Meredith Emerson, who had a green belt in judo, put up such a fight against Gary Michael Hilton that he dropped his police-style baton while trying to kidnap her in the mountains of North Georgia on New Year's Day.

A diminutive but scrappy woman who stood 5-foot-4, Emerson continued to resist Hilton during the next three days, repeatedly giving the 61-year-old drifter incorrect pass codes for her ATM cards.

Phil Skinner/AJC

Sharon Couch of the Dawson County D.A.'s Office consoles grieving father Dave Emerson. With him is friend Doug Bailey (left).

Phil Skinner/AJC

Gary Michael Hilton is whisked out of the court by Dawson County sheriffs after pleading guilty to murdering Buford hiker Meredith Emerson in a hearing at the Dawson Superior Court.

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The young woman, a vibrant 24-year-old with a steel will, may have acted not just to save herself, but to help authorities apprehend her captor.

"It is unclear, [but] I would like to think she was doing everything she could to ensure that he would perhaps get caught during his efforts to use the ATMs," Dawson County District Attorney Lee Darragh said.

Hilton was arrested on Jan. 4, and later led authorities to Emerson's body. Darragh described Emerson's three-day ordeal in court Thursday moments before Judge Bonnie Oliver accepted Hilton's guilty plea to murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

With Emerson's parents watching from the second row, Darragh gave the following account, which was drawn from authorities' interviews with Hilton, and confirmed by his public defender, Rob McNeill.

Emerson was not the first hiker Hilton approached on a trail on Jan. 1. He considered another potential victim, but "she was with other people."

Emerson became his focus for two reasons: She was alone on Blood Mountain, and she was female.

He wanted her money. And he knew that he would eventually kill her.

Witnesses had reported spotting Hilton following Emerson in the mountains that day.

One witness, a former law enforcement officer, said he saw Hilton carrying a police-style baton and a large knife on his belt. That witness later found two water bottles, a dog leash and some dog treats along with the baton on the edge of a hiking trail.

"There was in fact a struggle at that location between Ms. Emerson and this defendant," Darragh told the judge as Hilton sat to his left, wearing a dark bulletproof vest over his orange jail uniform and staring straight ahead. "This defendant, however, was able to place her under his control eventually."

Hilton took Emerson back to her car, where he stole her purse and ATM cards. Then he placed her in his van and drove her around to various locations in North Georgia, seeking to get money out of ATMs with her cards. She kept giving him incorrect PIN numbers.

He never was able to withdraw any money from Emerson's account. He was videotaped trying to do so at an ATM machine in Canton.

On Jan. 3, Hilton called a former employer, seeking some money and his old job back. The next day, Hilton told Emerson he was going to let her go.

He "secured" her in Dawson Forest, went to his van and returned with the handle of a car jack. He struck her on the head several times until she died. In hopes to conceal his crime after beating her to death, he decapitated her.

"He used the phrase that he did those things for 'forensic purposes,'" Darragh said.

Hilton was given an opportunity to address the court after his guilty plea but refused. When the hearing ended, sheriff's deputies led Hilton to a side exit, where he appeared to frantically reach for the door handle.

McNeill, his attorney, said Hilton is remorseful but decided not to address Emerson's parents in court because "anything he could say would be hollow and empty."

"He realizes what he has done to the family," McNeill said. "He realizes what a special person Meredith was."

She "actually did fight him in the beginning until she was unable to anymore," Darragh told reporters after the court hearing.

Added McNeill: "She was absolutely a hero. She did everything she possibly could" to survive.