missing hiker - body found

[SAR-EMT40]

Does anyone actually have any information based on fact that he was ever in the Whites?

Not disputing the people who think they saw him. Just wondering if there is any time line that shows he was in the area during that time.

Keith

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Time Line

To my knowledge there is no evidence at all that he was ever in the Whites or Vermont where I think I encountered him.

I'm sure law enforcement is concentrating on the murders they can definitely charge him with to make sure he's put away for life. Hopefully they will eventually follow other leads to see if they can connect him to other crimes. If he gets the death penalty, which I think he could in the Florida case, we may never know.

I think the Louise Chaput case is something they should look into. It would be comforting for all, especially her family, to know that the perp is found and locked away.

KDT

 

[sophie bean]

I haven't been here in a long time - working full-time and frankly not hiking much. Someone posted the link to this thread from Maura Murray's site - the young woman who went missing in Feb 2004, whose car was found in Swiftwater NH (not far from where the AT crosses Rt 112). I am so grateful that you reported your experience to the Vt State Police. Perhaps the person you saw was not Hilton, but if it was, at least now there is a record of him being in New England. I was interested to hear you wondering if he could be connected to Louise Chaput's death in November of 2001. That was the event that put me off hiking in the Whites, since I had been fishing by myself in the Ellis River in Pinkham Notch a few weeks earlier - I'd actually parked very near where her car was found. I'd always thought that it was such a popular area, so frequented by visitors, that it was probably safe.

I echo the thoughts and advice of many here - please be careful. Many women tend to disregard our feelings of something not being right as somehow silly or weak, when in fact they may be signs that something is very wrong. I still fish and hike in northern New England, but I'm very careful and I rarely go to the Whites alone, and never without my dog.

If anyone has any possible information that could help with Maura Murray's case, please contact her family - visit http://mauramurraymissing.com.
Thank you very much. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of Hilton's victims.

 

[rocket21]

I haven't been here in a long time - working full-time and frankly not hiking much. Someone posted the link to this thread from Maura Murray's site - the young woman who went missing in Feb 2004, whose car was found in Swiftwater NH (not far from where the AT crosses Rt 112). I am so grateful that you reported your experience to the Vt State Police. Perhaps the person you saw was not Hilton, but if it was, at least now there is a record of him being in New England. I was interested to hear you wondering if he could be connected to Louise Chaput's death in November of 2001. That was the event that put me off hiking in the Whites, since I had been fishing by myself in the Ellis River in Pinkham Notch a few weeks earlier - I'd actually parked very near where her car was found. I'd always thought that it was such a popular area, so frequented by visitors, that it was probably safe.
...
If anyone has any possible information that could help with Maura Murray's case, please contact her family - visit http://mauramurraymissing.com.

Great post - Maura Murray's disappearance could be linked to this. For those who don't know much about that case, she was a UMass Amherst student (my alma mater) who was part of a family that hiked the Whites a lot. It's a scary but true possibility that these disappearances/murders could be linked.

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Maura

I knew about Maura, but I didn't know she was a hiker and I made no connection with her disappearance being near the AT. It's logical to me that there could be a connection.

I cannot state with 100% certainty that Hilton was the man we encountered in Vermont, but I'd say I was 90% sure.

My wife thinks I'm crazy because I seem to have a 6th sense about people, but even she picked up that there was something very wrong about this person when we crossed paths. In fact, if it weren't for her reaction to him, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about him.

KDT

 

[sophie bean]

I should clarify - I don't know Maura personally, but her family speaks of her having a history hiking in the Whites. It doesn't sound like she was hiking when she went missing, though it's possible. Her car was found on Rt 112, though, and that road crosses a pass high near Lost River, and I believe that's near the AT as well.

I wouldn't be surprised, as you've said, if he were involved in Ms Chaput's murder.

As to that creepy feeling, I'm convinced that it's a survival instinct. Yes, it could be wrong, and I feel bad about that - misjudging someone who may be perfectly harmless BUT what if that feeling is right? From your description of how the guy you saw "growled" at you, it's hard to see that as anything other than creepy and threatening. Unless the person who murdered Ms Chaput did - as some media speculated - follow her down from Canada (yeah, right), it's reasonable to assume that she was watched and targeted -wherever that may have happened, and quite possibly at a trailhead. Not pleasant to consider.

Thanks for your responses. I wonder if it's worth having a separate thread about what makes you feel safe or unsafe, or even more importantly, reporting anything that feels or looks significantly weird?

 

[Waumbek]

It doesn't sound like she was hiking when she went missing, though it's possible. Her car was found on Rt 112, though, and that road crosses a pass high near Lost River, and I believe that's near the AT as well.

It's very unlikely. Her car was found on Rt. 112 about ten miles west of where the AT crosses 112 in the Kinsman Notch.

 

[sophie bean]

"It's very unlikely. Her car was found on Rt. 112 about ten miles west of where the AT crosses 112 in the Kinsman Notch."

Right. Unlikely, I agree, but not impossible.
How far was Randall Smith, who murdered a couple on the AT in 1981, from where he shot the two fisherman, when he crashed their stolen truck?

 

[clg898]

In September we were on Mount Mansfield on the LT and there was this grizzled old guy with no teeth, an old pack and a yellow rain slicker who got up and leashed his dog when we approached. When we got near, I noticed he had a big hunting knife on his belt. I gave him the usual
"G' mornin." and he growled at us. The guy, not the dog.

I know it's very far-fetched, but I can't get him out of my mind now. I don't really remember the dog, but I don't think it would have matched the description at all. More huskie-ish, but I can't really picture it, just him.

I hate this stuff, too. It never ends well. They never caught anyone when that woman was murdered in Pinkham Notch a few years back. Please be careful out there. There are a lot of creeps out there.

KDT

So, not to dredge up an unpleasant thread, but I just came across this one and got sucked into the very sad tale. It occurred to me however, that if you saw this person in September with the yellow rain jacket it would be before Hilton apparently got the yellow jacket he was seen wearing in the Emerson case.

According to one of the stories linked to in this thread, that yellow rain jacket belonged to John Bryant, the elderly male victim in the N.C. case. That case occurred between Oct. 21 and Nov. 9th. That doesn't completely rule out the possibility that you saw him on Mansfield in Sept (he could have been wearing a different yellow rain jacket)., but makes it more likely to have been a coincidence.

 

[Maddy]

They are looking at Hilton for other unsolved murders in various parts of the country.
He sounds a lot like a Ted Bundy. These people sadly do get around.
There is something written about this here.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=116936

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Yellow Slicker

I knew that about the slicker, that he had John Bryant's slicker on and that I saw this guy before John Bryant was murdered. What struck me was this guy on the AT on the summit of Mansfield, apparently hiking, although he could have easily driven to the summit. I'm not saying it was Hilton, but I distinctly remember the jacket. I thought it odd that an experienced hiker would wear that sort of slicker on the trail.

When I see pictures of Hilton I cringe, not because I know what he has done, but because he looks very much like the toothless, grizzled old man who growled at us on the AT atop Mount Mansfield. There were too many coincidences about this chance meeting to not question if it could have been him.

Yellow slicker, no teeth, long hunting knife in belt, dog, external frame pack, the same type as Ms. Chaput's, which has never been found.

I don't know, maybe it's nothing, but what if it isn't?

KDT