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[chicoliving]

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[i.b.nora]

Slain hiker to be buried in Longmont (http://dailycamera.com/news/2008/jan/10/longmont-burial-here-for-slain-hiker/)
Emerson's dog also will return to Colorado
By Heath Urie Camera Staff Writer
Thursday, January 10, 2008

"The remains of a former Longmont woman who was found slain Monday in the mountains of northern Georgia will be brought back to Boulder County to be laid to rest, a spokesman for Meredith Emerson's family said Wednesday.

Family friend Doug Bailey said from his home in Athens, Ga., that a memorial service for Emerson is scheduled to take place there Friday, and the 24-year-old woman's remains will be flown to Longmont for a second service and burial sometime in the coming days."

"Bailey said Emerson's parents also will bring back to their home in Longmont her 1-year-old black Labrador mix. Emerson adopted the dog, Ella, from an animal-rescue center in Georgia."

"Emerson's parents are asking supporters to make a donation to the Longmont Humane Society rather than send flowers to her services, Bailey said, in memory of Emerson's deep love for animals."

[christine2448]

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109301&provider=top

More information is emerging about how close the GBI may have been last week to capturing Gary Hilton and rescuing Meredith Emerson.

Hilton moved about openly, and the GBI was soon able to track him.

GBI agents were hot on Gary Hilton's trail by the end of the three-days last week when Hilton held Emerson alive. It's just that Hilton was a step ahead of them.

One place Gary Hilton drove last week while holding Emerson prisoner was a Huddle House restaurant on Highway 53, west of Dawsonville, in Pickens County.

Late Thursday afternoon, Hilton came inside, saying he needed to make a phone call, but couldn't find a pay phone. So he used the restaurant's phone.

"Called somebody, sat in one of our booths, talked for quite a long time," said restaurant owner Jim Barkley. "He would get agitated, and calmed down, and get agitated, and calmed down."

Barkley said the man he now knows was Gary Hilton spoke so long on the phone, the server finally asked Hilton to hang up and leave, and watched Hilton walk outside to his van and drive away -- possibly, according to the GBI, with Meredith Emerson inside of it, alive and tied up.

"This is very sad to think that Thursday afternoon she was alive and in our parking lot," said Barkley.

Barkley said one of his servers was just getting off of work at 5:00 p.m., and she was leaving at the same time Hilton was walking out.

She is 18 years old, and, as they both walked outside to their vehicles, Barkley said she began to feel uneasy.

"She was very nervous" because of the way she said the man who turned out to be Hilton looked at her. "She didn't know why, at the time, but she just was nervous about it, because he was watching her."

One hour later, authorities released Hilton's name and photo, asking the public's help in finding him. Before Jim Barkley could call the GBI about Hilton having just been in the restaurant, the GBI showed up. Agents took his restaurant's surveillance tape.

But Gary Hilton, with Meredith Emerson, was already long gone.

[christine2448]

Hilton Appears in Dawson County Court, Bond Denied (http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=5401449&version=101&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1)

[christine2448]

Best Local Coverage

www.myfoxatlanta.com (http://www.myfoxatlanta.com)

www.ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com)

[aj1020]

Does Gary Hilton Have Ties To Ducktown?

Nordia, Detectives in Ducktown are investigating the possibility that Gary Hilton has connections in this area.

Detectives suspected from the start that the man in this yellow rain coat had some kind of tie to the Polk County area.

at http://www.wdef.com/news/does_gary_hilton_have_ties_to_ducktown/01/2008

(note, I think this is Ducktown, TN)

[angelwngs]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15023742/detail.html

1978 forward...

[SeriouslySearching]

Actually, there is a gap from 1979-1997.

[gracefuljf1505]

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=5401449&version=109&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

[close_enough]

MEREDITH HOPE EMERSON 1983-2008

Emerson remembered as loving, feisty, thoughtful

By GRACIE BONDS STAPLES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/11/08

The day before she set out for her fateful hike, Meredith Emerson added another trifle to her Amazon.com wish list. This electronic keyhole to modern life gives hints of the 24-year-old's myriad interests. A "Harry Potter" book translated into French. A set of "Sex and the City" videos. A treatise on the power of Christianity. The ideas offered to those shopping for her came with this thoughtful tip: "If you want to buy me a book and can find a used one in good condition, more power to you! Save the money and the tree."

more at link below...

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/10/emerson0111.html

[felder]

This is not a media link, but it is a site where we have obtained a lot on first-person information:

http://tinyurl.com/27k92r

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

[angelwngs]

http://onlineathens.com/stories/011108/news_20080111049.shtml

[DixiePeach]

911 caller was ready to take Hilton down

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/11/911calls0112.html

[close_enough]

Suspect eyed in string of slayings
Well-known profiler fears that Gary Michael Hilton is 'way out there on the 'Silence of the Lambs' scale.''

By Rhonda Cook, Jeffry Scott
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/12/08

Five days after Gary Michael Hilton led investigators into the north Georgia woods to the body of a missing Buford hiker, law enforcement officers in two other states named the vagabond a suspect in three other unsolved deaths.

Hilton, who has been charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of Meredith Emerson, 24, of Buford, is being held in the Dawson County jail. But late Friday, more charges appear to be on the way. Hilton is being investigated in five cases —- two in Georgia, one in North Carolina and two in Florida. Victims in three of the cases were decapitated.

much more at link below

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/01/12/missing0112.html?cxntlid=inform

[felder]

Hilton--lots of background info

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/12/hilton_0113.html

[close_enough]

another informative article...

On the trail of a killer..
Murder suspect traveled in at least 6 counties in the days after he abducted hiker, police say

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/2610/

[aj1020]

Duluth Police Encountered Hilton

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- WSB-TV has learned there are three videotapes of an encounter with Duluth police received by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Friday morning. The encounter happened in July 2006, which gives investigators one more point in their timeline in tracking Gary Hilton’s whereabouts.

“To be that close to someone who is that deadly, it is frightening,” said Bill Taylor. Taylor doesn’t remember seeing Hilton walk past his house or hand out flyers, but knowing Hilton was on his street is bad enough.

more at link:
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15032826/detail.html

[SeriouslySearching]

North Carolina investigators looking into Gary Michael Hilton involvement in 2005 hiker disappearance of Rossana Miliani
by Jon Ostendorff (jostendo@ashevill.gannett.com)
published January 15, 2008 12:15 am

Bryson City – State investigators are looking into whether Georgia drifter Gary Michael Hilton may have been involved in a woman’s disappearance two years ago in Swain County, authorities said Monday.

Rossana Miliani was last seen on Dec. 7, 2005, in Bryson City. The 26-year-old had told her family she was going hiking.

~snip~

Private investigator Steve Siske said the clerk told him Miliani came into her store that day with a white man she thought was about 60 years old. They bought a backpack, and Miliani seemed nervous, Siske said the clerk told him on Dec. 13.

~snip~

He said the clerk remembers the man bought a used suit and said something that also appears connected to the allegations against Hilton.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/NEWS01/80114093

[fran]

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080116/BREAKING/663504457

Published Wednesday, January 16, 2008

'Positive link' established between Hilton, Bryant caseTimes-News Online

- Last modified: January 16. 2008 3:50PM

BREVARD — Transylvania County authorities say they have established a "positive link" between suspected serial killer Gary Michael Hilton and the death of Horse Shoe resident Irene Bryant, but have not yet charged Hilton.

...................more at link.......................

[fran]

Be sure to use the scroll at the bottom as this article has lots! of information about his past.

fran


http://insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyID=1174

Details Emerge on Life of Accused Hiker Murderer

[fran]

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/2709/

GBI seeking Hilton's abandoned van

N.C. sheriff says he has 'positive link' to suspect in murder

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking for Gary Hilton's old van, which was broken down and abandoned in National Forest land in White County for two years but may still contain evidence in the suspected serial killer's case.

GBI Spokesman John Bankhead said the van, a white 1996 Chevy Astro van bearing Georgia tag 766 XPZ, was abandoned in the Tray Mountain area of White County at the end of Forest Service Road 690, also known as Hickory Nut Ridge Road, up until sometime in mid-December.

A citation for leaving the abandoned vehicle in U.S. Forestry Service land was written by the U.S. Forest Service in 2005, Bankhead said. It had not been moved since the citation was written until about a month ago when a hunter noticed it was gone, Bankhead said.

The van was not drivable. Authorities believe someone, probably not Hilton, had the van towed and may have salvaged it for scrap. What evidence it might contain, if any, remains unknown.

....................more at link........................

[dragonfly]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15086686/detail.html

After seeing a television report on the van, agents received a tip from a man who had seen a flat-bed tow truck remove the vehicle from the area the van was last seen in White County.
Agents contacted the tow truck owner who told them he had taken the vehicle to a scrap metal yard in Habersham County.

Agents recovered the vehicle from the scrap metal yard and transported it to the GBI's Regional Investigative Office in Cleveland, Ga. where it will be processed for evidence next week. The van had been stripped and is in very bad condition, according to officials.

A hunter last came across the white Chevy Astro van on a rarely traveled road in the Chattahoochee National Forest in White County in December.

[drumstick]

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/18/hiltonvan_0119.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

white van belonging to murder suspect Hilton found in scrapyard

"In the two years it had sat there, it had been stripped, smashed by a four-wheeler and used for target practice.
Spokesman John Bankhead said what remained of the van was found in a metal scrap yard in Habersham County. It was taken to the GBI office in Cleveland and it will be scoured for evidence even though it has been "stripped and is in very bad condition."

[Woofie]

PLEADS GUILTY! Gets life
http://www.cbs46.com/news/15183663/detail.html

[indigomood]

Darragh said Hilton intended to abduct Meredith Emerson to take money from her bank accounts but eventually he knew he would take her life. Darragh said Hilton told Emerson he was going to let her go and then struck her several times with a jack handle until she died.

http://www.hdnews.net/wirestories/p0660_BC_HikerKilled_1stLd_01_31_0250

[indigomood]

this article provides a good review of intuition, following your gut, self defense measures and the old adage of not allowing oneself to go to crime scene#2...

"Crime scene #1 is where they gain control of their victim," Wilson explains. "Crime scene #2, unfortunately, is where law enforcement finds you.

The Power In Fear: Stopping The Threat

"Nobody would've suspected the old man with his dog to be a potential serial killer," says Justin Wilson, head of the Alpharetta-based Assets Protection Consultants. "She was probably disarmed a little bit by his appearance."

Sometimes, though, your intuition does give you enough warning so that you know that the person in your personal space is bad news. Then, you have to establish a boundary—quickly and firmly.

"Do not allow anybody to get in your personal space," warns Wilson.

The thing is, women are nurturing by nature, and don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But at the expense of safety?

"You know when you feel in your gut when somebody doesn't seem right or their intentions there are not wholesome," says Wilson.

*more at link*
http://wsbradio.com/news/022708powerinfear3.html

[fran]

By RHONDA COOK, CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 03/23/08

........snip............

As they struggled near the Appalachian Trail, Meredith Emerson disarmed her attacker of a knife and baton.

Hilton eventually subdued Emerson, kidnapped her and later killed her. She did not make it easy for him, according to interviews Hilton gave to investigators that were obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

.............................snip................. .....

"She was doing everything she could to stay alive," GBI Director Vernon Keenan said. "It's not something you can train for. Instinct kicks in. ... She nearly got the best of him. ... She's very much a hero."

..............................snip................ .........

Chained or bound

In the following hours and days, Emerson kept Hilton off-balance by repeatedly giving him the wrong PIN for her ATM card but assuring each time that this time the numbers were correct.

She bought time with that ploy. Three days.

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/22/hilton_0323.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13

......................much more at link.....................

[fran]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HIKER_KILLED?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Confessed killer to be extradited to Florida

By SHANNON McCAFFREY
Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- A judge Friday cleared the way for the confessed killer of a Georgia hiker to be extradited to Florida, where he faces the death penalty in the slaying and decapitation of a nurse.

Gary Michael Hilton, a 61-year-old drifter already serving a life sentence for killing hiker Meredith Emerson in Georgia, has been indicted in the death of 46-year-old Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, a nurse whose body was found Dec. 19 in the Apalachicola National Forest, southwest of Tallahassee.

Hilton has 30 days to appeal the ruling by Butts County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson. Department of Corrections officials declined for security reasons to give details about Hilton's transfer to Florida

[Native New Yorker]

http://www.foxcarolina.com/news/16060914/detail.html

In the box in this article is the link to a 1.5 hour AUDIO interview with Hilton from April 2008 in NC.

[fran]

Gary Hilton taken to Florida to face more charges

He is serving a life sentence for killing hiker Meredith Emerson

By RHONDA COOK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/06/08


Gary M. Hilton Day, who admitted murdering and decapitating a young woman in north Georgia on New Year's Day, left the state Friday.

Florida authorities picked him up at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison outside of Jackson, where he was serving a sentence of life, and took him to Tallahassee where he could face the death penalty if he is convicted of killing and also decapitating a woman there.

<<<<<<<<full article at link>>>>>>>>>

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/06/06/hilton_extradited_florida.html?cxntlid=inform_artr