Federal Prosecutors Join Probe Into Gary Hilton

One could only wish it were a very long anal probe in his case.
I haven’t posted much lately on the Gary Hilton murder(s) but that certainly doesn’t mean that law enforcement hasn’t been diligently digging into things. There are also some other developments in the Meredith Emerson case that, while not important as things go forward, are pertinent to the case itself.
One of those developments that I just recently learned about is the fact that part of Gary Michael Hilton’s plea agreement included the stipulation that his dog be well cared for. That one I can see happening. Obviously the golden retriever was just a tool that the evil man used to help him get close to people but that doesn’t mean that the dog shouldn’t be well-cared for while he slowly rots in prison.
WYFF in Greenville says that according to authorities, an un-named person close to the case has adopted the reddish golden retriever. Meredith Emerson’s parents took her black Labrador back to Colorado to live with them.
Yesterday WSB in my home town of Atlanta was reporting that among close to 200 pieces of evidence that were taken out of his white Astrovan, Gary Michael Hilton had among his possessions including a bong, a hacksaw and personal lubricant. You know, those three things were at the top of my “stranded on a deserted island” list. How about that! Not. They also found a bunch of clothing, quite a bit of it more expensive than he should have been able to afford and most likely some of it belonged to his other victims. They did find a yellow raincoat as well. This is significant because surveillance pictures at a Ducktown, Tennessee ATM showed someone wearing a yellow raincoat using the Bryant’s bank card after they were reported missing. Apparently Hilton also had a thing for hats. There were plenty of hats found as well as various pornography.



While I’m on the subject of the Bryants, I do remember posting something about a skeleton having been found that the suspected was John Bryant, but I honestly don’t remember if I mentioned that they had positively identified him. It’s been an extremely long couple of weeks at work and I am pretty much brain dead. Back at the beginning of February the Transylvania County medical examiner confirmed that the skeleton found near a hiking trail is John Bryant. Her wife was found dead near their car back in November. Gary Michael Hilton is the prime and only suspect in both of their murders.
What I find interesting is the fact that although Federal authorities are joining the case into the Bryant murder, all of the evidence is being shipped to the Florida State Police for use in the murder of Cheryl Dunlap. I guess maybe they asked first? Hell if I know…
According to the Tallahassee Democrat:

Local investigators went to Georgia today to receive evidence collected from the investigation of drifter Gary Michael Hilton.
Four crime-scene personnel with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office will bring the evidence to the FDLE Crime Lab for processing Thursday or Friday.
Hilton is the primary suspect in the death of Crawfordville resident Cheryl Dunlap, whose body was found in the Apalachicola National Forest in December. He is also a suspect in the deaths of a North Carolina couple, John and Irene Bryant.

They also report that:

FDLE lab personnel will go through the evidence for hair, fibers, DNA, blood and fingerprints, said Maj. Mike Wood, of the Sheriff’s Office.
“There’s just so much evidence that can be mined out of this entire process,” Wood said. “It’s almost beyond description. It’s a little bit overwhelming, quite frankly, but we’re very confident that it’s going to be of benefit to us in the Cheryl Dunlap investigation, as well as the Bryants.’ It has a serious potential to tie the unknown cases at this juncture.”
Local investigators have not had an opportunity to interview Hilton.
“Obviously, that would be an ideal situation,” Wood said. “We would love to do that. But historically, and I can only speak to the Georgia case, Mr. Hilton is not amenable to an interview without conditions that he proposes. And we’re not really in a position right now that we feel compelled to offer him any conditions or concede to any of his conditions. We feel really good about the way this case is moving forward.”
Investigators served a search warrant Tuesday to take a DNA sample from Hilton, which they will use to compare to evidence that has been or will be processed by the FDLE lab.
Having the evidence at the FDLE lab will give local investigators control over what to process first and the ability to prioritize it as it pertains to the Dunlap case.

Along with items of clothing and weaponry as well as the other stuff I mentioned so callously above, other evidence includes swabs of blood from the outside of the sliding passenger door.

2 throughts on "Federal Prosecutors Join Probe Into Gary Hilton"

  1. Since the dissaperence of the Bryants, and the other hiker in Georgia, I have thought their cases might be linked to the death of another woman, Judith Bradford Smith. Her case remains unsovled and i would like to get some one looking at her case. Any ideas, let me know.

  2. After you commented I read quite a bit on about Judith Smith’s disappearance and while somewhat familiar it doesn’t seem to fit the known pattern of Hilton’s kidnappings and murders.

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