Page 21 - Astro Van News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> had her friends were naturally beside themselves. >> you know, your heart just broke because you think something happened, somebody had a weapon, and her stuff was there. >> so you're thinking at the very least she's been abducted. >> yep. and it was so hard because it wasn't something we could talk about until we could prove that. >> the cops commandeered a park building as headquarters. >> we began getting information pretty quickly. >> from people who had hiked the trails that day? right. remembered her. remembered her. >> right. we got news of a strange looking individual with meredith ...

A "be on the lookout" advisory went out for the guy driving a white van accompanied by his reddish dog. >> it is going to be a white male between the ages of 50 and 60 years old, approximately 160 pounds. it was described as he has bad dental, he had a dark reddish colored retriever. >> we put out that information through the media in atlanta and actually got a call from somebody who said, i think i know who this is. >> coming up, this mysterious stranger would prove to be stranger than anyone expected. >> i just turned white at one point. i felt the blood leave my face. >> meredith emerson ha...

>> are you able to tell this jury how this woman died? >> no, ma'am. >> not a cause of death, but what the prosecution did have was forensic evidence galore. hundreds of items recovered from his van and from hilton's suspected camp sites deep in the woods. >> two items, duct tape with hair, and another piece of duct tape or masking tape with hair. >> one of the crime scene evidence recovered was a camera. he tried to delete it. >> i was unable to recover the deleted files. >> they had been able to salvage the audio hilton did not want the world to hear, and with good reason. this is gary hilto...

>> if i wanted to ensure that no one would associate the dog with her, i would have killed the dog. but there's no way i could do that. >> he was toofrp much of a sofo kill the dog, he explained it. but poor meredith, ella's owner didn't have a chance. >> i just told you once you've done it, you're either going to kill her or get caught. there's no other solution. if that sounds cold and cruel, yeah, it was. >> in his unbelievably cold recollection of the crime, hilton said he told meredith he was going to let her go after four days of captivity. >> i told her i'm taking her, i'm going to rele...

Everything he says, but that part i believe. there's no doubt that she fought and, you know, maybe it's a little bit that kind of gives huh- you a little smirk to know she almost got him. she gave him a run for his money. i'm sure he thought maybe i should have chosen somebody else. >> eventually, hilton wore meredith down. by then they were way off the main trail. hilton tied his captive to a tree, and then doubled back to that site where he'd been stripped of his weapons. the bay net was gone, lost in the forest floor. a hiker had already picked up the police baton. hilton returned to meredi...