Suspected Ga. Hiker Kidnapper In Court

Police Cite Possible Link With Disappearance Of Meredith Emerson And Elderly N.C. Couple

(CBS/AP)  Authorities believe the disappearance of a female hiker may be connected to the presumed killing of an elderly couple from North Carolina last October, a newspaper reported Monday.

Gary Michael Hilton, 61, who investigators said was the last person seen with 24-year-old Meredith Emerson on the trail, was awaiting his first court appearance, scheduled for Monday. He was served Saturday with a warrant charging him with kidnapping with bodily injury.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said there could be a connection between the Emerson case and the disappearance and presumed killing of an elderly couple from North Carolina - John and Irene Bryant - last October.

"We are working with the authorities in North Carolina and exchanging information with them," Keenan told reporters Sunday, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "There are some similarities" between the Emerson and Bryant cases, he said.

Emerson is believed to be dead, so authorities have changed the search to a recovery effort, not a rescue mission. The search was to resume Monday, but it was to be scaled back. Only law enforcement and trained searchers, not volunteers, were set to participate, officials said.

"We're waiting," Emerson's boyfriend Steve Segars told The Early Show. "We're pretty much on permanent standby."

Hilton was detained Friday. He had tried to use Emerson's credit card, according to the warrant.

The bloody fleece tops and a bloodstained piece of a car's seat belt were found in a trash bin beside a convenience store where Hilton had used a pay phone, the warrant stated. Hilton had attempted to vacuum and wash portions of his 2001 Chevrolet Astro van, which was found without the rear seat belt, according to the document.

Hilton was not cooperating with authorities, bureau spokesman John Bankhead said.

Union County Officer Gayle Bachelor declined to allow The Associated Press to speak with Hilton by phone.

Search teams focused again Sunday on a 5-square-mile area of mountainous terrain about 90 miles north of Atlanta in the Chattahoochee National Forest, near where Emerson's car was discovered Wednesday, Bankhead said.

The search had been focused on Vogel State Park, at the base of Blood Mountain, where Emerson was last seen on New Year's Day hiking with her black Labrador retriever, Ella.

The dog was found 50 miles away Friday in a grocery store parking lot in Cumming, a suburb north of Atlanta, and identified using an implanted microchip.

Friends of the 24-year-old hiker held a candlelight vigil Sunday when officials still held out hope she'd be found alive, reports The Early Show.

Segars described Meredith Emerson as "brilliant."

"She shines," he told the The Early Show. "She is the single most amazing thing in this world."

Vogel is one of Georgia's oldest and most popular state parks. The area includes a segment of the Appalachian Trail, the famous hiking route that stretches from Georgia to Maine.

[luckyfreeman]

Just a *** shame, Georgia she probably would have been safer than in North Carolina, at least carrying protection would have saved her life especially when hikeing I just do not understand these people anymore where is thier final survival thoughts. Save yourselfs my Jesus. 200 or 300 is all the life insurance investment you could ever possibly need to protect yourself from anyharm. Buy a pistol. Take a NRA self protection course now.

[azmka]

This story did not explain the similarities betwwen the two cases very well.

[ipranked]

Cowards prey on woman and children. Put him in general population and jail house justice will prevail.

Ron T
Founder
www.ipranked.com

[godseyesore-2009]

Not cooperating? The ole Waterboard is in order...

[badfish911]

Britney Spears'' hospitalization and concerns over whether the continuing Hollywood writers strike would keep next week''s Golden Globes ceremony off the air dominated red-carpet chatter at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival gala

[ajaxtheleast]

Good morning my fellow american blood thirsty
armchair voyuers! What? You say that no your''re not?
Sure you are! The media says you are.

They say that you like being shown alive, pretty,
smiling faces then being told how much and where her
life''s blood was found.

A picture like this to some border-line-psychos is all that they need to supply the media with their next picture like this. So what is the purpose in
showing it?

Certainly the above isn''t the purpose. Which leaves it is shown because the medias''listeners and viewers
"enjoy" it.

Not ALL of the listeners but enough of the listeners
to allow the media to overcome their realizing the risks of causing more murders, rapes and kidnapings and print them to "satisfy" us.

Either God, Evolution or the Undescoverable needs
a tad more work on their human project.

[Krazcarl]

Betcha he feels real inteeigent using this is the type of idiot that will say he found it. All you folks yesterday that said some folks were rushing judgrment were wrong. Sounds like a ex con first timers will talk to police trying to con thier way and end up hanging themseves.

[prinzowhales]

That is a shame. Know the area...used to go to the Wildlife Management hunts in the area...Skin the b*stard and feed him to the wild dogs.