Recently in Meredith Emerson Category

Cesar Laurean's attorney Dick McNeil spoke with WHQR 91.3 FM about Laurean and the fact that he might possibly be tried twice.

Since North Carolina and the United States Marine Corps are basically two different entities it's possible that even though NC has said they would not seek the death penalty in the case against Laurean once he is finally extradited, the Marine Corps is silent on it. When he is finally returned to the United States it's possible that he may face two trials, one in civilian court, and since he is still considered an active member of the United States military he may be tried again in military court.

Perhaps Maria Lauterbach will receive justice in the murder after all...

So that scumbag that killed Meredith Emerson among others is in the news again. Apparently attorneys for Gary Hilton in Florida filed three motions appealing his indictment for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap based on the fact that they say he didn't get proper representation in the extradition hearings in Georgia.

Judge Terry Lewis said that he needs to appeal that in Georgia and has no bearings on the charges he faces in Florida. The judge also denied a request to interview grand jurors in the case who the defense is arguing were tainted by extensive media coverage.

He's already serving a life sentence in the murder of Meredith Emerson, maybe the fine folks in the sunshine state can see fit to fry his ass and get him off of my damned taxes the sumbitch.
Technorati Tags: Gary Michael Hilton, Meredith Emerson, Cheryl Dunlap

Gary Michael Hilton is going to be heading to Florida shortly. He is being extradited to Florida where he will be facing the death penalty in the decapitation of Cheryl Dunlap. That's as long as he doesn't appeal the extradition in which case it could take longer, but rest assured, he will be extradited.

Too bad decapitation is cruel and unusual punishment...

CNN posted the body of Gary Michael Hilton's confession of murder in the case of Meredith Emerson. In case you don't have Acrobat installed or just don't like CNN I have reproduced the majority of it here (most of it in the extended entry).

Authorities in Georgia have released the audio-taped confessions of the man who was convicted of killing Meredith Emerson in January. It's pretty chilling listening just to this little excerpt of the audio.

_____________________________________________________________________________
TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED INTERVIEW OF GARY MICHAEL HILTON (GMH) BY
GBI SPECIAL AGENT (SA) CLAY BRIDGES (CB), GBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE
JOHN CAGLE (JC), ATTORNEY NEIL SMITH (NS), UNION COUNTY SHERIFF SCOTT
STEPHENS (SS), PUBLIC DEFENDER'S OFFICE INVESTIGATOR TODD DAWSON (TD),
ENOTAH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT DISTRICT ATTORNEY STAN GUNTER (SG).
UNINTELLIGIBLE (UI)
UNKNOWN MALE (UM)
_____________________________________________________________________________
CB: OKAY, I JUST WANTED, I'M, I'M ONLY (UI) IT'S UH, JUST
SPECIFICALLY CONCERNING . . .
NS: RIGHT.
CB: THIS INCIDENT.
NS: RIGHT.
CB: HIGHWAY NINE TO DAWSON FOREST ROAD. DAWSON FOREST ROAD
TO SHOAL CREEK.
SG: AND THE BEST WAY TO GET THERE WOULD BE TO GO TO THE MALL
OR GO (UI)
CB: I, I REALLY DON'T KNOW. I MEAN, I'M SITTING HERE TRYING TO
2
RACK MY BRAIN ON HOW TO GET DOWN THERE TO IT, BUT UH . . .
SG: WELL, YOU KNOW, COMING FROM OVER HERE . . . YOU COULD TAKE
THOSE BACK ROADS TO FOUR HUNDRED.
CB: DO YOU HAVE JOHN ON YOUR CELL PHONE?
SG: I DO.
CB: HE, HE (UI)
SG: OH. I'D SAY THE QUICKEST WAY IS TO TAKE THOSE ROADS, BACK
ROADS DOWN LONG BRANCH ROAD TO FOUR HUNDRED . . .
CB: RIGHT.
SG: AND PUT YOU DOWN ON HIGHWAY NINE (UI)
(UI) DAWSON FOREST ROAD TO . . .
CB: HIGHWAY NINE, DAWSON FOREST, SHOAL CREEK.
SG: SO . . .
(UI, NOISE)
SS: THEY GOING TOGETHER?
CB: HUH?
SS: THEY GOING TOGETHER?
CB: YEAH.
(NOISE)
CB: THEY'LL FOLLOW US.
SS: FOLLOW US?
CB: YEAH, THAT'S FINE.
3
SS: IS THAT OKAY?
CB: YEAH, THAT'S FINE.
SS: OKAY.
(DOOR CLOSES, START VEHICLE, TRAVELING)
GMH: YOU NEED ANYTHING TO EAT?
NS: UH, I HAD A GOOD LUNCH AND I HAD UH, A COUPLE OF (UI)
GMH: OKAY.
NS: I'M ALRIGHT.
UM: (UI)
(UI)

The rest is in the extended entry.

Updated 3/1/2008 - Just saw the report over at the same CNN link where Florida prosecutors are planning to seek the death penalty against Gary Michael Hilton even though he's already serving a life sentence here in Georgia for the murder of Meredith Emerson.

OK, so I know how it works in some states. You serve out your time in one and then get sent to the other to serve it there. How about Georgia and Florida? I really don't know.

If/when Florida convicts him will get just get shipped there automatically or will he have to serve out his 'life' sentence here and then get fried? It sure would be nice if they would just send his ass on down to Florida and save a couple of my tax dollars.

I actually read this report at some point yesterday but in between trying not to smoke by eating candy and sleeping I haven't really had much free time on my hands :)

The Leon County Florida Grand Jury handed down indictments on Gary Michael Hilton, the man convicted in the kidnapping and murder of Meredith Emerson, for charges of murder, kidnapping and two counts of grand theft on Thursday related to the disappearance and murder of Cheryl Dunlap.

Cheryl Dunlap's body was found back in December southwest of Tallahassee in the Apilachicola National Forest and until Hilton was captured and quite a bit of evidence found police had pretty much hit a roadblock in the investigation.

Investigators are aware that Hilton was in the Tallahassee area on December 1st because he ran into a forestry agent who ran his tag number through the police database according to the Leon County Sheriff's Department. Although the grand jury has handed down the indictments, the investigation will continue. The police department are in no hurry to charge him because he is sitting in jail in Georgia and they want to make sure that they get an airtight case against him. Not that they are going to be able to find much of an impartial jury in this case.

Hilton is also a suspect in the deaths of John and Irene Bryant who disappeared while hiking through the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina on October 21st of last year.

So are these the only killings he's been linked to? Hardly. The FBI hesitates before calling him a serial killer as he doesn't quite fit the profile at his advanced age but all that really means is that he finally got caught. As retired FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt puts it; "This guy didn't just fall off the turnip tuck and start doing this".

Pickens County South Carolina officials are waiting until North Carolina completes it's investigation of Hilton before Pursuing him as a possible suspect in the abduction of Clemson University student Jason Knapp on Easter, ten years ago. Knapp's fingerprints were on a ticket admitting him to Table Rock State Park.

Hilton is also a suspect in Rossana Miliani's disappearance in December 2005 in Bryson City, North Carolina. According to reports she was last seen with a white man in his sixties and appeared nervous to the witnesses.

And Megan asks "what about Judith Bradford Smith"? After she left a comment here recently I did a bit of reading on Judith Smith. She disappeared in Philadelphia a few years back and the case took a weird turn when the skeleton turned up near Biltmore Estates. While what I have read doesn't really seem to fit any of the characteristics of his other murders it certainly wouldn't hurt to take a look at Hilton in this unsolved case.

Technorati Tags: Gary Michael Hilton, Meredith Emerson, Rossana Miliani, Judith Bradford Smith, John Bryant, Irene Bryant, Jason Knapp, Serial Murderers

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:

They also report that:

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.

The body of John Bryant, or rather his skeletal remains, has been found and North Carolina authorities have announced that they will be pressing charges as soon as it's decided whether he should be seen in State or Federal court.

They do have enough evidence to bring charges and it also meets North Carolina's minimum standards to seek the death penalty as well.

Technorati: Gary Michael Hilton,Meredith Emerson,Transylvania County,John Bryant,Irene Bryant

Gary Michael Hilton pleaded guilty today in the death of Meredith Emerson on the North Georgia Mountains. A plea agreement was signed earlier today and he was quickly sentenced to life in prison without parole.

It is still entirely possible that should he be tried in Florida for the disappearance of a woman there he could face the death penalty, which is what I am assuming he was trying to avoid by entering a guilty plea in court today in Dawson County.

Hilton attended the hearing today in an orange county jail jumpsuit and a bulletproof vest.

Links:

CBS46

Technorati: Gary Michael Hilton,Meredith Emerson

Earlier this month Meredith Emerson's family and friends held a memorial service in Athens, Georgia where she attended college. It gave her friends the chance to say goodbye and offer a bit of closure for them.

Yesterday her family and two hundred of her friends held a memorial service in Boulder Colorado where they recalled her as a "beautiful, witty, clever woman with a contagious laugh".

As I posted in several other entries Emerson was kidnapped on New Years day in Vogel State park while she was hiking Blood Mountain. Police found her seven days later with the help of Gary Michael Hilton, who has been charged with her beating and decapitation.

Hilton could also face charges in the death of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, who was found dead in a national forest in Florida. The State Attorney, Willie Meggs, says he has enough evidence to pursue charges but has not yet said whether or not they will charge him.

Related Entries on Shadowscope:

• Hilton Suspected in Slaying of Fourth Hiker/Bits & Pieces
• Evidence Links Hilton to N.C. Murders
• Hilton Murder Investigation Expanding
• Florida to Charge Hilton
• Florida Murder Victim Decapitated
• Gary Michael Hilton may be linked to Florida Murder
• Meredith Emerson Found
• Where is Meredith Emerson?