Provided by: Gannett News Service
Last Modified: 1/4/2008 10:39:31 PM
Last Modified: 1/4/2008 10:39:31 PM
BREVARD, N.C. (GNS) -– Despite the similarity of a yellow jacket, investigators say there does not appear to be a connection between a missing hiker in north Georgia and the killing of an elderly woman last fall in the Pisgah National Forest.
“We’re not ruling it out, but right now, it does not appear that it’s related whatsoever, other than they both happened on U.S. Forest Service (property),” U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Harold Young Jr. said Friday.
Authorities are seeking a man believed to have been seen talking to a 24-year-old hiker missing since Tuesday in the vicinity of Blood Mountain in north Georgia.
The man, whom authorities believe is 60-year-old Gary Michael Hilton, was seen several times on New Year's Day with Meredith Emerson, 24, formerly of Longmont, Colo, and recently a resident of Buford, Ga., in suburban Atlanta.
Authorities said witnesses said the man had a yellow jacket and a backpack with enough gear for at least a couple of days.Meanwhile, John “Jack” Bryant, has been missing since he and his wife, Irene, went hiking Oct. 21.
Investigators found Irene Bryant's body Nov. 9 about 25 yards from where the Bryants' sport utility vehicle was parked on a roadside in the Pink Beds area of Pisgah National Forest.
Investigators have said someone killed 84-year-old Irene Bryant with a blow to the head. Jack Bryant, her husband of 55 years, is not suspected in the homicide, authorities said.
A surveillance photo taken at a Ducktown, Tenn., bank shows a person wearing a yellow rain jacket withdrawing money using the Bryant’s bank card. The hood of the rain jacket obscures the person's identity and the card has not been used since, authorites said.
The yellow jacket similarity is “curious,” but doesn’t link the two cases, Young said, adding that he has been in contact several times with the agent handling the Emerson search.“That was of interest, but we just don’t believe it’s related right now,” Young said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Bryant Task Force Tip Line at 862-3645, the nearest FBI office or their local law enforcement agency.
(Asheville Citizen-Times)
(Asheville Citizen-Times)
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