Body Of Missing N.C. Hiker Identified

A body found in western North Carolina is a missing hiker believed to be a victim of the man who pleaded guilty in a Georgia slaying, a sheriff said Monday.

The skeletal remains found Saturday by a hunter in Macon County were identified as belonging to John Bryant, who disappeared in October with his wife, Irene, while they were hiking in the Pisgah National Forest, Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney said.

Irene Bryant's body was found near a hiking trail in November.

Mahoney has said he believes the person responsible for their deaths is Gary Michael Hilton, 61, who pleaded guilty last week to murdering a hiker in Georgia. After that plea, Hilton was immediately sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

He was accused of bludgeoning Meredith Emerson on Jan. 4, three days after he was seen with her on a trail in the mountains of northern Georgia. Hilton told Georgia investigators he abducted the physically fit woman in a plan to steal cash from her bank accounts, Dawson County District Attorney Lee Darragh said.

Authorities had said they were looking at whether Hilton had a hand in the disappearances of the Bryants and in two other killings in Florida.