Murder trial for man suspected of killing Henderson County couple starts

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Story here from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hilton is a suspect in the deaths of John and Irene Bryant, a couple from Henderson  County. Irene Bryant was found dead in the woods in Transylvania County in 2007. As I recall, John Bryant’s body has not been found.

Jury selection commenced Monday in the oft-delayed murder trial of drifter Gary Michael Hilton, accused of killing a Crawfordville, Fla., nurse and Sunday school teacher in December 2007.

Exactly three years ago to the day, Hilton pleaded guilty in Dawson County to killing and beheading hiker Meredith Emerson, who went missing on New Year’s Day 2008 on Blood Mountain in Union County. Hilton was able to avoid the death penalty by leading officials to the UGA graduate’s body, which he had hidden in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area north of Cumming.

A little more than two weeks before Emerson went missing, hunters discovered 46-year-old Cheryl Dunlap’s decapitated body deep inside the Apalachicola National Forest. Leon County, Fla., officials identified Hilton as the “prime suspect” in Dunlap’s death on Jan. 9 — one day after he was charged with Emerson’s murder.