Facts and Opinions Relating to Gary M Hilton Serial Killer???-

sillyhead said:

I wonder if this guy ever had anything to do with the Rainbow Family. I believe their regional gathering right now is in the Ocala National Forest, right near the trail there (I forget what that trail is called, but it is very commonly hiked by avid trail hikers). They left my area recently, or I would have gone and asked, but it's not a very big gathering here anyway. If anyone in that area feels like going down and talking to some of them, especially a fellow named Little Hawk, they may know something. Little Hawk has been on the road for probably 20 years or so. He's an alcoholic, but does have pretty good recall anyway.

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Who is the Rainbow family? I'm not familiar with them.

Ok, I just checked out the website that you mentioned about the Rainbow family. Interesting.

Thanks sillyhead.

I've been doing some searches about missing people, white vans, stuff like that. Read this from Chapel Hill, NC.:
Suspicious White Van Reported In Chapel Hill

Posted: Apr 15, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Police are alerting the public to two reports of a suspicious white van seen in Chapel Hill neighborhoods.

Authorities said during the week of April 5, a white van was seen for about 10 minutes driving slowly on Savannah Terrace, Seawell School Road and Homestead Road while children were waiting at the school bus stops.

Another incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 13. A 12-year-old girl was walking her dog on Portsmith Place and Chesapeake Way when a white van followed her. When the driver allegedly yelled something at the girl, she ran from him.

The driver was described as a white male, 40 to 50 years old, thin face, possibly with facial hair and bad teeth. In both cases, authorities said he was wearing a hat described as a blue golf hat or a floppy hat.

I'm new here but think the site is great!

sstepp63

sstepp- I am new too, and I think that looks interesting!

silly- no offense...I kind of had a bad experience with them myself...I do think you're onto something, though. A Gathering would be a good place for someone like Hilton to slip into obscurity...he seems to have the 'rustic living' routine down pat.

"Born in Atlanta, Ga. to William E. Hilton and Cleo M. Reynolds, Gary Hilton once pursued a promising life. Although he had dropped out of high school, Hilton enlisted in the Army in 1964 and obtained his G.E.D. According to Military records, Hilton spent some time in Germany and received basic airborne training. After his honorable discharge in 1967 however, Hilton’s apparently upstanding lifestyle deteriorated into a spiraling series of failed marriages and encounters with the law.
According to Georgia state records, Hilton received a divorce from his first wife in Miami in 1971 citing irreconcilable differences. He then married Dina Evonne Baugh in 1977 in DeKalb County, Ga., but that marriage lasted less than a year. On March 19, 1979, Hilton married his third wife, Betty Sue Edwards Galloway, who at the time was employed as a law enforcement officer for Atlanta’s Stone Mountain Park. Just seven months later, this marriage also ended in divorce. According to court records, Hilton had no children. None of his former wives could be reached for comment.
Gary Hilton’s first known arrest was in 1972 for receiving stolen property in Miami-Dade County, Fla. Records show that case was eventually thrown out.
Apparently looking for a fresh start, Hilton spent the remainder of the 1970s in Atlanta. It was in Georgia, where Hilton’s criminal record grew. He was charged in 1982 for marijuana possession and was sentenced to four years probation.
Petty crimes continued to pock mark Hilton’s now widely publicized life as a nomadic camper. He was lasted as a fugitive by Georgia authorities from 1994 to 1995 for repeatedly scamming money from individuals in Marietta, Ga. According to court documents and victims who spoke with Inside Edition, Hilton repeatedly posed as an advocate for veterans and disabled children in order to dupe people into donating cash and checks that he claimed would be used for charitable causes.
"He was a skilled con man in his own way," said Gary Hill. Hill and his brother Gene eventually banned Hilton from their business, G&H Horseshoe Sales, after the state of Georgia notified them Hilton preyed on people's kindness by posing as a representative of the Georgia Veterans Journal.
Court records indicate Hilton never walked away with much money from his visits, but managed to swindle roughly $500 from his unsuspecting victims, some on a repeat basis, from 1990 to 1993.
Gene Hill said he did not immediately correlate the shifty, quick speaking - albeit polite - Hilton with the aged, "wretch of a human being" he saw plastered across his television screen in connection with the gruesome decapitation of Emerson. Hilton has been charged with the murder of the 24 year old hiker.
For Joan Farlow, a retired child daycare owner from Austell, Ga., the recent charges against Hilton evoked a sinking realization of the times he chatted her up at Smyrna Playskool to get a few dollars for his bogus charity. Farlow said she now fears his access to her school may have placed the scores of children entrusted to her at risk.
"I guess you never think that people like that would come in contact with you. It always happens to somebody else," said Farlow, who assumed the school was donating to veterans. Hilton stopped popping by, she said, when apparently he got word that state authorities were after him.
Authorities finally caught up to Hilton in May 1995 and arrested him on a warrant detailing 21 felony counts of unlawful solicitation and two misdemeanor counts of simple battery stemming from a violent episode in early 1995.
In April, 1995, former roommate Christopher C. Johnson, who characterized Hilton as a “very odd” man, says he witnessed Hilton's violent persona when Hilton rented a room at Johnson’s Marietta, Ga., home for roughly six months.
“He just had this erratic behavior with everything,” recalled Johnson, who now lives in eastern Mississippi.
Never feeling threatened by Hilton, Johnson said the two mostly got along well, even joking about their third roommate, a man neither particularly liked.
It was at this time that Hilton got into another wrangle with police when he physically attacked the third roommate in an attempt to throw him out of the house. Hilton was charged with two counts of simple battery that were later dismissed.
Court records also show a judge ordered Hilton to serve five years probation in June 1995 after pleading guilty to 21 counts of unlawful charity solicitation. During his probation, he was forbidden from consuming alcohol or possessing a firearm. He was also ordered to pay $424 restitution and court fees.
Prior to that incident, Johnson said Hilton, then in his late 40s, was harmless enough, taking his golden retriever for daily walks in nearby Kennasaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
It was also during this time Hilton showed Johnson a collapsible baton he brought on his walks for self protection – perhaps the same baton Georgia authorities believe may have been used as a weapon in Emerson’s death.
But aside from having a bizarre personality – specifically a hyperactive, excited speech pattern and sometimes disturbing smile – Johnson said Hilton mostly kept to himself and always kept his knapsack nearby, as though he needed to leave in a moment's notice.
Six months later, Hilton was arrested again in DeKalb County, Ga. for stealing books he was hired to sell for the American Book Display Company. Instead, he attempted to sell them for personal profit at a local flea market.
Again, Hilton slipped through the clutches of a jail term and instead received five years probation and was ordered to pay $5,619 in restitution. It is not clear from court records if Hilton ever fulfilled his restitution payments.


From Inside Edition
Marissa Yaremich
INSIDE EDITION Staff

NNY - You also should post a link back to the original article so we can follow it if we want to.

Native New Yorker said:

"Born in Atlanta, Ga. to William E. Hilton and Cleo M. Reynolds, Gary Hilton once pursued a promising life. Although he had dropped out of high school, Hilton enlisted in the Army in 1964 and obtained his G.E.D. According to Military records, Hilton spent some time in Germany and received basic airborne training. After his honorable discharge in 1967 however, Hilton’s apparently upstanding lifestyle deteriorated into a spiraling series of failed marriages and encounters with the law.
According to Georgia state records, Hilton received a divorce from his first wife in Miami in 1971 citing irreconcilable differences. He then married Dina Evonne Baugh in 1977 in DeKalb County, Ga., but that marriage lasted less than a year. On March 19, 1979, Hilton married his third wife, Betty Sue Edwards Galloway, who at the time was employed as a law enforcement officer for Atlanta’s Stone Mountain Park. Just seven months later, this marriage also ended in divorce. According to court records, Hilton had no children. None of his former wives could be reached for comment.
Gary Hilton’s first known arrest was in 1972 for receiving stolen property in Miami-Dade County, Fla. Records show that case was eventually thrown out.
Apparently looking for a fresh start, Hilton spent the remainder of the 1970s in Atlanta. It was in Georgia, where Hilton’s criminal record grew. He was charged in 1982 for marijuana possession and was sentenced to four years probation.
Petty crimes continued to pock mark Hilton’s now widely publicized life as a nomadic camper. He was lasted as a fugitive by Georgia authorities from 1994 to 1995 for repeatedly scamming money from individuals in Marietta, Ga. According to court documents and victims who spoke with Inside Edition, Hilton repeatedly posed as an advocate for veterans and disabled children in order to dupe people into donating cash and checks that he claimed would be used for charitable causes.
"He was a skilled con man in his own way," said Gary Hill. Hill and his brother Gene eventually banned Hilton from their business, G&H Horseshoe Sales, after the state of Georgia notified them Hilton preyed on people's kindness by posing as a representative of the Georgia Veterans Journal.
Court records indicate Hilton never walked away with much money from his visits, but managed to swindle roughly $500 from his unsuspecting victims, some on a repeat basis, from 1990 to 1993.
Gene Hill said he did not immediately correlate the shifty, quick speaking - albeit polite - Hilton with the aged, "wretch of a human being" he saw plastered across his television screen in connection with the gruesome decapitation of Emerson. Hilton has been charged with the murder of the 24 year old hiker.
For Joan Farlow, a retired child daycare owner from Austell, Ga., the recent charges against Hilton evoked a sinking realization of the times he chatted her up at Smyrna Playskool to get a few dollars for his bogus charity. Farlow said she now fears his access to her school may have placed the scores of children entrusted to her at risk.
"I guess you never think that people like that would come in contact with you. It always happens to somebody else," said Farlow, who assumed the school was donating to veterans. Hilton stopped popping by, she said, when apparently he got word that state authorities were after him.
Authorities finally caught up to Hilton in May 1995 and arrested him on a warrant detailing 21 felony counts of unlawful solicitation and two misdemeanor counts of simple battery stemming from a violent episode in early 1995.
In April, 1995, former roommate Christopher C. Johnson, who characterized Hilton as a “very odd” man, says he witnessed Hilton's violent persona when Hilton rented a room at Johnson’s Marietta, Ga., home for roughly six months.
“He just had this erratic behavior with everything,” recalled Johnson, who now lives in eastern Mississippi.
Never feeling threatened by Hilton, Johnson said the two mostly got along well, even joking about their third roommate, a man neither particularly liked.
It was at this time that Hilton got into another wrangle with police when he physically attacked the third roommate in an attempt to throw him out of the house. Hilton was charged with two counts of simple battery that were later dismissed.
Court records also show a judge ordered Hilton to serve five years probation in June 1995 after pleading guilty to 21 counts of unlawful charity solicitation. During his probation, he was forbidden from consuming alcohol or possessing a firearm. He was also ordered to pay $424 restitution and court fees.
Prior to that incident, Johnson said Hilton, then in his late 40s, was harmless enough, taking his golden retriever for daily walks in nearby Kennasaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
It was also during this time Hilton showed Johnson a collapsible baton he brought on his walks for self protection – perhaps the same baton Georgia authorities believe may have been used as a weapon in Emerson’s death.
But aside from having a bizarre personality – specifically a hyperactive, excited speech pattern and sometimes disturbing smile – Johnson said Hilton mostly kept to himself and always kept his knapsack nearby, as though he needed to leave in a moment's notice.
Six months later, Hilton was arrested again in DeKalb County, Ga. for stealing books he was hired to sell for the American Book Display Company. Instead, he attempted to sell them for personal profit at a local flea market.
Again, Hilton slipped through the clutches of a jail term and instead received five years probation and was ordered to pay $5,619 in restitution. It is not clear from court records if Hilton ever fulfilled his restitution payments.


From Inside Edition
Marissa Yaremich
INSIDE EDITION Staff

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NNY - You also should post a link back to the original article so we can follow it if we want to.

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This looks like it:
http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyID=1174

Thanks! Tallytown!! I had posted a Tinyurl link, but it had expired by this AM...so I did not know how to post a link, without a really long one....I am new here, and was so excited when I came across this info last night....
missing pieces of a horrifying puzzle...

I was living in Miami when Hilton was there, and was in Marietta when he was there, also

OT: tinyurl.com urls don't expire, unless the link they're pointing to expire.

That must be horrifying to know you were in TWO places where he was, NNY.

Re the Rainbow Family stuff, I have been in contact with one of the rainbows off and on for a few years. There used to be an email list for a specific kitchen, or camp. I'll see if it still exists or if I can get in touch with my friend before he goes to Ocala (if he's going). Maybe he can take a pic and just ask around and let us know if anyone knows of him being in a certain place at a certain time. I'd think that he would stand out, because he doesn't quite seem like a peace, love, etc, hippie type.

http://www.bigbendcrimes.com

interesting link ....

sweetmop said:

Who is the Rainbow family? I'm not familiar with them.

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Oh my! I have to talk to my daughter. In her wildest teenage years (10 - 15 years ago), she used to "travel" with the Rainbows..... more on this tonight, I have to run to work!

I sent all Hilton's pics I could find to my daughter. She says she has personally never seen him, but she is sending them on to a friend of hers who hasn't missed a Rainbow Gathering in the last 20 years. Maybe we'll get a "hit" and find out what other states Mr. Hilton has been visiting.

BTW if it's of any interest, a Rainbow which shall remain nameless ran for senate in my state. It was rather amusing (to say the least), because his opponent always addressed him by his Rainbow name. (The Rainbow didn't win, I thought I'd throw that in).

NNY-

I too lived in Marietta when he did, I now live in Hendersonville NC (where the Bryant's lived - near Pisgah) and grew up and have all my family in Tallahasse/ Crawfordville Fla area- Freaky, huh!

That must be a weird feeling for you, as well!! I am curious to see if he committed crimes outside of the South...time will tell.

There is a post on Jennifer Kesse's discussion, in which Websleuth poster rd_jc links to his story of his encounter with Hilton and a witness against Hilton in 1985.
"By the way Gary Hilton tried to murder me in 1985"
http://websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1920096&postcount=286
http://websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2009939&postcount=320
http://www.justiceforchandra.com/for...pic.php?t=3501

Marchmallow said:

There is a post on Jennifer Kesse's discussion, in which Websleuth poster rd_jc links to his story of his encounter with Hilton and a witness against Hilton in 1985.

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Wow... I don't get it, with all that against him, how did he get off? One more case of Hilton somehow having weird luck?

It also makes me wonder about those marriages - how did the women get out alive? (or did maybe the one from Stone Mountain not?)

Thanks for the links, Marchmallow!

Native New Yorker said:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/02/29/profiler_0301.html?cxntlid=inform

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Excellent article - thank you for sharing it.