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Fla. officials to charge Hilton
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Florida officials have enough evidence to charge Meredith Emerson’s accused killer with a murder in that state, district attorney William Meggs told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday morning.
William Meggs, the district attorney who presides over Florida’s Leon County, said authorities are prepared to charge Gary Michael Hilton, 61, for the murder of 46-year-old Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, whose body was found Apalachicola National Forest on Dec. 1.
Around that same time, Hilton was seen in the Florida woods. U.S. Forest rangers reported spotting him there on Nov. 17 and Dec. 28. A hunter also reported seeing Hilton in Apalachicola National Forest on Dec. 7.
Hilton is in the custody of Dawson County and facing a murder charge in the death of Emerson, the 24-year-old Buford hiker who went missing on New Year’s Day in the North Georgia mountains.
If Hilton were still at large, Meggs said Friday, “I would probably get the warrant today, but since he is not a threat to public safety I am not putting together a sketchy arrest warrant because I don’t need to.”
Meggs said he had a conversation Thursday with Dawson County district attorney Lee Darragh, who charged Hilton with malice murder on Wednesday. Emerson’s body was found in Dawson County on Monday night after Hilton led them to the site. Hilton is awaiting indictment, which probably won’t come until March, Darragh said.
In another development, Forsyth County sheriff Ted Paxton confirmed Friday to the AJC that Hilton made a call to an old girlfriend from a pay phone at the QuikTrip outside of Cumming on the Friday investigators found bloody garments determined to be Emerson’s.
“My understanding from the GBI is that he was asking her for money, and she told him ‘No way,’ ” Paxton said. “He was wanted by every law enforcement agency in the state.”
Paxton said he did not know the name of the girlfriend, but the call is what alerted Forsyth Sherriff’s office investigators that Hilton had been at the Quik Trip, and prompted them to search the dumpster where they found her clothing and wallet and ID, which led to the charges against Hilton the next day.
Paxton also said Hilton is believed to have tried to use Emerson’s Visa card at an ATM machine on New Year’s night. She was last scene on a Georgia mountain trail, with Hilton, on New Year’s Day, but she wasn’t reported missing until the next day.
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