Posted on 02/01/2008 6:09:33 AM PST by beaureguard
Meredith Emerson, who had a green belt in judo, put up such a fight against Gary Michael Hilton that he dropped his police-style baton while trying to kidnap her in the mountains of North Georgia on New Year's Day.
A diminutive but scrappy woman who stood 5-foot-4, Emerson continued to resist Hilton during the next three days, repeatedly giving the 61-year-old drifter incorrect pass codes for her ATM cards.
The young woman, a vibrant 24-year-old with a steel will, may have acted not just to save herself, but to help authorities apprehend her captor.
"It is unclear, [but] I would like to think she was doing everything she could to ensure that he would perhaps get caught during his efforts to use the ATMs," Dawson County District Attorney Lee Darragh said.
Hilton was arrested on Jan. 4, and later led authorities to Emerson's body. Darragh described Emerson's three-day ordeal in court Thursday moments before Judge Bonnie Oliver accepted Hilton's guilty plea to murder and sentenced him to life in prison.
With Emerson's parents watching from the second row, Darragh gave the following account, which was drawn from authorities' interviews with Hilton, and confirmed by his public defender, Rob McNeill.
Emerson was not the first hiker Hilton approached on a trail on Jan. 1. He considered another potential victim, but "she was with other people."
Emerson became his focus for two reasons: She was alone on Blood Mountain, and she was female.
He wanted her money. And he knew that he would eventually kill her.
Witnesses had reported spotting Hilton following Emerson in the mountains that day.
One witness, a former law enforcement officer, said he saw Hilton carrying a police-style baton and a large knife on his belt. That witness later found two water bottles, a dog leash and some dog treats along with the baton on the edge of a hiking trail.
"There was in fact a struggle at that location between Ms. Emerson and this defendant," Darragh told the judge as Hilton sat to his left, wearing a dark bulletproof vest over his orange jail uniform and staring straight ahead. "This defendant, however, was able to place her under his control eventually."
Hilton took Emerson back to her car, where he stole her purse and ATM cards. Then he placed her in his van and drove her around to various locations in North Georgia, seeking to get money out of ATMs with her cards. She kept giving him incorrect PIN numbers.
He never was able to withdraw any money from Emerson's account. He was videotaped trying to do so at an ATM machine in Canton.
On Jan. 3, Hilton called a former employer, seeking some money and his old job back. The next day, Hilton told Emerson he was going to let her go.
He "secured" her in Dawson Forest, went to his van and returned with the handle of a car jack. He struck her on the head several times until she died. In hopes to conceal his crime after beating her to death, he decapitated her.
"He used the phrase that he did those things for 'forensic purposes,'" Darragh said.
Hilton was given an opportunity to address the court after his guilty plea but refused. When the hearing ended, sheriff's deputies led Hilton to a side exit, where he appeared to frantically reach for the door handle.
McNeill, his attorney, said Hilton is remorseful but decided not to address Emerson's parents in court because "anything he could say would be hollow and empty."
"He realizes what he has done to the family," McNeill said. "He realizes what a special person Meredith was."
She "actually did fight him in the beginning until she was unable to anymore," Darragh told reporters after the court hearing.
Added McNeill: "She was absolutely a hero. She did everything she possibly could" to survive.
The poor woman. How sad.
This case sure moved fast in the court yesterday. He was indicted, pled guilty, and sentenced all in one day.
Got life w/possibility of parole in 30 years - when he’ll be 91.
Why would anyone go hiking, biking, jogging, etc. by themselves in a remote area. Don't they know that they are prime targets for the prowling predators on two feet as well as four feet?
Failure of the state to provide for the death penalty simply condemns some other person to death.
Even a little "junk" .22 or .380 is a whole lot better than nothing when you are alone.
There are predators out there and our society tolerates them,so we lose good people every day.
5’4”
Maybe a 110-125 lbs,
missing those last two pounds that would have made this whole sad affair academic.
WOMEN, ARM YOURSELVES AND GET TRAINED! Doesn’t even have to be a firearm, however that is the most efficient means of self defense. Carry a blade with quick access, get trained in any of a number of very deadly and female friendly martial systems, develop a “don’t get scared, get mad” mindset to add to extreme situational awareness. Buy as much pistol as you can handle and conceal (with good fast access), and get training in mindset, awareness, stance, grip, draw, marksmanship, and post shoot legal processes. In short, become the warriors you already have built into your makeup (don’t mess with mama bear!).
Make the ba5tards pay the ultimate price.
Even a little "junk" .22 or .380 is a whole lot better than nothing when you are alone.
*******************
Good point. How many women have been in, or have even seen a fight? I have, and it's incredibly quick and brutal. We women tend to have a false sense of security, and just don't realize how much stronger men are. A gun would have saved her life.
You are absolutely correct, women should not go out walking/jogging alone. You talk about remote areas but I see women alone jogging in the inner city where there are many more human predators than in the mountains. I am surprised that this doesn’t occur much more often.
He should have received death, with one appeal, and then off with his head — Islamic style. In this country today, over and over again, the miscreants look like they were separated at birth: mangy drunks, derelicts, and druggies. And yet, these same miscreants are allowed to wander our streets as vagrants seeking out those they may devour. And, oh yes, when they decide to rest up from their vile misdeeds, our government puts them up in “homeless” shelters or Section 8 housing — all paid for by those they victimize.
Will we ever have the courage, decency — and yes compassion (for the innocent) — to get the Welfare Vulture Culture under control again? Probably not in my lifetime (and I’m the same age as the savage about to be given free room and board by the state — again at my expense).
ditto
Possibility of parole? Dear God
“A diminutive but scrappy woman who stood 5-foot-4, Emerson continued to resist Hilton during the next three days, repeatedly giving the 61-year-old drifter incorrect pass codes for her ATM cards. “
I don’t get this, there was a massive search for her yet no one noticed that here ATM cards were being used?
The key is to travel in groups. That's what I tell my daughter who's off at college. Run in a pack. The predators will look for easier game.
They made a deal here for no death penalty in exchange for his leading her to the body.
With any kind of luck, they'll be able to execute him for one of the many other murders he committed. More keep turning up, and he's been linked to at least 3 already. You don't just wake up one morning at age 61 and decide you're going to go kill somebody. As a deputy friend of mine says, "He's been to the rodeo before."
That’s got to be a recent record. A month from crime to sentence? Amazing.
}:-)4
We do have the death penalty in GA. As I understand it, her parents agreed to the taking of the death penalty off the table in exchange for him telling where her body was.
I can understand that...
Also, I *think* I’ve heard that Hilton has MS, so, with all the lengthy appeals process, it would have been quite possible that he would die of natural causes before he got the needle.
The death penalty was off the table because of pretrial deal. He led police to the body in exchange for no death penalty.(in this case, he is suspect in several others)
“Even a little “junk” .22 or .380 is a whole lot better than nothing when you are alone.”
Not to sound blood-thirsty, but three quickly delivered rounds from a .22 or a .380, delivered to the face or crotch should dissuade most any attacker bent on doing harm. The lower target area is a bit easier to hit, as the lower belly is loaded with nerves, connective tissue, blood vessels, and the male “protect the stones” wiring.
Women, arm yourselves!
A police officer saw Hilton following a lone woman, with a knife and club, and didn’t do some following of his own?
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