS:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14986060/detail.html

 

[SuziQ]

Could he have held her for awhile and only recently killed?

GBI is currently trying to determine whether the blood on the fleece clothing was fresh or had been frozen. They have speculated that Emerson was alive as late as Friday.

 

[MeoW333]

SuziQ, thank you.
Miami Dade area 1972 ..i wonder how long he was living around there and if he did any time jail or otherwise since his rap sheet is very long. Then 1979 and on he has been living in Georgia or at least saying he has. So between 1972-1979 where was he frequenting in Florida i wonder..?

 

[felder]

Scroll down to "Comments." Read first comment, from 1/4/08:

"I freaked when I saw this Hilton guy's picture and read his profile in the Atl Journal today. He frequents (not recently however)Murphy Candler Park in DeKalb County, GA and is one odd man. The first time I saw him was about 2 yrs ago and I got a "gut" feeling that something about him was eerie. He dresses in the heat of summer as if he was going hiking in the Alps for an extended trip. Full backpacking gear, huge belt with 3-4 water bottles attached, various other things along with a baton-type stick. He always has his Golden Retriever with him who is extremely obedient. There have been times when one of his two white vans have been parked in a grassy area (not in the public parking area) for hours on end. I've seen him packing up his dog and gear as late as 9:45 in the summer months. He demeanor is rather gruff and if you are walking with a dog, he seems to have had issues with several of my neighbors and their animals. My prayers go out to Meredith and her family for her safe return."

Additional info about him at this link (and another possible victim):
http://tinyurl.com/27k92r

 

[SuziQ]

After looking at this map (Thanks), it would appear that Murphy Chandler Park could be the place where he was staying some. It is quite close to where he was found, at least. I wonder what kind of camping set up they have there. Anyone know?

Bumping your post, because according to felders post 497, you are correct! No wonder you were kicking our butts at the trivia game
:slap:

 

[LinasK]

Scroll down to "Comments." Read first comment, from 1/4/08:

"I freaked when I saw this Hilton guy's picture and read his profile in the Atl Journal today. He frequents (not recently however)Murphy Candler Park in DeKalb County, GA and is one odd man. The first time I saw him was about 2 yrs ago and I got a "gut" feeling that something about him was eerie. He dresses in the heat of summer as if he was going hiking in the Alps for an extended trip. Full backpacking gear, huge belt with 3-4 water bottles attached, various other things along with a baton-type stick. He always has his Golden Retriever with him who is extremely obedient. There have been times when one of his two white vans have been parked in a grassy area (not in the public parking area) for hours on end. I've seen him packing up his dog and gear as late as 9:45 in the summer months. He demeanor is rather gruff and if you are walking with a dog, he seems to have had issues with several of my neighbors and their animals. My prayers go out to Meredith and her family for her safe return."

Additional info about him at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/27k92rhttp://tinyurl.com/27k92r

I'll bet his poor dog is obedient! I wonder if the baton as "hiking equipment" is a cover and maybe the duct tape I read about in another post on his jacket came in handy for subdueing his victims???

 

[SuziQ]

Whoa felder, lot's of creepy info on Hilton at that site. He sounds like one mean SOB, IMO. And this post made me sad and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand out.

Jan-6-08 1:01am

Just wanted to advise you all to check out this story involving the kidnapping and murder of an 11 year old boy in that same area all the way in 1997. The picture looks just like this guy:

story: http://www.ganet.org/gbi/homicides/frady.html

sketch: http://www.ganet.org/gbi/homicides/fradywitness.jpg

http://www.zimbio.com/Gary+Michael+Hilton/articles/1/Welcome+wikizine+Gary+Michael+Hilton+Meredith

 

[felder]

Bumping your post, because according to felders post 497, you are correct! No wonder you were kicking our butts at the trivia game
:slap:

Thanks Suzy. I thought someone had mentioned Chandler State Park.

 

[SuziQ]

Eleven-year-old Levi Frady was last seen on Wednesday, October 22, 1997, on Little Mill Road in Forsyth County. His body was found the next day in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area in Dawson County. Little Mill Road is a well-traveled road between Highway 306 and 369. The Dawson County Sheriff's Office, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office and the GBI Regional Office in Gainesville are investigating the murder.

http://www.zimbio.com/pilot?ZURL=%2FGary%2BMichael%2BHilton%2Farticles%2F1%2FWelcome%2Bwikizine%2BGary%2BMichael%2BHilton%2BMeredith&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ganet.org%2Fgbi%2Fhomicides%2Ffrady.html

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Could he have held her for awhile and only recently killed?

That is my theory.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

This is all so scary to me! My husband and I were just down in Georgia for the day back in the fall buying some apples. We drove down to Ellijay and came home through Blue Ridge, McCaysville, and Copperhill TN. I have also driven through the Pisgah region of NC, and it's scary to think this criminal could be lurking on a trail.

All these small towns seem remote, and the forest is all around, but the mountain roads are really good because they are used by tourists. If this guy had a vehicle, he could get around quickly between TN, GA, and NC. If he knew the backroads, the cops might not ever see him.

I just wish they would find her body.

That is exactly the road I think he could have taken from Vogel! If he took the Wolf Pen Gap road then turned north from Suches...it would wrap around to Canton. Could you tell me more about that area?

 

[felder]

Same site:

Hilton last Aug or Sept(???) 2007 at a park in East Bradford Twp, PA (near West Chester).

Also License Plate numbers:

They have found the 2001 van, AFQ 1310 but where is the other Van, the 1996 Van with Plate # 768 APZ ?

 

[Angelray]

Yes, we do have evidence to suggest he murdered Meredith! 3 blood soaked fleece tops matching what she was wearing, a transfer of blood stain on the seatbelt they found in the trash coupled with one cut out of his van, and the evidence collected in his van so far. They have the evidence enough to charge him with kidnapping her and change the investigation to a homicide. It isn't evidence of other kidnappings/murders, but LE knows the chances are good this is not his first.

ok explain this please:blowkiss:
was there two seperate pieces of seat belt??? or is this all the same seat belt cause dummy here took it as two seperate pieces...

 

[SuziQ]

Interesting commentary and info at the below link regarding the truth about Barbara's (Hilton's baton ordering friend).

http://www.zimbio.com/Gary+Michael+Hilton/articles/1/Welcome+wikizine+Gary+Michael+Hilton+Meredith

Jan-6-08 8:58pm

So what do all of you think, is that woman Barbara who claims to be an acquaintance of Mr. Hilton's from the business next door not really being completely honest with the picture she is presenting of Mr. Hilton? She is not the slightest bit convincing to me! What she is saying and the way she is saying it looks very scripted. In fact I happen to know that Barbara had a very different tale to tell about Mr. Hilton's erratic behavior not all that long ago. I wonder why her depiction of Mack Hilton all of a sudden is one more of him being a friendly, talkative person who treated women nicely? Could it be maybe someone put some pressure on her to say what they wanted said about Mack Hilton? What happened to the story about how the crazy man who lived next door would run out and attack peoples cars who happened to drive down the driveway shared between the two businesses? Now all of a sudden she claims she never felt any reason to be on guard? Tell us the truth Barbara S., from Bob Woods Real Estate Office who was it that got to you? And the flyers that he would have you make? What's that about? That is not what the flyers looked like, and you know it!