National Forest Serial Killer /// Part 2 /// Episode: 78 | Forensic Files

Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks
for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always is a man that, much like Johnny Depp, has a $30,000 a month
wine habit. He is the captain. >> Yeah. Uh, not only do I have a wine habit, but I have a scarf collection
that I have to have a whole separate house for. >> And lots of purple blazers, too.
>> It's good to be seen and it's good to see you. Cheers, everybody. Today, we are drinking creme brulee by
Southern Tier Brewing Company. Garage grade five out of five bottle caps. You know, Captain, it sounds crazy, but this
is like a fancy dessert in a glass. >> You sound crazy. >> Be very careful, my friend, because this
beer is 10% ABV, but it tastes so good that you could easily and very quickly have too many or too much. And pitching
in on this week's beer run is Elizabeth from Newport Beach, California. Elizabeth, you have no idea how jealous
I am. Newport Beach sounds fantastic. It's about 30° outside of this garage >> and it's gray. Next, we have Laplada
from Laplada, Maryland, who says, "As soon as I'm alone in my office, I turn on your show. My office mates would
think I'm a psycho if I listened while they were here. I think Lapla needs to work very hard, get a promotion, and get
your own office very soon." >> Fact of the matter is, we don't think you're a psycho.
>> True Crime Garage is not only your guilty pleasure, but it's your safe space as well. Next, we go to
Germantown, Wisconsin, and say hi, and a big thank you to Paul. Paul says, "I really enjoyed the Facebook video of the
captain showing us how he puts together the music for the show." Paul recommends
that we cover Ed Edwards and the Sweetheart murders. >> And you know, full disclosure here,
Paul, we attempted to cover Ed Edwards. This would have been back in season two,
but it worked out that there was just way too much to talk about that we couldn't cram it all into an hour and 15
show. Uh, we aren't doing, you know, we weren't doing two-parters back then, but
now we're doing a lot of them. So, you might see Ed Edwards back on our calendar very soon. And next, we make it
to our favorite stop in parts unknown today, Population 1. And we say hi to David, who says, "Keep up the great
work." Well, thank you, David. Next, a big big thank you to Mike in New York. Mike says, "Buy a fine IPA. This round
is on him." Yes, we may talk a little more about Mike one day. He sent me a lead a while back on a case that we
covered. So, Mike, I know it looks like a dead end at the moment, but there is still some legs on this thing, and I'll
have an update for everybody as soon as it's available and appropriate. So, thank you, Mike, and cheers to you.
Next, we have Bucky and Kayla from Toronto. You know, Captain, I have never been to Toronto. I've always wanted to
go, and I know that they have Canadian football up there, but I have always thought that Toronto should have an NFL
team. As a matter of fact, let's start a fundraising campaign and we could have a
football franchise in Toronto. Captain, >> 20 years, >> captain. You could be like the crazy
Jerry Jones of Canada and I would be more like the Al Davis. >> I want to be the Gronowski of Toronto.
>> Just win, baby. Just win. Let's stay in Canada and say hi and thank you to Amanda in Ontario. And last, but
certainly not least, a huge thank you to Acid Cherry, who says, "I apologize for
the atrocious PayPal name, but I set this up 12 years ago, and I can't figure out how to change my name." So, Acid
Cherry, I should put you in contact with the captain because not only is he the sound engineer here of the garage, but
he is also head of the IT department. So, thank you to all for pitching in for the beer for this week. And if you want
to buy us around for next week's show, go to true crimegar.com and click on the donate button.
>> All right, let's get right into it. >> That's enough of the business. Everybody
gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer, and let's talk some true crime. [Music]
Miracles are shining light in our lives. And now we are left with a hole in our hearts that will not heal.
In our civilized society, we protect and nourish such heinous criminals as Mr. Hilton by providing three hot meals a
day and a warm place to sleep under the protective, watchful eye of penal officials.
Therefore, I feel that no punishment is too severe for Mr. Hilton. I only pray that he suffers immensely for his
heinous acts and that even his fellow inmates recognize his evil and malevolence for mankind and treat him
with appropriate measures. And how do you plead to the charge of the murder in Dawson County, Georgia on
the 4th day of January, 2008 with malice of forethought causing the death of Meredith Pope Emerson?
>> Guilty. >> It is therefore the judgment of this court upon your plea of guilty
to murder that you are guilty of the crime charge. I'm informing you, Mr. Hilton, that I'm
about to pronounce your sentence. And after I've pronounced the sentence, you will not be permitted to withdraw
your plea of guilty. Is there anything you would like to say? >> No, you're not.
I sentence you to spend the remainder of your natural life in prison in the custody of the Georgia Department of
Correction. It is the intention of the court that you never receive parole. Gary Michael Hilton was arrested for the
disappearance abduction of Meredith Emerson after they found her ID, her purse, and bloodstained clothing in a
dumpster. And they also found some other items of of that in his van as well. And
as you heard there, he was convicted after confessing to her murder. He led the law enforcement to her body. Uh he
did this so he could get avoid the death penalty is basically the situation here.
>> Yeah. >> And he ends up getting life in a life sentence in the state of Georgia. And
what you heard in that clip there is her father who is of course upset of the situation and rightfully so calling for
a little bit of what sounds like prison justice there because he's never going to get to see his daughter again. And
this jerk gets to go off to prison and he's going to get three meals a day and he's going to live in a in a warm cell
and he's going to live out the rest of his days and this guy has lost his daughter to this animal. And because he
he confessed to it, he's not going to get the death pen penalty. Right >> now, what happens here is shortly after
his sentence, we start seeing a situation where we have law enforcement agencies from other states meeting with
the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who headed up the search for Meredith Emerson. They're meeting with them
because they want to discuss this Hilton guy. They want to know, they have similar crimes in their states, and they
want to know, is he responsible for these crimes? Because we're talking about a guy that you can't really nail
down here, right? You can't really put a picture of where he was living when because he was a bit of a drifter. He
was somebody that would go and stay in parks and national forest for days or weeks at a time and drive around the
country. You for the last at least year or so of his life, you can't really pin him down. Now, this is actually
something that he's done for most of his adult life. And when hearing interviews
with him, he almost brags about having not worked a full-time job ever in his life.
>> Well, no, it's not kind of brags. He definitely brags. I mean, again, like we've said uh in the last episode, this
guy thinks he is a genius. Yes, he he's I he's labeled with like 120 IQ, I believe, which is of course is above
average, but uh uh you know, he's he's definitely not genius level, but but when you hear him speak, you know, he he
always thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, 100%. >> Yeah. And so, not only do we have
similarities in other cases, we have evidence collected by law enforcement and the Meredith case that possibly
could link him through DNA or or whatever. >> Yeah. And these these are items that
were collected in his van and items that he was disposing of while he was he knew
he was on the run for Meredith Emerson's case, right? >> And while they were trying to collect
him and pick him up, they collected evidence that he was disposing of. Now, one of those cases in particular is that
of a woman named Cheryl Dunlap. And I'll take you real quickly through her case.
Uh, this takes us back to December 1st of 2007. 46-year-old Cheryl Dunlap misses church. Uh, and after church,
she's actually uh so involved with the church that she is teaching Sunday school as well. Um, she misses Sunday
school, which both of these things are very out of character for Cheryl. >> Yeah. My at my church when I was a kid,
Sunday school was during the service. I think that's a smart way to do it so that the kids are not in church
disrupting the adults. >> Um, >> so what happens here is when she's not present at church and she misses the
Sunday school, her neighbor decides to go, you know, walk over to Cheryl's place and check on Cheryl. This would be
on Monday morning >> cuz yeah, it would wouldn't be a huge red flag if she just missed the service,
but the fact that she is the Sunday school teacher and she didn't call or no no call no show is a little odd.
>> Yeah. So, she goes over to check on the home and check on Cheryl and what she
discovers there is that the dog Cheryl's dog is present. Now, Cheryl is is a divorced woman. She lived alone and her
dog is there. However, Cheryl >> there's nothing wrong with that. >> Cheryl's not there and her vehicle is
not there as well. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And this kind of alerts the neighbor. So the the neighbor decides to notify
Cheryl's family that she's concerned that she hasn't seen her all day at church on Sunday. And here again on
Monday, Cheryl is nowhere to be seen. What happens here is she's then reported missing. Um and quickly after that, the
police find her vehicle off of the highway. And of course, Cheryl is not to be found with the with the vehicle, but
police noticed that one of the tires on her vehicle has been slashed. Yeah, >> Cheryl has been missing now for about 4
days when the police obtained Cheryl's bank records. Her bank card has been used several times at ATM machines.
Police obtain video footage from the ATMs. And this is immediately clear, right? The person using Cheryl's card,
>> it I mean, it's definitely not Cheryl 100%. It's actually It's actually some pretty creepy images here.
>> It's very creepy. I I will post this uh on Instagram for anybody that wants to
check it out. Uh it's really hard to We kind of debated back and forth on this yesterday. Um you know, privately,
right? Or is >> you know, it looks like a mask that is made out of tape. >> Yeah.
>> But there is some speculation that maybe he took parts of a Mike Meyers mask and
uh created like a tape plus latex max. I mean, either way, when you see the image, it's very uh very creepy.
>> Yeah. What it looks like to me is general description of this image is you see it's it's very obviously a man's
body, not a woman's body. To me, it it looks very mananish. And um you see a man wearing a button-up shirt, but he's
got every button buttoned up, you know, all the way from the collar down. >> Yeah.
>> Um and >> kind of a hipster look. >> Yeah. And the the man appears, as the captain said, to be wearing some kind of
mask that could have been fashioned from tape, like like just like maybe even just taping up his face. Um creating
some kind of mask of his own. And he's wearing a dark hat and glasses. Um the thing here is, you know, we we did
debate debate about it a little bit, but there was a um Fred Rosen wrote a book about this called Trail of Death. And so
he looked obviously looked into this case a lot more than we did. We've just been diving into this thing for the last
week or so, but uh he says the way that he describes the mask is similar to that
of like the the old movie The Invisible Man, you know, that Yeah. >> because you know he would wrap himself
up like a mummy almost so you could you could see him. Um so that is very much what it looks like
to me as well. Now, the ATM, the one of these ATMs was actually accessed more than once using Cheryl's bank card. So,
the police decide that they are going to stake out this ATM. Unfortunately, that
machine is never used again. And in fact, after that period, Cheryl's card is never used again.
>> Now, what's interesting to me is, is there any evidence that she went hiking?
>> No. I I'm a little I'm a little uncertain as to her disappearance. Uh because We found the car.
>> Yeah. >> And then we have, you know, so it's one of those things where could >> uh Cerero be been picked up at a gas
station or hitchhiker? I mean, >> the thought that I've heard put out there is remember the slash in the tire.
>> Mhm. The thought was that maybe um somebody had spotted her somewhere, decided that they wanted to abduct her,
>> and she may have been out running errands or or doing other things, and then they they cut the tire and followed
her until it would the you know, the tire would be deflated completely. >> And then when when she's stranded, I'm
going to pull up and >> offer assistance. Yeah. And then you abduct her. So, in mid December 2007,
this is in the Appalachiccola National Forest. Uh, I apologize. I'm a little uncertain if it was hikers or
persons that were actually searching for uh for Cheryl or for clues in the area for the missing woman. But the story
goes like this that they were out in the area and they noticed a vulture circling
above. >> Oh, I think it was hunters. >> Okay. Yeah, I think it was actually uh hunt hunters or hikers, but I I think
they noticed the vulture and that's when they said, "Hey, we got to check this out."
>> Yeah. And using the vulture like some kind of blood hound, they go to the area
that the vulture is circling. And there they find a human body underneath some debris, you know, leaves and things.
Now, but here's the thing, though. The the head and the hands are missing from the body,
>> right? And the body itself actually appears to have been burnt very badly. I mean, burned very badly.
>> So, so to the point that the the authorities are unable to identify this body.
>> Okay. So, I mean, just to clear this up real quick, we don't know if she was hiking for sure, but we do have this
body that's found in a park, >> right? It is decapitated, which is the same as uh Meredith's case.
>> Yep. Uh we have ATM usage with this wiry figure >> um covered in tape on his face.
>> And so these are the similarities. I just trying to follow you follow you on this.
>> So what they end up doing is they use you know of course they've already seen
the ATM footage by the time that they find the this unidentified body. So they're already expecting foul play in
Cheryl Dunlap's situation. Somebody has obtained her bank card and she's missing. You assume foul play here.
>> Right. Right. >> Uh what they end up doing is they take Cheryl's toothbrush and they collect DNA
so that they are able to match it to the unidentified body. >> All right. So December 2007, we have
Cheryl Dunlap's body. Uh we now have it identified. And then fast forward, we have the Meredith Emerson case. And we
have all these similarities popping up. And now we have Cheryl Dunlap's DNA, but
we also have all this evidence that we collected from Gary Hilton's van, the creepy, you know, white Astro van that
he was driving around. So when they test that, surprise, surprise. Well, we have
Cheryl Dunlap's DNA in his van. >> Yeah, we've got a match. >> So, I mean, we got a smok and gun.
>> This is open shut case. Not so simple because they're going to take him to Florida and they're going to try him cuz
I believe they want to try to get the death penalty in this case. >> Well, they do. And the reason being is
that you already know that he's locked up in Georgia for life. Okay. Uh so now you're going to push the envelope.
>> Mhm. >> You're going to say we're going to take you to Florida and we're going to put
you on trial. I'm sure he probably tried to manipulate the situation like he did
in Meredith Emerson's case. >> That's cuz this guy thinks he's a freaking genius,
>> right? So, he probably said, you know, let's see if we can work out a deal and
just get life in Florida as well. They're not going to do that in Florida. They don't need to. He's locked up
regardless. It's time to put him on death row. And guess what? Good for everybody else. Whether you're for or
against the death penalty, let's not argue about that because I think this situation is is a unique situation. And
>> yeah, the the only problem that I have with it is by going after the death penalty, then you give this guy
ample amounts of time to get his name in the paper, >> uh, constantly go back to retrial, you
know, if you push the death penalty. >> Plus, plus in Florida, I believe that if
you are being tried and it and sentenced to death, that they I think they pay for
your defense, >> which is not cheap. It's millions of dollars. Yeah, I have a problem with
that. And I also have, and we've talked about this before, and uh we try to I mean, we can't do it all the time, but
we try to stay away from, you know, labeling the show, you know, by the killer's name,
>> cuz we don't want to give them any, you know, press, right? >> You know, we're not praising this guy.
We're not praising this monster, you know. >> So, he goes to Florida and we got to
start this trial, right? Mhm. >> And this is when America is going to learn a lot about this.
>> America or America. >> America. Both. >> Okay. Both. >> United we stand. >> America and America.
>> Yeah. So to so >> sorry you kind of threw me off here. Um but now we're going to start learning
about Gary Hilton and who he is. >> And the reason being >> I mean other than that he's a huge piece
of [ __ ] Well, the reason being here is Florida's paying for his defense, and so
they're going to make every effort to push the envelope to make sure that he does not receive the death penalty. So,
they're going to bring up things about his childhood and his life. Uh, and what we learn during this trial is that uh,
you know, he didn't have the the the greatest of upbringings. His his father left when he was young. His mother
remarried, and this guy didn't sound like a real great guy. Um, and >> the story about that is interesting.
>> Yeah. So, what happens here? And everybody wants to know, you know, what makes a serial killer? What makes a
multiple murderer? >> And this gives us a little insight into that, right? >> Well, some of it is probably not made,
>> right? >> Well, there's an argument for, you know, nature versus nurture, right?
>> And and I would argue that in a lot of cases, it's a combination of both. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> In this situation, we have a a young man. And he's he when he's very young. One of those Murphy beds. You know the
beds that fold up into a wall. >> Mhm. I've always wanted one. >> Well, this is a good reason not to get
one. Th it collapsed and it had fallen on Gary Hilton when he was a boy >> and this caused a significant head
wound. Uh yeah, he received over 200 stitches. It almost like Jesus, >> it almost like scalped him uh in a way.
And so it's later going to be learned and determined. >> How old was he? Do you know? I
>> I think he was a young boy, probably six or seven under 10. >> Yeah. >> So it would be later determined by his
defense team that during this accident of the Murphy bed scalping him that he did receive some form of brain damage.
He had damage to the frontal loes which which a lot of people will will argue that uh you know that that can create
these monsters in a way. Um so he has this this injury from a childhood. But but another weird thing happens too.
There's a little bit of abuse going on by the stepfather. Uh he's he's not a not a great stepfather. There's even a
story how he >> is this physical or is it sexual or >> I don't think it was sexual. I think it
was mainly physical and and probably more like verbal and emotional rather than physical as well. But um he when
Gary is like 10 or 11, his his stepfather is telling him that he should be he should have a job. He should be
out working. Um I believe that this guy is from another country. Uh and and he may not understand that in labor laws.
>> Yeah. And in America we don't go off and >> Yeah. But back in Yeah. But back in
Gary's day, he could have been a newspaper boy. I mean, that's what that's what I rocked. Rocked the
newspaper route. Pretty young age. >> When Gary was 13, he shot his stepfather. >> I'm sorry.
>> Yeah. >> But and and then on trial, like when his mother is talking about this, it's it's
crazy. >> And this wasn't like uh like he grazed his arm or something. He shot him in his
body. >> Yeah. He shot him in his lower stomach. and and the count was I don't know what
happened. I think maybe it was one of the times where if there you know physical abuse he was probably getting
beat uh which was way more common back in you know Gary's childhood days just in general around the whole country
in in America. Um but I wonder if it's a situation where it's like I can't take this anymore. You're not going to hurt
me anymore. I have a gun. And then this stepfather starts screaming at Gary. Shoot me. Sh. Just shoot me. So he does.
Shoots him right in the lower stomach. >> Doesn't kill him. >> No. No. And and the strange thing here
too is the stepfather chooses not to press charges against Gary. What ends up happening is
>> Yeah. But I think that's either the mother protecting Gary or maybe the stepfather did have, you know, did
actually care about him, just didn't know how to be a standup man or a stand-up parent. Uh
>> or maybe he was abusing him and felt >> Well, yeah. >> Didn't want that to come out or felt
guilty. >> Yeah. or he did even something worse to him that would have been uh you know cuz
back in the day you could you could smack your kid around a little bit and they weren they weren't going to haul
you to jail, >> right? >> But who knows how how bad it was. >> Well, what ends up happening here is
that even though charges are not pressed against him, he is taken away. He's diagnosed with some form of of mental
illness. Um, and we will see this again later in Gary's life, but he spends roughly about a half of a year in uh
receiving some form of treatment and not living with his parents. Now, when he is
released from this, his mother will not let him move back into the house. Um, she and he's still a minor at this time,
obviously. >> Well, I just love how the mom takes the stepfather's side. What ends up
happening is somebody they take Gary in and he lives with them until he's about 17 maybe 18 and then he enlists in the
army and he actually does see some active duty. He's stationed over in Germany and he's with this unique uh
unit, this unique platoon of of 18 or 19 guys. I believe it was 19 guys. You know, you have one officer and then you
have all these these these other 18 uh you know, army guys. And basically they're called the Davy Crockett
platoon. >> Yeah. >> And >> that was the platoon I was in. >> Well, this this >> I was the captain of that platoon.
>> This is the strangest uh unit that I've ever heard of because what their what
their whole thing is, >> that's what she said, >> is that they have these basically it's a
handheld nuclear weapon. And I've seen a picture of this. They call it a handheld, but if you look at a picture
of this, it looks almost like like the size of a a human body, like a man's size weapon. But you can hold these
things and much like a rocket launcher, they will fire a nuclear a small nuclear
weapon. Well, the issue here is, and I don't know how much of this that these these army guys actually knew about, but
their their job was if they were stationed in Germany, and if they saw the Russians approaching, they were they
were told to fire, like fire these nuclear weapons and we're going to create a nuclear war, I guess. Great.
>> But the situation here is these weapons only fire so far. So, if you fire one of
these weapons, you're it's a suicide mission, basically. You're you're going to you're going to die in the aftermath
of of firing this weapon. >> Great. Let's dive into Gary Hilton more right after this quick beer break. All
right, and we're back. Cheers everybody. So, where we left off, we have Gary Michael Hilton and he is a confessed
killer and now he's down in Florida and he's being tried for mur murder once again and he's facing the death penalty
this time, right? >> We've learned that he's had a head injury when he was a child. We learned
that he shot his stepfather and went went off away for about 6 months for that. And he was unwelcome in his
parents' home when he comes back >> right >> now. He served some time in the army in
the US military. He's there for about 3 years and he kind of uh he he starts to lose it while he's there
>> and he gets an honorable discharge. Uh the army technically diagnoses him with
schizophrenia. >> Right. Well, I I also think what's weird is did he lose it in the army or you
know did it just take him years to figure out he's already lost it? >> Well, remember he had they identified
some mental illness when he was a child when he when he was 13 and shot his stepfather, right?
>> I think this is an ongoing thing. I think this is something that he's had and maybe it manifests itself more the
older that he's got. uh maybe the stress of being in the army and being stationed
overseas. >> Schizophrenia normally is a late teens, early 20s type thing. Uh but there is
some early onset sides of uh schizophrenia. >> Yeah. So we we I don't want to go
through all of his his history because we only have so much time here today, but basically his adult life after he
gets honorable discharge from the US military, it goes like this. He's in and out of marriages. He's married three
times. I think the lengthiest marriage that he's in was two years. Some of these these other two marriages
>> so depressing. I mean, how can how can this uh douche canoe uh trick three women?
>> Well, yeah. And and two of the women are only married to him for less than a year.
>> Well, he didn't trick him for too long, but >> but but there you are with something
there, Captain. He basically spends most of his adult life as a con man. >> Well, think about this. I know, look,
Valentine's Day is coming up, right? And you know, some you know, some people say
it's National Singles Day. Well, if you're sitting out there, if you're listening to the captain's voice on 10
105.69, >> the garage, >> the garage, smooth jams in the garage. If you're listening to me right now and
you're single, be happy about that cuz you're not dating some monster like Gary Michael Hilton. So, be thankful for
that. You know, one of the things he was doing when he was conning these people,
well, no, this is to tip you off on on uh what some of these women why the divorces came so abruptly and so
quickly. He was running fake charities. >> He's running he's getting people to donate money and he's pocketing all of
the money. Yeah. >> You know, the Gary Hilton Foundation or you know, I'm joking, but he was running
these fake charities on and off for most of his adult life. And when these when his wives would learn what he was doing,
of course, they don't want to be anywhere around him. Plus, he's he's a terrible guy. I mean, you even if take
away the murder. All right, if you listen, they have this thing on you can find it on YouTube. It's called the Gary
Hilton background interviews. This is where the Georgia Bureau of Investigation spent hours and hours with
him. They're a little troubling to listen to because they are so lengthy and he might only throw in tidbits of of
information in these cases from time to time. So, you kind of it's a bit of a snoozefest. Uh, but the thing is this
guy loves to talk and he loves to tell you how smart he is and how how intelligent he is. This guy is
>> sounds like somebody I know. >> Well, he's like a toy, man. You wind him up and he just he just starts going and
he he spends these these background interviews are hours long and the the investigators speak so little so little
during they will ask him a question. He will spend 20 minutes answering this question and he'll tell you everything
about anything. >> Mhm. >> So he's probably a horrible guy to be married to. Uh let alone the the con
aspect of his life, >> right? Um what ends up happening here is thankfully he he does receive the death
penalty in Sher Cheryl Dunlap's case. Uh and thankful I'm thankful that Florida is also a fasttrack state. It's much
like the state of Texas where you they actually still execute people there even you know a lot of states have the death
penalty never use it >> right. Their average stay on death row is I believe 12 years.
>> You're exactly right. But also, I mean, when you have somebody that see, you know, again, this beautiful lady and
beautiful mother and a friend to a bunch of people and Cheryl to actually get closure for her family and friends. I
think that that's the main thing that that that's great that came out of this, you know, all the other stuff with Gary.
I mean, doesn't really matter. It's the closure that that is really good. >> Yeah. And the one of the things too
that's going to tie him in as well, you know, we talked about some of the similarities of the Dunlap case and the
Meredith Emerson case. Um, but don't forget here, Cheryl Dunlap, she was disposed of in a national forest, right?
>> So, you know, there's your similarity there. Meredith, Meredith is abducted from one and we have Dunlap who is
disposed of in one. Now, we also have investigators from the great state of North Carolina who are comparing notes
with law enforcement officials in both Florida and Georgia because we have a situation that happened here in November
of 2007. We have a missing couple. This is John Bryant and his wife of more than
50 years, Irene. They're an elderly couple. John is 79 and Irene is 84. They are avid hikers. They both go missing in
the Pesqua National Forest. So, here's what happens here. They they they go out hiking all the time. It was It's not a
big deal for them to go on these day hikes. Okay. They don't come home from this. Their their family lived in other
states. Their their children did. >> Yeah. But they actually called family members and said, "Hey, we're going
hiking and this is where we're going." They were always forthcoming with everybody just in case something would
happen. >> Yeah. And much like Cheryl Dunlap's situation, the the mail starts to pile
up at the Bryant's home and a neighbor notices this and calls one of the family members. Yeah.
>> Their son from Texas. He flies to North Carolina and he goes looking for his parents.
>> Uh he doesn't have much luck. I believe that he ends up finding their vehicle.
Um but >> No. Well, he go back up a little bit. He does go to their house. He breaks into
their house. Yeah. >> Uh and then sees that their their breakfast from a couple weeks ago cuz
they've been missing for a couple weeks. Um by the like we said the family members live out of town. So by the time
he gets there it's been it some time has elapsed. >> Yeah. >> Uh there's still their breakfast from
you know days and days ago was still on the table. So that's definitely a sign of this there's something major wrong
when they they know where they went hiking. So they went and started searching. Um I think they did contact
the police, but they're doing their own search and they found their parents' vehicle.
>> Yeah. And this was a place that they had hiked often, you know, so you wouldn't
expect them to get lost or anything like that. But you know, as >> well, but the major concern there is cuz
there are >> they're elderly, >> right? So maybe that there was a heart attack or something. But chances are if
one of them had a heart attack that the other one would contact the whole family
and what's the likelihood that both of them would have had a medical emergency. >> Yeah. And the the very big concern here
uh which goes along with that red flag that you were talking about is they know that John has a heart condition and for
this he relies on a certain type of heart medication. Right. >> Uh and this is a type of medication that
you are not able to go very long without. Uh, so this is this is of grave concern here. Uh, investigators are
trying to track the Bryants to see if they can find any hint at locating the elderly couple. So they tried tracking
the couple's phone records. It was then learned that Irene had tried to use her cell phone on October 21st at 400 p.m.
to call 911, but because of a lost signal, the call never reached the emergency call center. M it was also
learned that on the day after the attempted 911 call, the couple's ATM card was used to withdraw $300. This
transaction was the first transaction made since the couple went missing. But the card had not been used since on
November 21st, 2007, 30 yards away from the Bryant's SUV that was already discovered. Right.
>> Under a pile of leaves and debris, a body is found. This body is pretty badly
decomposed and at first there are no signs of foul play. But as is true in most counties, a a a found body is
always treated as a homicide. >> Right. Right. >> So after they process the scene, the
body will be transferred transported for identification and to determine the cause of death.
>> Yeah. And what they determined was that the cause of death was a blunt force trauma to the head.
>> Yes. And this does end up being the body of Irene Bryant. Um, so now we have a
situation where the the missing couple of they've gone missing in the woods and we have uh the wife has been found dead.
We know that it's a homicide. The husband's still missing at this point though, right?
>> They haven't found him. And remember, we talked about that the uh the ATM card
had been used. And again, we are going to see footage from that ATM machine. This is a quite a bit different than the
Cheryl Dunlap case, though, because in the Cheryl Dunlap case, we get to see the criminal up close and personal. You
know, we talked about the tape mask. >> This situation, Captain, it it appears that the video camera is one of those
from like the drive-thru of a bank, and the ATM is is a lane or two over from uh
from the drive-thru window that's recording this footage. And what you end up seeing here is you don't see a full
you don't get to see the face of of the person using the ATM card, >> right? >> What you do see is you get you see that
it's probably a man's body. Um but you basically see a yellow rain jacket, >> right?
>> Now, this later would be terine would be determined to be the rain jacket of John
Bryant. And one thing that the officials figure out here is that the body size of
the man in relationship to the ATM machine, you can get an idea of the size of the person using the card even though
you can't see the face or see see the actual body, >> but they determine that the body size
and shape is different of that than John Bryant's. So immediately they know that
this card is being used by somebody else and we have we have a horrible situation
here. >> Yeah. And as law enforcement is gathering evidence, they don't have a suspect, you know, they're trying to put
the pieces of the puzzle together and they really just kind of sit on their hands because, well, that makes it sound
bad on their part, but they they don't really have any leads. And then with this Emer uh with the Meredith Emerson
case, now we got a guy and this seems very eerie eerily similar to our case. So now law enforcement is going to come
down and talk to him. >> Yeah. So what happens is Meredith Emerson she that case happens okay her
body is found he leads them to her body he confesses to the crime and it's shortly after that it's in February of
2008 that John Bryant's body is found in the Natahala National Forest North Carolina. So again, like the captain
said, all these similarities, but once this case goes out into the news and people start seeing his face, well then
it is >> see Hilton's face. >> They start realizing that that Gary Hilton, there are eyewitnesses that
place him at the Pisc forest uh before the abduction, you know, just days before the abduction. And this is a
whole state away from where he lives, you know, so so to put him there, he's he's also photographed there as well. Uh
what ends up happening is he goes to trial for this situation. He's going to originally plead not guilty, but he will
later change his plea to guilty. He will admit to killing both John and Irene Bryant. He what he ended up doing was he
c he kidnapped John Bryant and through force, intimidation, and violence, he used the the ATM card and got the pin
code from John to get the $300. And after he had robbed Jon, he had no use for him anymore. And he he shot him in
the head with a 22 caliber gun. >> Yeah. And in those background tapes that you were talking about, that's the
thing. He he mentions it multiple times. Hey, you're running low on money. Well,
now you got to go murder somebody. And that's a you know, you were talking about this earlier. That's such a far
stretch. I mean, if you are a criminal, if you're a con man, then you know, you're running low on money, you go rob
somebody. Or you're running low on money, then you do uh you know, one of your charity frauds. you know, you're a
con man, but he's more of a murderer than he is a con man. >> Well, well, let's investigate that real
quick because we have all these other cases. There's missing person's cases. There's other bodies out there that are
similar in situation to crimes committed by Gary Hilton where we're talking about
state parks and national forest involved here. >> Is he is he someone that's killed more
than four people? Because >> Yeah. So, right now we have John and Irene Bryant. We have Cheryl Dunlap and
we have Meredith Emerson. Those are the ones that he has confessed or was found guilty on.
>> Correct. So, one thing we we got to investigate here is he is of one of the rarest breeds of serial killers. Okay.
>> Well, is he? >> Well, that's the question. Let me get through this here. He he is one of only
three people in United States history that waited until his 60s to start killing and became a serial killer. So
that's a very rare breed of people. So mathematically, what that would tell us is it's probably not likely that he
waited until his 60s to start killing. >> Mathematically, he's probably more like
the rest of them and started killing before this timeline. So >> yeah, I mean possibly be, but I think
when you have multiple people diagnosing you with some form of schizophrenia, I would say that it's it's a good
possibility that that this statement is true and he is of the smaller percentage. So let let me go through
this for a while and it might take me a minute to get through it, but this has kept me up for the last three nights.
I've been trying to figure out >> what what is his his situation? What is his MO? Is he a guy that kills to cover
up robbery or is he someone that just happens to rob and then kill? And I've struggled with this for for days and
nights now and I've come to a conclusion. And I'm going to go back to what the captain was referring to here,
Gary's own words and those background interviews. And I'm going to remind you of some of those things that he said in
some of those background interviews. Um, first off, let's go back to when he's talking about Meredith Emerson's case.
He said, "Had I picked up the newspaper that morning instead of that afternoon, that girl being Meredith would still be
alive." He says, "When you take someone, you either kill them or you get caught."
I am right. It's just math. You either kill them or you get caught. You know, she saw the dog. You know, she saw my
van. All they have to do is put that out there and 10,000 people would be calling. Of course, I knew that I either
kill them or I would get caught. But if I'm already caught, then there is no use
in killing them. I didn't kill them for any satisfaction. It was distasteful. It
was dreadful. Trust me, it was. Of course, I was able to do this because of my general rage for society. Of course.
Of course. But of course, you get that way with people after a while. When he's he's also talking about another person
in his life who is he thinks is a con man. This would be John Taber, his former boss that he does not like. He
describes John Taber as a con man. And he also describes him as a person that is committing crimes. And he states that
he is not dangerous like me. I am a stud. I do crimes that studs would do. >> He's [ __ ] weirdo.
>> All right. Now, let's >> You're not a stud, dude. You're a weirdo. >> Yeah. But let's quickly analyze this.
What he's saying here is had he realized that his face was all over the news and
all over the newspapers, he would not have killed Meredith because it would have been easier to to be charged with
kidnapping and robbery than to be charged with murder after the fact because in the eyes of the public, they
already knew who did it. You know, they already knew who was involved here. That's why they're looking for him,
right? >> But because he didn't know they were looking for him, he killed her. Okay.
So, so where am I going with this? What? >> Yeah, I want to know. >> Well, okay. So, does he rob and then
kill to cover it up or is is that just part of the whole deal? Is it one deal to him?
>> It's just all one deal. I mean, when he says, "Hey, you're running low on money,
so now you got to go kill somebody." >> I mean, that that's what he said. He didn't say you got to go murder. He
didn't say you got to go rob somebody. >> He said you got to go kill somebody. And, you know, and then he can say
whatever he wants. Uh, in the Meredith case, I mean, he killed three people before her.
>> Mhm. You know, like look, I mean, if you know, is are there parts of him that are
just a con man? Yes. But he he's a killer. I mean, he's a murderer. That's it. >> Yeah. He he he says when he's talking
about Meredith's case that that he had $40 to his name and he only had a couple days worth of food. So, what was he
going to do? He knew he had to go kill somebody, right? Well, like what you and I talked about though, uh, he when he's
robbing these people, he's robbing for small amounts of money. You know, from the Bryants, he only took $300. What is
300 bucks going to get you when you're when you're a drifter? What is that going to buy you a week out on the road?
So, what is your whole plan? This is a man with 120 IQ and the only plan he can come up with is, you know what, I can I
can rob someone and kill them and get 300 B bucks and get by for a week. But then what are you going to do? What are
you going to do after that, Gary? you're gonna have to go again next week and kill somebody and then the following
week. So >> I I think he was using that as a way to uh kind of justify what he was doing.
>> I think you're exactly right. >> I was low on money. So then I I had to kill somebody. Just like when he says,
"Well, if I would have saw the paper, I you know, I I would have let her go." No, you're not going to let anybody go
because in that moment that even if he saw that paper even though see hindsight he's saying oh well I would have let her
go because you know then you just get me on kidnapping. I knew I was caught. No because in that moment even if he saw
the paper he'd say well I'm going to kill her. I'm going to decapitate her so they can't find out who it is and I'm
going to go on the run cuz I can outsmart these people. And every moment when he's faced with whether or not I
can outsmart somebody or not, he thinks he can. And he can't. I mean, he this guy is just he's he's a loser. And the
whole fact of the trial when they keep bringing up the fact that, well, he he is above intelligence. No, he's not.
He's a horrible person. He's a dumbass. You know, it's >> Well, here's what I came up with,
Captain. All right. What Who is Gary Hilton? I think he's somebody that fancies himself a survivalist. Okay.
He's somebody that that he's he's constantly camping. He's hiking. He refers to even his hiking clothing as
equipment. He doesn't refer to it as clothing. It's equipment to him. >> Mhm. >> Now, maybe this comes from being a child
and and having this bad stepfather move in and he doesn't feel like he has a home. He becomes a survivalist then and
when he when he's not allowed back into his home after. >> Yeah. There's a bunch of people that
like to hike and go camping that are great people. So, go ahead. >> I'm not saying that every hiker and
camper is a serial killer. I'm trying to go through what I what I personally think of Gary Hilton and his situation.
Okay. He I think he fancies himself a survivalist. And part of that being a drifter, he does need money to survive.
How has he figured out that he's going to get that? He's going to get that through means of robbery. and he for
whatever reason believes that he needs to kill to cover it up. I I had to go back and think of another serial killer
and his name is Joseph France. Now what Joseph Francois did was he would invite drug addicts and sex workers into his
home and then he would kill them. But what would take place beforehand was he would purposely leave large amounts of
money or valuables lying around trying to entice them into stealing from him or catching them in the act of stealing.
>> When they wouldn't steal from him, he would he would walk into a room, point to the money, and go iate on them and
accuse them of stealing even though they weren't doing anything. And he would end
up murdering these women. What I'm getting at here is just like Francois who needed needed something to kick off
that that that emotion and to kick off that anger inside of him that would erupt into murder. I think is the same
thing that we have here with Gary Hilton. Gary Hilton, you're exactly right, Captain. He was a killer in every
sense of the word. He is a serial killer. He was he was going to kill no matter what. It was the robbery. It was
it was the need for the survivalist in him that kicked that off, that made him rationalize to himself that it needed to
be done, that gave him the anger and the hostility that he needed to erupt into murdering these people.
>> Yeah, I think he did need some kind of accelerant to get it to the point start
with the robbery. Therefore, now that they know who I am, so not to get caught, I will kill them. And that what
that's what justifies my actions. Um, but again, I think some of some of some of him is just complete [ __ ] He's
very uh he's very horeshit. And I don't know if he was a survivalist or not or nomad. For parts of his life, he wasn't.
Towards the end, he was, you know, for a little bit. But again, then you would have to look at the mental health and
and what is happening with his mental health and is that deteriorating? Is that what's becoming a monster? Again, I
don't I don't think you believe that he's in this small percentage of people that, you know, don't start killing
until later in life. But he has confessed to some crimes, so why wouldn't he confess to more? Uh that
that that's what I struggled with and and I I thought about that for quite some time because as much as he likes to
talk and we've seen him admit to three of these murders already, what is holding him back? But he only admitted
to any of these murders after being pushed by evidence in law enforcement. I I don't know if you had evidence on
other cases, you might end up getting a confession from him. But one thing that you were on to here, Captain was was the
mental health situation. We talked about there being problems with his mental health. And uh Fred Rosen who wrote that
book about him, he points out that in 2007 is when when Gary starts receiving u rolin and maybe maybe high levels of
rolin that he's supposed to be taking per doctor's orders. And according to Fred Rosen, this must have been what set
him off and that he started killing in 2007. And we saw that with the with the murders that we just talked about. Well,
okay. So So now we have our line in the sand, right? Did he start killing in his
60s or did he start killing before that? And we have a lot of uh speculation out
there regarding all kinds of other cases in other states, many of them involving
national forest and state parks. >> All right. So, what are some of the cases that might be linked to Gary
Hilton? >> Well, we've come up with seven of them, and these are names that we've collected
through different websites uh that that it's not just us speculating on this. this has already been suspected of as
far as Gary Hilton's concerned. The first is Melissa Wit who disappeared December 1st, 1994.
>> And what makes authorities feel like she's connected to Gary Hilton? >> So, this is a situation where she
disappeared from Franklin County in Arkansas. Uh, and then more than a month later, her body was found in a rural
area of Franklin County. Now, this is this is police officer suspicion. They say that while the crimes are separated
by years and states, there are sim similarities that make it worth investigating a possible connection.
>> Yeah. And I think it comes down to the fact that if you think Gary was killing
before 2007, then this is definitely a case we want to look into. >> Uh, one that you also want to look into
is the uh, death of Levi Freddy. Now, Levi Freddy was a young boy. uh he was 11 years old and he was abducted while
riding his bike. Now the connection here is that his body was found the following
day um in the same area that that police would later find uh Meredith Emerson's body uh as well as another person that
is on our list. So, while the it breaks the MMO of the victimology here where we
have an 11-year-old boy, >> well, it also breaks the fact that we could assume that the 11-year-old boy is
not carrying a debit card. >> Yeah. There's nothing to rob from him. Uh the last time he was seen, he was
riding his bicycle and he was being followed or he was following a small dog. Now, we do know Gary Hilton was
always with with a dog, and the thought was that maybe, you know, this boy didn't have a dog, so maybe somebody had
used the dog to uh take the boy. Um I I didn't see a ton of similarities here other than the area where they found the
body. One thing that's troubling here is uh police have been very hesitant to release any information on on this body
and and on Levi's case. uh he was shot to death and we do know that Gary used a gun to kill John Bryant. However, they
they refused to uh give the caliber of gun in this situation where with the Bryant situation, it was a 22 caliber.
So that that could help us a bit here. >> Yeah. And the body being found in the same area as Meredith to me is, you
know, definitely, you know, leaves some kind of oh well, you got to look into this. And to me,
they they need to look on the angle of maybe not so much, you know, robbery because that doesn't make a lot of
sense, but what if, you know, we've we've heard a lot of times about Hilton getting in confrontations with other
people about dogs >> and what hap what maybe there was some accident. Maybe the kid hit the dog, you
know, with his bike or something and that set Gary into a rage. That that's a possibility.
>> That's one possibility. The o the other thing that's not entirely outside of his
victimology is that it's a it's a person that he believes he could easily overpower, right? You know, he's always
attacking women or elderly people >> and one that kind of goes off the rails a little bit. I don't know. Uh, you
know, I'm a big fan of the Charlie Project. And one of the people that they think maybe is connected with Hilton is
Jason Knap. Now, he went missing in 1998, uh, April 12th from Clemson, South Carolina. Now, it seems like he had a
debit card and stuff on him, but, uh, there was $20 taken out of his account the day he went missing, but other than
that, no more activity. Also, Jason was pretty big guy. >> Uh, so it doesn't kind of fall into the
whole Gary Hilton being all little and wiry, right? >> Uh, looks like Jason probably could
handle his own. Uh but again, if uh we we do know that Gary Hilton has used a gun in the past, but there was no signs
of struggle >> where where Jason went missing. So, >> something to look into, but I I don't
think there's a lot of connection there. >> You're right. It's it's very loose. I
think the one thing that they that they've talked about here as far as Gary's concerned is that the vehicle
that Jason Knap's vehicle was found in a state park. So, it you know that that's
the connection there. how you know however loose that is. Um we also have on this list we have uh Patrice Andreas.
Um she disappeared from her hair salon uh in 2004. This is April 15th, 2004. Um now she would have been of in Georgia as
well. So not a terrible distance for Gary Hilton. The strange thing here is this is definitely a robbery when you
look into this case. Uh they whoever whoever took her robbed the hair salon beforehand. Um she would end up being
found in a same in a similar area to that of Meredith Emerson and Levi Freddy. So we have we have that
connection plus the robbery. One thing too in the the background interviews that we've been discussing with Gary
Hilton is one thing that the Georgia Investigative Bureau was questioning him about was did you ever go into hair
salons? You know, I know it sounds like a strange place for a man to go, but did
you ever go into any hair salons? And he says when he was selling siding that he
would go into hair salons on Saturdays when he thought that that the building needed new siding. He would offer he
would go in on Saturdays because the owner was typically there because it would be the busiest day of the week for
the hair salon. And while he was there, he'd pass out business cards to uh the the women waiting in line to get their
haircut. Um, again, you know, the only real connection here is the robbery and where
the body was dumped. >> Yeah, big connection. I mean, a big connection between Meredith and Levi and
Patrice is that they're all found in the same county. Next person on my list is Rosanna.
>> Yes, we have Rosanna Melania. Now, she was from Florida, but she disappeared December 7th, 2005 from Cherokee, North
Carolina. M >> she flew into town and then while she's at the Ramada Inn, uh she calls a family
member stating that she was going to go on a hiking trip and she was going to go
hiking on the Appalachin Trail, which is a big connection to Gary Hilton, obviously. Um she's later then seen, and
this is believed to be the last time that she was seen. They were at she was at a store, but she was in the she was
with an older man. Uh, this is an unidentified man approximately about 60 years old with gray hair at his temples.
Now, the person that saw them did say that this man may have been wearing a hairpiece because if you see the sketch
of the person, he clearly has hair that Gary Hilton did not have, right? >> Um, >> but again, it does look very much like a
hairpiece. Uh, the man had said that he was a traveling preacher, which sounds similar to some of the cons that we've
heard Gary Hilton pull in the past. Um she did suffer uh she from mental illness. She was schizophrenic. Um might
not have been a great idea for her to be out, you know, states away on her own going hiking by herself. It just seems
like a situation where she could be, you know, she she probably looked to him as
somebody that that he could have taken that that he could have she's out of her element. She's out of the area. Yeah. Um
she doesn't know she doesn't know the state park. >> Yeah. Well, with the Bryants and with uh
Emerson, you know, th those are victims that happen at a park. And then Cheryl Dunlop, we don't know for sure,
>> right? >> So, since we don't know for sure with the in the Dunlap case that we can put
Rosanna into that possibility, again, we don't know if she ever made it to the park to go hiking. We don't I
don't believe there's any eyewitnesses of ever seeing Rosanna at a park, >> right? Other than her stating that she
was going to go hiking when >> But that does not, you know, disclude, you know, Hilton at all,
>> right? And the last time she's seen is at that store with that older man and they're purchasing a a a backpack and
sleeping bags, things that look like you're going on a camping trip. Now, she's never seen again and none of her
items that she took with her on this personal vacation were ever recovered as well. So, uh, those items would be
important to find. There is some strangeness in her case, though, because while she was there, she rented a
storage unit, which seems like >> which is a kind of a connection with Gary, cuz we know that Gary lived out of
a storage unit for about 5 years or so. >> Yeah, it's a connection to him, but it
also seems like a a entire like just a the strangest thing to do when you're on a vacation.
>> Yeah. >> I don't know that you need a storage unit for anything. I can't figure that
out. Unless unless it was, you know, a whole connection with Gary Hilton and he's conning her into running a storage
space that he is going to use >> or who knows. I mean, so I mean, the fact of the matter is that we do know
that he was involved in in the murders of four people. So, we could just suspect that it's probably more than
four. The big question for me is was it, you know, is he one of the rare breeds of serial killer that wait till later in
life to start killing? That's the big question. And I don't know, as much as Gary Hilton likes to talk, I don't know
if he's ever going to answer that question for us. >> Right. Next up, we have Michael Scott
Lewis, who went missing November 21st, 2007. And this he went missing in Florida. Um, and this this situation
here, he went missing from the same county as Cheryl Dunlap. And this this is what's weird here. How is he
connected? Listen to this. First of all, we can put Gary Hilton in that area because we know that Cheryl Dunlap was
abducted December 1st. Michael Scott Lewis was just abducted 10 or 11 days before that. So, it's not crazy to think
that he would have been in the area. Um, Michael Scott Lewis's body is found in three different garbage bags in Tacoma
State Park in Florida. This is December 6th, 2007. So, we're seeing a situation where uh what he did forensically to
some of these other victims, you know, with the decapitation or removing the hands that we're seeing a similar
situation where um where Scott, what Michael Scott was >> dismembered as well and we can put Gary
Hilton in the area. So, that one's really interesting to me. And then the the final one that we have is on
December 6, 2007, an unidentified woman missing hands, feet, and head was found in five black plastic garbage bags along
Stitcher Road in Lraange, which is west of Mon near the Alabama line. Um, there was an attempt made to burn these bags.
Now, so we have a we have a a situation here where we don't because she's unidentified, we don't know where she's
from, where she went missing from, and we also don't know if she was robbed of an ATM card that would have been used
because we don't know who this body belongs to, right? >> Uh but again, we're seeing a situation
where uh the dismemberment and the use the use of the garbage bags is similar to the Gary Hilton situation. Now, these
last two that we talked about would still mean that he would have been in his 60s at the time that he started
killing. >> Yeah. I mean, >> assuming that the woman had not been missing for very long.
>> Yeah. Those two two make a a lot of sense, but again, it's the unidentified body. You would like to know where it's
from. I mean, cuz the connection um with Michael Scott and uh Dunlop being from the same county that's you know, again,
but how many people are in those counties? But >> right, >> but there is a lot of similarities there
and hopefully um they can keep trying to link stuff and maybe even you know through DNA or whatever they can add
more charges to this guy and get closure for the other people. >> Yeah. Uh the most interesting case that
you know when you're searching and and scouring the uh information highway to try to figure out anything about Gary
Hilton. Uh I kept on coming coming up on Reddit post. >> Okay. >> Linking Gary Hilton to the Mara Murray
case. >> Oh yeah. >> Now we know that Mara Murray went missing in uh 2004. So again, this is not the time frame is
not too far off. The problem here is we don't you know from all accounts that we know that she wrecked her car and
then was never seen after that. So is that that kind of is similar to the Cheryl Dunlop where we don't know how
she was taken. Um but we also there is no body for Mara Murray so we don't know if she's ever been found. The big
problem here for me is the distance. >> This happened in New Hampshire. Uh Gary Hilton seems to be always around
Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas. >> Um I looked at his arrest records. There is no arrest that I have found that is
up north. >> Mhm. And if he was doing anything sketchy, if you're up north and you have
Florida license plates or Georgia license plates, normally that's kind of a red flag for cops to pull you over if
you're doing >> um and there's no nothing on record there. So, it's just a name that kind of
pops up a lot in that case. And so, I just kind of I I found that interested interesting. I'm I'm always following
the Mara Murray case. So, uh, I was kind of hoping that there was some, you know,
more of a connection to figure out, you know, it some closure in that case, but I don't think it's connected here. So,
it's, we're obviously in 2017 now. But, so some time has elapsed, some years have elapsed since he's been convicted
and sentenced to death in the state of Florida. So, Gary Hilton is scheduled to die in the state of Florida in 2023 or
2024. Now, what I'm hoping here, Captain, is we might see a Ted Bundy type situation where we have a guy
that's in custody. He's scheduled to be executed, >> right, >> that doesn't mind confessing or talking.
I wonder what we can learn from Gary Hilton as he gets closer to that date. Is he going to try to buy some time and
release some names and give some details? Who knows, maybe he is connected to some of these cases. Well,
I think the thing that you have to be suspect there is his con man nature, >> right?
>> And will he just be trying to make up stories to buy time or will he actually
be involved in these these murders? >> So, of course, our final thoughts here is I I think he might be connected to
one or two or maybe more of these. It's some of these connections are a bit loose, but some of them we don't have a
lot of information. So, uh, the thing here is though, Meredith Emerson, uh, she, yes, she fell victim to Gary
Hilton, but, but she is a hero and, and we talked about her fighting back every step, every inch of the way against Gary
and how her fighting back led to his being identified as the possible abductor and his arrest.
>> Yeah. I mean, Meredith, uh, she was a badass chick, basically. >> Yeah. And the thing too here is it it
led to convictions in prior cases. Yes. And think about all the people that prevented Gary Hilton from attacking and
killing in the future. >> Well, yeah. Yeah. Because even, you know, the the question the big question
of did he just start killing later in life, well, that doesn't matter because if Meredith didn't do what she did, then
he would have just kept going. >> And thank God he's behind bars. It's one less bad guy to worry about.
>> Yeah. And I mean my final thoughts on Gary Hilton is he's a wiry pile of horseshit and I I hope there is some
prison justice there. So uh you want to remind them of the recommended reading? >> Yes. This week we are recommending the
Yoseite murders. Uh this has got quite the story to it here captain because remember many months ago we recommended
a book called I know my first name is Steven. Mhm. >> Okay. So, we had a case that took place
where Steven Steiner was he was abducted and he was held for like seven or eight
years. It was one of the first cases of its time where he had escaped and came home and returned to to his home many
many years after being abducted. Well, his older brother um Carrie Steiner was a uh was part of that same family would
grow up to become a serial killer killing in one of the national parks on the other side of the nation. So, when
we started talking about Gary Hilton, it reminded me of of the Yoseimity murders.
And this is by Dennis McDougall. And you can pick that up by going to our website, true crimegar.com.
And you're going to go to the recommended page. We have we have Steven's book there. We have the
Yoseimity murders book there. Until next time, be good, be kind, and don't litter.
Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause]

National Forest Serial Killer /// Part 2 /// Episode: 78

Part 1 of 2

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They called him the National Forest Serial Killer. He liked to hunt women in the woods. For two years Gary Hilton stalked the backcountry paths of the southern United States. In 2007 he abducted and killed John and Irene Bryant in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest. Later that year he attacked and killed Cheryl Dunlap in Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest. Then in 2008 he attacked and killed Meredith Emerson in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest. Gary Hilton is one of the rarest breeds of serial killers waiting until he was in his sixties to start killing, or did he?

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Brief Summary

Gary Hilton's murders of Meredith Emerson, Cheryl Dunlap, and the Bryants are examined, revealing his violent history and possible connections to other cases.

Key points

Gary Hilton's Guilty Plea. Gary Hilton pleads guilty to the murder of Meredith Pope Emerson, receiving a life sentence.
Cheryl Dunlap's Mysterious Disappearance. Cheryl Dunlap goes missing after missing church, leading to a police investigation.
Body Found in the Woods. A body is discovered in the woods, but it's badly burned and unidentifiable.
Gary Hilton's Childhood Trauma. Gary Hilton suffered a severe head injury from a collapsing Murphy bed as a child.
The Aftermath of Abuse. Gary's mother sided with his stepfather after the shooting, leading to further trauma.
Justice Served. Gary Hilton received the death penalty for his crimes, providing closure for victims' families.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I only pray that he suffers immensely for his heinous acts.

5:18WatchSep 23, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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