61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton, a.k.a. The National Forest Serial Killer, finally got caught in 2008 after committing a grizzly series of murders. He had killed several people he had found while hiking in the National Forests of North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The entire scope of his murders is beyond what I'll cover in this entry. However, I will focus on the case of Meredith Emerson, due to its proximity to North Georgia. ( I in no way mean to diminish the importance of the other lives he claimed.)
Gary Michael Hilton in 2008
On New Year's Day, 2008, Gary Micheal Hilton was hiking in Blood Mountain, Georgia with his dog Dandy, when he saw 24-year-old Meredith Emerson hiking alone with her dog. He often used his dog as a way to disarm the fearfulness of his would-be victims. He began making small talk with her until he got her alone and attempted to subdue her. She put up one hell of a fight, (she was extremely fit and had a martial arts background). Unfortunately, GMH won the battle and coerced Meredith into his van. At her request, GMH allowed Meredith's dog Ella to travel with her. In the van, he secured her and took her ATM card.
To buy time, Meredith repeatedly over several days gave GMH the wrong pin to her card. He attempted and failed to withdraw money from an ATM in Blairsville that evening. Two hours later, he tried again with no success at a bank in Gainesville. GMH's patience would only last so long. Later that night, GMH went to Regions Bank in Canton and entered the wrong PIN for the last time.
On January 3rd, he drove Meredith to Marble Hill, Georgia, and left her in the parking lot of the Huddle House while he went inside and called his former boss, John Tabor, asking him for money. The waitress Amanda Peacock, saw GHM drive away at around 5 pm. Unfortunately, John Tabor waited a few hours before notifying the authorities - losing what was likely the last chance the authorities would have had to find Meredith alive.
The Huddle House in Marble Hill where Hilton stopped to call his former boss while Meredith remained restrained in the van.
The next day, GMH took Meredith to the forest of Dawsonville, near the site of the former Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory, tied her to a tree, and beat her to death with a tire iron. He dumped her body off an off-road trail in the WMA, decapitated her to remove the evidence, and left.
A map of the WMA where Emerson's body was found.
On January 4th, he was spotted cleaning out his white Chevy Astro Van at a Chevron gas station parking lot in Dekalb County, Georgia. A vigilant bystander who had seen the reports of missing Meredith, called the police and they apprehended him on the spot. Meredith's dog Ella was found nearby at a Kroger grocery store.
Hilton's Chevy Astro Van where he kept Meredith hostage
In an exhaustive interview with the GBI agent John Cagle, Hilton agreed to divulge the location of Meredith in exchange for having the death penalty taken off the table. On January 31st, 2008, GMH was sentenced to life in prison, with the opportunity of parole in 30 years, for the murder of Meredith Emerson.
Gary Michael Hilton is presently on death row at the Union Correctional Institution in Florida for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap.
GMH Florida Dept. Corrections pic
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