BRYSON CITY, N.C. --6:30 pm EST January 15, 2008-- The man charged in the beating death of a Georgia hiker is being looked at in the 2005 disappearance of a Florida woman who was hiking in western North Carolina.
Investigators said 26-year-old Rossana Miliani was last in Bryson City on December 7th, 2005.
A store clerk from Bryson City recently told a private investigator that Miliani came into her store with a white man in his 60s and appeared nervous when they bought a backpack. The clerk contacted private investigator Steve Siske after reading about Miliani on the second anniversary of her disappearance.
Siske said he noticed case similarities when 61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton was arrested for the murder of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson, whose body was found in a national forest in the north Georgia mountains.
A spokeswoman with the State Bureau of Investigation confirmed Monday that agents are "considering the possibility of a connection," but declined further comment.
Hilton Considered "Prime Suspect" In Fl. Woman's Murder
The Leon County, Florida, sheriff's office said the man charged with murder in the death of 24-year-old hiker Meredith Emerson can be considered a prime suspect in the death of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap.
Her body was found December 19 in the Apalachicola National Forest, southwest of Tallahassee. Sheriff's Major Mike Wood said today that authorities have confirmed that Gary Michael Hilton was in the area at the time of Dunlap's disappearance.
A state law enforcement source told WSB-TV that Dunlap also was decapitated, as was Emerson.
(upper right, Rossana Miliani; right, Cheryl Dunlap; below John and Irene Bryant)
Hilton Named Suspect In NC Murder
Investigators in North Carolina named Gary Hilton a suspect in the abductions of two hikers, both found bludgeoned to death in separate locations. The body of Irene Bryant, 84, was found about a month after she and her husband disappeared while hiking in the Pisgah National Forest near Asheville. She had been beaten to death. John Bryant, 80, found in Macon County Feb 2.
"At this point, I do consider Hilton a suspect,” said Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney. “We are following up on all information regarding possible sightings of Hilton. We have not released any other information regarding Hilton at this point.”
NC Sheriff: Hilton Responsible In NC Case Of Missing Hikers, Too
AP February 1, 2008
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Authorities said there is "no question" that a man who pleaded guilty to murdering a hiker in Georgia is responsible for the deaths of two hikers in North Carolina.
Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney said Friday that North Carolina authorities tried to interview 61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton in Georgia on Thursday, the same day he pleaded to killing Meredith Emerson in the mountains of northern Georgia.
Mahoney said Hilton declined to talk and asked for an attorney.
Authorities have named Hilton a suspect in the beating death of 84-year-old Irene Bryant, who was found dead near a hiking trail in western North Carolina. Her 80-year-old husband, John Bryant, who was found dead February 2 in the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County, North Carolina.
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