Suspect Leads Cops to Missing Hiker's Body

Alleged kidnapper eyed in three other hiker deaths
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 8, 2008 4:21 AM CST
Suspect Leads Cops to Missing Hiker's Body
Gary Michael Hilton, left, talks to to his public defender Neil Smith, right, following a first appearance in Union County Magistrate Court in Blairsville, Ga. on Monday, Jan. 7, 2008. Hilton is charged in the disappearance of disappearance of a female hiker, Meredith Emerson. (AP Photo/Ben Gray,Pool)   (Associated Press)

A drifter accused of kidnapping 24-year-old hiker Meredith Emerson led police to her body last night, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The body was found in a Georgia forest about 10 miles from where Emerson's bloodied clothing was discovered last week after her dog wandered into a store. Gary Michael Hilton, 61, is in jail charged with kidnapping and bodily injury in the case. The two were seen hiking together with their dogs.

Officials wouldn't comment on new charges facing Hilton. "There's a lot going on in this case right now," one said. Investigators are now looking into links between Hilton and the disappearance of an elderly couple from North Carolina, who also disappeared while hiking, and the death of a female hiker in Florida. (More Georgia stories.)

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