Meredith Emerson Was Alive For Three Days
Posted by Slobokan @ 11:12 · 414 words · print
Is there any doubt that Gary Hilton committed this crime? They found her blood in his car, they have him on video at the shopping center where they found her bloody belongings, and he led them to her body.
I am all for justice that is fair and honest, but seriously. Let's be honest. No one can deny that he did it. I can hardly wait for the trial though. As I said before, I bet his defense will claim he is insane, has some other mental condition, or is violent because he wasn't breastfed as a baby. Trust me, it will be something like that.
An autopsy performed on the body of slain hiker Meredith Emerson showed she was alive for three days before she was beaten to death and her body decapitated, the GBI said Tuesday.
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Investigators said they believe Emerson was killed in Dawson County. Her body was found in a heavily wooded area of the Dawson Forest on Monday at about 7 p.m. Gary Hilton had given investigators an indication where her body would be.
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"The contents of the warrant allege that the crime occurred on January the 4th, 2008," said District Attorney Lee Darragh.
That means Meredith Emerson was alive for three days after she was abducted. The GBI would not detail any more specifics of the case.
The family also issued a statement of thanks yesterday afternoon. Meredith's godmother, Peggy Bailey said,
"The family of Meredith Emerson would like to extend their heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the following good people: Union County and Dawson County Sheriff's departments, fire and rescue departments, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the 60-plus agencies involved in the search and eventual recovery of Meredith. The family would also like to express their appreciation in the professionalism and compassion of the local and national media and thank them again for helping to facilitate getting information out about Meredith as well as helping the world learn to know her, and learn to love her, as we always have and always will. We would also like to thank the untold number of friends and volunteers and family who helped search and support all of us at this tragic and troubling time."
I don't know how people find the strength to speak to the media in times like this. If it were me, I would tell them all to get lost and leave my family alone.
Posted In: Local Yokel
Posted by julie
January 9, 2008 @ 19:53
He deserved to be bludgeoned with a rock and decapitated and his head left on a stick for all to see. bastard!
Posted by Slobokan
January 9, 2008 @ 20:24
I agree completely.
Posted by Birmingham
January 10, 2008 @ 02:25
I live near Atlanta, am a rock climber and trail runner too. I volunteered to help with the search for Meredith beginning on jan 2. The police told people not to come search, that only Law enforcement personnel were allowed to search.
I eventually went to vogel state park and directly offered to help anyway.
This is my conclusion:
1. The police did not solve this, the public and the media solved this.
2. The police were too focused on treating this as a crime investigation, rather than a search and rescue effort, for too long, and Meredith could easily have been found and saved while the cops held the public at bay so they could ponderously, slowly, and ineffectively proceed as if Meredith was already dead. They acted as if she was already dead from the beginning.
Read this story about how Hilton sat in a Huddle house for AN HOUR making A SCENE while Meredith was tied up in the back of his van, but because THE POLICE HAD NOT RELEASED INFO ABOUT HILTON, nobody at the Huddle House knew to have him detained. It is sickening:
http://www.11alive.com/news/arti…? storyid=109301
3. The police had all the info they needed to have found Meredith, alive, during the three days that Hilton had her. They also had literally hundreds of volunteers that could have checked roads in every state park in North Georgia, had they simply told people to go look.
a. They knew Hilton was the prime suspect (thanks to the public and Meredith’s friends) but only called him a “person of interestâ€.
b. They knew Hilton favored driving his van deep into state parks and forests (they have a 20 minute video of him being evicted from a forest 2 months ago..posted at: http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/content/ multimedia/video/index.html?clip=55847
c. They knew they had two unsolved abductions and murders in which the victims bodies were dumped in this same forest. One body was dumped less than a mile from where Meredith was found. They knew that the clues in those murders matched Hilton (witness description, same white van).
d. They had reports from the public saying that Hiltons van was seen in the area of the Dawson wildlife refuge.
e. They knew all this ON OR BEFORE MEREDITH WAS KILLED.
..and yet, they didn’t encourage the public to look in other state parks. They prohibited the public from even driving into the area for 2 days. They didn’t publish the info that they had about Hilton. Why? Because they didn’t focus on saving Meredith…they focused on getting a conviction.
Meredith’s body was found ON A DIRT ROAD 2 MILES OFF THE MAIN ROAD….had anyone at all driven down that road in the 3 days that Hilton had her, she would have had a chance.
How is it that the focus and expertise of the public is so disregarded by the police department during missing person’s cases? The cops set themselves up as the communication hub for tips, but then didn’t share what they were told, and didn’t act on the info that was given to them.
They didn’t even find the bloody clothes and wallet UNTIL THE PUBLIC TOLD THEM TO GO LOOK IN THE PARTICULAR DUMPSTERS: http:// http://www.associatedcontent.com…to_missing.html
This is, in my opinion, a loss that was caused by the police department’s own mistrust of the publics usefulness beyond phone calls, and by the police department’s ineptitude in using the information and resources which was given to it by the public.
In the future, if someone I love goes missing, I will insist that information about my loved one, and about potential locations for my loved one, get broadcast. Saving the life of a loved one should be more important than proceeding so slowly and restrictively that you guarantee their death, in the name of ‘preserving evidence’.
Posted by alabamagetaway
January 10, 2008 @ 15:19
Even if GMH does plea insanity (which is a successful defense less than one percent of the time it is used), he will be locked up for the rest of his natural life. Insanity gets a bad wrap- it doesn't mean that someone who is "criminally insane" gets away with murder, so to speak, although, if successful, an insanity defense can help a defendant avoid the death penalty. Will Mr. Hilton be found competent to stand trial (CSI)? Perhaps not, but even in this case, he would be medicated and evaluated until able to assist in his own defense. I suppose my point is that even if Hilton is clinically mentally ill, he will be made to pay for the unspeakable and disgusting acts he committed.
Posted by Slobokan
January 10, 2008 @ 16:01
Being "locked up" in a mental facility for the rest of your life is not quite "paying for the unspeakable and disgusting acts he committed".
Have you ever seen the inside of one of those facilities? There is a lot more "freedom" inside than you think. While people cannot leave the building and most time their wards, they are hardly "locked up" once their "treatment" begins.
The only just penalty for this ass is to die the very way he killed Meredith.
Posted by alabamagetaway
January 10, 2008 @ 22:50
I bet they'll seek the death penalty. He's definitely not destined for some resort-style facility. He'll probably have to be kept out of the general population in a maximum security prison. There are ways to restore "mentally incompetent" offenders to competence so that they can stand trial and be sentenced appropriately. Our legal system has said again and again that mental illness is no excuse for disrupting society. Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting Hilton and others like him should be coddled or sympathized with. Simply put, I think people have an incorrect view of mental competency and the legal system. Insanity is not a "get out of jail free" card. I agree wholeheartedly that Hilton should suffer Meredith's fate. Unfortunately, our legal system doesn't provide for that. On the brighter side, vigilanteeism (sp?) is quite common in prisons where "lifers" are living side by side. Throw him to the wolves and I bet they'll chew him up and spit him out as was the case with Jeffrey Dahmer.
Posted by katie
January 11, 2008 @ 04:52
I read that Meredith's family requests memorial donations in her name go to animal rescue groups like the humane society of the United States. She obviously had a very close relationship with her dog Ella in addition to her many loving friends and family members. I am saddened that the only thing I can do for her family and her memory now is to honor her with a donation. I am glad that the family at least has been reunited with Ella who was clearly a very special part of Meredith's life.
I am confident that the other inmates in jail with Gary Hilton will make him their special 'friend' by treating him like the piece of human scum that he is…and I hope the jailers take their sweet time coming to his aid.
Posted by Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff : Checkin’ The Stats - January 2008
February 3, 2008 @ 01:13
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Posted by scots2
February 4, 2008 @ 01:52
I'm inclined to agree with you and after all the evidence that is out there after the monster has pleaded guilty. I can not believe there is not anymore talk then I've seen. I think the GBI really dropped the ball and she should be her and alive. They knew who this s*&%head was by Wednesday Evening and what kind of man he was, It seems to me that most of the evidenced pointed a abduction and without a body she should have been concered alive. Maybe someone will read this and prove me wrong I sure hope so because I hate to think that procedure was more important then life.
Posted by Chris Boston
February 10, 2008 @ 07:42
It is a shame that this young lady could not go for a simple walk or hike without some idiot around like this Hilton creep. He left her parents to forever wonder about what hers and their future would have been like. The parents of this young woman were cheated out of seeing their daughter grow older, have a husband, children, etc. They are left with memories and an empty feeling. It is a filthy shame that someone cannot go out and just enjoy nature without some sort of preditor around. My prayers go out to the family of this young lady.
Posted by scots2
February 17, 2008 @ 01:24
I would like to add a observation I have made and to ask Birmingham to narrow his aim more towards the GBI and not the local LE. When the GBI is called in and they have to be called by the local Law Enforcement, they take over just about everything. I believe you are right that they started to treat it as if she were dead already. That's my observation as well those who there. I don't understand that. With out a body and within a reasonable amount of time to err on the side of life and two day's is not time to give up. Has anybody followed up till the time that piece of trash called his old boss up to ask for a job. When Hilton called from the Huddle House and talked to Mr Tabor his old boss and Meredith was still alive out in his van. After Hilton hung up Mr. Tabor called the GBI and told them he just got off the phone with Hilton and he called from the Huddle House at 35 Foothills Pkwy., Marble Hill, Georgia.and wondered why it had taken the GBI anywhere from one and a half hours to over three hours to get to the Huddle House.I know that driving up there can take awhile to get any where. A stone's throw away from the Huddle House at 35 Foothills Pkwy. is The Pickens County Sheriff Office at 40 Foothills Pkwy. I had thought after 911 that Elitism BS was supposed to stop and sharing info with each other and hopefully stop what happened to Meredith from happening. How do they sleep at night. Just thinking of that monster tying her to a tree and telling her he was going to let her go the relief she must've felt just to see him walk right back with that tire jack and he killed her with it. Why didn't they call the sheriff's office and alert them where he had just been. How do they sleep at night?
Posted by scots2
March 7, 2008 @ 02:14
Birmingham,where are you need to talk about this