Gary Michael Hilton Update

June 18, 2009

Gary Michael Hilton, who is around 62-years-old by now, is back in the criminal spotlight as a result of cops in Ormond Beach, Florida who are attempting to find a DNA link between the convicted killer and a South Daytona man, 27-year-old Michael Scot Louis, whose legs and torso were found on December 6, 2008 in black plastic bags along the banks of the Tomoka River within the boundaries of Tomoka State Park.  Police said that Louis had been decapitated, a Hilton trademark, but his head has not been found.

Hilton, readers will recall, was convicted in Georgia of killing hiker Meredith Emerson, 24, a young woman who had the bad fortune of encountering Hilton while hiking with her dog on New Year's Day 2008 on Blood Mountain in a Georgia state park.  Later that same month Hilton led Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents to the location where he had left Emerson's remains, dismembered and decapitated.  He is currently serving a life sentence in Georgia after pleading guilty to her murder.

Hilton has also been accused of killing Cheryl Dunlap, 46, a Sunday school teacher whose decapitated body was found on December 16, 2007 in Florida's Apalachicola National Forest, near Tallahassee.  He was indicted by a Leon County grand jury on charges of murder, kidnapping and two counts of grand theft in connection with her death and is awaiting trial.  According to Leon County Sheriff's Department Major Mike Wood, detectives realized that Hilton was in the area around the time that Dunlap disappeared on December 1, 2007 because he had encountered a forest service employee who checked his vehicle's license plate number with a law enforcement database-and it came up clean.

Hilton was also discussed as a potential suspect in North Carolina in the deaths of John Bryant, 80, and his wife, Irene, 84, who disappeared on October 21, 2007 while hiking in the Pisgah National Forest.  Their remains were eventually found, separately.

Now, in June 2009, Ormond Beach investigators have named Hilton as a person of interest in the Michael Scot Louis case.  According to Sergeant Jaime Gogarty, head of the Ormond Beach Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division, investigators there are hopeful that DNA evidence will link Louis to his killer.  Police officials believe that Hilton may have killed four other people, possibly more.  According to Gogarty, investigators are always on the lookout for cases where similarities exist, and as such compare notes with each other.

"We're certainly hoping it's him," Gogarty said.  "He was in the area, possibly Ocala, around the time of the crime."

In the meantime, investigators are awaiting the results of DNA testing being done in California to see if it leads to Hilton or to someone else. 

Related Link:
Update on Suspected Serial Killer Gary Michael Hilton

Photo Credit: Police file photo

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Comments

[Jade Montrose]

Currently when we hear the Hilton name, many personalities come to mind, but Gary Michael Hilton, probably isn't among them. For the sake of the families of the slain victim, Michael Scott Louis, and the many other victims whose killer has not yet been identified, we hope Gary Michael Hilton can be connected to these crimes so the victim's families can at last have closure. These macabre killers have probably been around since before Jack The Ripper, but their heinous crimes never cease to astonish. As always, Gary, another great article!

[omega]

Thanks for the update. How about one on the trial of the college girl from Italy?

[Gary C. King]

Thanks for your interest in the Kercher/Knox/Sollecito/Guede murder case out of Perugia, Italy. I am, in fact, planning an update in a week or two on that case. Still months away from a verdict on the Amanda Knox and Raphaele Sollecito portion of the trial, testimony is still being heard. But you're right--it's about time for an update!

[Marty]

Great story. Thanks for the update.