Change Story Text Size: [-] [+] [Default] Local hiker had scary brush with Hilton Gainesville woman met Emerson’s killer the day before Jan. 1 kidnapping
By Stephen Gurr sgurr@gainesvilletimes.com Posted: Feb. 9, 2008 1:07 a.m. POSTED Feb. 9, 2008 1:07 a.m.
Nancy Linkesh will never know how close she came to being Gary Hilton's victim.
The 36-year-old Gainesville sales representative crossed paths with the suspected serial killer on the Byron Herbert Reece trail in Union County one day before he abducted Meredith Emerson there. The story of her encounter has made its rounds through cyberspace by way of a cautionary e-mail she wrote to a group of old friends.
Hilton, 61, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to Emerson's murder and remains a key suspect in the deaths of three others in North Carolina and Florida.
Linkesh said she never wanted or sought publicity for her encounter with Hilton, which was briefly mentioned by District Attorney Lee Darragh when Hilton pleaded guilty to Emerson's murder on Jan. 31.
Darragh did not mention Linkesh by name, but spoke of Hilton, on the day before Emerson's kidnapping, "having approached another hiker ... she was with other people, however."
Linkesh and a group of four others embarked on a two-mile hike up the trail on Monday, Dec. 31, stopping near the top to have a midday lunch before heading back down. By the time they started the hike down, it was 3:30 p.m. and the temperature was dropping. Linkesh had not dressed warmly, so she took the hike down at a quicker pace, getting a few hundred yards ahead of her friends.
It was there she saw the dog with the shiny red coat, and its balding, white-haired owner, wearing blue nylon pants with a sheath around one leg and a half-full hiking backpack.
"That's a beautiful dog, what's her name?" Linkesh said, starting a conversation with Hilton, whose back remained turned to her as he walked down the trail. He told her the dog's name was Dandy, like a fancy dresser, and that it was a "red Retriever."
The two then engaged in brief small talk about the dog, never pausing from their brisk walk down the mountain.
Then Hilton, she said, became suddenly agitated. "He said he gets so angry with people who come up on the mountain who are not prepared," she recalled. "He said he's surprised more people don't die."
"He turned around and pointed where I was stepping, and said, ‘Right there, you could step there wrong and break your leg and lay there. In an hour you'd be hypothermic.'"
That was the only time she got a clear look at Hilton's face. "The brief time I saw him was kind of creepy," she said.
Hilton, she said, used disparaging terms to describe local rescue workers, and said it would take five hours, "best-case scenario" for anyone to get to her if she was stranded and hurt. "At that point he asked me if I was alone," Linkesh said. "I said no."
Hilton seemed to let out a frustrated grunt, "huh," she said. Then he asked if she had a cell phone, commenting, "most days people carry a cell phone with them." Linkesh, whose hiking companions had cell phones, said "well, no."
Linkesh said she kept looking back to make sure her friends were in sight. At one point, she was too far ahead to see them. "He made me feel uneasy, but not uneasy enough not to talk to him," she said.
As the trail branched off, Hilton kept walking straight, while she and her friends went to the left. The entire encounter lasted about 10 minutes.
"I said, ‘It was nice talking to you,'" she said. "He was far enough away that I couldn't understand him. He threw up his right hand and barked something."
As the group got to the bottom of the trail, one of her companions looked up to see that Hilton was behind them again, having apparently doubled back.
Linkesh thought no more about the strange man with the dog until her husband called a few days later to tell her that he was the person of interest in Emerson's disappearance, which occurred at the same location the day after her hike.
Interviews with law enforcement officials followed, but it took several days for Linkesh to grasp the full impact of the encounter.
"I just was thinking it was a weird coincidence." she said. "I don't think I could really get my head around it."
Eventually, after talking with a family member, Linkesh came to the conclusion that Hilton had been "shopping her" as a potential victim.
"As time went on it dawned on me that it was a really close call," she said.
She sent out the e-mail to a small group of old friends as a cautionary story, telling them "to keep in mind that the world is full of bad people and they are very good at manipulating situations to get you involved with them ... ‘Stranger Danger' applies to grown-ups, too."
The e-mail was forwarded and forwarded again, and took on a life of its own on the Internet, drawing more attention to Linkesh then she ever wanted. She received hundreds of e-mails and was hounded with requests for national television interviews.
"I didn't want to be seen as a publicity-hound," she said. "I'm just not interested in that. I'm a very private person."
Linkesh hopes she can use her experience to teach others about how close they can come to real danger.
The lessons learned, she said, are "never let your guard down, always be vigilant. It's sad to say, but you can't strike up a conversation with a stranger any more. It's not worth the risk."
Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08 « Reply #34 on: October 09, 2008, 05:28:34 PM »
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote from: glenn adams on October 09, 2008, 05:13:16 PM Klaas, I refused to be intimidated, or censured, Knowlege and information is required to solve these tragic cases. Any attempt to squash a voice only insures GMH's success...
Wolfscratch: It's coming up on the 3rd year that Tara Grinstead, has been missing, whith these polices and antiquated communication procedures, I am confident her family will never receive closure. JMHO
******************************************** I noticed the large wooden reel, with the section of frayed long manilla hemp rope, with the taped ends, located under the shed with the broken joists resulting from Meredith and GMH fighting. A trained LE Agent, walked within 4 feet of this scene on 01/06/08, and didn't notice it. Guess, it was oblivious to him, but it was very obvious to me...
Wolfscratch: http://glennindawson.blogspot.com
Glenn ~ I'm not Klaas, but wanted to ask if you feel you are being "intimidated or censured" here at Scared Monkeys. Do you feel there are attempts to squash your voice here? Those are serious accusations. Please let me know, as I am very concerned.
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Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08 « Reply #35 on: October 09, 2008, 05:31:40 PM »
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote from: glenn adams on October 09, 2008, 05:13:16 PM Klaas, I refused to be intimidated, or censured, Knowlege and information is required to solve these tragic cases. Any attempt to squash a voice only insures GMH's success...
Wolfscratch: It's coming up on the 3rd year that Tara Grinstead, has been missing, whith these polices and antiquated communication procedures, I am confident her family will never receive closure. JMHO
******************************************** I noticed the large wooden reel, with the section of frayed long manilla hemp rope, with the taped ends, located under the shed with the broken joists resulting from Meredith and GMH fighting. A trained LE Agent, walked within 4 feet of this scene on 01/06/08, and didn't notice it. Guess, it was oblivious to him, but it was very obvious to me...
Wolfscratch: http://glennindawson.blogspot.com
You know, I gave you a second chance because of Sleddogs and now I'm sorry I did. You may have a ton of information that could solve many cases. I suggest you go to the MP families or to LE with the info.
Edited to add: I will not be intimidated by a new member of this forum. You are now banned. I'm sure you'll find somewhere else to solve these cases.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~did i do something wrong again zoo geeper?~
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Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08 « Reply #36 on: October 09, 2008, 05:34:15 PM »
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have a question for any bloggers or lerkers: Has anyone any knowlege of whether Tara Grinstead, posessed a gift card in the amount of $25.00 or $35.00 for a Day Spa in the Oscilla or Perry, GA area? Did Tara, posess a gift card when she vanished?
Wolfscratch
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Edward Scared Monkey
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Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08 « Reply #37 on: October 10, 2008, 11:00:32 AM »
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have no idea about the cards Glenn, but thank you for all the education on this GMH.
Linda Jan 16, 2008 2:31pm [ 1 ] The second I first saw him on TV I said, "That is the man that killed Ms heryl"...his stance, posture, size, walk was identical to the "masked man" at the ATM using her card. Also, as soon as I saw him I knew he was the man that came into my driveway to ask "for a few dollars" for gas...same van, stance, walk, speech, look, manner of dress. I figure I was a near victim (thank goodness for the heavy traffic in front of my home that day, and for the two neighbors that went by and beeped their horns and waved)...this may be one of his ways to con money. He is well practiced at killing...and would not be surprised to find out he has done this for many years from FL to TN...hoping Law Enforcement is able to put together a timeline of his whereabouts for many years past....suspect there are a lot of cold cases that would fit.
CP from Dawsontimes.com Linda of tallahassee, FL: comment Wolfscratch
what scares me EmailWritten by bscoker on Jan-12-08 2:32pm From: bonnie.doodlekit.com I live in Cumming, GA which recently achieved national attention when alleged murderer Gary HIlton discarded clothing in a dumpster at a gas station and dropped off the victim's dog at a neighboring grocery store. What scares me is the fact that my older sister's apartment building is across the street from that store and i had been there New Year's Eve, the day before hiker, Meredith Emerson was abducted from Blood Mountain.
I went to college in the North Georgia Mountains and since there wasn't much to do in the moutains, we camped a lot... several times on Blood Mountain. Scary.
My oldest sister is a writer for the Dawson County Newspaper and was called to the Dawson Forest Wildlife area on Monday afternoon where Meredith's gruesome remains were found. My sister watched and reported as Gary Hilton lead police to the girl's body. What scares me most is the fact that the night before i had been at my sister's house and i said "they should check Dawson Forest" as it had been the scene of several other body dumps in the past ten years. As i drove home from her place, i had to drive past the entrance of Dawson Forest. Talking on my cell phone to a friend, i confided "What if she's in the woods right in front of me?" All i kept thinking was "what if she's right in those woods?" i was crying; i was so scared. I didn't know the victim personally but felt a strong connection to her. She lived in Buford, GA where i was born. Went hiking in the same place where we had camped and hiked so many times during college. The similarities were just too scary.
Meredith was found there the next evening, exactly where i thought she would be. I was terrified to know i had been right. She was a strong, athletic, beautiful girl whose life was cut far too short. I've never been so touched by a story in my life as i had been with her. What scares me more is that there are now other victims of Gary Hilton's murderous stretch. How many more lives did this man take? A woman in Leon County, Florida, a couple in North Carolina, and now, a woman in Ormand Beach, Florida.
Each of the murders was followed by activity on the victim's bank account: someone used their debit cards shortly after they were abducted. What's truly frightening is the fact that about $300 was taken from each, if at all. This man who ended their lives did it for the money. To him, their lives were worth no more than a few hundred dollars. CP by Wolfscratch from zimbio
February 17th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Meredith Hope Emerson, loving, caring, an important part of nature,
She and her dog Ella, loved the mountains and outdoors.
Where the rhodendrum grow , the hemlock stand tall, and the Eagle soars,
Just sitting marvelling at the appalacians; so majestic with splendor,
She and Ella, playing, hiking, and bonding with love,
The forest, inhabitants; birds, and deer meander,
The meadows in Bucktown, will take your breath, and wild azaleas bloom,
The sun rising high, the forest comes alive, the honey bees and Butterflys.
Black bears just lumbering along, the birds singing mother nature’s favorite song.
Hikers come from all over to hike the AT, some hiking it short, some hiking it long,
She and Ella thought of this as a paradise, for whatever it’s worth,
When they were one, with the earth, my only request is, and I pray,
That they meet again on that endless Rainbow Bridge, entering Heaven , Someday.
In nature she’ll be missed, by family, friends, and loved ones.
As our somber nation prays, she was my neighbor for just Four Days……
Vinny……
6 comments:
Change Story Text Size: [-] [+] [Default]
Local hiker had scary brush with Hilton
Gainesville woman met Emerson’s killer the day before Jan. 1 kidnapping
By Stephen Gurr
sgurr@gainesvilletimes.com
Posted: Feb. 9, 2008 1:07 a.m.
POSTED Feb. 9, 2008 1:07 a.m.
Nancy Linkesh will never know how close she came to being Gary Hilton's victim.
The 36-year-old Gainesville sales representative crossed paths with the suspected serial killer on the Byron Herbert Reece trail in Union County one day before he abducted Meredith Emerson there. The story of her encounter has made its rounds through cyberspace by way of a cautionary e-mail she wrote to a group of old friends.
Hilton, 61, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to Emerson's murder and remains a key suspect in the deaths of three others in North Carolina and Florida.
Linkesh said she never wanted or sought publicity for her encounter with Hilton, which was briefly mentioned by District Attorney Lee Darragh when Hilton pleaded guilty to Emerson's murder on Jan. 31.
Darragh did not mention Linkesh by name, but spoke of Hilton, on the day before Emerson's kidnapping, "having approached another hiker ... she was with other people, however."
Linkesh and a group of four others embarked on a two-mile hike up the trail on Monday, Dec. 31, stopping near the top to have a midday lunch before heading back down. By the time they started the hike down, it was 3:30 p.m. and the temperature was dropping. Linkesh had not dressed warmly, so she took the hike down at a quicker pace, getting a few hundred yards ahead of her friends.
It was there she saw the dog with the shiny red coat, and its balding, white-haired owner, wearing blue nylon pants with a sheath around one leg and a half-full hiking backpack.
"That's a beautiful dog, what's her name?" Linkesh said, starting a conversation with Hilton, whose back remained turned to her as he walked down the trail. He told her the dog's name was Dandy, like a fancy dresser, and that it was a "red Retriever."
The two then engaged in brief small talk about the dog, never pausing from their brisk walk down the mountain.
Then Hilton, she said, became suddenly agitated. "He said he gets so angry with people who come up on the mountain who are not prepared," she recalled. "He said he's surprised more people don't die."
"He turned around and pointed where I was stepping, and said, ‘Right there, you could step there wrong and break your leg and lay there. In an hour you'd be hypothermic.'"
That was the only time she got a clear look at Hilton's face. "The brief time I saw him was kind of creepy," she said.
Hilton, she said, used disparaging terms to describe local rescue workers, and said it would take five hours, "best-case scenario" for anyone to get to her if she was stranded and hurt. "At that point he asked me if I was alone," Linkesh said. "I said no."
Hilton seemed to let out a frustrated grunt, "huh," she said. Then he asked if she had a cell phone, commenting, "most days people carry a cell phone with them." Linkesh, whose hiking companions had cell phones, said "well, no."
Linkesh said she kept looking back to make sure her friends were in sight. At one point, she was too far ahead to see them. "He made me feel uneasy, but not uneasy enough not to talk to him," she said.
As the trail branched off, Hilton kept walking straight, while she and her friends went to the left. The entire encounter lasted about 10 minutes.
"I said, ‘It was nice talking to you,'" she said. "He was far enough away that I couldn't understand him. He threw up his right hand and barked something."
As the group got to the bottom of the trail, one of her companions looked up to see that Hilton was behind them again, having apparently doubled back.
Linkesh thought no more about the strange man with the dog until her husband called a few days later to tell her that he was the person of interest in Emerson's disappearance, which occurred at the same location the day after her hike.
Interviews with law enforcement officials followed, but it took several days for Linkesh to grasp the full impact of the encounter.
"I just was thinking it was a weird coincidence." she said. "I don't think I could really get my head around it."
Eventually, after talking with a family member, Linkesh came to the conclusion that Hilton had been "shopping her" as a potential victim.
"As time went on it dawned on me that it was a really close call," she said.
She sent out the e-mail to a small group of old friends as a cautionary story, telling them "to keep in mind that the world is full of bad people and they are very good at manipulating situations to get you involved with them ... ‘Stranger Danger' applies to grown-ups, too."
The e-mail was forwarded and forwarded again, and took on a life of its own on the Internet, drawing more attention to Linkesh then she ever wanted. She received hundreds of e-mails and was hounded with requests for national television interviews.
"I didn't want to be seen as a publicity-hound," she said. "I'm just not interested in that. I'm a very private person."
Linkesh hopes she can use her experience to teach others about how close they can come to real danger.
The lessons learned, she said, are "never let your guard down, always be vigilant. It's sad to say, but you can't strike up a conversation with a stranger any more. It's not worth the risk."
Wolfscratch: A very fortunate victim...
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MuffyBee
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Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08
« Reply #34 on: October 09, 2008, 05:28:34 PM »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from: glenn adams on October 09, 2008, 05:13:16 PM
Klaas, I refused to be intimidated, or censured, Knowlege and information is required to solve these tragic cases. Any attempt to squash a voice only insures GMH's success...
Wolfscratch: It's coming up on the 3rd year that Tara Grinstead, has been missing, whith these polices and antiquated communication procedures, I am confident her family will never receive closure. JMHO
********************************************
I noticed the large wooden reel, with the section of frayed long manilla hemp rope, with the taped ends, located under the shed with the broken joists resulting from Meredith and GMH fighting. A trained LE Agent, walked within 4 feet of this scene on 01/06/08, and didn't notice it. Guess, it was oblivious to him, but it was very obvious to me...
Wolfscratch: http://glennindawson.blogspot.com
Glenn ~ I'm not Klaas, but wanted to ask if you feel you are being "intimidated or censured" here at Scared Monkeys. Do you feel there are attempts to squash your voice here? Those are serious accusations. Please let me know, as I am very concerned.
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klaasend
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Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08
« Reply #35 on: October 09, 2008, 05:31:40 PM »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from: glenn adams on October 09, 2008, 05:13:16 PM
Klaas, I refused to be intimidated, or censured, Knowlege and information is required to solve these tragic cases. Any attempt to squash a voice only insures GMH's success...
Wolfscratch: It's coming up on the 3rd year that Tara Grinstead, has been missing, whith these polices and antiquated communication procedures, I am confident her family will never receive closure. JMHO
********************************************
I noticed the large wooden reel, with the section of frayed long manilla hemp rope, with the taped ends, located under the shed with the broken joists resulting from Meredith and GMH fighting. A trained LE Agent, walked within 4 feet of this scene on 01/06/08, and didn't notice it. Guess, it was oblivious to him, but it was very obvious to me...
Wolfscratch: http://glennindawson.blogspot.com
You know, I gave you a second chance because of Sleddogs and now I'm sorry I did. You may have a ton of information that could solve many cases. I suggest you go to the MP families or to LE with the info.
Edited to add: I will not be intimidated by a new member of this forum. You are now banned. I'm sure you'll find somewhere else to solve these cases.
Logged
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~did i do something wrong again zoo geeper?~
glenn adams
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Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08
« Reply #36 on: October 09, 2008, 05:34:15 PM »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a question for any bloggers or lerkers: Has anyone any knowlege of whether Tara Grinstead, posessed a gift card in the amount of $25.00 or $35.00 for a Day Spa in the Oscilla or Perry, GA area? Did Tara, posess a gift card when she vanished?
Wolfscratch
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Edward
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Re: Journey backtracking Gary Hilton & Associates 01/06/08
« Reply #37 on: October 10, 2008, 11:00:32 AM »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have no idea about the cards Glenn, but thank you for all the education on this GMH.
CP from scared monnkeys(Interference, IMO)
Wolfscratch
http://enjoyingthejourney.blogspot.com/2007/12/sheriffs-office-identifies-body-as.html
Link
CP by Wolfscratch
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=3654.100
Journey backing Gary M. Hilton
Wolfscratch
Linda Jan 16, 2008 2:31pm [ 1 ]
The second I first saw him on TV I said, "That is the man that killed Ms heryl"...his stance, posture, size, walk was identical to the "masked man" at the ATM using her card. Also, as soon as I saw him I knew he was the man that came into my driveway to ask "for a few dollars" for gas...same van, stance, walk, speech, look, manner of dress. I figure I was a near victim (thank goodness for the heavy traffic in front of my home that day, and for the two neighbors that went by and beeped their horns and waved)...this may be one of his ways to con money. He is well practiced at killing...and would not be surprised to find out he has done this for many years from FL to TN...hoping Law Enforcement is able to put together a timeline of his whereabouts for many years past....suspect there are a lot of cold cases that would fit.
CP from Dawsontimes.com
Linda of tallahassee, FL: comment
Wolfscratch
what scares me
EmailWritten by bscoker on Jan-12-08 2:32pm
From: bonnie.doodlekit.com
I live in Cumming, GA which recently achieved national attention when alleged murderer Gary HIlton discarded clothing in a dumpster at a gas station and dropped off the victim's dog at a neighboring grocery store. What scares me is the fact that my older sister's apartment building is across the street from that store and i had been there New Year's Eve, the day before hiker, Meredith Emerson was abducted from Blood Mountain.
I went to college in the North Georgia Mountains and since there wasn't much to do in the moutains, we camped a lot... several times on Blood Mountain. Scary.
My oldest sister is a writer for the Dawson County Newspaper and was called to the Dawson Forest Wildlife area on Monday afternoon where Meredith's gruesome remains were found. My sister watched and reported as Gary Hilton lead police to the girl's body. What scares me most is the fact that the night before i had been at my sister's house and i said "they should check Dawson Forest" as it had been the scene of several other body dumps in the past ten years. As i drove home from her place, i had to drive past the entrance of Dawson Forest. Talking on my cell phone to a friend, i confided "What if she's in the woods right in front of me?" All i kept thinking was "what if she's right in those woods?" i was crying; i was so scared. I didn't know the victim personally but felt a strong connection to her. She lived in Buford, GA where i was born. Went hiking in the same place where we had camped and hiked so many times during college. The similarities were just too scary.
Meredith was found there the next evening, exactly where i thought she would be. I was terrified to know i had been right. She was a strong, athletic, beautiful girl whose life was cut far too short. I've never been so touched by a story in my life as i had been with her. What scares me more is that there are now other victims of Gary Hilton's murderous stretch. How many more lives did this man take? A woman in Leon County, Florida, a couple in North Carolina, and now, a woman in Ormand Beach, Florida.
Each of the murders was followed by activity on the victim's bank account: someone used their debit cards shortly after they were abducted. What's truly frightening is the fact that about $300 was taken from each, if at all. This man who ended their lives did it for the money. To him, their lives were worth no more than a few hundred dollars.
CP by Wolfscratch from zimbio
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