Meredith Emerson/ A Hike into Darkness

Could Gary Hilton's chilling legacy hold even more secrets? As we unpack the spine-tingling tale of his heinous acts, including the unsettling New Year's Day vanishing of Meredith Emerson and her beloved dog Ella, you won't want to miss a moment of our narrative journey. With Danica and Shanna at the helm, uncover the relentless pursuit by Meredith's friends and the authorities to piece together a mystery involving stark dental deficiencies, a suspicious van, and a tip that blew the case wide open. The profound impact of community vigilance comes to life as we traverse the twisted path that ended in Hilton's capture.

Every step in the wilderness should be taken with caution, a point we drive home in our discussion on outdoor safety and self-defense. We invite you to sip along with us—perhaps with a little less OJ in that Mimosa—as we delve into the darker side of humanity balanced by lighter social engagements. Join the conversation, share your thoughts, and bring your case suggestions to the forefront. Our latest episode is a sobering reminder of the lurking dangers and the strength of communal awareness, all served with a side of sparkling conversation.

911 call leading to the arrest of the Georgia Hiker murderer - YouTube (sound clip)

HILTON v. STATE (2013) | FindLaw

Where is Gary Hilton Now? The Blood Mountain Killer's Whereabouts, Explained (wegotthiscovered.com)

Who Is Gary Hilton, The National Forest Serial Killer? | Crime News (oxygen.com)

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Darkcast Network. Welcome to the dark side of podcasting.

Speaker 2: 0:05

Welcome to Murder and Mimosas, a true crime podcast brought to you by a mother and daughter duo.

Speaker 3: 0:13

Bringing you murder stories with Mimosas in hand.

Speaker 2: 0:18

Just a quick disclaimer before we get started. Our show is Murder and Mimosas, it's true crime podcast. This means that we do discuss crimes including, but not limited to, disappearances, murder and sexual assault. All our episodes are told with the respect of the victims and the victims' families in mind. We strive to ensure that we provide factual information, with some information that is more verifiable than others. With that, grab your Mimosas and let's dive in. Welcome back to Murder and Mimosas. I'm Danica and I'm Shanna. Today we are going to talk to you about serial killer Gary Hilton. So grab your Mimosas. You sit while we share.

Speaker 2: 1:11

Let's set the scene New Year's Day 2008. Many people are waking up to hangovers and they're throwing their black eyed peas in the pot to cook for the day. Alright, meredith Emerson woke up and she decided to start the year off on the right foot by taking a hike. She takes her black lab, ella, and they head out. She leaves her roommate a note on the chalkboard that her and Ella were going for a hike, and the next day, her roommate was called by a co-worker when Meredith didn't show up for work.

Speaker 2: 1:50

This is not in Meredith's nature to ditch work and especially not to ditch and not call Her roommate and friends split up to try and find her. They find her car at the trailhead of Blood Mountain. There is no trace of Meredith or Ella, so what on earth could have happened to them? Once they see her car there, they call police and the police start to search the area. The friends are searching the area. They go up the mountain trying to locate them. They are very quick to get the news out and people frantically start searching. Leads immediately start coming in and many say they saw her with a man. He was described as being kind of wiry, about 160, poor dental hygiene, 50 to 60 years old, and he had an adorable darkish, reddish retriever with him and he was seen driving a white van.

Speaker 3: 2:52

Interesting description. Not going to lie, I'm a little stuck on the poor dental hygiene. I mean, are we talking like mouth plaque buildup or mouth mouth or?

Speaker 2: 3:04

what I know. It's kind of disturbing as a mental image, but I'm going to tell you more about that momentarily. So while they're looking for Meredith, they notice that someone is trying to use her debit card. Several times From the video the person is wearing a mask, but they are never able to get out any money because they don't have the correct pin. This gives me flashback to the gold marks, Right? So chips do come in from this man's description, and there's one that's very promising. John Tabor sees the story on the news and he calls the tip line. He tells them this man has to be Gary Hinton. He used to work for John about nine to 10 years doing mostly like fighting work.

Speaker 2: 3:51

He tells them he doesn't really know where Gary is now but that he does have a white van and he does have a dog that fits the description. John had recently fired Gary, he says the last time he saw him his appearance had changed drastically. Gary smiled and he was missing some teeth. John, of course, asked Gary what happened to his teeth and he said he took pliers and pulled them out. Of course John is a little sane here says why on earth would you do that? And Gary's like he loves the way it scares people.

Speaker 3: 4:29

When he does it, he is seriously just pulling his teeth out to try to get a rise out of people.

Speaker 2: 4:35

Yeah, maybe you should have been an dentist. That's what he tells John, but there's the answer to your question about his dental hygiene. It's really more like missing teeth. So John had gone over to fire him, though, because he just pretty much stopped working. Gary says that John still owed him money and John refused to pay him because he didn't actually owe him anything. So then Gary starts to harass him and he threatens to kill him. John took this seriously and, honestly, if a guy's willing to pull his teeth out just for fun, I would take it seriously too Right? So he gets a rental car, he buys a gun for protection and he goes to the police about all of this. The problem is they don't really know where Gary is, though, to be honest, at this point he was living out of his van, so he literally could be anywhere. The GBI issues a bolo or a beyond the lookout for Gary for anyone who sees him to call, and there were several calls from people who spotted him, but let's listen to this one specific call.

Speaker 1: 6:13

He's got a green shirt, he's wearing a hat and he's emptying all this stuff out of his van. There was a blanket and it looks like he's got a sleeping bag right now.

Speaker 4: 6:23

He's taking it all over. The trash and the dumpster is in around like he's guilty of sin.

Speaker 1: 6:31

Okay, sir, and the dumpster is at the rear of the location. Yeah, the dumpster is kind of right in the front.

Speaker 4: 6:37

It's right above the car wash.

Speaker 1: 6:38

Okay, I can't really take a map if you want to oh sorry, Stay right there. Okay, okay, hold on there. You know what's funny, senator Shannoff? You guys got hurt, you got struck in the eggs, but he's emptied onto the ground and he's taking a word by word. This is sort of behind the car wall. Another visit. This is sort of back-to-back. We've seen him do the dumpster, I'll be shaking you, you guys, is there?

Speaker 4: 7:07

somebody in the room.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Get there, I think. So here comes the call. Yeah, can you please go there? Yeah, I know they got him. Maybe they don't have me up in the room yet now, so they got him now here. I'll give you a resource.

Speaker 3: 7:27

I love that you want me to go take him down. That's the friends you need right there.

Speaker 2: 7:33

Very true, I was laughing so hard because it's so funny, but also like he definitely could be the type of person that could get into some trouble. He gives me the vibes that he's probably the one in the bar that says hold my beer. True, but like you heard from the clip, police do apprehend Gary and they take him down to the station for questioning. Gary says nothing, His lips are sealed. They get him an attorney and they speak to the attorney and they cut a deal that if Gary tells them what happened and where Meredith's body is, then they will take the death penalty off the table.

Speaker 3: 8:16

At this point, do they actually have anything on him though?

Speaker 2: 8:20

Well no, they did take his van in to do forensic testing and, like I mentioned earlier, he was living out of this van With his dog, so there's a lot in there, because they're essentially searching his house and van simultaneously, since he lives there.

Speaker 2: 8:42

So that thing is clearly gonna take some time. But they don't have a crime scene, they don't have a body and really, outside of like a gut feeling from some witnessed IDs, they don't really have much of anything. Oddly enough, though, gary takes the deal and he tells him that Meredith's body is at Dawson Forest, and he lets them know in advance that she will be unclothed and decapitated. The one thing the police actually already had were some of Meredith's clothes that they had recovered from a dumpster, so they already knew, or at least assumed, that she would be nude?

Speaker 3: 9:26

Does he give any explanation at all as to why he decapitated this poor girl? Other? Than he's a sicko.

Speaker 2: 9:34

Well, yeah, he says he did this to keep them from identifying her. That's also why he claimed to have stripped off her clothes and then went a step further and drenched her body in bleach, holy crap.

Speaker 3: 9:49

So he thinks, if you cut the head off of a body and bleach it, this is all you need to do to get away with murder.

Speaker 2: 9:56

Okay, this was not a defense for him but, like we said a minute ago, there really isn't anything that points to him other than the few sightings. So without those they wouldn't really have had him at all, that's true.

Speaker 3: 10:12

so was there a motive or a reason he gave for killing her, or is this just some kind of game?

Speaker 2: 10:18

to him. Well, long story short, he killed her because he needed money. He said he only had like $40 to his name and he a little bit of food. So he took her life for the money. But the joke was a little bit on him. He got her debit card and wanted her pen. She gave him numbers, but never the right ones. She told him that clearly it must be the bank and he should try a different bank because the numbers were right. He actually ended up driving around with her for four days before he finally killed her. He was trying different ATMs but he never got any money out of her and it very much gives me like the gold mark of eyes.

Speaker 3: 11:06

Right. So not that I want him to have her money, but this dude killed her for money and he didn't even get any money. So the irony of that, so not to mention good for her because, like he said, he was gonna kill her no matter what. So might as well make him suffer.

Speaker 2: 11:26

Yes, and Meredith was actually well versed in martial arts, so she gave him a run for his money and, taking her down too, she actually disarmed him twice.

Speaker 3: 11:39

Okay, she's feisty. I hate she didn't kick his butt, but I'm proud of her for trying. You might as well do all you can, because odds are you're not coming out alive.

Speaker 2: 11:50

Yeah, and she truly put up a fight.

Speaker 3: 11:54

I know that a woman died and this should be the least. I'm not worried, but what happened to the dog, or do we know?

Speaker 2: 12:02

Okay, I get it and I think most true crime people do too. We always want to know what happened to the pet and we're always really mad when those die or killed. So I was obviously worried about this too. Gary let the dog go near a grocery store and the dog was found. Gary said that he knew the dog had a tracking chip in her and he did not want to be located. But he also couldn't kill the dog. So the dog actually went and lived with Meredith's parents.

Speaker 3: 12:32

I'm glad the dog is okay, but are you telling me this man didn't have an issue taking out a person, but he had more compassion for a dog's life? Yeah it's kind of sad Very. You said before he was a serial killer, which of course means there were others, right?

Speaker 2: 12:53

Yes or please? I'm pretty sure that the same person is responsible for several others.

Speaker 3: 12:59

Was this like a series of many years? I mean, how many people are we talking about?

Speaker 2: 13:05

So in October of 2007, 80-year-old John and 84-year-old Irene Bryant took off to hike near the cradle of forestry in North Carolina. The two were avid hikers. Not only did they hike around there, but they actually traveled around the world to hike. I know at their age you may be a little worried about them living on their own, much less going on hikes, but it wasn't something that their family worried about, However. Their kids couldn't get ahold of them and neither could the neighbors. So their son finally decides to break into the house and see that their breakfast dishes still around from the day they went missing.

Speaker 2: 13:47

Of course, they follow missing persons report and a search ensues. They do find Irene on November 7th near the pink beds area. She had been badly beaten and her calls of death was deemed blunt force trauma to the head. They continue to look, because they're looking for John now and they aren't finding him in this area, which of course makes them wonder could John be responsible for this? Because you know, it's always the spouse. So they take a look into the bank records and then they see that money was removed from the bank. They check the ATM video and I honestly think that they were expecting to see John. They do see a man retrieving money, but it's definitely not John. Actually they have a hard time like making out the man's face. His face is kind of obstructed, it's hard to see. It's not until more than three months later that a hunter stumbles across John's body in the Nantahula National Forest. John had been shot in the head.

Speaker 3: 15:03

I'd definitely see the similarities, but at the same time, there are a lot of differences too. So does he actually end up admitting to this, or is he convicted of this?

Speaker 2: 15:14

Yes, he does actually admit to killing the couple, but this is after he went to court and was found guilty of another murder. Who was that? That was 46 year old Cheryl Dunnup. On December 1st of 2007, cheryl had made plans with a friend of hers to have dinner that night together. Cheryl decided to take in some nature and she read and went into the Leon Sinks in Florida. So she was seen on the trails but others like just sitting and reading in like a resting area. But Cheryl did not make it for dinner that night with her friend, nor did she show up for church.

Speaker 2: 15:58

The following day A friend from that church went by her house when she was unable to get a hold of her and was worried because she didn't see her church. Her friend decided to file a missing persons report on her on December 3rd 2007, so just two days later. Later that same day, they found her car on the side of the highway and one of her tires were slashed. There was a ticket on the car from December 1st 2007,. So the outcome seemed ominous when looking in the car. Her purse was still there, but there was no money in it.

Speaker 3: 16:39

I hate to state that obvious, but if you look in my purse, there's usually no money in there either.

Speaker 2: 16:45

Well, I don't know if her wallet was there, but I do know that her ATM card was gone. They decided they will review her bank records, and that's when they say that money is withdrawn during the time that she's been missing, just like before they review the footage and they see a masked man retrieving money on several different occasions. Cheryl's body ends up being found by a hunter on December 15th 2007 and I'm gonna say this the best I can at Bacola National Forest. Just like with Meredith, though Cheryl's head had been removed and her hands had also been cut off, they ended up finding her hand and heads in a fire pit at Joe Thomas campsite, which is roughly like seven miles from where her body was found.

Speaker 2: 17:43

Of course, her picture was put all over the news and they had tips come in about Gary being in the area. They had seen him and remembered him for different reasons. Several people had said that he was asking people to help him jump sturdice his van, so once the pictures of him were posted. As to Meredith, and that's when people in Florida started reporting seeing him in and around Florida in different places, during the time of Cheryl's murder too- I don't know if I would have automatically linked the bronze murder to him, but this is irreversible.

Speaker 3: 18:18

But this is eerily similar to Meredith. Is he convicted for this, or do they do anything, since he's already serving a lot of sentence?

Speaker 4: 18:30

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Speaker 2: 19:11

So Florida actually does decide to charge him with this murder. Now the charge for Cheryl's murder came before the charge for the Bryant, even though they were murdered before she was. Florida realizes he's already serving life, but they still want to hold him accountable.

Speaker 3: 19:30

Does he fess up like he did in the Bronx, or does this go to trial?

Speaker 2: 19:34

No, he actually doesn't tell them anything about this. He does go to trial and he is convicted, not only to life, but he receives a death penalty there, and they had taken that off the table in Georgia to get him to confess. Not to mention they hadn't actually sentenced anyone to death before him in quite a while. Just pause it, I know what you're doing.

Speaker 3: 20:01

How old is this guy when he got caught?

Speaker 2: 20:04

Um well, 61.

Speaker 3: 20:07

I'm glad they got justice for Cheryl and all that, but the odds of this guy dying by lethal injection is slim to none in my opinion. That just rarely happens. No, I mean I really, I totally agree with you Are there more murders? This is 61, so I don't feel like that's something that he just started in the 60s.

Speaker 2: 20:28

So they definitely believe that there are more murders. The problem is they can't prove them or they don't have enough evidence to be able to convict him.

Speaker 3: 20:38

Like around 2007,. Or had this been going on for his?

Speaker 2: 20:43

whole life. So I know the GBI said in an interview that they think he could be linked to more, but he didn't really elaborate on which ones or how far back.

Speaker 3: 20:55

What was he doing until 2007 then this dude is close to retirement age. I completely get not wanting to work, but I can't just see him start killing people purely for money.

Speaker 2: 21:07

Right, he's odd, but let's get into what I could find about his life. So his mom and dad divorced when he's young, and then his mother remarries when he's 12. At 13, he ends up shooting his stepfather in the stomach. From what I could gather, it was just due to the sheer presence in the home. Gary was very used to his mother to himself, and he did not like having to share her with his stepfather. Luckily for the stepfather, though, this was not a fatal wound.

Speaker 3: 21:41

That's not really typical behavior. Sure, you have some rebellion, but not to that degree. Do you know what happened to him, if anything, for that?

Speaker 2: 21:50

So he was put into a mental institution but I could not quite figure out for how long and I couldn't really find anything else about him until he's 18. And at that time he lives in the army and actually becomes a really good paratrooper.

Speaker 3: 22:10

Are they the ones that jump from the planes into the military operations? I mean, yeah, that's pretty much what they do, I can see that. So he has some adrenaline going and fear of danger, from what I can gather.

Speaker 2: 22:22

Yeah, and I'm not really sure what prompted it, if anything, but in 1967, when he was just 21, gary has a schizophrenic attack in the military, so he ends up getting a medical discharge from the military.

Speaker 3: 22:39

Is there any information that occurred? It's classified.

Speaker 2: 22:43

Seriously, though I don't know what happened, I would say he never really found his purpose after that. From then on, at period he kind of became a drifter in a way. He doesn't really hold a steady job. After that he starts having issues with alcohol. He picks up sex workers. He is charged several times for public intoxication and for solicitation. At 23, gary marries his first wife, but they are quickly divorced within two years. He does end up marrying two more times, but those two are also both short-lived, only for all of us. He never has any children that we know of, doesn't really want to work, and before he took the killing people for money, he would often scam people for money. He was soliciting money for what he told people was charity, but that charity was just himself. I'm not sure how he ends up being caught for that whole scam, but he does and he needs a lawyer for this.

Speaker 3: 23:53

This guy is what makes me never want to donate to things. It's also because I'm cheap, but you hear about this so often.

Speaker 2: 24:01

Yeah, this honestly infuriates me, because there are so many good, honest charities out there. I would just say don't be bullied in, just do thorough research and look things up.

Speaker 2: 24:14

Of course, this was like the 90s and Google wasn't there to help you so you just had to go with a gut feeling, but Gary finds Sam Rael to represent him in Georgia. I checked, and he is still practicing law, if you want to look him up or you need a lawyer. You did not sponsor this episode. Sam also, though, has an interest in making films, so somehow the two of them link up in this film called Deadly Run that came out in 1995. Now, please, if you decide to watch this before one, it is low budget stuff and it never saw the inside of the theater. I don't know where you get it, but Gary is one of the writers for this movie.

Speaker 3: 25:05

Deadly Run. That's what I think of all runs. But what's the movie about?

Speaker 2: 25:11

Okay, brace yourself. This movie is about a man that drops women in the woods and he hunts them for sport. Sam said in an interview that Gary was really out there. He wanted to really add more gore whenever was possible and they really had to like rain him in. Gary found the cabin and the woods where they shot the movie. If you go Google this movie, you'll find Gary's name. Underwriter, I mean, it's so crazy.

Speaker 2: 25:44

He does actually get a job and spends like the next 10, 9, 10 years or so working like a normal person, until whatever possessed him to start yanking his teeth out with pliers and quit working in 2007. Honestly, I wish I knew more about his life, but up until his started killing people, there wasn't a whole lot that I could find.

Speaker 3: 26:09

I'm not sure why, but with this whole soliciting sex workers things, I'm really kind of surprised he wasn't killing them too. But I guess Hanley did this for monetary gain, and sex workers aren't usually really rich. So I'm just thinking something significant had to have happened for him to do all this in his 60s. Do you know if he was taking medication regularly for mental health?

Speaker 2: 26:39

In my own opinion, because I don't have it for a fact I would say probably not. I also say that because we have learned through doing this that a lot of people that suffer from schizophrenia aren't great about taking their medication. It also sounds like he was possibly trying to like self-medicate with alcohol. But, like I said, this is just all my opinion and there's nothing like concrete that I can confirm that with.

Speaker 3: 27:07

That's very true. I just have to assume there are more over his lifetime, especially since he was such an outdoors man and living off the land in that top of God.

Speaker 2: 27:19

Yes, and when you're talking about the solicitation and he's not killing those he could have, we know that sex workers being killed are notoriously not reported or poorly reported, so that's very possible. I do want to add if you have time to kill no pun intended, you can find the interview with the GBI and Gary. It's roughly like four hours ish. They just let him talk and hope he would reveal other things. This dude is truly full of himself and he really loves to talk about himself. Something good did come from all of this tragedy. Meridus roommate began a nonprofit called Right to Hike. They ran, they run races each year and the money went up to emergency phones throughout hiking trails. It was used for a scholarship and animal organizations. It sadly did come to an end after 10 years, but it's great what they did in honor of Meridus.

Speaker 2: 28:18

Also, just be safe when hiking. Just be safe when hiking. I would say don't hike alone. But the brines were together. But just please be safe. Carry mace, a stun gun, whatever it takes, and be aware of your surroundings. You shouldn't have to be scared to enjoy nature. Just be safe. And if you need to hook up for mace or any other protective things like stun guns. Please check the show links and we will have a link to Ninja Nancy at the Danzel in Defense. She can get you a hook up.

Speaker 3: 28:54

Amen, we always recommend more bubbly and less OJ Cheers.

Speaker 2: 29:14

If you'd like to see pictures from today's episode, you can find us at murdermamosascom on Instagram. You can also find us at murdermamosascom on TikTok, twitter, and if you have a case you would like us to do, you can send that to murdermamosascom at Ginocom and, lastly, we are on Facebook, at Murder and Mamosas Podcast, where you can interact with us there. We love any type of feedback you can give us, so please write your view of us on Twitter. Please write your view us on Spotify, itunes or wherever you listen to your podcast.