Suspect leads searchers to body of missing hiker
Published: Tue, Jan. 08, 2008 12:00AM
Modified Tue, Jan. 08, 2008 06:06AM
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closeDAWSONVILLE, GA. -- Authorities found the body of a missing hiker Monday night in a wooded area, hours after a judge denied bond to the man accused of kidnapping her in the north Georgia mountains.
Gary Michael Hilton, who is charged in the case, led authorities to the body of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson, John Cagle, special agent in charge with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Field Division, told a news conference.
Local residents had reported seeing Hilton's van in the Dawson Forest Management Area, where the body was found, and a search had been planned in the area, miles from where Emerson was last seen, before Hilton told authorities where to look, Cagle said.
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Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said there could be a connection between the Emerson case and the disappearance and presumed killing of John and Irene Bryant, a couple in their 80s who disappeared in October while hiking in the North Carolina mountains.
GBI spokesman John Bankhead said Georgia officials planned to meet with North Carolina authorities to discuss the case.
The body of Irene Bryant, 84, was found covered with leaves in November. John Bryant, 80, is still missing,
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