UPDATE: 'Search & Recovery' For Missing Hiker

In this May 2007 photo released by Pat B. Mitchell, Meredith Emerson is seen with her dog Ella, in Flowery Branch, Ga. The 24-year-old hiker has been missing since Tuesday. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Pat B. Mitchell)

Union County Superior Court Judge David Barrett signed a warrant Saturday charging Gary Michael Hilton, 61, with kidnapping with bodily injury in the disappearance of Meredith Emerson, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead. Authorities served the warrant on Hilton on Saturday evening.

According to the warrant, three fleece tops were found with "substantial amounts of human blood" believed to be Emerson's inside a Dumpster beside a convenience store, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported for Sunday's editions.

The warrant also said other items were found, such as a portion of an automobile seat belt "with apparent blood transfer stains" and the rear seat belt in Hilton's 2001 Chevrolet Astro van had been cut out.

The warrant said Hilton was attempting to vacuum the vehicle and "wash portions of it with a bleach and water solution."

Bankhead said the search for the 24-year-old woman, who was hiking with her dog in the Chattahoochee National Forest, is now focused on finding her body.

"The search has changed from rescue to recovery, based on the evidence we've uncovered so far," Bankhead said.

Hilton is already in federal custody near Atlanta, held on a warrant for failure to appear in federal court for a charge of abandoning property in a national park. Bankhead said he did not know if Hilton had an attorney.

The search continued into Saturday evening. Teams focused on a 5-square-mile area of rugged mountain territory about 90 miles north of Atlanta in the Chattahoochee National Forest, near where her car was discovered Wednesday, Bankhead said.

The search had been focused on Vogel State Park, at the base of Blood Mountain in the national forest, where Emerson was last seen on New Year's Day hiking with her black Labrador retriever, Ella.

On the Net:
Meredith Emerson search: http://www.helpfindmeredith.com

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