Who is Gary Michael Hilton? *UPDATED*

The first entry about the disappearance of Meredith Emerson can be read here.

Gary Hilton led the GBI to Meredith Emerson's body in the Dawson Forest on Monday night. The same forest where Levi Frady was found a decade ago.

Frady, age 11, was last seen alive on October 22, 1997.

Levi was murdered after he disappeared from Forsyth County, GA. His body was found the day after he vanished in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area in Dawson County.

Levi's killer has never been caught.

However, a look at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's page about Levi's unsolved homicide reveals two sketches. One is a man the GBI calls a potential witness in the case. He looks like the classic hobo or tramp, wearing a slouchy ball cap.

The other sketch is the one seen above, beside a photo of Gary Hilton, whom authorities believe may have kidnapped and killed 24-year-old Meredith Emerson as she was hiking with her dog Ella on January 1, 2008, on Blood Mountain in Union County, GA. According to the GBI, the 'potential witness' on the right was in the Dawson Forest around the same time Levi vanished. From the GBI web page:

He is described as a white male, 45 to 55 years of age, clean shaven, 6' 0" to 6' 1" tall, slim build with white or gray hair. He was driving a 1980 to 1985 medium blue Toyota, 2 wheel drive, pick-up truck with a white camper shell over the bed of the vehicle...

Perhaps it is pure coincidence that Gary Hilton looks so much like Frady witness number 2. Perhaps it is a coincidence that Hilton is about the age witness number 2 was said to be. And it may be a coincidence that Hilton is near the height given for the mysterious man sought in connection with Levi's murder.

Then there's this, from the Gainesville, (GA) Times: "GBI: Emerson's body found in Dawson Forest."

A quote from the article, written by Harris Blackwood:

The prime suspect in the case of a missing Buford woman led investigators from Dawson County and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to the woman’s remains in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area, south of Dawsonville, Monday night.

John Cagle, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Cleveland office, announced the discovery of Meredith Hope Emerson’s body Monday at a 10 p.m. news conference at a Dawson County middle school...

Authorities already want to know about any connection Gary Hilton might have to other cases. Two of those still-unsolved mysteries are listed below:

John and Irene Bryant -- the elderly couple were hiking in the mountains in North Carolina when they disappeared last October. Irene was found dead later. John has never been found. A mysterious figure in a yellow slicker on an ATM surveillance video is all investigators have to go on where suspects in the Bryant case are concerned.

Patrice Endres -- Hairdresser Patrice Endres disappeared from Forsyth County in April, 2004. She was abducted from her beauty salon in Cumming. The search for Endres lasted more than a year. Her body was recovered in Dawsonville in December, 2005. Serial killer Jeremy Bryan Jones has long been a suspect in the Endres case (AMW.com pages on Patrice Endres).

Another young woman who, like Meredith Emerson, had connections to the University of Georgia has also been missing from Athens since December 29, 2007. Cayle Bywater, age 29, left the door to her residence standing open, her dog running free. Bywater's car, wallet, and cell phone were all still in her home. There is some suspicion that Gary Hilton may have had something to do with Bywater's disappearance, but Bywater's past struggles with bipolar disorder have clouded the investigation into her vanishing. Her family insists she would never leave with no contact whatsoever.

Is Gary Michael Hilton an aging petty criminal who finally stopped caring whether or not his victims lived or died? Or is he a crafty serial killer?

Were it not for the locations in the Frady murder and the apparent resemblance between Hilton and the second witness sketch, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to suspect that Hilton had anything to do with the little boy's murder. Serial criminals do tend to go for a certain type of victim, and too often that type is a young female.

Then again, the same type of reasoning would also lead one to believe Hilton had nothing to do with the Bryants' disappearance in North Carolina last fall.

So it may be time to leave that line of reasoning.

This blog post was titled "Who is Gary Michael Hilton?"

At this point it might be appropriate to ask just what he is, as well.

Many thanks to commentator "Tammy" for pointing out Hilton's resemblance to the sketch related to the Frady case.

UPDATE, 1/08/08, 3:45 p.m. ET

CNN has an update on this case. It is not recommended reading for the faint-of-heart. Meredith Emerson died of blunt force trauma, and her head was removed after her death.

Just as chilling: Hilton held Meredith Emerson hostage for three days after he allegedly kidnapped her.

In a comment left on this post, "thefirstdiane" stated that a Florida crime possibly tied to Hilton, the murder and robbery of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, involved the removal of body parts as well.

I can't believe a first-time killer would remove a victim's head after death. That seems like the work of a person who is quite comfortable with death. Few first time killers would hold an intelligent, alert, physically fit young woman captive for 3 days.

Local news outlets here in the Atlanta area report that the charges against Gary Hilton have been upgraded to first-degree murder. The AP has reported that Hilton said he'd help investigators so long as they agreed to not seek the death penalty against him.

What was Gary Michael Hilton? At the moment, it appears as though he was pure evil.

UPDATE, 1/09/08

Gary Hilton is now officially a suspect in the murder of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap. Dunlap was slain and her body found in December in a North Florida national forest.

Like Meredith Emerson, Cheryl Dunlap was decapitated.

Mysteriously Missing from Blood Mountain: Meredith Emerson **UPDATED**

1/07/08: Final update on this entry at bottom of post. Post time and date changed to move entry to top of blog index page.

1/04/08: IMPORTANT UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF ENTRY, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN.

A girl took her dog to Blood Mountain. Folks saw her speaking to a silver-haired, grizzled stranger with a mysterious sheath attached to his belt. The girl disappeared, as did the silver-haired stranger. Now the cops want to talk to the man.

Those are the basic details of the story of the disappearance of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson, so far. The 5'4", 120-lb UGA grad decided to go hiking the Freeman Trail on Blood Mountain in Blairsville, GA on New Year's Day. Meredith had no reason to worry for her safety. She was a Colorado native with plenty of hiking experience. With Meredith was her black lab, Ella. If Ella wasn't enough of a safety precaution, Meredith also was a blue belt-level martial artist, capable of defending herself against attackers twice her size.

Several people saw Emerson on the trail that day. Some saw her speaking with a man they described as about 5'10", 160 lbs, carrying a large yellow backpack, the kind you wear if you are doing several days' worth of hiking. One witness said the man was toothless and 'weathered,' and looked as if he'd been hiking for a while. He may have been accompanied by a large dog with a red coat that he called either "Dandy" or "Danny."

Police are treating Meredith's disappearance as a missing persons case, but there are troubling hints that something happened to the young woman. A water bottle and Ella's collar have been found on the trail, and the mysterious man, who may have been driving a white minivan, has been referred to as a "person of interest" to cops and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Even if the circumstances of her disappearance didn't involve foul play, time is of the essence in finding Meredith and, for that matter, Ella. Georgia has experienced a rare cold snap, with temperatures in the Atlanta area dipping into the teens at night and below zero in the mountains.

Anyone who thinks they have information relevant to the disappearance of Meredith Emerson from the trail on Blood Mountain on New Year's Day should call 706-439-6038.

This entry will be updated and revised.

UPDATE, 6:42 p.m.

Atlanta's Fox affiliate has reported that police in Union County, GA are seeking 60-year-old Gary Michael Hilton in connection with Meredith Emerson's disappearance. They want to question Hilton as to his whereabouts on New Year's Day. A photo of Hilton, a resident of DeKalb County, GA, was shown on the news, and he fit the description of the man seen talking to Meredith Emerson on the trail New Years Day. According to Fox 5, Hilton also drives at least one white minivan.

UPDATE, 10:02 p.m.

A source close to the investigation spoke with an employee at the Mountain Crossing shop yesterday. A baton was definitely turned in by a hiker to that shop, along with the water bottles, dog leash, and men's sunglasses.

This person, a friend Meredith Emerson's, also said that as far as she knew there were 5 people who saw Meredith either speaking with or near someone fitting Hilton's description. Meredith's friend said another, mutual acquaintance was also hiking in the same area around 10 on the morning of January 1st and saw Hilton "hanging around with his dog in the trailhead parking lot..."

Meredith Emerson practiced a martial art called kyuki-do, and had been involved with it for about a year.

As for Ella, the only signs of her found in the area were dog treats and her leash.

Additionally, a poster in the discussion thread about Meredith's disappearance at Websleuths came up with Gary Hilton's solicitation raps from Cobb County, GA.

UPDATE, 1/04/08, 11:15 a.m.

Not only has the Atlanta Journal-Constitution drawn a possible connection between person-of-interest Gary Michael Hilton and a double murder that took place in North Carolina last year, but Hilton's record in Georgia and Florida continues to be revealed.

He's faced felony arson charges in the past, and a 35-year-old theft charge against Hilton in Miami was only cleared up in 2007. Save for the arson, none of Hilton's criminal history so far seems violent so much as it shows evidence of persistent criminal behavior.

Hilton's choice in clothing was one thing that made investigators wonder about the double murder in North Carolina. Rather than a yellow backpack, Hilton was actually wearing a yellow coat when he was seen speaking with missing hiker Meredith Emerson.

In October, 2007, elderly hikers John and Irene Bryant disappeared while hiking in the Mt. Pisgah National Forest. Irene Bryant was found dead, but her husband John is still missing. Shortly after they vanished, authorities turned up ATM surveillance footage from Ducktown, TN of an unknown person in a yellow jacket using the couple's debit card.

UPDATE, 11:48 a.m.

This just got a little closer to personal for me. I am the tenor section leader and soloist for a large Presbyterian Church choir in Roswell, GA. We have a pretty efficient system of spreading info among choir members via e-mail. Ten minutes ago I received an e-mail from Beth, the main distributor of those messages. It was titled, "Urgent prayer request..." The following is the message text, with some names redacted for privacy reasons:

[Redacted] just called from the mountains of North Georgia where they are in their second day of joining in the search of close family friend Meredith Hope Emerson hiker who has been missing since New Years Day. [Meredith] is a special friend of their son...

[Redacted] asked for prayers for Meredith's safety and that searchers will find her quickly. She said there is concern that there might be foul play involved but nothing to prove that...

The person who called from the mountains is a soprano in the choir, her husband a bass. Their son who is friends with Meredith often comes during the Christmas season to add a strong, youthful tenor sound to my section.

They've got my prayers, that's for sure.

UPDATE, 10:16 p.m.

CNN is reporting that Ella, Meredith's dog, has been found alive and ok. Additionally, Gary Michael Hilton has been picked up for questioning after a cop spotted him at a convenience store.

Ella reportedly walked into a grocery store "30 miles north" of Atlanta. That's only 10 miles further from the city center than my location, which feels basically as if I'm living in the Atlanta metro. In other words -- not as far from Atlanta as it sounds, and a good distance from where Ella and her owner, Meredith, disappeared.

UPDATE, 1/07/08, 8:45 p.m. ET

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Meredith Emerson's body was found this evening in one of the search areas. Authorities had been focusing on parts of several counties as well as the area where Meredith vanished on January 1 in the North Georgia Mountains.

As of 8:30 this evening authorities were not divulging the exact location of Meredith's remains. Reannan, writing in the comments on this post, quoted a message board post indicating that Meredith was found "in the Dawson Forest." I added the link in the preceding quote.

Any further blogging about this case will be done in a new entry. Keep checking the comments, as certain commentators are often well ahead of me in tracking new developments in the story.

Sources, links:

• WBIR.com;
• WSBTV.com;
  
• AJC.com;
• Meredith's private MySpace profile;
• Discussion of the disappearance at WhiteBlaze.net;
• http://www.helpfindmeredith.com/;
• Map showing the route from Brevard, NC, where the Bryants vanished, to Ducktown, TN, where the mysterious ATM footage was recorded, to Blairsville, the site of Meredith Emerson's disappearance;
• Kali Chondra's account of finding Meredith's dog Ella in a Kroger in Cumming, GA.
  

The Texas Cannibal Murder

One of his neighbors said that Christopher McCuin, age 25, "would stand in the roadway and wouldn't let people pass and he would talk to himself." McCuin, according to his neighbor, "acted crazy."

Eccentric, yes. Troubling, sure. But blocking the road and talking to himself were comically benign behaviors compared to what McCuin is now accused of doing.

Police in Texas say that McCuin began the first weekend of the new year by kidnapping and killing his ex-girlfriend Jana Shearer, age 21.

After he allegedly bludgeoned her to death, McCuin took Shearer's body to his mom's garage.

A short time later, McCuin led his mother and her boyfriend to the scene, which had become an abbatoir.

They fled in horror.

McCuin called 911. He told the operator that he'd killed Shearer. He told the operator what he was doing to Jana Shearer's remains.

When authorities responded to the alleged killer's call, police apparently found one of Shearer's ears in a bubbling pot on the stove. A hunk of human flesh was also found on a table, speared with a fork.

A police spokesman told the Associated Press that they couldn't prove that McCuin had actually consumed any of his ex's flesh, but they believed that he was planning on doing it. Or at least wanted cops to think he was.

Christopher McCuin went on a rampage. In addition to allegedly abducting and killing Shearer, McCuin also stabbed another ex's current boyfriend. That victim is in critical condition in a Tyler, TX-area hospital.

McCuin had a long history of run-ins with local police there in Tyler. As recently as November 9, 2007, McCuin was picked up for "evading arrest" and "retaliation."

In 2003, McCuin was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Those charges were dismissed. In 2001, McCuin was on probation for another charge, and that was revoked. Court records showed bad check raps, numerous moving violations and other theft and assault charges.

Murder victim Jana Shearer was "SheDidThat06" on MySpace.com. There she told readers she was 5'10" with green eyes and hair that was "Brown,blond,alittle of everything." Jana's family members were her heroes. She wrote, "Blood runs deep. The Good Lord above."

In the "About me" section of her profile, Jana wrote the following: "I get along with any and everybody! I have my own style and love life. We only live once so you got to give it all you got!"

Jana's friends began the strange process of cyber-mourning on January 5th, leaving comments on her profile page. A friend with the screen name "Mrs. Michele Torres" was brief but eloquent: "Your in everyone's Heart... Love you Forever.. kisses."

Christopher Lee McCuin is being held in the Smith County (TX) jail on a 2 million dollar bond.

Sources:

• The Associated Press/Dallas Morning News;
• Newsweek;
• KETKNBC.com;
• KLTV.com.