Sheriff: 'Positive Link' Between Hilton, Missing N.C. Couple

BREVARD, N.C. — Investigators have established a "positive link" between Gary Michael Hilton and the case of an elderly North Carolina couple who disappeared in a popular hiking spot in Pisgah National Forest in October, Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney said Wednesday.

"Hilton is currently in custody in the state of Georgia and will remain there throughout the remainder" of the investigation into the murder of Irene Bryant and the disappearance of her husband, John, Mahoney said.

The sheriff declined to answer questions from reporters or to release further details. He also declined to say when North Carolina agencies might file charges, but his confirmation of a "positive link" between Hilton and the case is the most definitive statement he's yet made.

Previously, Mahoney said Hilton was a suspect.

The brief announcement came a day after law enforcement officials from North Carolina and Florida met with Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents to go over details of the various cases linked to Hilton, which span from the western North Carolina mountains into Georgia and Florida.

The multi-state meeting in Georgia was aimed at sharing information, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead.

"The cooperation from our standpoint has been excellent," Bankhead said.

But investigators were nevertheless holding much of their information close to the vest, a standard technique in complex crime cases.

Hilton has been charged with kidnapping and the decapitation murder of Buford resident Meredith Emerson, 24, who disappeared while hiking in the North Georgia mountains on New Years Day.

Like Emerson, the Bryants loved hiking and their disappearance has been linked to public lands popular with outdoor enthusiasts.

The couple lived in Horse Shoe, a small town not far from Pisgah National Forest, a remote region of waterfalls, craggy cliffs and dense forests.

They loaded their car with hiking gear on Oct. 21 and drove into the Pisgah forest to a trailhead on Yellow Gap Road about 20 miles from their house, police say. Days later, family members became worried when notified by neighbors that newspapers were piling up in the Bryant's driveway. A massive search initially proved fruitless.

Irene Bryant's body was found Nov. 9 about 50 paces from where the couple parked their Ford Escape. She was 84 and died of blunt trauma to the head, according to police. The body of her husband, who would've turned 80 a few days after the couple went missing, has not been found.

On Oct. 22, someone used the couple's bank card to withdraw $300 from a cash machine in Ducktown, Tenn., about 130 miles west of Brevard. A video camera captured an image of a shadowy figure in a hooded yellow rain jacket, and a witness has told a North Carolina newspaper that she recalls seeing Hilton in the area around that time.

In a recent interview, Mahoney said Hilton had in his possession a license plate that was stolen from a disabled vehicle in Transylvania County. Mahoney did not disclose the name of the registered owner of the plate, but said they were unharmed and unaware that it had been taken.

In the interview, Mahoney also said Hilton, if charged, could be prosecuted either by Transylvania County prosecutors or by the U.S. Attorney's office, since Irene Bryant's body was found on federal land. No decision about which agency will take the lead has been made, he said.

Holly Bryant, one of the couple's four children, said earlier this week that she is glad Hilton is in custody because it means no other families would face a similar tragedy at his hands.

"I'm just glad he's been caught," she said. "We're still hoping he'll give the location of my father."

Hilton led police to Emerson's body after Union County prosecutors promised he would not face the death penalty. It was unclear whether a similar deal would be struck in John Bryant's case.

Hilton, described as erratic and mean-spirited, is considered a suspect or person of interest in several other cases.

— Florida officials have named him a suspect in the killing of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, 46, whose decapitated body was found in Apalachicola National Forest southwest of Tallahassee on Dec. 19.

— Police in Ormond Beach, near Daytona Beach, are also looking for links between Hilton and the case of Michael Scot Louis, 27, whose dismembered body was found in trash bags near Tomoka State Park.

— North Carolina Bureau of Investigation officials also confirmed this week that they are looking for a "possible connection" between Hilton and the disappearance of Rossana Miliani, 26, a Florida woman who visited Bryson City, near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in December 2005. Miliani told her family in a telephone call that she planned to go hiking.

A store clerk told a private investigator hired by the family that she recalls seeing Miliani with a white male in his late 50s or early 60s just before she disappeared.