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On April 26, 2013, it was reported on the US news that “…a man previously convicted of killing and beheading hikers in Florida and Georgia was sentenced Thursday to four additional life terms in federal prison, for kidnapping and murder a North Carolina couple in a national park. Gary Michael Hilton, 66, pleaded guilty in March 2012 to killing John and Irene Bryant in 2007…” Gary Michael Hilton, “the national parks killer” as he was called by the press at the time, is a serial killer who was convicted of killing and beheading four hikers in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia, although it is believed who committed many more crimes.
Gary Michael Hilton was sentenced in January 2008 to life in prison in Georgia for the death of Meredith Emerson, a 24-year-old woman from Burfor, Georgia. After investigating this case, the authorities correlated the evidence obtained in Georgia with other similar crimes committed in North Carolina and Florida, observing coincidences in the way the murderer acted. Once it was confirmed that it was the same killer, Gary Michael Hilton was also tried and convicted for the other three murders.
In these trials, Gary Michael Hilton was sentenced to death in Florida for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap, and two years later he was also sentenced to death in North Carolina.
Gary Michael Hilton’s first conviction
Meredith Emerson had hiked up Blood Mountain in Chattahoochee National Park with her dog Ella on New Year’s Day 2008, as she often did. But this time she didn’t come back. Witnesses recalled seeing Meredith Emerson talking to a gray-haired man, who appeared to be in his sixties and had a red dog she named Dandy.
Evidence showed that Meredith Emerson used her wits and martial arts training to fight her attacker for four days, desperately trying to save his life, but ultimately suffered a blow to the head that rendered all defense impossible. Gary Michael Hilton killed her and left her headless body in the North Georgia mountains.
During the investigation into the disappearance of Meredith Emerson, investigators found photos of ATM security devices showing Gary Michael Hilton trying to use Meredith Emerson’s cards. In February 2008 Gary Michael Hilton was indicted and charged with the murder. In a trial that lasted only one day, Gary Michael Hilton pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
The murder in Florida
Cheryl Hodges Dunlap was a Sunday school teacher in Crawfordville, Florida. She was 46 years old. The headless body of Cheryl Dunlap was found in Apalachicola National Park. Gary Michael Hilton was convicted on April 21, 2011 on charges of kidnapping, robbery, murder and dismemberment of Cheryl Dunlap. Gary Michael Hilton had avoided the death penalty in Georgia, but at the trial in Florida he was sentenced to death.
John and Irene Bryant
The last of the sentences, the one handed down in his trial in North Carolina, added four life sentences in a federal prison for the kidnappings and murders of the elderly couple John and Irene Bryant, which occurred in Pisgah National Park, in the Appalachian Mountains, western North Carolina. Gary Michael Hilton had camped out in the park, and from that vantage point selected his victims and then ambushed them while they were out hiking on October 21, 2007. He killed Irene first. Police found her body a few meters from where the couple had parked their car. Gary Michael Hilton then kidnapped her husband John from her, took her credit card and forced him to give her the identification number so he could withdraw money from her account at an ATM.
A day later, Gary Michael Hilton used John Bryant’s bank card at an ATM in Ducktown, Tennessee, to withdraw $300. Federal authorities took part in the prosecution of Gary Michael Hilton after an autopsy on John Bryant’s body showed that he was shot in the head with a .22 Magnum pistol.
The unpunished victims
After exhaustive analysis of the circumstances and evidence, it has been concluded that Gary Michael Hilton also killed Rossana Miliani and Michael Scott Louis, two young men aged 26 and 27 respectively. The headless and dismembered body of Michael Scott Louis was found on December 6, 2007 in Tomoka State Park near Ormond Beach, Florida. Rossana Miliani disappeared on December 7, 2005 in Bryson, when she went for a walk and did not return. A shopkeeper told the police that Rossana Miliani entered her store together with a man who appeared to be in his sixties. Rossana Miliani was very nervous. They bought clothes and the man said that he was an itinerant preacher. It later emerged that Gary Michael Hilton had stolen Rossana Miliani’s debit card and was trying to use it.
awaiting his execution
A judge keeps pending the resolution of an appeal to the application of the death penalty of Gary Michael Hilton, pending a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that in January 2016 declared the death penalty unconstitutional in Florida, which is why Gary Michael Hilton is still awaiting execution on death row.
In a grim twist to the story, it was revealed that Gary Michael Hilton was involved in developing a script for a film that recounted murders similar to the crimes for which he was convicted. An Atlanta lawyer and film producer revealed that in 1995 Gary Michael Hilton was involved in developing the plot of Deadly Run , an American B-movie.
