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.