Hilton May Be Linked to Woman's 2005 Disappearance in Bryson City

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina law enforcement officials are looking for links between Georgia drifter Gary Michael Hilton and the 2005 disappearance of a Florida woman who was planning a hiking trip in the state's western mountains.

"I can confirm that the State Bureau of Investigation is considering the possibility of a connection" between Hilton and the case, said Jennifer Canada, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Justice.

BRYANT FAMILY PHOTO (enlarge photo) Avid hikers Jack and Irene Bryant on the holiday card they sent out in 2005. But their love of nature ended in tragedy when the Bryants apparently crossed paths with Gary Michael Hilton. Police suspect the 61-year-old drifter encountered them just a few dozen miles from their home after the Bryants drove out for a day hike in Pisgah National Forest at the peak of the fall color season last October. Irene Bryant's body was found three weeks later, covered with a few twigs and leaves. Jack Bryant's body has not been found.

Hilton has been charged in the decapitation murder of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson, who went hiking in the North Georgia mountains on New Year's Day. Authorities believe he could a suspect in a string of killings and disappearances.

Rossana Miliani, 26, traveled to North Carolina in December 2005. She told her family in a telephone call that she was planning a hiking trip around Bryson City, a small town not far from the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, said her father, Anibal Miliani of Miami.

The family soon became worried about her when she did not call again, and eventually reported her disappearance to police. They also hired a North Carolina private investigator, Steve Siske, who began looking into the case.

Few clues surfaced, but this past December, a local newspaper ran a story about the second anniversary of Miliani's disappearance. A store clerk from Bryson City called Siske, saying she recalled seeing Miliani in the store with a white male around 60 years old.

"He purchased a yellow backpack, indicating it was for Rossana, and a coat and pants for himself," Siske said the clerk told him. "He told the clerk that he was a traveling preacher that goes from campground to campground. Rossana made no statements but appeared to be nervous."

After reading about Hilton and the recent murder cases, Siske contacted police. The Bryson City store clerk will not speak publicly, fearing possible retribution if there was a crime and the perpetrator has not been apprehended, Siske said.

The clerk has not seen a photo of Hilton, Siske said, because doing so would jeopardize the validity of a police line-up, should she be asked to participate in one.

"I can't say if the man with Rossana was Hilton, but we need to rule him in or rule him out," Siske said. "I feel strongly that the person seen with her knows what happened to her."

Canada said state Bureau of Investigation agents opened a file on Miliani's case when it was reported, but declined to give further details.

Anibal Miliani, who runs a mortgage business in Miami, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that his daughter suffered from bi-polar disorder. She had worked for a travel agency and attended college while in her early 20s, but didn't work after being hospitalized for a bout of depression, he said.

She had traveled to Europe prior to her North Carolina trip, using money from a property she sold, and went to North Carolina because her family had recently vacationed there and told her it was a beautiful place, he said.

"It has been an ordeal for everyone in the family," he said. "We just want to focus attention on the case, hoping someone might come forward with information."

The case is the sixth to have drawn police interest to Hilton, a 61-year-old Atlanta-area drifter.

Florida officials have called Hilton a suspect in the killing of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, 46, whose body was found Dec. 19 in Apalachicola National Forest south of Tallahassee.

Ormond Beach, Fla. police are looking for links between Hilton and the death of Michael Scot Louis, 27, whose dismembered body was found in Tomoka State Park on Dec. 6.

Hilton is also a suspect in the murder of Irene Bryant, 84, and the disappearance of her husband, John, when the couple apparently arrived for a hike in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, N.C. in October. Police have not found the body of John Bryant, who would've turned 80 a few days after the couple went missing.

Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney has scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference Wednesday concerning the Bryant case, saying, Hilton "is the suspect."