Update: Murder charges in missing hiker case

Drifter Gary Michael Hilton was charged with murder today in the death of Meredith Emerson, who disappeared while hiking in north Georgia on New Year's Day. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says an autopsy has found Emerson died from a blow to the head. The state's chief medical examiner says that after the lethal injury, the 24-year-old was decapitated. Emerson’s remains were found last night in Dawson County. She disappeared from Vogel State Park in north Georgia's Union County.

Meanwhile, the GBI is working with authorities in North Carolina and Florida to determine whether Hilton is connected to kidnappings in those states. The North Carolina case involves John and Irene Bryant who disappeared in October. In the Florida case, the body of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap was found December 19th in the Apalachicola National Forest, southwest of Tallahassee.

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

The Associated Press. AP PROVIDES ACCESS TO THE PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO ABOVE. THE COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY A THIRD PARTY.)

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