Meredith Emerson

Missing Georgia resident Meredith Emerson's body was found on January 7, 2008. Gary Michael Hilton has been convicted of her kidnapping and murder. Hilton was detained after trying to use Emerson's credit card. On January 1, 2008 Meredith Emerson, a 24-year-old hiker, set out on a hike with her dog. She was last seen walking on Freeman Trail with her dog and an older man.http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Meredith_Emerson

On January 2, 2008 she had not returned and the friends that she had informed the location of where she would be, set out with her fellow hikers to search for her. The searching continued for days but she was not found. Later that same evening her dog was found in Cumming Georgia which is about sixty miles away from her last sighting.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/526685/meredith_emersons_body_found.html On January 4, 2008, a person at a service station called the DeKalb police and told them "The guy you are looking for is cleaning out his van." The police arrived before he could bleach the interior of the van and they were able to gather blood evidence, which linked the older man, named Gary Hilton, to Emerson.http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Meredith_Emerson

While being interrogated by the police when they took away the death penalty, Hilton agreed to show them where to find the body if they took the death penalty out of the discussion. They agreed and that was when Hilton took the police to the spot where he had dumped her body. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/526685/meredith_emersons_body_found.html

The autopsy results indicate that she was killed on January 4, 2008; implying that she was alive for three days after she went missing. The body was dumped less than one mile from where Levi Frady had been left in 1997.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/526685/meredith_emersons_body_found.html

Hilton mentioned that Emerson had given him the incorrect pin number to her debit card and that kept her alive for the three days.http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109237 He said he couldn't bring himself to kill her dog."http://crime.about.com/b/2008/03/24/meredith-emerson-fought-hard-to-survive.htm

When asked if he had the same hesitancy about killing Meredith, he told them "It was hard," "You gotta remember we had spent several good days together."."http://crime.about.com/b/2008/03/24/meredith-emerson-fought-hard-to-survive.htm

On January 30, 2008, Gary Hilton pleaded guilty to the murder of Meredith Emerson. Gary Hilton has been sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole in 30 years.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23769881/

Hustler Crime Scene Request

As of March 11, 2010 Hustler Magazine has been barred by Judge Daniel Coursey of the DeKalb Superior Court to receive the pictures of the beaten and decapitated body. The crime scene pictures had been requested by a reporter for Hustler magazine.http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/10/meredith.emerson.photos/index.html

On March 19, 2010, the Georgia State House of Representatives passed an amendment to the open records law banning the release of crime scene photos showing dismembered body parts or nude genitalia under legislation approved unanimously.http://www.macon.com/2010/03/19/1065619/georgia-capitol-notes-through.html

On February 25, 2010, Hustler Magazine reporter Fred Rosen asked for crime scene photos of Meredith Emerson. Her decapitated body was found in January 2008 in a wooded area in Georgia. When called by reporters to find the reason for the request neither Hustler or Rosen responded to phone calls.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/hustler-magazine-asks-for_n_490823.html