Meredith Emerson and her dog Ella picture (wsbtv.com)
Meredith Emerson is a 24-year-old Colorado native who now lives in Buford from Gwinnett County. Emerson, an experienced hiker and a blue belt in martial arts, is 5'4", 120 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes.
The lady went hiking with her black Labrador Retriever named Ella on Blood Mountain Trail on New Year's day morning but both lost in the snow-covered North Georgia Mountains in Union County since then.
Her 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier was found abandoned at the midnight of January 2 at the base of Blood Mountain by an employee at Vogel State Park.
This morning authorities planned to resume searching Emerson. Our prayers go to Lady Meredith Emerson and hope her safe with her Ella.
Update: Till day January 4, Emerson is still missing. According to the police, a 61-year-old man with silver-grey hair called Gary Michael Hilton from Atlanta might be the person who had kidnapped the female hiker.
Update (January 5): While Meredith Emerson is still missing, her black Labrador retriever Ella was found at a grocery store in Forsyth County. The dog wandered to the store, at least 40 miles from where Emerson's car was discovered abandoned on Wednesday, and was identified by an implanted microchip.
Gary Michael Hilton Mugshot
Update (January 6): Emerson was believed dead. Gary Michael Hilton the man who was reportedly last seen with her was officially charged with kidnapping.
Update (January 6): Meredith Emerson was believed murdered. Her ID found and blood-stained clothes discovered in a trash bin of a convenience store next to the grocery store where Emerson's dog was found wandering around is consistent with the type Emerson was believed to wear. These findings led the authorities to charge Gary Michael Hilton as he was the last person seen with Emerson.
Update (January 7 AJC.com) Meredith Emerson is still missing. Search for the missing hiker's body was focused on a five-county area extending from metro Atlanta to the North Georgia mountains within a five-mile radius of Vogel State Park. Union County Sheriff's Investigator Kimberly Verdone said the search in North Georgia will continue, but if there are no new developments by close of business Wednesday Janurary 10, the Blairsville command center would be closed and investigators would reassess what to do next.
Update (January 8 CNN): Extremely sad! Meredith Emerson was dead. After the suspect murderer Gary Michael Hilton told the authorities where to find Meredith Emerson's body, her corpse were found about 7:30 p.m. Monday in the 25,000-acre Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area -- about 30 miles south of the Union County, Georgia, state park where she went hiking! An autopsy on Emerson's body has been planned.
Update (January 9, CNN): Shocking! The authorities said Mereith Emerson was probably alive for three days before she died from blunt force trauma to the head. Meredith Emerson, was decapitated after her death, an autopsy also found. Investigators believe she was killed January 4.
Update: It is now revealed that Miss Meredith Emerson had fought had to survive.
Gary Michael Hilton confessed to the GBI that he killed and decapitated the 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate on a hiking trial. He gave details of the four days between the time he abducted her on the trail and when he killed her four days later.
Meredith Emerson's Last Days
According to Keenan, Hilton gave the following account of Emerson's last days:
Hilton said he targeted Emerson because she was a woman. They hiked together on Jan. 1 on the mountain trail, but Hilton, 61, could not keep up with Emerson. He waited for her to head back down the trail before he attacked her with a military-style knife.
Hilton demanded that Emerson give him her ATM card, but she immediately fought back, grabbing the knife blade and a baton Hilton had. "She wouldn't stop," Hilton told investigators. "She wouldn't stop fighting. And yelling at the same time. So I needed to both control her and silence her."
Hilton punched her hard. Blackening both of her eyes and probably breaking her nose, but Emerson continued to fight back. He said he calmed her down by telling her that all he wanted was her credit card and PIN number.
He finally managed to get her back down the trail and he put her and her dog Ella into his van. For the next three days, Emerson bought herself time over the next three days by giving Hilton the wrong PIN numbers.
We Didn't Get There in Time
"That's the one thing that broke my heart in this case," GBI agent Clay Bridges told the newspaper. "She was doing everything she was supposed to do to stay alive, and we didn't get there in time."
On the day he killed Emerson, he told her she was going home, but instead he tied her to tree. He went back to his van to make coffee then returned to her location. "I was afraid you weren't coming back," Emerson told Hilton.
He walked around behind her and hit her over the head several times with a car jack handle. Hilton said he couldn't bring himself to kill her dog.
"It was hard," Hilton told Agent Bridges. "You gotta remember we had spent several good days together."