Authorities Monday were checking to see whether three North Georgia missing persons cases — two from recent weeks and one from nearly four years ago — are linked.

Forsyth County officials are investigating the possibility that the man suspected of kidnapping hiker Meredith Emerson may be linked to the disappearance and murder of a Forsyth County hairdresser nearly four years ago, and police in Athens are trying to determine whether he could be connected to the case of a 29-year-old woman who disappeared in late December.

Forsyth County Sheriffs Department

Patrice Endres

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"We're not leaving any stone unturned," said Capt. Frank Huggins, spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department.

Huggins said investigators want to look into similarities in Emerson's kidnapping and the unsolved murder of Patrice Endres, who disappeared from her beauty salon north of Cumming on April 15, 2004.

Both cases involved a missing woman, and clues to their disappearance were found in Forsyth County, the spokesman said.

Authorities already have said they believe there could be a connection between the Emerson case and the disappearance and presumed slayings last October of John and Irene Bryant, an elderly couple from North Carolina.

On Friday, police found three bloody fleece garments and Emerson's wallet and ID in a parking lot trash receptacle near a QuikTrip near Cumming in Forsyth County, about 50 miles south of the trail where she was last seen. Across the street from the trash bin, they found Emerson's dog, Ella, wandering in a Kroger parking lot. Gary Michael Hilton, 61, has been charged with kidnapping Emerson, who led authorities to her body Monday in Dawson County.

Endres' remains were found in Dawson County about 20 months after she was reporting missing.

In a more recent missing persons case, Cayle Bywater, 29, was last seen with her dog at Memorial Park in Athens on the afternoon of Dec. 29, according to Athens-Clarke County police.

Bywater did not show up for work later that evening, and her dog was seen unattended and running loose in the park on Gran Ellen Drive in Athens the next day, police said. No family members or friends have reported any contact with Bywater since Dec. 29.

"Presently, we have not made any connection in our case with that of the Meredith Emerson case in Union County," Athens-Clarke County police Lt. Greg Paul said Monday morning.

However, Paul said an Athens-Clarke County detective "will be speaking with the GBI today about any possible similarities in the incidents."

Emerson, 24, is believed to have been kidnapped while hiking with her dog at Vogel State Park in Union County on New Year's Day.

Paul asked that anyone who was at Memorial Park in Athens during the afternoon and evening hours of Dec. 29, or anytime on Dec. 30, call Detective Dustin Smith at 706-613-3888, Ext. 795.

A Web site has been set up by friends of Bywater seeking clues to her whereabouts: findcayle.blogspot.com.