Latest / The conspiracy / The Monster In The Woods _ Gary Michael Hilton

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The Monster In The Woods _ Gary Michael Hilton · The conspiracy

0:00
Speaker 1: Some killers burst into the public eye. Others take their time.
0:04
Speaker 1: This story didn't start with flashy headlines or man hunts,
0:09
Speaker 1: but instead it began years earlier, born of instability and
0:13
Speaker 1: life lived on the fringes, and by the time anyone
0:16
Speaker 1: realized what was going on, it was too late. The
0:19
Speaker 1: damage had been done, and people disappeared from places meant
0:23
Speaker 1: to be peaceful getaways. What did trails meant for? Connection
0:26
Speaker 1: and reflection became scenes of horrific violence, begging the question
0:31
Speaker 1: who was out there? And how many more? Would he? Claim?
0:34
Speaker 1: This is Gary Michael Hilton, crime, conspiracy, gults, Syria, killas
0:40
Speaker 1: and murder, all things that I love to consume and
0:43
Speaker 1: I know you do too, you sick, twisted, beautiful, intellectually
0:46
Speaker 1: minded freak. And today we are diving into a lesser known,
0:50
Speaker 1: but very infamous serial killer. So, without further ado, La sunbuckle,
0:54
Speaker 1: our seatbelts, go Mack fired on the highway, slam of
0:56
Speaker 1: the recks and busted the swindshield into this National Forest
1:00
Speaker 1: serial killer together. So, between researching these cases and work
1:19
Speaker 1: in general and just life in general, there's one thing
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Speaker 1: I don't really have time for, and that is to
1:25
Speaker 1: go shopping or go to the mall. Who's doing that
1:27
Speaker 1: these days? Not to mention I have social anxiety, so
1:30
Speaker 1: it's just not my cup of tea. And also I
1:32
Speaker 1: don't have the best fashion sense. Necessarily, I don't really
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3:07
Speaker 1: Gary Michael Hilton was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on November
3:10
Speaker 1: twenty second, nineteen forty six, and he was an only
3:14
Speaker 1: child first red flag I'm just kidding, I'm I'm just kidding,
3:17
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, and his parents divorced while he was
3:20
Speaker 1: very young, and his biological father had a military background
3:24
Speaker 1: and was mostly absent from Gary's life, eventually starting another
3:28
Speaker 1: family and his mother Cleo remarried a man named Nilo
3:32
Speaker 1: Debag so with his real dad out of the picture,
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Speaker 1: Hilton was left under the authority of a stepdad who
3:37
Speaker 1: would be a central figure in his childhood trauma. Now,
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Speaker 1: Gary's home life was horrible, and, as later described by
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Speaker 1: psychiatrists who evaluate him, his stepfather was emotionally abusive, directing
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Speaker 1: his anger towards both Gary and his mother because he
3:53
Speaker 1: required perfection, and told Gary that he should quit school
3:57
Speaker 1: and join the workforce as he did when he was kid,
4:00
Speaker 1: and at one point his stepfather gave Gary a beautiful
4:03
Speaker 1: jacket that he later tore up to discipline him. And
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Speaker 1: Cleo also never formed a loving relationship with her son,
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Speaker 1: appearing to mostly side with his stepfather Nilo and distancing
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Speaker 1: herself from Gary completely, and he would later say that
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Speaker 1: he couldn't remember ever being hugged by his mother as
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Speaker 1: a child, which is really sad, though some reports note
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Speaker 1: that there was a possibility of abuse between them as well,
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Speaker 1: but that is unconfirmed, but that parental rejection would stay
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Speaker 1: with him, and as a young boy, Gary became socially isolated,
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Speaker 1: struggling to connect with other people and preferring to spend
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Speaker 1: time alone, and he preferred animals to people, especially dogs,
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Speaker 1: finding in them the sort of companionship he was never
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Speaker 1: quite able to get at home. And to add injury
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Speaker 1: to insults, Gary suffered major head trauma around age ten
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Speaker 1: when a folding murphy bed fell on him, tearing his
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Speaker 1: scalp open and the resulting surge required more than two
5:01
Speaker 1: hundred stitches, and he spent a significant amount of time
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Speaker 1: in the hospital recovering, and specialists would later note that
5:07
Speaker 1: this type of damage, especially to the frontal lobe as
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Speaker 1: we've seen in other serial killers, can affect impulse control
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Speaker 1: and emotional regulation, and even more so to children, as
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Speaker 1: these parts of the brain do not fully develop until adulthood.
5:23
Speaker 1: So by his early teens and Gary's home situation had
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Speaker 1: reached a breaking point and Cleo and Nilo had separated
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Speaker 1: for a bit, but Nilo, his stepfather, would regularly come
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Speaker 1: back around and beg for her back. In one of
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Speaker 1: these times, Gary faced Nilo in a direct confrontation as
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Speaker 1: a result of years of abuse and tention, and he
5:42
Speaker 1: threatened to shoot Nilo if he didn't leave, and Nilo
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Speaker 1: grabbed a mattress and placed it between them, taunting Gary
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Speaker 1: to shoot him. So Gary then shot his stepdad through
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Speaker 1: the mattress with a shotgun, and at this point he
5:56
Speaker 1: was only thirteen to fourteen years old. Fortunately Nilo survived
6:01
Speaker 1: and chose not to press charges, you know, because he
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Speaker 1: asked him to shoot him with. It's just no wonder
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Speaker 1: this kid grew up up. My gosh, there's obviously like
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Speaker 1: I have empathy for the kid, and everything I does
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Speaker 1: not in any way shape or for makeup for the
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Speaker 1: stuff that he did or overshadows the crimes that he committed.
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Speaker 1: He's still today's piece as shit. But for a kid
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Speaker 1: to grow up like that, I can't even imagine. And
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Speaker 1: Cleo chose once again to side with her husband over
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Speaker 1: her son. And then Gary was sent into foster care,
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Speaker 1: living with a neighboring family for a time. So he
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Speaker 1: shot his stepdad because his stepdad told him to, and
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Speaker 1: then they sent him away. I feel like he could
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Speaker 1: have used some help from his family and from professional
6:48
Speaker 1: but what do I know. You know, different time. So
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Speaker 1: Thomas Parashue, his foster father, took him under his wing,
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Speaker 1: and as a military man like Gary's biological father, Thomas
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Speaker 1: gave him a glimpse of a structured and disciplined life,
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Speaker 1: later noting that though Gary pushed boundaries, sometimes he didn't
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Speaker 1: see anything outside of what he considered normal teenage behavior.
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Speaker 1: So Thomas spent time with him, taking him fishing and
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Speaker 1: going to see his band play, and Gary supposedly was
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Speaker 1: a decent drummer, and eventually Cleo left her abusive marriage
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Speaker 1: and took Gary back into the household, but by then
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Speaker 1: the damage had already been done, and despite the much
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Speaker 1: healthier situation in the Paraschhue household, the sense of abandonment
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Speaker 1: and instability from his mother had cemented itself in Gary's
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Speaker 1: mind and throughout his childhood, those that knew him described
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Speaker 1: Gary as intelligent, but unfocused and stubborn. So despite his
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Speaker 1: alleged genius level IQ some sources say as high as
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Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty, an old friend from school later
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Speaker 1: recounted that he was seen as an underachiever, and by
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Speaker 1: his late teens, Gary had no stable family relationships or
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Speaker 1: strong emotional ties, and he increasingly felt disconnected from the
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Speaker 1: world around him. February of nineteen sixty four, when he
8:02
Speaker 1: was just seventeen years old, Gary enlisted in the US Army,
8:05
Speaker 1: and it's unclear exactly how he got in, whether he
8:09
Speaker 1: lied about his age or got parental consent, but he
8:12
Speaker 1: got in nonetheless and was now placed within a world
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Speaker 1: of structure that he had only gotten a taste of
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Speaker 1: while living in foster care. So at first he seemed
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Speaker 1: to adapt well, and he completed basic training and allegedly
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Speaker 1: earned his ged while in the service, since he had
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Speaker 1: left high school early to enlist, and he demonstrated that
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Speaker 1: he was a competent soldier, following orders and even receiving
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Speaker 1: attention from his superiors due to his intelligence. So this
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Speaker 1: first enlistment ended without incident on December second, nineteen sixty five,
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Speaker 1: and the very next day he re enlisted for a
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Speaker 1: second time, so his aptitude for the service was noted
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Speaker 1: and he was considered for Special Forces and assigned to
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Speaker 1: the Davy Crocket Platoon, which was a highly secretive nuclear
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Speaker 1: weapons unit. So during his time abroad stationed in Germany,
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Speaker 1: he met a local woman and married her, and some
9:01
Speaker 1: sources say her name was Ursula, but that's not confirmed.
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Speaker 1: But this was the beginning of a pattern he would
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Speaker 1: repeat throughout his adult life, with relationships fizzling out just
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Speaker 1: as quick as they began, and despite the promising outlook
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Speaker 1: of his current circumstances, something was unraveling beneath the surface,
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Speaker 1: and Gary's mental health began to take a turn for
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Speaker 1: the worst. So by nineteen sixty seven he started to
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Speaker 1: experience severe psychiatric symptoms, including hearing voices and other symptoms
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Speaker 1: of psychosis, and he would be hospitalized for more than
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Speaker 1: a month as doctors attempted to assess what was wrong
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Speaker 1: with him, and later psychological evaluations would diagnose him with
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Speaker 1: schizo effective disorder and antisocial personality disorder, and in the end,
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Speaker 1: the structured military life proved not quite enough to help
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Speaker 1: him handle the issues within that had been growing since
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Speaker 1: his childhood, and the emotional and physical trauma appeared to
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Speaker 1: fully come together during this time, so Gary was no
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Speaker 1: longer fit for service, and he was dis charged early
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Speaker 1: from the Army for unsuitability on July fourteenth, nineteen sixty seven.
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Speaker 1: No this is technically still an honorable discharge. The reason
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Speaker 1: was psychiatric due to Hilton's undesirable character traits, and he
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Speaker 1: would later describe his military training as what allowed him
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Speaker 1: to separate killing from morality, which later courts would condemn
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Speaker 1: as offensive to those veterans who still obey the rules
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Speaker 1: of law. So Hilton returned from service as a young
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Speaker 1: man at only twenty one years old, and the army
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Speaker 1: had equipped him with a newfound discipline and survival skills,
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Speaker 1: but he was living with untreated mental illness and trauma.
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Speaker 1: But still he had a new wife and a chance
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Speaker 1: to start his own life outside the bounds of troubled home,
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Speaker 1: foster care or the military. But regular civilian life didn't
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Speaker 1: seem to suit him, and though it didn't remove his problems,
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Speaker 1: the structure of the army seemed to hold him together
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Speaker 1: more so than he thought, and after leaving he settled
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Speaker 1: into a pattern of instability with a number of short
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Speaker 1: lived relationships. So the marriage to his wife from Germany
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Speaker 1: ended abruptly, and he found himself quickly getting married to
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Speaker 1: a woman named Sue in nineteen sixty nine, and they
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Speaker 1: were together for barely two years, divorcing in Florida in
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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, and then he tried again a few
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Speaker 1: years later, in August of nineteen seventy seven, when he
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Speaker 1: married Dina Avon Boue in Georgia, but this marriage fell
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Speaker 1: apart even faster than the last, with a divorce happening
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Speaker 1: by May of the following year, and finally, in March
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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, Hilton married one last time to Betty
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Speaker 1: Sue Edwards Galloway, and she was a security officer at
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Speaker 1: Stone Mountain Park, and their marriage lasted only seven months,
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Speaker 1: ending in October of nineteen seventy nine. And notably, none
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Speaker 1: of these relationships produced children, though some of them brought
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Speaker 1: children in from previous relationships, and allegedly Hilton actually a
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Speaker 1: couple of these children. And this is where my empathy
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Speaker 1: completely dissipates, because he is a mom and this could
12:01
Speaker 1: be possibly an echo of what may have happened to
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Speaker 1: him in his own childhood. But again no excuses. Though
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Speaker 1: other accounts demonstrate that he was actually a caring step dad,
12:13
Speaker 1: and both of these things can be true in different marriages,
12:17
Speaker 1: but nothing is completely confirmed, so I just want to
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Speaker 1: make that clear. So by his mid thirties, Hilton had
12:23
Speaker 1: given up on the idea of marriage. No shit, Dune,
12:26
Speaker 1: you failed it debt like three four times, so he
12:28
Speaker 1: would live alone, moving wherever the situation took him, and
12:32
Speaker 1: he worked a series of average jobs, including manual labor
12:35
Speaker 1: and sales, and he even briefly qualified for a Florida
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Speaker 1: chauffeur license, but that was lost after a duy conviction
12:43
Speaker 1: in January of nineteen seventy three, and his license was
12:46
Speaker 1: revoked and he never took steps to reinstate it. So
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Speaker 1: throughout the eighties and nineties, Hilton steadily built himself a
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Speaker 1: criminal record, and though violence wasn't included in these offenses,
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Speaker 1: he was arrested for arson in nineteen eighty two and
13:00
Speaker 1: convicted of drug possession and carrying an illegal firearm in
13:03
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three. So he cycled through various arrests for theft,
13:07
Speaker 1: to fraud, and deception over the next several years, and
13:11
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven he was charged with theft by
13:13
Speaker 1: deception and marijuana possession, and in nineteen ninety four he
13:17
Speaker 1: was accused of operating a fake charity scheme, which led
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Speaker 1: to twenty one counts of fraud that's a new low,
13:24
Speaker 1: where he pleaded guilty and received probation. So time and
13:28
Speaker 1: time again, Hilton managed to avoid serious jail time through probations,
13:33
Speaker 1: keeping him significantly more mobile than a locked cell would.
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Speaker 1: And his former attorney and friend, Samuel Ryell, said that
13:40
Speaker 1: though he had quote unquote, some crookedness in him and
13:43
Speaker 1: a couple of screws loose. Nothing about his behavior at
13:47
Speaker 1: the time suggested what he would later be known for.
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Speaker 1: In fact, this attorney had a side gig of filmmaking
13:53
Speaker 1: that Hilton would find himself involved with, and it was
13:56
Speaker 1: a low budget horror film called Deadly Run about a
13:59
Speaker 1: serial killer who abducted women and took them into the
14:02
Speaker 1: woods where he would release and hunt them for sport,
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Speaker 1: very similar to the serial killer Robert Hanson, which I
14:09
Speaker 1: will cover soon. Hilton pitched the idea and even found
14:13
Speaker 1: a remote cabin location in Georgia for filming the murder scenes,
14:17
Speaker 1: and of course, without the later context of his life,
14:19
Speaker 1: nothing about this was immediately alarming, but years later it's
14:24
Speaker 1: quite prophetic, and with Hilton's eventual arrest Ryelle was shocked, saying, quote,
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Speaker 1: I had no clue whatsoever. He was very nice to
14:33
Speaker 1: me and to everyone I knew, wonderful to animals. I
14:36
Speaker 1: had absolutely no fear of him unquote. So we're going
14:39
Speaker 1: to see real quick why all of this is horribly ironic.
14:44
Speaker 1: So as he grew into his fifties, Hilton's life became
14:47
Speaker 1: more and more mobile and through the late nineteen nineties
14:50
Speaker 1: and mid two thousands, he worked on and off as
14:52
Speaker 1: a telemarketer and installation worker for a Georgia home improvement
14:55
Speaker 1: company owned by John Taber, and Tabor even allowed him
14:59
Speaker 1: to live on some of his property for a while,
15:01
Speaker 1: and he described Hilton as a bit odd, but a
15:04
Speaker 1: hard worker who generally kept to himself and loved the outdoors.
15:08
Speaker 1: And around this time Hilton decided that he'd rather live
15:10
Speaker 1: outdoors permanently, so he traveled to southeast in a white
15:14
Speaker 1: Chevrolet Astrovan, regularly camping in national forests and remote areas.
15:19
Speaker 1: The red flags are high in the sky and always
15:22
Speaker 1: by his side. He had his trusty dog, Dandy in
15:26
Speaker 1: Irish Setter and possibly a Golden Retriever mix. That was
15:30
Speaker 1: his only true family. So come two thousand and seven,
15:34
Speaker 1: those who saw him regularly noticed a change in him,
15:37
Speaker 1: and Hilton had been prescribed Riddlin in two thousand and
15:40
Speaker 1: five to help combat his lessening energy, despite him not
15:44
Speaker 1: having add along with an antidepressant he was taking. So
15:48
Speaker 1: this combination of meds put him in a mannic like state,
15:52
Speaker 1: making him paranoid, irritable, and increasingly hostile, which is a
15:56
Speaker 1: big l on the doctor's side to get not make
15:58
Speaker 1: it excuses for him, absolutely not, but that sucks. So
16:03
Speaker 1: at this point he was described as belligerent and difficult
16:06
Speaker 1: to communicate with, likely to unleash rambling accusations and angry outbursts,
16:12
Speaker 1: and his relationship with Taver soon fell apart, and Hilton
16:15
Speaker 1: accused Tabr of cheating him out of money and demanded
16:18
Speaker 1: payment in the amount of ten thousand dollars, threatening to
16:22
Speaker 1: kill him if he didn't pay up. So Tabar got
16:24
Speaker 1: in touch with police and started carrying a gun for protection,
16:28
Speaker 1: and he fired Hilton and cut all ties with him,
16:30
Speaker 1: later saying quote, I just can't ever imagine that someone
16:34
Speaker 1: I knew could be the heartless, brutal murderer that he
16:37
Speaker 1: appears to be unquote. So by the end of that year,
16:41
Speaker 1: Hilton was unemployed, living on his own in the wilderness,
16:44
Speaker 1: and more mentally unstable than ever before from abuse, and
16:48
Speaker 1: this combination would soon turn deadly. So by two thousand
16:53
Speaker 1: and seven, the aforementioned lack of job stability and proper
16:56
Speaker 1: care for mental health pushed Hilton to the point of
16:59
Speaker 1: no return, and he would commit his first murder that
17:03
Speaker 1: we know of, in his early sixties. So John Davis
17:08
Speaker 1: or Jack Bryant and his wife, Irene Woods Bryant, ages
17:12
Speaker 1: eighty and eighty four were a retired couple from western
17:15
Speaker 1: North Carolina who loved hiking, and they were known to
17:18
Speaker 1: live a very active lifestyle and had been married for
17:21
Speaker 1: almost sixty years. That is so sweet. So they would
17:25
Speaker 1: park their Ford SUV at the start of the trail
17:28
Speaker 1: and set out for another routine day hike in piscad
17:31
Speaker 1: National Forest on October twenty first, two thousand and seven,
17:35
Speaker 1: but unfortunately, they would never return home, and when family
17:39
Speaker 1: members hadn't heard from the Bryants in over two weeks,
17:43
Speaker 1: they became concerned and the couple was reported missing and
17:46
Speaker 1: a search was started in the woods, and investigators soon
17:50
Speaker 1: found that on the day they disappeared, John had attempted
17:53
Speaker 1: to call nine one one from his cell phone and
17:56
Speaker 1: the call was abruptly ended, most likely due to poor
17:59
Speaker 1: reception or perhaps something more sinister, And they also found
18:03
Speaker 1: the day after they went missing, someone had used the
18:05
Speaker 1: Bryant's ATM card to withdraw three hundred dollars in Ducktown, Tennessee,
18:10
Speaker 1: which was just across the state line, and surveillance footage
18:14
Speaker 1: showed an older white man covering his face and wearing
18:17
Speaker 1: a yellow raincoat, and after several days of looking, searchers
18:21
Speaker 1: found an older woman's body obscured by leaves and debris
18:25
Speaker 1: just off of a remote trail, and the cause of
18:27
Speaker 1: death would be bludgeoning, and the fact that the body
18:30
Speaker 1: had been partially hidden confirmed at least one thing this
18:34
Speaker 1: was not an accident, and the body was soon identified
18:37
Speaker 1: as Irene, and because she was discovered on federal land,
18:41
Speaker 1: the FBI joined the investigation, offering a ten thousand dollars
18:45
Speaker 1: reward for anyone who could provide information on who killed
18:48
Speaker 1: the Bryants. However, John was still missing, but over three
18:52
Speaker 1: months later, a hunter happened upon some human remains in
18:56
Speaker 1: Nantahela National Forest on February third, two thousand and eight,
19:00
Speaker 1: eight some twenty to thirty miles away from where Irene's
19:03
Speaker 1: body had been found. So a pelvis, skull and spine
19:07
Speaker 1: were scattered about near a forestry road known as the Switchbacks,
19:12
Speaker 1: and testing confirmed that the remains did in fact belong
19:15
Speaker 1: to John and the cause of death would be a
19:17
Speaker 1: shot to the head with a twenty two caliber weapon.
19:20
Speaker 1: So local authorities and the FBI were on the search
19:23
Speaker 1: for the killer, but he would strike again. So Forty
19:27
Speaker 1: six year old Cheryl hodgestun Lap was a nurse and
19:30
Speaker 1: Sunday school teacher from Crawfordville, Florida, and on December one,
19:34
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, she drove to Leon Sink's Geological
19:37
Speaker 1: Area in the Appalachicola National Forest, as she often did
19:42
Speaker 1: to read and enjoy the company of nature, and this
19:45
Speaker 1: unfortunately would be her last time doing so, because after
19:48
Speaker 1: Cheryl didn't show up for church the next morning, family
19:51
Speaker 1: and friends immediately knew something was wrong because she would
19:54
Speaker 1: never miss church without at least letting someone know about it,
19:57
Speaker 1: and on December third, they reported her missu and her
20:00
Speaker 1: Toriiota camera was found the same day, abandoned along a
20:04
Speaker 1: remote road not far from the forest, and the car
20:07
Speaker 1: had a flat tire, but there didn't appear to be
20:10
Speaker 1: any signs of struggle, and as a search for Cheryl
20:13
Speaker 1: grew more intense, investigators learned that her ATM card was
20:16
Speaker 1: being used just like the victims before, and between December
20:20
Speaker 1: second and fourth, someone had made five withdrawals in the
20:24
Speaker 1: total of seven hundred dollars in the Tallahassee area. And
20:27
Speaker 1: surveillance footage of the withdrawals showed a man wearing gloves,
20:31
Speaker 1: a hat, and a mask to hide his identity. And
20:34
Speaker 1: two weeks after her disappearance, a hunter saw some buzzard
20:38
Speaker 1: circling near a forest road on December fifteenth, and beneath
20:41
Speaker 1: the trees he made a horrific discovery. It was a
20:45
Speaker 1: headless body lying hidden from the pathway and the body
20:48
Speaker 1: was also missing its hands, and DNA testing would later
20:52
Speaker 1: confirm that this body was the missing Cheryl and her
20:56
Speaker 1: death was naturally determined to be a homice side and
21:00
Speaker 1: the missing head and hands pointed towards an attempt to
21:04
Speaker 1: deny identification. And at this point in time, no public
21:08
Speaker 1: connection had been made to anyone or any sort of
21:11
Speaker 1: serial killings, but the brutality had alarms ringing behind the scenes,
21:15
Speaker 1: so at this point they had no idea who could
21:18
Speaker 1: have done this. And then there was twenty four year
21:21
Speaker 1: old Meredith Hope Emerson, who was a University of Georgia
21:25
Speaker 1: graduate and a skilled hiker and martial artist, and she
21:29
Speaker 1: decided to hike the Blood Mountain Trail in Vogel State
21:32
Speaker 1: Park in the Chattahoochee National Forest with her dog Ella
21:35
Speaker 1: on New Year's Day two thousand and eight, and when
21:38
Speaker 1: Meredith didn't come home that evening, her friends got worried
21:42
Speaker 1: and she was reported as a missing hiker the following
21:44
Speaker 1: day and the desperate search began, and her nineteen ninety
21:48
Speaker 1: five Chevy Cavalier was found on January third at the
21:51
Speaker 1: parking lot near the start of the trail, and on
21:54
Speaker 1: the trail nearby, they found some of her belongings mixed
21:56
Speaker 1: in with some other items, including her water bottle, a
22:00
Speaker 1: leash for Ella, a haribarette, a police baton, and dog
22:04
Speaker 1: food scattered about, so the scene seemed to suggest a
22:07
Speaker 1: sudden interruption rather than an intentional disappearance, and investigators also
22:12
Speaker 1: learned that there had been several attempts to use her
22:14
Speaker 1: ATM card over the days following her disappearance, which was
22:18
Speaker 1: yet another detail pointing towards foul play and a pattern.
22:22
Speaker 1: So as the search for Meredith drew in more publicity,
22:26
Speaker 1: additional hikers began to come forward with important information, as
22:30
Speaker 1: several hikers recall crossing her path that day, in addition
22:34
Speaker 1: to a man who seemed to be walking along with her,
22:37
Speaker 1: and the man stood out for a number of reasons. First,
22:40
Speaker 1: he was significantly older than her, and second, like Meredith,
22:43
Speaker 1: he also had a canine companion with him, And two
22:47
Speaker 1: he carried some high end hiking gear and notably, he
22:50
Speaker 1: also had a police baton on him. So clearly this
22:54
Speaker 1: man seemed to be the last person seen near Meredith.
22:58
Speaker 1: So investigators now had an unidenticied subject and were searching
23:01
Speaker 1: hard to bring him in for questioning. And fortunately, Hilton's
23:05
Speaker 1: former employer, John Taber, had been watching the news and
23:09
Speaker 1: saw the coverage on Mayorth's disappearance, and when he saw
23:12
Speaker 1: and heard the description of the suspect, he knew and
23:15
Speaker 1: he immediately recognized him as Gary Hilton, an older man
23:19
Speaker 1: with a dog drifting through the woods. So Taber quickly
23:23
Speaker 1: contacted the authorities and gave them Hilton's name, along with
23:26
Speaker 1: a description of his vehicle and a license plate number
23:30
Speaker 1: what a Goat. So they had enough to publicly label
23:33
Speaker 1: Hilton as a person of interest, and the Georgia Bureau
23:36
Speaker 1: of Investigation or the GBI, did so promptly, and investigators
23:41
Speaker 1: were honing in and on January fourth, a nine to
23:44
Speaker 1: one one call placed by a witness at a Chevron
23:47
Speaker 1: gas station in DeKalb County, saying, quote, the guy you
23:51
Speaker 1: are looking for is cleaning out his van unquote. So
23:54
Speaker 1: police rushed to the scene, arriving to find none other
23:57
Speaker 1: than Hilton exactly as described aggressive, cleaning out his Chevy
24:01
Speaker 1: Astro van, and he appeared to be frantically doing so,
24:05
Speaker 1: like he was trying to remove evidence from the vehicle.
24:08
Speaker 1: Very subtle, my guy. So officers arrested him on the spot,
24:12
Speaker 1: and as investigators examined the van, they saw traces of
24:15
Speaker 1: blood present and that the rear seat belt had been
24:18
Speaker 1: cut out, and they also found several items quote. Items
24:22
Speaker 1: were covered from the van included clothing, jackets, gloves, camping equipment,
24:27
Speaker 1: duffel bags, two sleeping bags, high tech boots, a camera, tobacco,
24:31
Speaker 1: rolling papers, Hilton's Georgia driver's license, tape, paper, towels, maps,
24:37
Speaker 1: two beady pistols, a book purchased at a Tallahassee bookstore,
24:41
Speaker 1: and dog food unquote. And when they canvassed the nearby area,
24:44
Speaker 1: they discovered what seemed to be damning evidence thrown into
24:48
Speaker 1: a nearby dumpster, one being Meredith's wallet and identification and
24:53
Speaker 1: her fleece sweater covered in blood and the seat belt
24:56
Speaker 1: cut from the back of Hilton's van, and forensic testing
24:59
Speaker 1: would late confirmed that the blood in the van matched
25:02
Speaker 1: Meredith's and Hilton would be taken into custody and charged
25:06
Speaker 1: with kidnapping with intent to harm. But Meredith was still
25:10
Speaker 1: missing and time was critical. So if there was any
25:13
Speaker 1: hope to find Meredith still alive, though at this point
25:16
Speaker 1: with his mo it didn't seem likely, they would have
25:19
Speaker 1: to move quickly. So as news of his arrest began
25:22
Speaker 1: to spread to other states, law enforcement in Florida and
25:25
Speaker 1: North Carolina started to see a pattern because there were
25:28
Speaker 1: just too many similarities between Meredith's case, Sheryl Dunlip's murder,
25:33
Speaker 1: and the Bryant's murder to ignore. All involved the wilderness
25:37
Speaker 1: atm withdrawals, and an older man who seemed to blend
25:40
Speaker 1: into his surroundings far too well. So cooperation between the
25:44
Speaker 1: states began quickly, sharing notes to connect any dot they
25:47
Speaker 1: possibly could, and the FBI again was involved due to
25:51
Speaker 1: the crimes committed on federal land and crossing state lines.
25:54
Speaker 1: Yet the priority was still on finding Meredith, and even
25:58
Speaker 1: with the evidence mounting against him, Hilton said very little
26:02
Speaker 1: behind bars, so something had to be done to move
26:04
Speaker 1: the situation forward. All right, raise your hand if you've
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Speaker 1: you so much to ZocDoc for sponsoring this video and
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Speaker 1: supporting the channel. And let's get back to it. So,
27:24
Speaker 1: Hilton was well aware of the leverage he possessed after
27:27
Speaker 1: his capture, and authorities had very strong evidence that he
27:30
Speaker 1: had abducted and hurt her, but it was unclear if
27:33
Speaker 1: she was still possibly alive. So now with her potentially
27:37
Speaker 1: stranded somewhere and bleeding, every passing hour mattered even more,
27:41
Speaker 1: and this pressure pushed prosecutors to place an offer at
27:44
Speaker 1: his feet and if he agreed to fully cooperate by
27:47
Speaker 1: confessing and revealing where Meredith was the State of Georgia
27:50
Speaker 1: would remove the death penalty as a possibility. And Hilton
27:54
Speaker 1: responded with a seemingly unusual request but one that made
27:58
Speaker 1: sense after understanding his background, because he asked that his
28:02
Speaker 1: dog Dandy be placed in a good home, and they
28:06
Speaker 1: agreed and the deal was finalized on January seventh, and
28:09
Speaker 1: Hilton led investigators to a remote spot in Dawson Forest
28:13
Speaker 1: Wildlife Management Area in North Georgia and there hidden beneath
28:17
Speaker 1: the leaves and brush. Unfortunately, they discovered Meredith's body and
28:22
Speaker 1: she had been decayed, and the discovery sadly confirmed what
28:27
Speaker 1: investigators and her family had already begun to suspect, and
28:31
Speaker 1: Meredith would not be returning home alive, and the plea
28:34
Speaker 1: deal had not saved her life, but it had at
28:38
Speaker 1: least recovered her remains and spared her loved ones from uncertainty.
28:42
Speaker 1: And Hilton then gave his detailed confession. On New Year's Day,
28:46
Speaker 1: he had happened upon Meredith and Ella on Blood Mountain.
28:49
Speaker 1: They walked together for a while or at least in
28:52
Speaker 1: close vicinity, likely due to their shared dog experience, and
28:56
Speaker 1: Hilton eventually lured her away from the main trail and
28:59
Speaker 1: attempted to overtake her, and he was caught off guard
29:02
Speaker 1: by her ability to defend herself because she was strong
29:05
Speaker 1: and she was very well trained, and it took a
29:08
Speaker 1: significant effort on his part, but over time he was
29:12
Speaker 1: able to overpower her and take her captive, and that's
29:15
Speaker 1: when Hilton moved her from campsite to campsite over the
29:18
Speaker 1: next several days, while attempting to extract the information of
29:22
Speaker 1: her atm card from her, and she insisted in every
29:25
Speaker 1: way that she could, even intentionally giving Hilton the wrong
29:29
Speaker 1: pin numbers, which forced him to keep her alive longer
29:32
Speaker 1: as he repeatedly failed to use her ATM card without
29:35
Speaker 1: the correct pin and investigators believed that her resistance, both
29:39
Speaker 1: physically and mentally were the keys to his capture, and
29:43
Speaker 1: come January fourth, he realized that Meredith was buying too
29:46
Speaker 1: much time and he was unlikely to break through to her,
29:50
Speaker 1: so he decided to kill her that day by repeatedly
29:53
Speaker 1: her in the head with a tire iron, and he
29:56
Speaker 1: then removed her head in an attempt to prevent her
29:59
Speaker 1: identify cation and hid her body in the forest, saying,
30:03
Speaker 1: quote it was hard unquote, describing the murder in a
30:08
Speaker 1: disturbingly casual manner. Gary, this is quote you gotta remember
30:13
Speaker 1: we had spent several good days together unquote. So she
30:17
Speaker 1: absolutely was the reason that he was caught, and he
30:21
Speaker 1: was unable to harm anyone else. But what a just
30:26
Speaker 1: scum of the earth, human being, Just disgusting. And he
30:30
Speaker 1: also admitted that he could not bring himself to kill
30:33
Speaker 1: her dog, so he thought less of a human being
30:37
Speaker 1: than a dog. But Ella was found in a parking
30:40
Speaker 1: lot some sixty plus miles away and safely returned to
30:44
Speaker 1: her family. And though he had safely secured that he
30:48
Speaker 1: would never face the death penalty in Georgia, investigators and
30:51
Speaker 1: prosecutors in other states were waiting, and they saw that
30:55
Speaker 1: he had begun to cooperate and they were ready to
30:58
Speaker 1: bring him to trial. So Hilton's first sentencing came together quickly,
31:02
Speaker 1: just a few weeks after his arrest, and on January thirtieth,
31:06
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, he stood before Judge Bonnie Oliver
31:09
Speaker 1: in Dawson County and formally pleaded guilty to the murder, kidnapping,
31:13
Speaker 1: and robbery of Meredith Emerson, and he was sentenced to
31:17
Speaker 1: life in prison without the possibility for parole in thirty
31:20
Speaker 1: eight years. At that point, he would be in his
31:22
Speaker 1: nineties and this was the maximum sentence that he could
31:25
Speaker 1: receive based on the deal he had made with the
31:27
Speaker 1: state of Georgia, and he expressed little if any emotion
31:32
Speaker 1: as his sentence was read, and though devastated, Meredith's family
31:36
Speaker 1: accepted the plea deal as it guaranteed that Hilton would
31:39
Speaker 1: never be released during his lifetime. But this was only
31:42
Speaker 1: the beginning, because Unlike Georgia, no such play deal would
31:46
Speaker 1: be reached in Florida, and Hilton unsuccessfully fought against his extradition,
31:52
Speaker 1: and after a few years of pre trial motions, the
31:55
Speaker 1: murder of Sheryl Dunlap moved to a trial on February second,
31:59
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, in Tallahassee, and prosecutors presented a detailed case
32:04
Speaker 1: as to Hilton's guilt, laying out all of the facts.
32:08
Speaker 1: Because witnesses placed Hilton in the area near where Cheryl disappeared,
32:12
Speaker 1: some saw him digging through her car. Later, Hilton's bayonet
32:16
Speaker 1: was learned to be the cause of her flat tire,
32:19
Speaker 1: and witnesses described the clothing Hilton was wearing during this time,
32:22
Speaker 1: and surveillance ATM footage captured on December second, third, and
32:26
Speaker 1: fourth shows a man of similar build to Hilton, wearing
32:29
Speaker 1: clothing that matched the witness descriptions. Withdrawing this seven hundred
32:33
Speaker 1: dollars in cash using Cheryl's ATM card and pin. And
32:37
Speaker 1: forensic evidence also painted a unfavorable picture for Hilton, and
32:41
Speaker 1: a campsite was found and linked to him, and the
32:44
Speaker 1: site had a campfire with human ashes and burnt fragments
32:47
Speaker 1: of skull and finger bones, which was from her head
32:51
Speaker 1: and hands, and cigarette butts were covered at the scene
32:54
Speaker 1: contained Hilton's DNA and Cheryl's DNA was also found on
32:58
Speaker 1: items recovered from Hilton's including two sleeping bags, a Duffel bag,
33:03
Speaker 1: boots and pants, and Furthermore, Hilton was overheard telling another
33:07
Speaker 1: inmate that he would reveal the location of the head
33:10
Speaker 1: if he was given a life sentence. God, I hate
33:13
Speaker 1: this man, and even on footage recovered from his own camera,
33:17
Speaker 1: Hilton describes quote hiding unknown items and killing those bitches unquote.
33:22
Speaker 1: So the jury heard the whole tale as it was
33:25
Speaker 1: documented in court, and on February fifteenth, twenty eleven, Hilton
33:29
Speaker 1: was found guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, and grand theft,
33:34
Speaker 1: and the trial then moved into the penalty phase on
33:36
Speaker 1: February seventeenth, and the prosecution focused on the brutality of
33:41
Speaker 1: the crime, for captivity at his hands for at least
33:43
Speaker 1: two days up to a week even and that Cheryl
33:47
Speaker 1: was only one of multiple victims, and the defense presented
33:51
Speaker 1: evidence of abuse he suffered as a child, his struggle
33:54
Speaker 1: with mental illness, and his traumatic brain injury, but it
33:58
Speaker 1: made no difference in the eyes the jury, and on
34:00
Speaker 1: February twenty first, they unanimously recommended the death sentence for Hilton,
34:05
Speaker 1: and his following trial court hearing began April seventh, where
34:09
Speaker 1: Judge James Hackinson ultimately agreed with the jury's recommendation, and
34:13
Speaker 1: the judge formerly sentenced Hilton to death in Florida on
34:16
Speaker 1: April twenty first for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap, and
34:19
Speaker 1: once again he showed little emotion as his sentence was spoken,
34:24
Speaker 1: and he would be transferred to Florida's death row the
34:26
Speaker 1: following day. And as mentioned, the murders of John and
34:29
Speaker 1: Irene Bryant in North Carolina were considered a federal offense
34:34
Speaker 1: since they occurred on federal land, and as such, federal
34:37
Speaker 1: authorities took the lead, and in June twenty eleven, a
34:40
Speaker 1: federal grand jury indicted Hilton on five counts, including two
34:44
Speaker 1: counts of first degree murder, kidnapping, robbery, and firearms charge,
34:49
Speaker 1: and Hilton initially decided to plead not guilty, leading the
34:52
Speaker 1: case towards yet another death penalty trial, but in March
34:56
Speaker 1: twenty twelve, Hilton had a seeming change of heart and
34:59
Speaker 1: decided to plead guilty to all charges as part of
35:02
Speaker 1: another plea deal to avoid a second death penalty, which
35:07
Speaker 1: that doesn't make sense to me. You're going to die anyway,
35:09
Speaker 1: but all right, whatever, at least you have a change
35:11
Speaker 1: of heart, I guess. And he confessed that he had
35:13
Speaker 1: run into the Bryans on the trail, killed Irene at
35:17
Speaker 1: least one source mentions because it would have been difficult
35:20
Speaker 1: to control both of them, and then killed John, and
35:23
Speaker 1: he proceeded to force John to give up the pin
35:26
Speaker 1: for their ATM card, and once he had finished using
35:29
Speaker 1: the card, he John the head, dumping his body in
35:33
Speaker 1: the woods. And he would be sentenced to four life
35:35
Speaker 1: sentences and an additional fifteen years for robbing the Bryans
35:39
Speaker 1: ATM card, and these life terms were ordered by US
35:43
Speaker 1: District Judge Martin Reindinger to be served consecutively, and considering
35:48
Speaker 1: federal life sentences offer no possibility of parole, Hilton had
35:51
Speaker 1: just earned himself another several hundred years in prison, and
35:55
Speaker 1: if he wasn't already guaranteed to rot in his cell,
35:58
Speaker 1: this guaranteed his soul wrought too. So with the federal
36:02
Speaker 1: case closed, Hilton had been convicted of four murders, receiving
36:06
Speaker 1: multiple life sentences from Georgia and the federal level, as
36:10
Speaker 1: well as a death sentence from Florida. So on the
36:13
Speaker 1: day of his federal sentencing, and Tompkins, the US Attorney
36:17
Speaker 1: for the Western District of North Carolina, said, quote, our
36:20
Speaker 1: thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of
36:23
Speaker 1: the victims. And while today's outcome cannot bring back John
36:26
Speaker 1: and Irene Bryant, it is our sincere hope that everyone
36:29
Speaker 1: impacted by Hilton's heinous crime can finally have some closure unquote.
36:34
Speaker 1: And she also underscored the effort across jurisdictions to make
36:37
Speaker 1: sure Hilton was held accountable for his misdeeds, a sentiment
36:41
Speaker 1: that all involved except for maybe Hilton himself or his
36:44
Speaker 1: attorney's share. So post death sentence, the legal process moved
36:49
Speaker 1: into the most drawn out and technical phase because Hilton's
36:52
Speaker 1: case regarding the murder of Cheryl Dunlop was automatically reviewed
36:56
Speaker 1: by the Florida Supreme Court, and his attorneys challenged multiple aspects,
37:01
Speaker 1: arguing that errors made during the trial had not given
37:03
Speaker 1: him his right to a fair sentencing process, and among
37:06
Speaker 1: them that certain testimony about his alleged past criminal conduct
37:10
Speaker 1: should not have been allowed, and that the court improperly
37:13
Speaker 1: rejected his lack of capacity mitigating factor. Nobody cares about
37:18
Speaker 1: your past stuff. You murdered a human being, And in
37:21
Speaker 1: July of twenty thirteen, the Florida Supreme Court upheld Hilton's
37:25
Speaker 1: conviction and death sentence, thank god, and they found the
37:28
Speaker 1: evidence of Hilton's guilt was substantial and that the death
37:32
Speaker 1: penalty was in proportion to the brutality of his crime
37:35
Speaker 1: and his multiple murders, noting that the aggravating factors far
37:39
Speaker 1: outweighed the mitigating ones in regards to the meticulous manner
37:43
Speaker 1: in which he carried out Cheryl's murder. Furthermore, that his
37:46
Speaker 1: attempt to destroy evidence showed a degree of cold bloodedness
37:50
Speaker 1: deserving of death, and though his direct appeal failed, he
37:54
Speaker 1: continued to pursue any avenue he had available to him,
37:58
Speaker 1: eventually finding his way back through the heel's process to
38:00
Speaker 1: the Florida Supreme Court once more in twenty twenty one,
38:04
Speaker 1: and this time his lawyers claimed that his council at
38:07
Speaker 1: trial was ineffective at assisting him, particularly in the area
38:11
Speaker 1: of presenting mitigating evidence regarding his abuse of childhood, mental health,
38:15
Speaker 1: and brain injuries. And in August of that year, the
38:19
Speaker 1: Florida Supreme Court released a thirty four page ruling denying
38:22
Speaker 1: Hilton's appeal, yet again affirming his death sentence, and the
38:26
Speaker 1: court acknowledged his troubled past, but ultimately decided that quote
38:30
Speaker 1: the evidence of aggravation in Hilton's case is overwhelming quote,
38:35
Speaker 1: and even if the jury had heard more of these
38:37
Speaker 1: supposed mitigating factors, it would not have changed the outcome
38:41
Speaker 1: for him. And they also dismissed his claims that the
38:44
Speaker 1: trial judge ruled in a biased manner or that the
38:47
Speaker 1: trial should have been moved to a different location due
38:50
Speaker 1: to pre trial publicity, and the court held that Hilton
38:53
Speaker 1: received his fair trial in that quote confidence in the
38:56
Speaker 1: outcome of that penalty phrase is not undermined nuote by
39:00
Speaker 1: any new evidence presented. And though the ruling was a
39:03
Speaker 1: rather significant blow, Hilton's attorney claims that quote the road
39:07
Speaker 1: is not over for mister Hilton unquote, just let it go.
39:11
Speaker 1: Let him go, all right, And they will be discussing
39:14
Speaker 1: his options, either for a rehearing or for filing with
39:17
Speaker 1: the US Supreme Court. But regardless of their endeavors, prosecutors
39:21
Speaker 1: fully intend to make sure he sees his sentence through,
39:25
Speaker 1: and Cheryl's cousin, Gloria Tucker, set in support after the
39:28
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one decision quote, I appreciate the ruling affirming
39:32
Speaker 1: the value of Sherry's life unquote. So Hilton is currently
39:36
Speaker 1: still on death Row at Union Correctional Institution in Rayford, Florida,
39:41
Speaker 1: where he has been since his conviction in twenty eleven,
39:45
Speaker 1: and he is now seventy nine years old, and his
39:47
Speaker 1: health has reportedly Umboo, who declined in the past few years,
39:51
Speaker 1: by his own admission, making comments that suggest he doesn't
39:55
Speaker 1: believe that he will live much longer, saw a mix
39:58
Speaker 1: of age and standard medical issues coming from extended time
40:01
Speaker 1: spent on death row, and he is among the older
40:03
Speaker 1: inmates living there, and his deteriorating health led at least
40:07
Speaker 1: in part to his decision to break the silence and
40:10
Speaker 1: speak publicly about his crimes. And though he was dubbed
40:14
Speaker 1: the National Forest Killer, he never quite seemed to reach
40:18
Speaker 1: the level of fame that some other serial killers do,
40:21
Speaker 1: and this is something that he seems to be very
40:24
Speaker 1: upset about beneath the surface, and he refused to fully
40:27
Speaker 1: admit all of his crimes while appeals were still ongoing,
40:31
Speaker 1: and in particular, he never admitted to the murder of
40:34
Speaker 1: Cheryl Dunlop, but in April of twenty twenty five, he
40:37
Speaker 1: gave Court TV an exclusive interview and as part of
40:40
Speaker 1: their Interview with a Killer series, where he finally confessed
40:44
Speaker 1: to Cheryl's murder on camera. I'm going to give you
40:47
Speaker 1: a news gooop. I did it, and I'll be glad
40:49
Speaker 1: of heel anyone I did, monster tilliand I tell you
40:52
Speaker 1: what I told you before. I'm to the point where
40:54
Speaker 1: I don't I don't care if there's nothing they can
40:55
Speaker 1: do to me. And he spoke very matter of factly
40:58
Speaker 1: about the murders throughout the inter further showing his lack
41:01
Speaker 1: of empathy for the victims and their families and removing
41:05
Speaker 1: any shred of doubt as to his guilt. And he
41:08
Speaker 1: also scoffed at the label serial killer, laughing them off
41:11
Speaker 1: as a dime a dozen this guy and Hilton often
41:17
Speaker 1: referred to himself as a genius, and in this instance
41:20
Speaker 1: he described himself as a whole different breed. You got
41:24
Speaker 1: caught by using ATM cards. You fuck an idiot, and
41:27
Speaker 1: he also said even in his old age and post convictions,
41:30
Speaker 1: he has an extremely high self regard, and as many
41:33
Speaker 1: investigators have speculated over the years, it seems unlikely that
41:37
Speaker 1: Hilton's murders start with the confirmed ones from his sixties.
41:41
Speaker 1: Though difficult as it may be to determine, people have
41:44
Speaker 1: not given up searching for his connections to any other
41:47
Speaker 1: missing persons or murders throughout the Southeast US during his
41:51
Speaker 1: many years of traveling, and actually a Google map has
41:54
Speaker 1: even been created showing his victims and possible victims in
41:57
Speaker 1: an effort to finally solve these cases. But these are
42:01
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Speaker 1: the channel. Let's get back to it. So, before Hilton
43:23
Speaker 1: committed his confirmed murders, many believe that he may have
43:27
Speaker 1: been involved in several other unsolved disappearances and deaths, the
43:32
Speaker 1: first being Judy Smith in nineteen ninety seven. So hikers
43:36
Speaker 1: discovered scattered human bones near a campsite in Sky National
43:40
Speaker 1: Forest September nineteen ninety seven and these remains were later
43:44
Speaker 1: identified as fifty year old nurse Judy Smith from Massachusetts,
43:49
Speaker 1: and Judy had disappeared months before during a visit to Philadelphia,
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Speaker 1: hundreds of miles from where her remains would eventually be found,
43:57
Speaker 1: and her body was partially buried in an attempt to
44:00
Speaker 1: conceal it in the remote woods. And after Hilton's later arrest,
44:04
Speaker 1: investigators began taking another look at this case as a
44:08
Speaker 1: location and condition of Judy's remains had similarities to Hilton's
44:12
Speaker 1: confirmed crimes, and he is not confessed to Judy's burner
44:16
Speaker 1: and as of now there is no physical evidence linking
44:18
Speaker 1: him to the crime, but he is still a suspect,
44:21
Speaker 1: but the case remains open and the next victim would
44:24
Speaker 1: be Jason Andrew Knapp. Jason Napp was a twenty year
44:27
Speaker 1: old student attending Clemson University who vanished in April of
44:31
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight, and the last time he was seen
44:33
Speaker 1: was at his apartment in South Carolina, and his white
44:36
Speaker 1: Chevy Bretta was found a week after his disappearance, abandoned
44:40
Speaker 1: at Table Rock State Park near the North Carolina border,
44:43
Speaker 1: but Jason himself was never found despite extensive searches to
44:47
Speaker 1: find him, and he was declared legally dead in twenty eighteen.
44:51
Speaker 1: Following Hilton's arrest, investigators once again noticed similarities between Jason's
44:56
Speaker 1: disappearance and Hilton's later known mo He went missing near
45:00
Speaker 1: a state park, and Hilton had been known to travel
45:03
Speaker 1: throughout Georgia and the Carolinas during that time period. And again,
45:07
Speaker 1: no physical evidence ties Hilton to the crime, and he
45:10
Speaker 1: has denied any involvement. And next would be Patrise andres
45:14
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four. So on April fifteenth, two
45:17
Speaker 1: thousand and four, thirty eight year old Patrise tamber and
45:20
Speaker 1: Dress disappeared while working at a hair salon that she
45:23
Speaker 1: owned in Forsyth County, Georgia, and her skeletal remains were
45:27
Speaker 1: found eighteen months later in the woods of Dawson County, Georgia,
45:32
Speaker 1: and Hilton became a person of interest in this case
45:35
Speaker 1: for a number of reasons. His record show he was
45:37
Speaker 1: stopped for a traffic violation in the area around the
45:40
Speaker 1: time that she went missing, and he was also known
45:43
Speaker 1: to stop by local hair salons around lunchtime, often asking
45:47
Speaker 1: for money, and he was not able to give a
45:49
Speaker 1: verified alibi for the day Patrese went missing, and though
45:52
Speaker 1: other suspects had been investigated, including a serial killer who
45:55
Speaker 1: falsely confessed, Hilton, remains a suspect and her murder is
45:59
Speaker 1: still unsolved. And next there was Rosanna A. Miliani in
46:02
Speaker 1: two thousand and five. So Rosanna Miliani was a twenty
46:05
Speaker 1: six year old woman from Miami and she would disappear
46:08
Speaker 1: while backpacking in western North Carolina in December of two
46:11
Speaker 1: thousand and five, and she had told her family that
46:14
Speaker 1: she was just going to hike in the Appalachian Trail
46:17
Speaker 1: and was last seen at a hotel in Cherokee. And
46:20
Speaker 1: several years later, a store clerk from Bryson City saw
46:24
Speaker 1: Hilton's photo in the news after his crimes had come
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Speaker 1: to light and immediately recognized him, and the clerk had
46:29
Speaker 1: seen Hilton along with Rosanna when he sold her a
46:32
Speaker 1: backpack around her disappearance, and sadly, she has also never
46:37
Speaker 1: been found, and considering the positive identification and similarities between
46:41
Speaker 1: the disappearance and his other murders, investigators do believe he
46:45
Speaker 1: may be responsible, but there was no confession and no body,
46:48
Speaker 1: so the case remains open. And then there's Michael Scott
46:52
Speaker 1: Louis in two thousand and seven, and only weeks before
46:56
Speaker 1: Hilton's confirmed murder's, twenty seven year old Michael Scott Louie
47:00
Speaker 1: went missing in Florida and he was last seen on
47:03
Speaker 1: November twenty first, two thousand and seven, in the south
47:05
Speaker 1: of Daytona area, and two weeks after he vanished, a
47:09
Speaker 1: fisherman found his remains spread throughout multiple garbage bags in
47:14
Speaker 1: the Tomocha River on December sixth, and though his torso
47:17
Speaker 1: and limbs were found, his head was not and the
47:21
Speaker 1: location and put suspicion on Hilton as he was in
47:25
Speaker 1: the area at the time and he was known to
47:28
Speaker 1: behead his victims. As we know so, Hilton is not
47:31
Speaker 1: the only current suspect, and more recently, another person of interest,
47:35
Speaker 1: Nelsy Tetley, is being investigated as she killed and dismembered
47:39
Speaker 1: another man in twenty eighteen. So the case remains unsolved,
47:44
Speaker 1: but unfortunately, as of right now, no execution date has
47:47
Speaker 1: been made for Hilton as he continues to go through
47:50
Speaker 1: the appeals process, and if his turn ever arrives, it
47:53
Speaker 1: will likely be through lethal injection, as that is the
47:57
Speaker 1: standard method for capital punishment in Florida. Given the typically
48:00
Speaker 1: slow progression of capital appeals and Hilton's old age, it
48:04
Speaker 1: seems more likely that he will pass before his execution,
48:08
Speaker 1: but either way, Hilton is certain to at least die
48:11
Speaker 1: in prison, where he belongs. So rotten hell, you piece
48:15
Speaker 1: of shit. And as always, my heart goes out to
48:18
Speaker 1: the victims. They are what truly matters in all of this.
48:21
Speaker 1: But that is the end of the National Forest serial Killer.
48:26
Speaker 1: If you guys have any other subjects or people or
48:30
Speaker 1: cults or whatever you want me to deep dive into
48:33
Speaker 1: you let me know down below. I always read the comments,
48:36
Speaker 1: and until then I will see you a beautiful face,
48:38
Speaker 1: all right, bye,