Authorities to search Georgia, Tennessee mountains for body of John Bryant

CITIZEN-TIMES.com

by Jon Ostendorff
updated January 23, 2008 2:03 pm

Authorities on Thursday and Friday will search in northeast Georgia and east Tennessee for the body of missing hiker John “Jack” Bryant, a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said today.

Bryant disappeared while on a hiking trip with his wife Irene on Oct. 21 in the Pink Beds area of the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard. Searchers found Irene Bryant’s body Nov. 9. She had been killed by multiple blows to her head, according to an autopsy report.

Investigators have linked her death and his disappearance to Georgia drifter Gary Michael Hilton, Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney said last week. Hilton has not been charged in the slaying.

Mahoney would not say what that “positive link” was or when he plans to charge Hilton, who is in jail in Georgia for the New Year’s Day slaying of hiker Meredith Emerson, 24.

State, federal and local authorities will search areas in Towns and Union Counties as well as parts of east Tennessee.

“Numerous sources have identified Gary Michael Hilton as being in this area of Georgia in late October 2007,” Bankhead said in a written statement about the search plans.

Someone used the Bryant’s ATM card in Ducktown, Tenn., the day after Irene Bryant was killed.

GBI agents last week said Hilton in 2005 had abandoned a van in northeast Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest. The van, which was recovered from a scrap yard on Friday, played a role in Hilton’s arrest in Emerson’s death.

A U.S. Forest Service officer wrote Hilton a ticket for leaving his van the forest. A warrant was issued for Hilton's arrest after he failed to pay the fine. Authorities used that warrant to hold Hilton after taking him into custody for questioning Jan. 4 in Emerson's disappearance.

He was driving another van with a license plate stolen in Brevard.

The GBI is seeking input from the public on any sightings of Hilton in this area of Northeast Georgia.

If anyone recalls seeing Hilton, or his white van, in Towns County in late October, please contact the GBI’s Cleveland Office at 706-348-4866 or toll-free at 1-888-233-5680.