Hilton spotted in Mills River before his arrest

MILLS RIVER -- Two local residents say they saw confessed killer Gary Michael Hilton in Mills River before he was arrested in Georgia and named as a suspect in the murders of local retirees John and Irene Bryant.

Hilton, 61, pleaded guilty Jan. 31 to the murder of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson in the north Georgia mountains. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years.

Hilton is also the prime suspect in the murders of Irene Bryant, 84, and her husband, John, 81. The Horse Shoe couple disappeared Oct. 20 after going hiking along Yellow Gap Road in Pisgah National Forest.

Arthur Collan Riddle of Mills River said Friday he saw Hilton in November at Hyder's Kountry Kubbard, the BP gas station on N.C. 280.

"He was kind of weird," Riddle said of his encounter with Hilton.

Weapon mentioned

Riddle said he recognized Hilton once law officers released pictures of the suspect. His account places Hilton back in the Henderson and Transylvania county area more than three weeks after the Bryant murders.

He saw Hilton at the gas station, he said, sometime after police released surveillance photos showing a man using the Bryants' ATM card in Ducktown, Tenn.

The security video captured the bank card transaction on Oct. 21 but the photos were not released until Nov. 14, more than three weeks after the Bryants disappeared.

"He just stood there staring at us," said Riddle, who was visiting the gas station with his wife and baby. "Then he said, 'I ain't got nothing on me except this baton ... you could use it for a lot of things even as a weapon.'"

Riddle said at first he thought Hilton was walking, but later saw him get in a van.

"I had a bad feeling about that van," Riddle said. "I wish I would have called in something to the police. It seemed like he (Hilton) was watching my wife and baby. I just can't explain how weird he was."

Sighting confirmed

Remiga Espinosa, an employee of the gas station, also said she saw Hilton.

"I saw him," she said. "I couldn't tell you an exact time, but I know I have seen him in the store before."

Authorities in Transylvania County discovered Irene Bryant's body Nov. 9 in the Pink Beds area of Pisgah National Forest where she and her husband had gone to hike three weeks earlier. A hunter discovered John Bryant's skeletal remains Feb. 3 in an illegal dump on the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County near Franklin.

Transylvania Sheriff David Mahoney said on Feb. 4 that investigators believe Hilton killed the Bryants. He is also a suspect in a slaying in Apalachicola National Forest in Florida.

Gretchen C.F. Shappert, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of N.C., said earlier this week her office, in coordination with state, local and federal law enforcement agencies, is investigating the deaths of the Bryants.