03x04 - More Victims?

[bunniefuu]

When you go out
to visit with nature,

you don't expect to
encounter a monster...

not just a k*ller,
I mean a monster.

It's a very
unique type of k*ller

that is gonna actually
hunt humans as prey.

I don't think
somebody wakes up at 61

and now they're a serial k*ller.

It's scary to think how much

Gary could have
gotten away with.

- How many more
victims are out there,

and where are they?

That's in the back of my head
every day with this case.

- Hilton was a monster.

- And he even sang as he
was taking her dead body.

♪♪ My little dog ♪♪

We're doing it, boy.

- He deserves to die.

A life for a life.

- Mr. Hilton, if you
would rise, please.

Secrets in the wild,

beautiful yet
treacherous places.

These are the stories
of the investigators

who solve crimes
in the wilderness.

We're in
the mountainous region

of North Carolina.

The woods in the mountains
here are so big...

and dark.

Honestly, every time
I go into the woods,

the thought of that
day crosses my mind.

I was looking off
down in this hollow,

and I noticed something
below the road that...

it looked like a human skull.

I was nervous.

And once I got closer to it...

I knew it was a human skull.

So...

And at that point, I contacted
sheriff's department.

February 2, 2008,

I was contacted in reference

to a human skull
that had been found

on Nantahala National Forest.

Nantahala National
Forest, it's a huge,

huge, huge national forest.

Once you get into the
Forest Service land,

it's remote.

There's just no traffic.

Where the call came in at,
if you've not been there,

you're not gonna know
anything about it.

- When we found out that
a body had been discovered

in the Nantahala
National Forest,

we were anxious to
find out who this was.

We knew there were other
missing persons cases

in that area.

And of course, John
Bryant was still missing.

- Since this was on U.S.
Forest Service land,

Junior Young was
the special agent

assigned to the area
as the investigator

for the Forest Service.

- I immediately get
in my patrol car,

blast out to the area.

We go out there.

We look off a bank,
very rugged little area.

And I could see the skull,
part of the rib cage,

the spine.

When we walked down
to the crime scene,

I noticed inside the rib
cage was a pacemaker.

I knew John Bryant
had a pacemaker.

I contacted his cardiologist
and was able to confirm

that the serial number
on the pacemaker

was, in fact, placed
inside John Bryant

in a medical procedure.

My heart sank.

It was really sad.

The family
was holding out hope

that we would be able to
find Mr. Bryant alive,

and then, unfortunately,
he was no longer with us.

The remains
were collected

and sent to a medical examiner

for an autopsy.

Based on the autopsy,

John had been k*lled
with a firearm.

Now you have the
investigation going forward.

John Bryant's abduction,
kidnapping, and now his death.

I think it very
safe to say that Gary Hilton

was our prime suspect.

But investigators
from our agency

attempted to interview
him regarding the Bryants,

and he was just
arrogant and told us

he had nothing to say to us.

- Hilton loved to talk,

but he would not get
into the Bryant case.

He just would not talk.

So we have to rely
on the evidence.

Everything was in high gear

to link the evidence
found in the van

to the Bryant murders.

I'm going through all
the inventory items

that the GBI had taken
out and cataloged.

- Mr. Bryant had a
yellow rain jacket

with a fluorescent stripe,

and Hilton had tried
to use their ATM card

wearing that jacket.

Well, when searching
the vehicle,

I found a yellow rain jacket
with a fluorescent stripe

which the Bryants
later identified

as that belonged
to their parents.

Also, the GBI
found blood in a van

that matched the DNA
profile of John Bryant.

- This would be the back
of the driver's seat.

That's a blood transfer pattern.

His hair came in contact
with the back of the seat,

left a transfer pattern...

so another piece of
evidence that helped tie

Gary Hilton to the Bryant case.

- That moment, it's
like, OK, it's done.

We know who did it.

- Since this was U.S.
Forest Service land,

the FBI got involved,

because if an individual
is committing crimes

in multiple jurisdictions,

federal charges
would be stronger

than state local charges.

At that point, I
finished all of my reports,

and all of that was
turned over to the FBI.

In February of 2008,

Hilton was indicted in Florida

for the death of Cheryl Dunlap.

- Florida was
chomping at the bit

to go ahead and come
get the evidence.

You know, they're ready

to prosecute him right then.

- Florida Department
of Law Enforcement

came in a tractor trailer

and actually drove the van

up inside of a tractor trailer

along with all of the evidence,

and it all went to Florida.

Hilton didn't want
to be extradited to Florida

because he knew that
it was very likely

that he would be found guilty
and given the death penalty.

The judge is ruling
against Hilton's effort

to fight the extradition,
clearing the way

for Florida authorities
to pick him up.

The time comes for
us to go pick up Hilton

and bring him to Leon
County for his prosecution.

When you're riding in
a car with somebody

that you know has
k*lled four people,

you have a sense of caution.

We had body chains on him.

We had lead vehicles,
we had trail vehicles,

we had SWAT team members,

because you never know
what could happen.

This was a
several-hundred-mile trip.

We were taking no
risks whatsoever.

When we got him to the jail,
you do kind of have that...

We've got him now.

He's in our custody.

My name
is Georgia Cappleman.

I'm the chief assistant state
attorney here in Leon County.

Hilton was charged with
first-degree m*rder

and kidnapping.

At the time, he was
already doing life

from the Meredith Emerson case,

and we were not giving
Gary Hilton a freebie

for murdering one
of our citizens.

And we were gonna be
seeking the death penalty.

It's very rare for
the death penalty

to be recommended
here in Leon County.

Gary Hilton is the
worst of the worst.

He's pure evil.

Everyone that
encountered him had

sort of a universal
experience where the hairs

on the back of
their neck stood up

just being in his presence,

and I was no exception.

It's a very unique
type of k*ller

that is gonna actually go
out and hunt humans as prey,

and that's what we have here.

It's the stuff of nightmares.

Cheryl Dunlap was
minding her own business,

reading a book at the sinks,

shortly before
her disappearance.

Hilton probably had already
identified her as a target.

She probably made
it back to her car

and encountered Gary Hilton.

There was some kind
of struggle where she

was taken from her vehicle
and put into his van.

He drove around with
her for a couple days,

and I think that's
probably his MO.

I think he wanted to keep
them alive as long as he could

for his own purposes,
which were probably

sexual in nature, but also
to drain their bank accounts

before ending their lives.

It's particularly cold-blooded.

What that is, Gary.
Like, what is that?

It's not normal to take
two years to investigate

the evidence in a crime.

But when the evidence
is so prolific...

we had a semitrailer
full of stuff.

We've got the van chock-full
of all kinds of evidence,

all those campsites.

So there were a lot
of crime scenes.

We needed to try to connect
those to Gary Hilton.

And it was really important
to find DNA evidence

that linked her directly to him.

- I examined Cheryl Dunlap's
car at the laboratory,

and one of the things that was
in there was plastic beads.

This is a picture of the
driver's-side rear floorboard,

and there are two beads in
the center of the picture.

- The plastic beads were
from a piece of jewelry

Cheryl Dunlap wore
that her grandchild

had made her.

Those beads, obviously,
were broken in the struggle

and, at some point,
ended up in her vehicle.

- This is where the
burn pit was located

in Joe Thomas Road,

and there's all
the yellow markers

where evidence was found.

In the upper right-hand corner,

there was a very small
burned cigarette butt

that had Hilton's DNA on it,

which then put him at
the Joe Thomas Road scene

where the hand and
skull bones were found.

Beads like this were also
found at the burn pit.

I knew that she
was a grandmother,

so having those beads in her
car would not be unusual.

But it was unusual
to find those beads

at Joe Thomas Road.

Those beads linked
him to both that campsite

and to her vehicle, which was

important in linking
him to her m*rder.

We found a pair
of Gary Hilton's boots

in the dumpster that
had blood on the laces

that belonged to Cheryl.

That was a critical
piece of evidence.

- The FDLE was able to analyze

items taken from
Gary Hilton's van,

including sleeping bags,

a duffel bag which contained
Cheryl Dunlap's DNA,

as well as one of those beads

consistent with the plastic
beads that were found

both in the fire pit at
Gary Hilton's campsite

and in Cheryl Dunlap's vehicle.

The DNA evidence from the
van linked Cheryl Dunlap

directly to Gary Michael Hilton
in the form of her blood.

There is absolutely no
reason that her blood

could be in his van if he was
not the one that m*rder*d her.

The jury was out
less than four hours

deliberating during
the guilt phase,

and they returned a verdict
of guilty as charged.

Once the jury found
Mr. Hilton guilty,

we went into the penalty phase

for the jury to
make a determination

as to whether to recommend
the death penalty.

- We're hearing State of Florida

versus Gary Michael Hilton.

My name
is Betty Fuentes.

I am a mitigation and
sentencing specialist,

and I became the
mitigation specialist

for the case of
Gary Michael Hilton

out of Leon County, Florida.

As a mitigation specialist
with the defense team,

we have to do everything
possible to keep that person

not getting the death penalty.

I do record collection

for everything that
has happened to him

in his whole entire life,

and the defense then brings in
the mitigation in the trial.

- The defense presented
mitigating factors.

And those were,
first, a Murphy bed

falling on Gary's head
when he was a young boy.

He had dozens of
stitches put in his head.

It hit the frontal
lobe of his brain,

which affects the way
that you treat people.

That's the importance
of the head injury.

- The bed falling on Gary's head

certainly could have
caused a concussion

and all sorts of other problems,

but what we're looking at
with these kinds of cases

is predatory violence.

Hunting human beings,

it is not caused by
a blow to the head.

The second mitigating
factor was the Ritalin

that he was taking,
supposedly for his MS.

There was
a doctor in Atlanta

that prescribed Ritalin.

He wrote scripts, gave
Hilton several of them,

and then Hilton self-medicated
by constantly having them.

You have to look at
the drug history,

because the drug history could
be a sign of a mental illness.

There are many
people who take Ritalin,

many people who take much
more debilitating drugs,

that don't become
serial sexual K*llers.

In my assessment,
those factors would not

be the explanation for
the kind of violence

that Gary engaged in.

- At the end of
the penalty phase,

Georgia Cappleman played
a couple of videos

that she had been saving.

When we caught Hilton, there
was a video camera in his van.

Gary Hilton thought that he
had deleted those videos.

But FDLE was able to
recover the video and audio,

and Ms. Cappleman played
those for the jury.

- The date stamp was
December 3, 2007,

two days after he had
abducted Cheryl Dunlap.

On a couple of the
clips, it seemed

Gary Hilton didn't realize
the cameras were recording.

He's either talking to himself
or his dog, and it was vulgar.

- It's absolutely terrible.

There's a little bit of
visual consistent with him

being near the area

where Cheryl Dunlap's
body was found.

He's talking about m*rder.

He's talking about
hiding things.

There was
a visceral reaction

to some of that information.

When he said that,
"I k*lled those b*tches,"

it was awful.

He said some horrible things.

- That led us to believe
that that recording

could have been made
around the time that he was

hiding Cheryl Dunlap's body.

- And he even sang as he
was taking her dead body.

- He was a monster.
- Yeah.

- Hilton was a definite monster.

- Yeah.

Those videos gave
the jury a clear idea

of who Gary Hilton really was.

And after that,
the state rested,

and the jury would have
to decide whether to give

Gary Hilton life or death.

- Mr. Hilton, if you
would rise, please.

The court now finds
beyond a reasonable doubt

that you, Gary Michael Hilton,

be sentenced to death for
the m*rder of Cheryl Dunlap,

as provided by law.

May God have mercy on your soul.

They voted to put
him to death unanimously,

and I'm 100% in
agreement with that.

I would handle it for
them if they would let me.

- He deserves to die.

A life for a life.

I firmly believe that.

I was very pleased

with the jury's recommendation.

It was an emotional case
for everyone involved,

including those jurors who
listened to all that evidence.

It's been very
hard for our family,

our whole family.

It was very hard.

Yeah.

After his
conviction in Florida,

there were still
the cases of John

and Irene Bryant
in North Carolina.

The case was
going along really well.

All of the evidence was in,

and about a week
before the trial

was scheduled for the murders
of John and Irene Bryant,

Hilton entered a
guilty plea for m*rder

in exchange for
no death penalty.

I went to Asheville
to his sentencing hearing.

The Bryant family was there.

He did, in fact,
admit that he had

k*lled John and Irene Bryant.

Hilton received four
consecutive life sentences

without the
possibility of parole.

And then as he was being
led out of the courtroom,

he looked over at me

and just kind of smiled.

I feel saddened
for the Bryant family.

That never goes away
for them, I'm sure,

but it doesn't for me either.

And by that time, I had decided
it was time for me to retire.

But I think there's still a
lot of unanswered questions.

Are there more victims?

And if so, where are they?

That's in the back of my head
every day with this case.

- I believe Gary Hilton
committed more murders

than the ones he's charged for.

I don't think
somebody wakes up at 61

and now they're a serial k*ller.

I have never, ever seen that.

It's a progressive
evolution of behavior.

It doesn't just start at 61.

It's scary to
think how much Gary

could have gotten away with.

He was very
mobile, so he could

have a lifestyle that involved

victimizing people, and
no one would ever know.

- How many more
victims are out there?

We definitely
consider Gary Hilton

a suspect in other
unsolved cases

that we have,
especially Levi Frady,

since he also was
found in Dawson Forest.

Levi was 11 years old.

He was riding his bicycle home
one day, and he disappeared.

The next day, he was
found in Dawson Forest,

and he had been m*rder*d.

And that case, to
this day, is unsolved.

And until that case is solved,
I find it difficult to rest.

I was down
there that morning.

Yeah, I was involved
in securing the scene

until the investigation
could be done.

I mean, you can't forget
something like that.

And I know there's
somebody out there

that would have
some information.

You know, it needs to be solved.

I've never eliminated
Gary Michael Hilton

from being responsible
for Levi's case.

You never eliminate
anyone until you know

exactly who it is.

Would Gary have been
tempted and capable of k*lling

a young boy like Levi Frady?

Absolutely he would have been.

Absolutely.

Gary was a human predator.

He likes thrill and excitement,

which are traits of psychopathy.

A psychopath is also impulsive
and will incorporate risk

into his crimes because
it makes the crime

more exciting for them.

Psychopaths will cross
over gender lines,

and they can cross
over age lines

when picking their victims.

So there could be
other victims out there

that don't fit the profile

that law enforcement
have in mind,

like Levi Frady.

I remember Gary Hilton

talking in one of his interviews

about hair salons

and the fact that he
would stop often at those

and go in and just
ask for money.

- They would generally give him
money just to scurry him away

so that they could
finish their lunch

before the next
customer would arrive.

And of course, Gary knew this

and exploited hair
salons for money

by going at lunchtime.

- It's very interesting to
me because of Patrice Endres,

an unsolved homicide case.

Patrice Endres
is a hairdresser

from Forsyth County

that was kidnapped
from her shop in 2004.

Patrice vanished in the
middle of the day at work.

I'm Rob Endres.

Patrice Endres was my wife.

She was caring and loving

and gentle and patient.

Patrice had a two-chair salon

north of the city of Cumming.

On the 15th of October, 2004,

in the morning, we
kissed goodbye and said,

I'll see you later.

And never heard
from Patrice again.

It was probably
about 3:00 or so.

I got a call from a captain

from Forsyth County
Sheriff's Office,

and he said...

Patrice had gone missing.

Patrice was
reported missing

by a customer.

We have a 13-minute window
in which Patrice talked

to someone on the phone,

and then 13 minutes later,
another person called.

Patrice did not
answer the phone,

which is very unusual.

We believe, within
that 13 minutes,

the events that cost
Patrice her life occurred.

You wouldn't walk into her
shop and immediately think,

this is a crime scene.

Her cash register
drawer was open,

and there was no money in it.

The money was missing.

Her purse was there.

There was money in her purse.

Nothing else was
disturbed about her shop.

It's as though she
just walked away.

But of course, we do not
believe that's what happened.

We have two
independent witnesses

that saw a blue car there.

We're still looking
for the people who came

to Patrice's shop that
day in the blue car.

600 days later,

her skeleton was
discovered in Dawsonville.

Sorry.

This was my wife.

Patrice, Patrice.

She was the woman that I loved.

Patrice was
found in a wooded area

behind a church.

Just outside the
Dawson Forest Management Area,

in an area that
Hilton would know,

very near where Levi
Frady was found in 1997...

and near where we
found Meredith Emerson.

- Gary Hilton very well
could have kidnapped Patrice.

There's a huge match there if
you let yourself consider it.

It's been an open
case for 19 years.

Still don't know
what happened to her.

And she's not the only
cold case out there.

Bryson
City, North Carolina,

it's the far western
part of North Carolina.

It's the doorway

to the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park.

Rossana's
last known sighting

was December 7, 2005.

She had contacted her
father that morning

and told him that
she was planning

on staying in the area
for a little while

and hiking the
Appalachian Trail.

Detectives then started
with the missing persons

investigation,
and it was learned

that she had obtained
a storage unit

from a gentleman
named Donald Clough.

She had some personal stuff
that she needed stored.

He owned a storage unit,
so he picked her up,

got her set up there, and
brought her back to town.

After that, she just vanished.

During
the investigation,

Mr. Clough agreed

to take a polygraph examination,

and it was noted that
there was no deception.

Mr. Clough had been
cleared as being a suspect

in her disappearance.

At that point in time,
it became a cold case.

Steve was retired law
enforcement from this area.

He was well liked.

He was known as a good
investigator, very thorough.

Once he got involved
in the investigation,

Steve had reached out to one
of the local newspapers here

and asked them to
write an article

about her disappearance

to try to generate
some new information.

After that article was run,

an employee of a
local thrift store

had contacted Steve and said
that she had some information

about the disappearance.

She said it looked
like he was wearing a wig

to disguise himself.

She said that she had
seen a picture of Gary Hilton

on the news and
that she believed

that the person that she saw
with the wig was Gary Hilton

and the female was Rossana.

They had been
together in her store.

Once Steve had this information,

he contacted a sketch
artist trained by the FBI

and requested him to
have a sketch drawn

and to put it out in the public

to see if it helped
generate any information.

- Gary's booking photo, you
can see that, of course,

he has a receding hairline,
the rounding of the chin.

He has some very distinct
things with the lips,

the features of the
bridge of the nose.

There's some similarities
that make you think

that there was a very
good chance that that was

Gary Hilton that came into
the thrift store that day.

Once Steve has the sketch done,

he provides it to
law enforcement.

It's released to the media.

We're hoping that that sketch

is gonna generate
some new leads,

but it... it really didn't.

No one came forward
to say that...

that they had seen her.

And unfortunately, in 2021,

Steve passed away due to COVID.

So at that point in time,

the case was given
to me as a cold case.

You have a female that's alone.

You have remote areas.

You have national forest.

There's too many
similarities not to consider

Gary Michael Hilton
as a suspect.

So we traveled to
Florida State Prison.

They brought Hilton in.

And we were gonna take a chance.

You know, maybe we can...
can get some information

on Rossana's disappearance.

Uh-huh.

Gary Hilton did not
admit to being in this area

during the time frame of 2005.

I did not believe
him one single bit.

OK. Yeah.

- The polygraph was
noted with no deception.

The only thing with that is,

if somebody that is a psychopath

believes what they're saying,

so they could pass the polygraph

and still be lying.

I'm still not convinced
that Gary Hilton

did not have something to do
with Rossana's disappearance.

I personally believe that
there are cases out there

that has Gary
Hilton's name on it

that just have not
been solved yet,

and this is one of them.

- The totality of
all of these states,

all of these crimes,

all of these jurisdictions,

everything came down
to Gary Michael Hilton.

This is the person
responsible for creating harm

to all of these families.

When you go out
to visit with nature,

you don't expect
it to be dangerous.

You don't expect

to encounter a monster
on a hiking trail...

Not just a k*ller,
I mean a monster.

He's an animal.

Wherever he went, if
he seen an opportunity,

he was just like a jackal.

You know, he's gonna
take the opportunity.

He's a psychopath.

That's what they do.

They just like k*lling people.

No remorse.

Just the devil incarnate.

I think
his motivations

were multiple in nature.

These crimes are so complicated.

There's never one motive.

They're sexually motivated.

There's motivations
that include things

like wanting power and
control over the victim.

Looking at Gary's history,

I would think that he
started to act out...

and not necessarily in a
homicidal way initially...

in his mid-teen years.

And that could have
included sexual crimes,

attempted r*pes.

But at a certain
point, it evolves

and it becomes
even more violent.

Typically early to mid-20s

is when the extreme violence

would have started
to manifest itself.

He's a serial sexual k*ller.

He took extreme risks when
he committed the crime.

He had no accountability,
which is why

we probably don't know the
full extent of what he did.

The amount of violence
is significant,

the amount of cruelty
even more significant.

And how these
people were treated

both before death
and after death

is... is really stunning.

First time we've
been back, William.

Yep.

And it don't bring
back good memories.

No. No, it doesn't.

I can't
understand how anybody

could do something like that.

But I've never saw that
kind of evil before.

Rough.

Yeah.

I saw him
right here that night,

and I wanted to know.

Yeah.

That was a sad day.

Yeah.

- Well, there's no way
to make any sense of it.

- The Meredith Emerson case was
the last case I worked at GBI.

I think it changed all of us.

The motto that I tried to
live by all of my career

was, never get too close.

Never let it get personal.

And I let it get personal.

I let it get to me.

And I just can't seem
to get over that.

John was
destroyed by this case,

the same way I was.

We're supposed to be, you know,

10 foot tall and bulletproof.

This doesn't affect us.

But this case certainly did.

- This case was different for us

because normally we
arrive to find a victim,

and then we work hard to
seek justice for them.

In this case,

we were proactively
working to save a life

as Meredith very intelligently

manipulated Gary to stay alive

just to give us another
minute, another hour

to get to her.

- Um...

yeah, give me a second.

You know, I keep
thinking, um, you know,

what if we found her?

I mean, man, we were so close.

Just couldn't make it happen.

- It was difficult knowing
we didn't get there

before she ran out of time.

- And that is devastating
to think about.

It's just... it's
something that is

beyond what you can deal with.

Gary Hilton would still
be k*lling people today,

in my opinion, had
Meredith Emerson not

fought him and
continued to fight him

for the rest of her life.

She's the hero.

She's the one that
solved her own m*rder

and solved the murders
of Cheryl Dunlap

and John and Irene Bryant.

- God may choose to forgive him.

However, he is not worth
the time and energy

it would take me to do so.

My focus will remain on all
the good Meredith stood for

and still does.

Meredith
touched so many people

in a positive way

both in life and death.

Meredith
saved a lot of lives,

because Hilton
admitted that he would

never have stopped k*lling
had we not captured him.

I believe that people
are put on Earth for a reason.

I think hers was to
stop Gary Hilton.

I think national
forests are safe.

They're good places to go

to get away,

to forget about
troubles you may have,

or just relax.

And, you know, danger
lurks at good places.

You just have to be aware,
and you have to understand

that people are watching you.

And there's probably more
Gary Hiltons out there...

Just waiting on
somebody to come along

when they're alone.

So take a friend.