Missing Georgia Hiker - Meredith Emerson(BODY FOUND)

[vms]

Officials Searching For Missing Georgia Hiker

POSTED: 4:52 pm EST January 2, 2008
UPDATED: 6:55 pm EST January 2, 2008



UNION COUNTY, Ga. -- Union County officials are searching for a missing hiker and her dog.

Friends believe Meredith Emerson, 24, from Gwinnett County, spent Tuesday night outside in the cold north Georgia mountains. Temperatures reached into the teens Tuesday night.

Emerson's friends said she went hiking with her dog on Blood Mountain Trail Tuesday. Authorities said they have located Emerson's car and her dog's leash, but they have found no sign of Emerson or her black Lab. Emerson is 5'4", 120 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes.

A command post has been set up and volunteers and Union County officials searched the trails Wednesday. Authorities pulled all searchers from the trails just before 6 p.m. Wednesday. They will resume their search first thing Thursday morning. A Georgia State Patrol helicopter was going to take part in the search, but was forced to land due to high winds.

Temperatures are expected to reach 13 degrees Wednesday night. Union County received snow Tuesday night -- which canceled classes for that school system Wednesday and Thursday.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14964662/detail.html

[bleachedblack]

Longmont native, dog missing in Georgia

UNION COUNTY, Ga. – Crews are set to continue searching Thursday for a Gwinnett County woman, originally from Colorado, missing since Tuesday.

Friends of Meredith Emerson, 24, say she went hiking with her dog on Blood Mountain Tuesday. Blood Mountain is the highest peak on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail.

Friends believe Emerson, who is originally from Longmont, spent the night outside. Temperatures dropped into the teens Tuesday.

After Emerson failed to show up for work on Wednesday, volunteers searched for her along six miles of the Appalachian Trail. The search was called off around 4 p.m. Mountain Time.

According to workers at the Visitors Center, someone saw Emerson coming down the mountain, trailed by someone with a police baton.

WXIA reports a hiker turned in a dog leash, two water bottles and a police baton to the Visitors Center. Emerson's car was also found. According to WXIA, the significance of the findings was not realized until later; authorities do not know the identity of the hiker who turned in the belongings but they would like to speak to him because he may have seen something.

According to WXIA, despite the finding of the police baton, the Union County Sheriff's Department is considering this a missing person search, not a criminal investigation.

Emerson's black Labrador Retriever is also missing.

"That dog loves her and won't leave her side for anything. She's just a great dog. She's about a year old and they go everywhere together," said Emerson's roommate, Julia Karrenbaur.

The search is scheduled to continue at dawn on Thursday. A news conference is scheduled for Thursday morning.

Emerson's family lives in Colorado. They arrived in Georgia Wednesday night.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=83799

[vms]

Search Resumes for Missing Hiker
 
Searchers returned to the North Georgia mountains at daybreak Thursday in hopes of finding a missing woman who went hiking on New Year's Day.

Emergency personnel have been staked out on the Appalachian Trail on Blood Mountain. But cold weather and darkness forced crews to suspend the search for Meredith Emerson, 24, Wednesday night. Emerson took her dog with her on a hike there in Union County, and has not been seen since Tuesday.

She is described as an experienced hiker who knows the area well. Friends said that Emerson does not get turned around easily, causing them more concern over her whereabouts. Given the cold weather, friends and family are desperate to find her.

"Meredith is my roommate. She did not come home last night. She left a note that said she was going hiking yesterday afternoon," said her roommate. "She didn't come home, and then her dog wasn't there this morning, which it usually is, and then we heard that she did not show up for work, which is very unlike her."

Her car was found in the trailhead parking lot, covered in snow. But there was no sign of Meredith or her dog.

While the sheriff's department and GEMA are handing it as a missing persons' case, there are some details that have friends concerned. According to her roommate, a man hiking on the trail on Tuesday said he recalled seeing her and her dog and that he also noticed a man on the trail that gave him an uneasy feeling, who he said was carrying a police baton.

The hiker who saw the man with the baton said he continued up the hill. He said that when he came back down the hill that he found some of Meredith's belongings including a leash, two water bottles and some dog treats. Also, next to those items, were a police baton and some men's sunglasses.

All of that information is being checked into.

Searchers covered about six miles of the Appalachian Trail on Wednesday, and they said they hope to get a helicopter up in the air on Thursday.

Anyone who has any information that may help in the search is asked to call GEMA at 706-439-6038.

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[vms]

Man Sought in Missing Hiker Case

Breaking News update:

A white man between the ages of 50 and 60 who weighs approximately 160 pounds has been named as a "person of interest" in the disappearance of a 24-year-old hiker from Gwinnett County.

Union County authorities want to talk to the man, who witnesses described as having no or bad teeth. The man was seen several times talking with Meredith Emerson, who went hiking with her black Labrador on New Year's Day. Emerson was reported missing on Wednesday.

"This man was seen with her on multiple occasions during that day," said Union County investigator Kimberly Burdough.

Authorities said the man in question had a dog with him, a red-colored Labrador retriever that answered to the name of "Danny." Emerson and the man's dogs ran up the mountains near Dahlonega together, and the two owners were last seen following their dogs Tuesday, witnesses told authorities.

The witnesses said the man also had with him a large, yellow backpack that looked like it had enough gear for more than one day. Burdough said witnesses described the man as, "Weathered and no teeth and looked as if he had been hiking for quite from time."

With the possibility of foul play, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation joined in the search for Emerson and the man Thursday. Add to that, a team of eight from Gwinnett County search and rescue, one fire search-and-rescue team, and a Georgia State Patrol helicopter using an infrared device are taking part in the search.

"At this time we are assembling teams with experience and non-experience," Burdough said at a late morning news conference.

Anyone with information on the man in question is asked to call 706-439-6038 immediately.

Earlier Thursday, investigator Burdough said five or six people had come forward with information about Emerson. One of them, a former police officer, said that after passing Emerson and her dog, he spotted a suspicious man who was carrying a police baton. The ex-cop returned to the scene to help investigators pinpoint the area where he saw Emerson, as well as the suspicious man.

'Pure Tough'
Emerson was described by her self-defense instructor as "120 pounds of pure tough."

"I've seen her take down men twice her size," the Tae Kwon Do instructor told 11Alive's Julie Wolfe Thursday.

After reporting her missing, friends and relatives traveled to Blood Mountain in Union County where they found her snow-covered car in a trail parking lot. Authorities have confirmed that a water bottle and leash found on the mountain and turned into a local shop owner belong to Emerson.

A short time after her car was found, three teams started what would be six-mile search in the woods in Union County where Emerson took her dog on a hike. They ended the ground search at 6:30 p.m. as sub-zero degree temperatures moved into the region.

Volunteer searchers gathered by the dozens to help but were initially asked to stay clear of the mountain so that their body heat was not mistaken for Emerson's.

"We are doing every effort to find Meredith," Burdough said, adding that members of the Appalachian Trail Club have been contacted for any information about caves or other areas where Emerson could have survived the night.

Family spokesperson Peggy Bailey said Emerson's parents flew in from Colorado Wednesday night.

"Her parents, as you can imagine, are devastated and frightened but they are strong people, as is Meredith," said Bailey. "She is smart, level-headed."

Emerson, a University of Georgia graduate, just started a new job and was excited about taking on a leadership role there, Bailey said. She was also skilled at hiking.

"Meredith Emerson could do anything. She is feisty. She is strong. She is tiny and petite, 120 pounds, [but] she can run those mountains. She’s a strong person. If anyone can survive this she can."

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=108980

[bleachedblack]

Hiker, Dog Missing in Ga. Wilderness
Authorities Release Details of 'Person of Interest' in Woman's Disappearance

Jan. 3, 2008
Georgia authorities have released a description of a "person of interest" this morning in the disappearance of a 24-year-old hiker and her dog who disappeared after setting out for a walk in the wilderness on New Year's Day.

Meredith Emerson has been described by friends as a skilled hiker in good physical shape, but freezing temperatures — in the teens with a wind chill near zero on both Tuesday and Wednesday night — had initially concerned the authorities combing the area.

Authorities now want to identify and talk to a man described as a silver-haired, white male about 60 years old, perhaps with missing teeth, who was seen in the area where Emerson was hiking the day she disappeared. Some witnesses reported to authorities seeing the man talking to Emerson.

The man was wearing a yellow jacket and carrying a backpack; a dark red-colored large-breed dog answered to the man's call of "Dandy."

The man may be driving a white minivan with Georgia license plates.

>>>>>the complete article

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4080384&page=1

[bleachedblack]

The more details that unfold in this story the worse it sounds for this lovely young woman. It is reported "According to workers at the Visitors Center,  someone saw Emerson  coming down the mountain,trailed by someone with a police baton." Another abductor with a reported white van? My prayers are with her and her family.

[vms]

<snipped>
Late Thursday officials said they believe the man seen with Emerson was Gary Michael Hilton, a DeKalb County resident. Union County officials are asking anyone with information on Hilton's whereabouts to give them a call. It's possible Hilton is driving a 2000-2001 white Chevy Astro van with DeKalb County plate AFQ 1310.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14964662/detail.html

[vms]

<snipped>
According to investigators, Hilton owns two vehicles, both registered in DeKalb County: a white 1996 Chevrolet Astro Van with plate number 76APZ, and a white 2001 Chevrolet Astro Van with license plate number AFQ1310.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=108980

[vms]

http://www.helpfindmeredith.com/

[vms]

Police trying to determine if yellow jacket links three hikers

By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/03/08

It may just be a coincidence, but investigators are curious whether a yellow jacket connects the presumed double murder of an elderly North Carolina couple to the disappearance of Meredith Emerson, last seen hiking in the North Georgia mountains on New Year's Day.

Like Emerson, John and Irene Bryant were avid hikers, hitting the trails up to three times a week, their son Bob Bryant said.

The couple was last sighted Oct. 20 in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest.

Three weeks later, Irene Bryant's body was discovered; she had been bludgeoned to death, authorities said. Her husband remains missing.

Police investigating Emerson's disappearance are looking for Gary Michael Hilton, 61, who was seen walking with the University of Georgia graduate on Tuesday. He was wearing a yellow jacket, witnesses said.

In the Bryant case, a surveillance video recorded someone wearing a yellow jacket using the couple's ATM card at a bank in Ducktown, Tenn. — about an hour away from where Emerson was hiking.

Nothing else is known about the suspect, said U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Harold Young.

"Right now we don't see a correlation, but the yellow jacket certainly raised a flag," Young said. "They call these things clues."

There haven't been many in the Bryant investigation.

"We don't have any promising leads," Young said.

The Bryants' son said he is also following the search for Emerson.

"The crime was so heinous ... to murder an elderly couple like that," Bob Bryant said Thursday night in a telephone interview from his home in Austin, Texas.

Bryant said he believes more than one person was involved in his parents' death.

"My dad was a strong guy," he said. "I don't think one person could've gotten away with this."


Article Link

[Nut44x4]

This one is really grossing me out. All I can think of is the movie Deliverance    ACKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!! Damn I hope she is ok!!!

[vms]

Ravines, Caves Searched for UGA Grad

Web Editor: Tracey Christensen
Last Modified: 1/4/2008 10:45:31 AM

 Search and rescue teams spent a frigid night on Blood Mountain scouring trails, ravines, and caves for any sign of a missing University of Georgia graduate.

"We have nothing right now," Union County investigator Kimberly Verdone admitted Friday.

Meredith Emerson, 24, an avid hiker, was last seen on New Year's Day, talking to a weathered and toothless man who has been identified as Gary Michael Hilton, 60, of DeKalb County. Hilton is being sought for questioning by authorities.

"All we have is that they were seen on the trail together. He was the last person that was with her along with her dog," Verdone said at a Friday morning news conference. "DeKalb County is looking for this subject."

As many as 60 searchers from area police and sheriff department, some with K-9 units, worked through the night as temperatures dipped to 9 degrees. By daybreak Friday, the search for Emerson had extended to an area covering nearly 254,000 acres. A Georgia State Patrol helicopter with infrared took to the air for another day.

Volunteers who wanted to help in the ground search were asked to call Union County authorities first to be placed on a list.

Emerson left a note for her roommate to indicate she went hiking on Tuesday. When she failed to return home, friends reported her missing and, on Wednesday, found her car in a parking lot near a Blood Mountain trail.

While the fate of Emerson is not known, her godmother, speaking again Friday, said her parents remain hopeful. She also pleaded for Hilton to come forward and talk to authorities.

"I hope that if he realizes that this would be helpful, that his heart would be softened and turned to coming forward with information for Meredith, for those of us who love her. We need him to come forward," said Peggy Bailey.

"Please, please if you could and I speak to him and anyone who can contact him, if you’ve been hesitant, please don’t be hesitant...have the courage to come forward. We need you and Dave and Susan [Emerson's parents] need you."

Hilton was identified as a person of interest after someone wrote down the license tag of his white van. Investigator Verdone did not know what prompted that person to become suspicious enough to take notes on his van.

"That is something that we’re checking into," she said. "It’s not that he is a suspect...we just want to know when was the last time he saw her."

Authorities said Hilton had a large, reddish-colored dog with him that answered to the name of "Dandy." Hilton owns two vehicles, both registered in DeKalb County: a white 1996 Chevrolet Astro Van with plate number 76APZ, and a white 2001 Chevrolet Astro Van with license plate number AFQ1310.

For now, officials said they are holding out hope that Emerson is on the mountain, holed up in a cave where she is staying warm with her dog.

"We are still in search and rescue mode. We are holding that she’s out there and that she’s hidden somewhere where she’s staying warm and that Ella is with her."

Verdone said the search includes the help of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Natural Resources, the Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office, the Union County Sheriff's Office, the Union County Fire Department, the Union County Emergency Management Agency, along with scours of volunteers and a K-9 search team from North Carolina, and the GSP helicopter.

Anyone with information on Hilton is asked to call the Union County Sheriff's Office at 706-439-6038.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109029

[LilPuma]

Thanks for all the info, VMS  and BleachedBlack.  I just heard an update on TV and hopped over here for more info.  Prayers for her and her pup.  I hadn't heard they are checking out a connection to the murdered NC couple. 

[bleachedblack]

Is This Man Key to Blood Mountain Mystery?
Hunt for Woman, Dog in Georgia Now Also a Search for Older Hiker on Same Path

It began as a search for 24-year-old Meredith Emerson and her dog, who were last seen taking a New Year's hike in Georgia's Blood Mountain wilderness.

Today, authorities will resume that search, but they will also be looking for a silver-haired, 61-year-old hiker named Gary Michael Hilton, who police say may have met Emerson the day she disappeared and who has not been seen since.

Mr. Hilton is an individual that is believed to have contact with Miss Emerson on Tuesday along the hiking trails in Vogel State Park," said Kimberly Verdone, the spokeswoman for the Union County Sheriff's Department.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Hilton has a criminal record, having been convicted of two felonies — one for the possession and distribution of marijuana, another for theft by taking. He is believed to be living in DeKalb County in suburban Atlanta and driving a 2000 or 2001 Chevy Astro van

>>>>the complete article

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4085744&page=1

[vms]

GBI Enters Search For Missing Hiker

POSTED: 4:52 pm EST January 2, 2008
UPDATED: 11:54 am EST January 4, 2008


UNION COUNTY, Ga. -- Rescue workers and canine teams worked through the night and continued searching Friday morning for a missing 24-year-old hiker near Blood Mountain and for a man they described as a "person of interest" in her disappearance.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has entered the search.

"The last team came at 6 o'clock this morning," Union County investigator Kimberly Verdone said Friday, as the overnight search for Meredith Emerson continued in daylight hours.

Verdone said multiple teams of search and rescue dogs, along with law enforcement officers and firefighters, were combing a 401 square mile area of rugged terrain.

Fifteen teams of searchers made up of law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services personnel were searching on and near the trail where Emerson was hiking.

Officials said they are only using professional search teams to look for Emerson Friday. Volunteers are still showing up to help and they are being used to pass out fliers.

"Person Of Interest" Sought

Police say they want to talk to Gary Michael Hilton of DeKalb County about the case. They said Hilton, who is in his 60s, drives a 2000-2001 white Chevy Astro van. He was reportedly seen several times on New Year's Day with Emerson.

"We have talked to a lot of people who saw them together," said John Cagle of the GBI. "We know he was there."

Cagle also confirmed GBI agents are talking to investigators handling the presumed murder of two hikers in North Carolina.

John and Irene Bryant disappeared Oct. 20 while hiking in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest. Her body was found three weeks later; she had been beaten to death. Her husband is still missing.

Someone wearing a yellow jacket used the couple's ATM card at a bank about an hour north of where Emerson was hiking.

Police say Hilton was wearing a yellow jacket when he was seen talking to Emerson.

Emerson, 24, originally from Colorado, but living in Gwinnett County, has been missing since she went hiking on Blood Mountain Trail in Union County on Tuesday.

Friends believe she spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night outside in the cold north Georgia mountains. Temperatures reached into the teens those nights. Her roommate said Emerson is an experienced hiker familiar with the mountains.

"Let me tell you something, Meredith Emerson can do anything," said family spokesperson Peggy Bailey. "She's a strong person."

Other hikers who were on the trail Tuesday told authorities they saw Emerson talking to a white male, 50-60 years old, described as "weathered looking" with missing teeth. Officials now believe that man was Hilton. The man had a red dog with him he called "Dandy." Officials said they want to talk with Hilton because he was seen with Emerson throughout the day Tuesday.

"It's not that, you know, he's a suspect. He is somebody that was last seen talking to her, last seen with her," Verdone said during a Friday morning news conference.

Union County officials are asking anyone with information on Hilton's whereabouts to give them a call. It's possible Hilton is driving a 2000-2001 white Chevy Astro van with DeKalb County plate AFQ 1310.

Little is known about Hilton. He was convicted of two felonies; one for the possession and distribution of marijuana, another for theft by taking. According to public records, his last known address was on 11th Street in Atlanta in 1999.

The man they believe was Hilton had a sheath of some sort on one of his legs, Verdone said, but police don't know what was in it. He was wearing a yellow jacket and a large backpack -- "something you would use for a couple of days," she said.

Anyone with information about Hilton should call the Union County Sheriff's Office at 706-439-6038.

"We want to find out who he was and kind of talk to him and see what happened and what their conversation was throughout the day," Verdone said.

Emerson's roommate said Emerson left a note saying she went hiking with her dog. Authorities said they have located Emerson's car -- a Chevy Cavalier -- and her dog's leash, but they have found no sign of Emerson or her black Lab, Ella.


GBI Joins Search

At the request of the Union County Sheriff's Department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation sent four agents to join in the search Thursday morning, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.

The Georgia State Patrol pitched in with a helicopter using an infrared device. The helicopter had been grounded by high winds on Wednesday.

"She's an experienced hiker and a blue belt in martial arts," said Julia Karrenbauer, Emerson's roommate. "She's athletic and has a good head on her shoulders. So we're just hoping for the best."

Family members were at the search command post on Thursday.

Union County Fire Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Fortenberry said up to 30 emergency personnel and deputies searched a mountainous, six-mile stretch of trails south of Blairsville on Thursday. He said investigators have found no signs of foul play.

Temperatures reached 13 degrees with the wind chill factor in the single digits Wednesday night. Union County received snow Tuesday night -- which canceled classes for that school system Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Emerson is 5'4", 120 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes.

One of Georgia's oldest and most popular state parks, Vogel is located at the base of Blood Mountain in the Chattahoochee National Forest.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14964662/detail.html

[pdh3]

Thanks for all the info, VMS  and BleachedBlack.  I just heard an update on TV and hopped over here for more info.  Prayers for her and her pup.  I hadn't heard they are checking out a connection to the murdered NC couple. 

That sounds very ominous.

[vms]

Person of Interest in Missing Hiker Case in Custody

The Union County Police Department announced Friday evening that the "person of interest" in the disappearance of hiker Meredith Emerson, 60-year-old Gary Michael Hilton, was taken into custody in DeKalb County at about 8 p.m. Friday at a Chevron convenience store at the corner of Ashford-Dunwoody Road and Johnson Ferry Road.

According to authorities, Hilton will be questioned by the GBI about his knowledge of Emerson.

Emerson's white van was found near the car vacuum cleaners at the station. A passerby noticed the van, thought it seemed out of place, and called 911.

Hilton was reported to have been seen on the trail with Emerson, walking with a dog answering to the name Dandy. A dog was taken away from the investigation scene. It is not presently known if it is the same dog.

Officials said they had found Emerson's dog Ella at a Kroger store in Forsyth County on Friday, about 50 miles away from the search area. They said that the dog was positively identified by a microchip implant by a veterinarian.

Police said the search for Emerson will continue on Saturday morning.

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[bleachedblack]

Oh thank-you vms for this news! closer and closer........

[MuffyBee]

Oh thank-you vms for this news! closer and closer........

I hope she can be found alive and well, like her dog was. But it doesn't look good for her :--(

[vms]

Oh thank-you vms for this news! closer and closer........

I hope she can be found alive and well, like her dog was. But it doesn't look good for her :--(

I am praying but I have a very sick feeling. 

I missed the news on Fox 5 at 10 but have been told that they reported that some of her items were recovered from the van...
I hope that is not true...