According to reports, a serial killer was convicted of at most three murders in the southeast, including beheadings. He also was accused in numerous other slayings.
The decades-old case was rediscovered earlier this week when the murders were featured in a segment on HLN’s “Real Life Nightmare” for an episode titled “Blood Mountain:The Hunting Ground.”
Gary Hilton, an alleged survivalist was arrested in Georgia Jan. 4, 2018 in connection to the murder of Meredith Emerson (24 years old), who disappeared while hiking in Blood Mountain. PEOPLE reported.
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After pleading guilty in murder of Meredith Emerson, Gary Michael Hilton was escorted into a police vehicle. Emerson was abducted while on a hike in the north Georgia mountains, New Year’s Day 2008. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
PEOPLE quoted Paul Holes, HLN host, in reporting that Hilton was “out there in forests all the time”.
On January 4, local law enforcement received word that Hilton was at , a local convenience shop. According to PEOPLE, officers arrived to find Hilton “literally trying clean his van off evidence” because he was seeing his photo in the newspapers.
GEORGIA HIKER’S KILLER HELPED WRITE A HORROR MOVIE ABOUT SERIAL MURDERS
PEOPLE reported that Hilton was soon identified by law enforcement officers as being involved in the murder of Cheryl Dunlap (46-year-old). Her head and other remains were found inside a firepit in Apalachicola National forest in Leon County in Florida.
Dunlap vanished in December 2007 and her remains were found two weeks later.
OFFICIALS GEORGIA HIKER DID OF BLOW TO THE HEAD, LATER DECAPITATED
Hilton was reported to have been convicted of beheading both the women and her husband.
Also, he was allegedly involved in the deaths John Bryant and Irene Bryant (age 80 and 84 respectively), who vanished while hiking in North Carolina in October 2007. PEOPLE reported that their remains had not been found for several months.
Police continue to investigate Hilton’s possible involvement with other cases such as Rossana Miliani’s disappearance in 2005.
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Hilton was executed by the Florida State Penitentiary and is currently on death row in Florida.
Stephanie Pagones works as a Digital Reporter at FOX Business and Fox News. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @steph_pagones.