Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, 46 [BODY FOUND] MSG from Wakulla County, FL 12-1-07 [Archive]

Grande

12-03-2007, 04:47 PM

Originally published December 3, 2007
Wakulla SO looking for missing woman
By Jennifer Jefferson

She is a really good woman... she would give you the shirt off her back. I pray she is ok...

Posted by: Anonymous on Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:50 am
Yes she has family here in Crawfordville

Posted by: Anonymous on Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:39 am
I noticed somebody has listed her on a missing persons forum.

Here's a link.

I hope she's found soon.

http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=19

There is also CourtTV Amber Alerts and Missing Persons thread she can be listed on too if her family wants more coverage for her.

http://boards.courttv.com/index.php?

Posted by: pk on Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:36 pm
?does she have any family?

Posted by: pk on Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:27 pm

http://cmsimg.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CD&Date=20071203&Category=BREAKINGNEWS&ArtNo=71203036&Ref=AR&MaxW=300

The Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a missing woman that was last seen in her Crawfordville home Saturday morning.

Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, 46, has brown hair and brown eyes. She is 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Deputies were alerted after she did not show up to teach her Sunday school class, nor did she show up to work this morning.

“This is atypical behavior for her,” said Maurice Langston, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

Her car was found abandoned just north of U.S. 319 just north of the Wakulla County line.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts, should call Capt. Randall Taylor or investigator Scott Delbeatto at 926-0800.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071203/BREAKINGNEWS/71203036

chrisalis26

12-04-2007, 02:18 PM

Just now on the newspaper they added some more information.

Here's a few snippets of the added info:

Cheryl Hodges Dunlap was last seen was around 9 a.m. Saturday morning in her Crawfordville home, according to Maj. Maurice Langston, spokesman for the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office. He did not say where that information came from.

...

car was found Monday on the shoulder of U.S. 319. It was parked in the southbound lane just before the Wakulla County line. It had one flat tire.

....

The car’s flat tire was the “only abnormality we noticed,” Langston said.
....

Dunlap, 46, is a graduate of Wakulla High School. She was married at one time and has two adult sons, Michael and Jake, friends said

....

Kiona Hill got a call from her sometime before noon Saturday.

.....

“She said she was thinking about me,” Hill said.

Hill and Dunlap were supposed to make plans to get together later that day. When Hill tried to reach Dunlap just before 6 p.m., no one answered.

Hill said that there was nothing unusual about the call.

“There was no reason to be alerted,” Hill said.

Lori White, the education pastor ... missed Dunlap’s call at 2:15 p.m. She, too, tried to call her back later that day, but no one answered.

She didn’t think much of it until Dunlap didn’t show up to teach Sunday school to fourth and fifth graders the next morning.

“That was my first clue,” White said. “She’s very dependable, very faithful. She always calls, even if she’s going to be late.”

....

Monday morning, Dunlap, a nurse, didn’t show up at her job at Florida State University’s Thagard Student Health Center.

...

“We’re all terribly worried,” said Lesley Sacher, director of Thagard. Dunlap is listed as a new hire in this fall’s Student Activities Bulletin.

Dunlap is also a faithful attendee of River of Life’s Monday morning prayer meeting. This Monday, she did show up there, either.

...

Anyone with information about her whereabouts should call Capt. Randall Taylor or investigator Scott DelBeato at 926-0800.

Grande

12-04-2007, 03:46 PM

Thanks for posting that Chrisalis!

chrisalis26

12-04-2007, 05:51 PM

YY grande

By the way just now somebody called me and said just about where they describe her car was found there is police tape and a pink sweater...........but there's also an alert just out too that went out of finding a body over toward Jefferson county too (Wacissa). I hope this isn't 2 people.

Stay tuned.

Grande

12-06-2007, 11:53 AM

Update: No new information released about missing Wakulla woman
By Jennifer Jefferson
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

As of this morning, there was no new information on the search for the 46-year-old Wakulla County woman who has been missing since the weekend, according to Sgt. Rob Reisinger of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators are disclosing few details about the disappearance of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, a 5-foot-4 woman with brown hair and brown eyes.

Dunlap was last seen about 9 a.m. Saturday in her Crawfordville home, according to Maj. Maurice Langston, spokesman for the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office — which Tuesday handed the case over to the Leon office.

Her car, which friends described Tuesday as a white Toyota Camry, was found Monday on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 319. It was parked on the southbound shoulder just before the Wakulla County line. It had one flat tire.

Anyone with information about Cheryl Dunlap's whereabouts should call Wakulla Sheriff's Capt. Randall Taylor or investigator Scott DelBeato at 926-0800; the Leon Sheriff's Office at 922-3300; or Crime Stoppers hot line at 574-TIPS or (888) 876-TIPS.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/BREAKINGNEWS/71206009

omsk99

12-06-2007, 06:10 PM

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbc...-1/BREAKINGNEWS

And a little more information and another older photo of Cheryl:

http://www.wtxl.com/Global/story.asp?S=7443874

I hope she is found safe

Grande

12-07-2007, 01:57 AM

Missing woman formerly worked in Jackson County
Ground and air search comes up empty on Crawfordville nurse

By ANNE SPENCER / Floridan News Editor
December 6, 2007

A Crawfordville woman who once worked at Campbellton-Graceville Hospital as a nurse has not been seen since Saturday and her family and friends fear the worst since searches have come up empty.
Cheryl Hodges Dunlap did not show up on Sunday to teach the youth class at her church and has not been at her job this week at the Student Health Center at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

According to police and her friends, Dunlap, 46, was last seen on Saturday at home around 9 a.m., but had told several friends by phone she was heading north to go to FSU's Strozier Library on the main campus in the city.

Her car, a 2006 white Toyota Camry, was found abandoned Monday along U.S. 319 in Leon County, close to the Wakulla County line, parked and pointing southward with a flat tire.

"I've known her probably three or four years, and she's a very sweet person," said Judy Brown of Crawfordville on Thursday.

She describes Dunlap as having brown eyes and brown hair, 5 foot 4 inches tall, and with a petite build.

The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office began the investigation but turned it over to the Leon County Sheriff's Office after Dunlap's car was found.

Brown said that the location of the car is even more disconcerting. It was not found on the shoulder of the road like it would be expected to with a flat tire.

"Her car was pulled off," Brown said. "There's quite a distance between the highway and the woods and it was actually more over toward the woods, which doesn't make sense.

"And there was no indication her tire blew out. She was headed back to Wakulla County," said Brown, but she hasn't been seen or heard from.

Lisa Bowden, a nurse at Campbellton-Graceville Hospital in Graceville, said she knew Dunlap when she worked there as a nurse.

Bowden said Dunlap worked there about two years and lived in Fadette, Ala., which is near the Alabama-Florida line.

"I worked with her over a year," Bowden said. "She was a sweet person. We all thought a lot of Cheryl."

Employees there held a candlelight vigil for Dunlap in a waiting room at the hospital Thursday afternoon.

Leon County Sgt. Rob Reisinger said Thursday that other than finding the car, little has been determined in the case. Asked about supposed calls Hodges had made since Saturday morning, he said he couldn't discuss any such calls because they would be "evidentiary."

He said the investigation by the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office stepped up after the car was found and Leon County took over.

"We became more involved with it on (Tuesday) after friends expressed so much concern. We had some concerns on it because after talking to friends we found that obviously this isn't like her at all, and with the time that has passed we had some grave concerns," Reisinger said.

"We've flown over the area two times, once with our helicopter and once we asked Fish and Wildlife to fly over. And we've done two on-the-ground searches," Reisinger said. "So we've done extensive searches in that area and haven't found anything yet."

Highway 319 is the main road between Tallahassee and Crawfordville and runs along the eastern edge of the vast Apalachicola National Forest. The highway runs southward to Panacea, then turns west to run along the Gulf Coast.

Brown said Dunlap's family consists of two adult children, a son Jake who has been allowed to come home from Army boot camp, and Michael, who lives with his wife and two daughters in Woodville, which is close to Crawfordville.

Brown said Dunlap lives alone, but is smart when it comes to caring for herself.

"All her friends are worried because she is so dependable. She's very conservative, very dependable, and very, very cautious," Brown said.

She said Dunlap has been divorced about 20 years and knew how to get along on her own.

"She is a Sunday School teacher at River of Life Church in Wakulla County, and she had all the time taken the youth groups on trips to Mexico and things like that, so she's traveled.

"She didn't show up for her Sunday School class, and Monday morning she didn't show up for work," said Brown.

Brown said her daughter Brooke dates Dunlap's son Jake, and Dunlap had called Brooke Saturday morning as she usually did once a week.

Brooke is the one who heard Dunlap say she was going to Strozier Library, said Brown.

"She had called a couple of her other friends and told them the same thing. But it hasn't been confirmed that she ever was there," Brown said. "Someone said they thought they saw her in Wal-Mart in Crawfordville between 12 and 2 on Saturday, but it hasn't been confirmed.

"Also, someone said they thought they saw her beside her car on that highway at 5:15 (p.m.) but that hasn't been confirmed," Brown added.

"It's very upsetting. It's completely unreal," Brown said. "She had a cell phone but they have not located a cell phone. Her car was locked and she had a flat tire, and they think her purse may have been under the front seat and that is unusual."

Brown said she had no idea why the police thought a purse was under the seat.

"She was just so cautious. She was a very safe person and nobody thinks she'd accept a ride from a person. We're thinking her cell phone went dead, but they still haven't been able to track it.

"We have put up flyers everywhere. We've gone on the street with banners at the time people are coming home from work. We're making signs with her picture on it and putting them where her car was. We've contacted all the media and all the (state agencies) we can think of," said Brown.

"She was born and raised in Wakulla County; she's an only child, and (her parents are deceased), so we don't think she has much immediate family, but she has a lot of friends.

"We're all praying for her," Brown said.

Anyone with possible information is asked to call the Leon County Sheriff's Office, (850) 922-3300; the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office, (850) 926-0800; or CrimeStoppers at 1-888-876-TIPS.

http://www.jcfloridan.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JCF/MGArticle/JCF_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353765319&path=!news

Grande

12-07-2007, 01:57 AM

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbc...-1/BREAKINGNEWS

And a little more information and another older photo of Cheryl:

http://www.wtxl.com/Global/story.asp?S=7443874

I hope she is found safe

THANK YOU!

Grande

12-08-2007, 04:05 PM

Originally published December 8, 2007
Volunteers searching for missing Wakulla woman
By Nic Corbett
Democrat staff writer

Volunteers are Wakulla County deputies are searching today for Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, who has been missing since Dec. 1.

Volunteers were asked to meet this morning at the New Light Church, 480 New Light Church Road. Organizers asked participants to bring plenty of water and to wear long pants and outdoors shoes.

Dunlap was last seen about 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, in her Crawfordville home, according to Maj. Maurice Langston, spokesman for the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office.

Her car, which friends described Tuesday as a Toyota Camry, was found Monday on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 319. It was parked on the southbound shoulder just north of the Wakulla County line. It had one flat tire.

The case has been turned over to the Leon County Sheriff's Office.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071208/BREAKINGNEWS/71208009

Grande

12-10-2007, 11:49 AM

Organized Search for Wakulla County Citizen Cheryl Hodges Dunlap Turns Up No New Clues

Ms. Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, a 46 year old white female, has been missing from her home in Crawfordville since Saturday, December 1, 2007. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She is 5 feet 4 inches tall.

An organized search was held this past Saturday morning, December 8, in the New Light Church Road area. Volunteers came out to canvas the area, but after the search was completed, no new clues were turned up.

If you have any information regarding Cheryl's disappearance, or about her actions on or just prior to December 1, please contact the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office and speak with Captain Randall Taylor or Sgt. Scott Delbeato at 850-926-0800.

This information originally published on December 10, 2007.

http://www.wakulla.com/Wakulla_News/Local_News/Organized_Search_for_Cheryl_Hodges_Dunlap_Turns_Up _No_New_Clues_200712104358/

Grande

12-11-2007, 11:17 PM

Missing woman's bank card used

By ANNE SPENCER
Jackson County Floridan
December 11, 2007

Someone is involved enough with the missing Wakulla County woman to know her ATM "pin" code.

According to Sgt. Tim Baxter of the Leon County Sheriff's Office, a tall thin man is a suspect in the case because of his use of the ATM card belonging to Cheryl Dunlap of Crawfordville.

Police have a video of what appears to be a man withdrawing cash with the woman's card.

Dunlap, 46, was last heard from on Saturday Dec. 1, and police got involved early in the week after her abandoned car was found on Monday with a blown-out tire on U.S. Highway 319 and friends said she would never leave without telling.

She worked as a nurse at Florida State University's Student Health Center in Tallahassee and formerly worked at Campbellton-Graceville Hospital in northwestern Jackson County and lived nearby in Fadette, Ala.

A press conference was held early Tuesday afternoon at the Leon County Sheriff's Office to update the community on the progress of the case and to request assistance with the identification of a possible suspect and vehicle.

According to a press release issued in conjunction with the press conference, the investigation has revealed that Dunlap's ATM card was used "at an undisclosed location in Leon County" on Sunday Dec. 2, Monday Dec. 3 and Tuesday Dec. 4, "to obtain an undisclosed amount of cash."

In a phone interview with Sgt. Baxter, he said the sheriff's office did disclose in the press conference that the ATM's location was on West Tennessee Street in Tallahassee.

He said the sheriff's office knows how much cash was taken but isn't saying and that the correct pin number was used.

According to the press relase, the video reveals the man to be tall and thin, and wearing gloves, a hat and "some sort of mask in an obvious attempt to hide his identity."

A still from the video provided to the media shows that the withdrawal probably took place at night.

Detectives from Leon County's Violent Crimes Unit, the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted a surveillance of the ATM's location for a week "with negative results," according to the press release.

Baxter said the race of the man isn't known from the video, that it can't be determined, "not with any certainty."

Detectives have also received information on "a possible vehicle of interest" that was reportedly seen near Dunlap's car where it was abandoned on Crawfordville Highway at approximately 5 to 6 p.m. on Dec. 1.

Baxter said there have been several calls about seeing a vehicle near Dunlap's car. It's described as a long wheel-based black Dodge Ram, with the pickup having an extended cab.

He said he couldn't disclose any information about Dunlap's purse or cell phone.

Friends who were searching for Dunlap after she went missing found her car locked and with a flat tire about 20 feet off the road. Police later determined the tire had suffered a blow-out.

Friends have reported that Dunlap might have gone to FSU's library in Tallahassee on Saturday. The highway where her car was found runs between Tallahassee and Crawfordville, where she lived alone.

Her 2006 white Toyota Camry was found facing south toward Crawfordville.

Dunlap's family, friends, co-workers and others have posted flyers about the missing woman. They are being questioned in the effort to get leads on what might have occurred.

Dunlap is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall with a petite build and having brown hair and eyes.

Earlier this week, according to a Leon County investigator, ground and air searches came up empty.

Baxter said many people are calling the sheriff's office with possible information.

"We're getting a bunch of calls," Baxter said. "Some of it is misinformation, but we welcome all calls because one of them might be that right call.

"We welcome all asistance we can get in investigating this case," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Violent Crimes Unit at (850) 922-3418 or CrimeStoppers at (850) 547-TIPS.

http://www.jcfloridan.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JCF/MGArticle/JCF_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353827840&path=!news

Grande

12-12-2007, 11:51 AM

Image from the ATM surveillance video;

http://i8.tinypic.com/73e8dic.jpg

Grande

12-17-2007, 11:09 AM

12-16-2007
Woman's Body Found in Apalachicola National Forest

A woman's body was found this past Saturday, December 15 in the Apalachicola National Forest in southern Leon County near Bloxham Cutoff Road. According to Major Mike Wood of the Leon County Sheriff's Office, the body was discovered by hunters at approximately 11:00 a.m. near a forest road.

The body has not yet been identified, nor has a cause of death been determined. An autopsy will be performed in the next few days to try to find some answers. The body has not been confirmed as being that of missing Wakulla County resident Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, who has not been seen since December 1, 2007.

http://www.wakulla.com/Wakulla_News/Local_News/Woman's_Body_Found_in_Apalachicola_National_Forest _200712164408/

Grande

12-17-2007, 02:31 PM

Body Found by Hunters May Be That of Missing Nurse
Newly Released Images Show Masked Man Using Woman's ATM Card After She Vanished

By DAVID SCHOETZ
Dec. 17, 2007

An autopsy is under way in Florida that may determine whether a body found this weekend by a group of hunters is that of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, a nurse who vanished earlier this month and was reported missing after she failed to arrive at church to teach her Sunday school class.

The Leon County Sheriff's Office received a call Saturday about the body of a white woman in the Apalachicola National Forest. The body appeared to have been there for some time. "How long, we're not sure," said Sgt. Rob Reisinger, a spokesman for the Leon County Sheriff's Office.

The autopsy could pinpoint the time and cause of the woman's death. Additional forensic work may be necessary -- including the use of DNA or dental records -- to determine whether it is Dunlap's body.

Dunlop, 46, hasn't been seen since Dec. 1. She was reported missing Sunday, Dec. 2, after she failed to show up to teach her Sunday school class.

This weekend's discovery triggered grim speculation that the two-week search for Dunlap, who's been married and has two grown children, had come to a tragic end. Reisinger warned, however, that the body may not be Dunlap's If it is Dunlap's, the determination could take several days to make.

"This is a horrible situation, whether it's Ms. Dunlap or some other poor, unfortunate person," Reisinger said.

Last Thursday, authorities in Leon County released two surveillance images of an unidentified man wanted for questioning in connection with Dunlap's disappearance.

The images show a tall, thin man "apparently wearing gloves, a hat and some sort of mask in an obvious attempt to hide his identity" as he draws money from an ATM machine.

Authorities said the man in the surveillance images used Cheryl Dunlap's ATM card in Leon County Dec. 2, 3 and 4 -- the first three days of her disappearance. Detectives staked out the ATM location for a week, but the suspect did not return to the bank.

Money was withdrawn, Reisinger said, suggesting that the person in the surveillance footage knew Dunlap's PIN number.

Detectives also received information about a vehicle of interest reportedly seen near Dunlap's abandoned car on the Crawfordville Highway in the evening of Dec. 1, the day she was last seen. That vehicle is described as a black, extended cab Dodge Ram pickup truck.

Dunlap's car was found two days after she disappeared. It had a flat tire and was parked on the shoulder of the highway. The vehicle was treated as a crime scene, but was "fruitless" in terms of providing authorities with clues in the case, Reisinger said.

"We have no subjects of interest right now that we can hang our hat on," said Reisinger.

Dunlap, who lives in Crawfordville, south of Tallahassee, had recently taken a nursing job at Florida State University's student health center.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=4010778&page=1

animallady

12-17-2007, 02:47 PM

Grande

12-17-2007, 03:00 PM

Grande,

Thank you for posting the current status of this case. Apparently it will take several days for an ID to be confirmed. How excruciating for the family. Have been holding out hope that this nice lady is still alive. Assume that efforts to find her on now on hold.

Your welcome.

The family is still holding out hope according to this latest article;

Friends and Family of Missing Wakulla Woman Still Holding Out Hope
Posted: 12:33 PM Dec 17, 2007

A medical examiner is conducting an autopsy of the body found off a road in the Apalachicola National Forest.

A spokesman from the Leon County Sheriff's Office says investigators still can't say whether it's the body of missing a Wakulla County woman, Cheryl Dunlap.

A group of hunters found the body Sunday, around 11:00AM.

Authorities haven't determined the cause of death, but said the body had been there for some time and was decomposing.

Cheryl Hodges Dunlap has been missing since December 1st.

She was last seen at her home in Crawfordville that day around 9AM.

A day later, authorities found her car off of Highway 319 near the Wakulla County line.

According to WCTV in Tallahassee, some members of the church Cheryl went to say they are holding out hope that Cheryl is alive and are continuing to put up flyers.

There is even talk of a billboard being put up.

Members of the church say there is a fund available to donate for Cheryl at all Wakulla Bank

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/12553066.html

Grande

12-19-2007, 04:36 PM

Sheriff's Office identifies body as Cheryl Dunlap
By Nic Corbett
Democrat staff writer

The body of a woman found Saturday in the Apalachicola National Forest has been identified as Cheryl Dunlap, a Crawfordville woman who has been missing since Dec. 1.

The Leon County Sheriff’s Office is having a news conference now and just made the announcement.

Hunters called 911 Saturday after discovering the body about 11 a. m. on a forest road near Bloxham Cutoff Road in southern Leon County. Dunlap’s car was found Dec. 3 with a flat tire on the south shoulder of U.S. 319 in Leon County.

Maj. Mike Wood also said investigators are not aware of any connection to other cases of bodies discovered in Florida and Georgia. He said they have no suspects but are following up on many leads.

A masked person used Dunlap’s ATM card on three separate occasions at an unspecified location on West Tennessee Street.

Dunlap worked as a nurse at Florida State University and was very involved in the River of Life Church. Dozens of friends and family members had conducted searches for her, prayed and held out hope that she would be found safely.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Leon County Sheriff's Office at 922-3300, or Crime Stoppers at 574-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-876-TIPS (8477).

The Tallahassee Democrat has a reporter, photographer and videographer at the news conference now and will update this story.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/BREAKINGNEWS/71219015

animallady

12-20-2007, 12:29 AM

Sincerest sympathy and prayers for Cheryl's family as they mourn their loss and celebrate her life.:1222423:

Grande

12-20-2007, 11:22 AM

Originally published December 19, 2007
Investigators say it's possible Dunlap killer is still in area
By Nic Corbett

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has identified the body of missing Crawfordville woman Cheryl Hodges Dunlap through DNA analysis, said Maj. Mike Wood, of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

Wood would not release Dunlap’s cause of death. He also declined to release the exact location of the ATM on West Tennessee Street at which a masked person used Dunlap’s card on three separate occasions following her disappearance Dec. 1.

The Leon County Sheriff’s Office has sent information about the case to a national and state database so that other law enforcement agencies can notify them about any similar cases which may be related.

As of this moment, no other crimes have been connected to the Dunlap homicide.

Investigators have no suspects, but are following up on leads.

They say there’s a possibility that someone other than Dunlap left her car on the south shoulder of U.S. 319 in Leon County on Dec. 3, but they won’t say why they suspect this.

Wood said the e-mail rumors have caused the community to panic unnecessarily. However, people should always be alert and aware of their surroundings.

Investigators have gotten in touch with the behavioral science unit of the FBI for help in this case, he said.

Anyone who wants to provide information anonymously can call the Crime Stoppers tips line at 574-TIPS.

http://tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200771219015

Grande

12-20-2007, 11:42 PM

Vehicle of Interest Identified in Murder Case

Thursday, Dec 20, 2007 - 05:59 PM

http://i10.tinypic.com/720vibk.jpg

Yesterday the Leon County Sheriff's Office confirmed the body found in the woods Saturday by hunters in Wakulla County is 46-year-old Cheryl Dunlap.

Today they are releasing a surveillance picture of a vehicle of interest in the investigation. According to WTXL ABC Tallahassee, the Sheriff's Office will not say where the picture was taken or what connection it might have to the case.

Dunlap was first reported missing on Saturday, December 1st.

Investigators say the killer took steps to make it difficult to identify her.

They have no suspects, but they believe the heavily disguised man seen in surveillance photos using Dunlap's ATM card just days after her disappearance is related to her death.

Dunlap's car was found the Monday after her disappearance at the Wakulla-Leon county line.

Investigators say its possible someone other than Dunlap left the car there.

Before moving to Crawfordville, Dunlap worked for two years at the Campbellton-Graceville hospital in Jackson County.

The following was released Thursday by the Leon County Sheriff's Office:

Press Release Leon County Sheriff's Office
2825 Municipal Way
Tallahassee, FL 32312
(850) 922-3300

Larry Campbell
Sheriff

Sgt. Rob Reisinger
Public Information Office
(850) 922-0732

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 12/20/2007

Vehicle of Interest

During the course of investigating the Cheryl Dunlap case a vehicle of interest has been identified. The Leon County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the assistance of the news media and the community to help identify the owner of this vehicle.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Violent Crimes Unit at 922-3300 or Crime Stoppers at 574-TIPS.

Leon County Sheriff's Office

http://www.wmbb.com/gulfcoastwest/mbb/news.apx.-content-articles-MBB-2007-12-20-0019.html

Grande

12-21-2007, 12:24 AM

Vehicle of interest

http://i1.tinypic.com/89gtqoh.jpg

Pauli

12-21-2007, 12:34 AM

I'd say that vehicle should be pretty easy to spot..

Grande

12-21-2007, 02:47 PM

Vehicle of interest

http://i1.tinypic.com/89gtqoh.jpg

<Snip>

Detectives have also received information on "a possible vehicle of interest" that was reportedly seen near Dunlap's car where it was abandoned on Crawfordville Highway at approximately 5 to 6 p.m. on Dec. 1.

http://www.jcfloridan.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JCF/MGArticle/JCF_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353827840&path=!news

Grande

01-03-2008, 01:53 PM

Originally published January 3, 2008
Sheriff discusses Dunlap case

By Nic Corbett
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell said investigators have released all the information they can in the Cheryl Dunlap homicide without compromising the investigation.

In a Direct Access interview with the Tallahassee Democrat , Campbell said some citizens are trying to act as detectives in the case and are asking for crime-scene photos and other information.

"I don't want to see a bunch of people having a good time working on a murder mystery when I have a dead lady with a grieving family and friends and such," Campbell said. "I want to send somebody to death row."

Dunlap, a nurse and Sunday School teacher from Crawfordville, went missing Dec. 1 and was found dead two weeks later in the Apalachicola National Forest in Leon County. A man wearing a homemade mask was captured on camera using her bank card at a West Tennessee Street ATM.

Investigators don't have any suspects, Campbell said.

"We're working on a whodunit," he said. "We don't have a smoking gun."

Investigators are still looking for two trucks that they consider "vehicles of interest." One is a black Dodge Ram pickup that was seen on U.S. Highway 319, where Dunlap's car was found. The other is a pickup truck that appears to be a 2005 or newer Nissan Titan. That vehicle, which was caught on camera, appeared to have a green wrap that could have since been removed.

Investigators are hoping that with all the students coming back into town, the extra pairs of eyes will help locate the trucks, Campbell said.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/NEWS01/801030327/1010

The Kitchen Guy

01-03-2008, 02:50 PM

Grande

01-03-2008, 02:53 PM

Um, which is it, there, Sheriff?

LOL.

KittyMom

01-03-2008, 03:20 PM

I can sort of understand LE's attitude if some doofus asked for crime scene photos. DUH! But still, the Sheriff should get a PR person to do his talking. He'd sound smarter.

moo

Grande

01-07-2008, 11:26 AM

Originally published January 7, 2008
No new information released about Dunlap homicide

No new information has been released about the homicide of Cheryl Dunlap, according to Sgt. Rob Reisinger of the Leon County Sheriff's Office.

Dunlap, a nurse and Sunday School teacher from Crawfordville, went missing Dec. 1 and was found dead two weeks later in the Apalachicola National Forest in Leon County. A man wearing a homemade mask was captured on camera using her bank card at a West Tennessee Street ATM.

Investigators are still looking for two trucks that they consider "vehicles of interest."

One is a black Dodge Ram pickup that was seen on U.S. Highway 319, where Dunlap's car was found. The other is a pickup truck that appears to be a 2005or newer Nissan Titan. That vehicle, which was caught on camera, appeared to have a green wrap that could have since been removed.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Leon County Sheriff's Office at 922-3300. Information can be provided anonymously on the Crime Stoppers tips line at 574-TIPS (8477) or (888) 876-TIPS (8477).

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/BREAKINGNEWS/80107012

Grande

01-09-2008, 12:41 PM

Georgia hiker's death related to Florida case?
Tony Bridges/Florida Freedom Newspapers
Wednesday January 9th, 2008

Tallahassee investigators might go to Georgia this week to find out whether the man accused of kidnapping and killing a hiker could have done the same to a woman found dead in the Apalachicola National Forest last month.

Gary M. Hilton, 61, has been charged with the murder of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson, who was last seen on a hiking trail north of Atlanta on New Year’s Day. He led Georgia authorities to her decapitated body Monday.

Police said some details of the case seem to parallel Cheryl Dunlap’s abduction and slaying a month earlier. The Florida State University nurse disappeared Dec. 1 after leaving her home in Crawfordville, headed to the campus in Tallahassee.

Hilton has at least one connection to Florida, a 35-year-old stolen property charge recently dismissed in Miami.

“We plan on trying to get up there and talk to him at some point,” said Sgt. Rob Reisinger, spokesman for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

In the Emerson case, Hilton is accused of snatching her from a trail in the Dawson Forest, then trying to use her credit card at a bank ATM. An autopsy showed she was struck in the head and died three days after being kidnapped, then was decapitated, authorities said.

Dunlap’s car turned up with a flat tire on U.S. 319, near the Apalachicola National Forest, two days after she disappeared, and a man wearing a homemade mask and safety goggles used her ATM card three times in Tallahassee, according to Leon County sheriff’s deputies.

Hunters discovered Dunlap’s body in the national forest Dec. 19. Investigators said the killer had taken pains to prevent them from identifying her, but have not released details. Dunlap, who once worked at a hospital in Graceville, was 46.

“There is some similarity there, and that’s enough for us to go look at it,” Reisinger said.

Reisinger would not comment on specifics or explain whether investigators have any reason to suspect Hilton, described by Georgia authorities as a transient, had been in Tallahassee.

However, court records show that until recently, Hilton may have been wanted in South Florida.

He was arrested by Miami police in 1972 and charged with receiving stolen property. It was not clear Tuesday whether he ever went to trial. Court dockets list the arrest and assignment of a trial prosecutor, then no other entries until Nov. 9.

The entry for that date shows a notice to drop the charges and a motion to quash the related warrants, followed by a judge’s order dismissing the warrants.

Ed Griffith, spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, said he was not familiar with the case when reached after hours. He said the activity could have been triggered by a simple clearing of old arrest warrants, which police do occasionally.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/11214/1

Grande

01-09-2008, 05:03 PM

BREAKING NEWS: Second Murder For Suspect In Georgia Hiker Death?
Posted: 3:41 PM Jan 9, 2008
Last Updated: 3:47 PM Jan 9, 2008
Reporter: Information courtesy: wctv.tv

The man accused of killing and decapitating a Georgia hiker is now suspected in the murder of a Florida woman.

Gary Hilton is accused of killing 46-year-old Cheryl Dunlap in Florida in December. Dunlap disappeared December 1, and her body was found December 15 in the Apalachicola National Forest. Investigators say they have determined Hilton was in Leon County, where Dunlap lived, during the time she was missing.

The 61-year-old Hilton was arrested Friday in the Georgia case. Authorities say he lead them to 24-year-old Meredith Emerson's body only after prosecutors promised not to seek the death penalty.

http://www.witntv.com/home/headlines/13567187.html

Pauli

01-09-2008, 06:29 PM

Wow... I really have to wonder how many more they will find that he has done. This may only be the beginning.

Grande

01-09-2008, 10:31 PM

Wow... I really have to wonder how many more they will find that he has done. This may only be the beginning.

As sad as it is to say, there are probably others.

Grande

01-09-2008, 10:39 PM

UPDATED: 9:33 p.m. January 09, 2008
Hilton 'prime suspect' in Fla. woman's death
Death penalty still an option in Emerson case, prosecutor says
By TIM EBERLY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Blairsville — Accused killer Gary Michael Hilton is facing the likelihood of prosecution on several fronts as authorities in Florida announced Wednesday they have linked him to the death of a Sunday School teacher there.

Hilton, in jail for allegedly kidnapping and killing Buford hiker Meredith Emerson last week, has emerged as the "prime suspect" in the slaying of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, 46, of Crawfordville, Fla.

Dunlap, a Sunday school teacher, was found dead in Apalachicola National Forest near Tallahassee on Dec. 15. A masked person suspected in Dunlap's murder used her ATM card on three separate occasions following her disappearance on Dec. 1.

Leon County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Rob Reisinger said during a Wednesday press conference that police can place Hilton in the area at the time of Dunlap's disappearance. Also, he said that a forestry agent encountered Hilton and wrote down his vehicle's tag number.

Hilton is accused of abducting and bludgeoning to death Emerson, 24, who disappeared while hiking with her dog in the North Georgia mountains on New Year's Day. He is charged with kidnapping with bodily injury in Union County, where Emerson disappeared in Vogel State Park. Hilton also faces a murder charge in Dawson County, where Emerson's body was found Monday and where police say she was killed.

Dawson County prosecutor Lee Darragh said Wednesday he is still mulling whether to seek the death penalty.

Hilton, 61, was denied bail on the murder charge Wednesday.

Hilton's court-appointed attorney, Rob McNeill, said he could not discuss the case's details, but said he met with Hilton for three hours Tuesday night at the Dawson County Detention Center.

Hilton was "very active and engaged," McNeill said. "He realizes the gravity of the situation."

At the hearing in Dawson County on Wednesday, Hilton was made aware of the murder charge against him. He did not enter a plea.

Hilton never spoke publicly but nodded when Chief Magistrate Judge Johnny Holtzclaw asked whether his date of birth was Nov. 22, 1946. Upon entering court from a side door, a handcuffed Hilton, wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding a pair of glasses, chatted softly with his attorney.

The hearing lasted five minutes. It did not appear that any Hilton family members were present.

None of Emerson's relatives attended, family spokeswoman Peggy Bailey said.

Through Bailey, Emerson's parents, Susan and Dave Emerson, told the AJC that Hilton was not worth "our time and energy."

"Our focus is on Meredith," said the couple in a statement given by Bailey.

The family was busy Wednesday preparing for Meredith's memorial service at 2 p.m. Friday at Central Presbyterian Church in Athens. Another memorial service is planned for sometime later in Emerson's hometown of Longmont, Colo., just outside Denver.

Bailey said talk of Hilton's hearing never came up.

"We had not even thought about it or discussed it," Bailey said. "With family, our priority is memorializing Meredith and celebrating her life. And that's been our focus."

Death penalty still in play

Darragh, district attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, which includes Dawson County, told reporters after Hilton's hearing that he planned to take the case to the grand jury in early March.

Darragh has also said he has not decided whether he'll seek the death penalty. Darragh said he was not a part of any deal made with Hilton to take execution off the table.

On Tuesday, Union County District Attorney Stan Gunter told The Associated Press authorities had agreed not to seek the ultimate punishment against Hilton if he led them to Emerson's body, which he did.

Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said the Union County DA's office discussed the deal with the Emerson family.

Steven Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights said reneging on the promise, even if it was made by another jurisdiction, would likely raise legal complications for prosecutors.

"I would think if an agent of the state made a representation that induced the defendant [to give up evidence], I would think he would be entitled to [getting] the bargain," Bright said. "We will have a hard time having a credible justice system if the representatives of the state promise people something and then are free to disregard it."

Jack Martin, an experienced Georgia death penalty defense attorney, said that going back on the deal could also mean losing the ability to use certain evidence against Hilton — including the location of the slaying and the body.

An autopsy performed by the GBI on Tuesday found Emerson suffered fatal injuries to the head before she was decapitated. The autopsy also revealed Emerson was alive for three days after she disappeared.

Emerson's body was handed over to a funeral home in Athens on Tuesday evening, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.

— Staff writers Rhonda Cook, Christian Boone and The Associated Press contributed to this article.

http://www.ajc.com/wireless/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/08/emerson_0109.html

Grande

01-10-2008, 11:25 AM

Fla. Investigators to Meet on Hilton
Web Editor: Julie Wolfe
Last Modified: 1/10/2008 8:09:11 AM

Florida investigators say the similarities between two murders are striking. Like Meredith Emerson, Cheryl Hodges Dunlap was abducted while hiking. She disappeared December 1 from Leon County, Fla.

Like Emerson, Dunlap's body was eventually discovered in a remote area. The man charged with Emerson's murder led investigators to her body in the Dawson Forest. Dunlap's body was discovered in the Apalachicola National Forest.

Florida investigators also say ATM cards from both women were used after their abductions.

"Because of that, we are now making Mr. Gary Hilton our main suspect," Maj. Mike Wood from the Leon County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday.

Leon County investigators say they can prove Gary Hilton was in the area when Dunlap was abducted and murdered.

A long list of witnesses, including a forest ranger, report seeing Hilton and his white van in Leon County in early December.

Maj. Wood says Florida crime scene technicians will meet with the GBI to compare evidence in the two murders.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109321&provider=top

Grande

01-11-2008, 11:29 AM

Gary Hilton Still Prime Murder Suspect
Posted: 8:46 AM Jan 11, 2008
Last Updated: 8:46 AM Jan 11, 2008

Leon County investigators now say a man, charged with killing a Georgia woman on New Year's Day, is their prime suspect in the murder of 46-year-old Cheryl Hodges Dunlap. Georgia authorities charged 61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton with the murder of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson.

Emerson was hiking in a nature preserve in northern Georgia when she disappeared. Police say Hilton led them to Emerson's body Monday night. She'd been killed by a blow to the head, then decapitated.

Cheryl Dunlap disappeared on December first near her home in Crawfordville, in Wakulla County.
Authorities found her mutilated body about 3-weeks later in the Apalachicola National Forest in Leon County.

Major Mike Wood of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office says they are now able to place Hilton in that area, around the time Dunlap was killed.

"He was encountered by law enforcement. It was a routine check by a forestry officer. He ran his tag, out in the national forest. There were no warrants that came back, there was nothing out of the way about the encounter. It was a routine encounter, pursuant to their responsibilities in the forest. But it was documented. Subsequent to the information about the homicide in Georgia, we've had a multitude of citizens to come forward that actually saw Gary Michael Hilton in the national forest in several locations as well.”

“Compared to the homicide of Ms. Emerson in Georgia, there was an abduction, homicide and subsequent use of an A-T-M card, those are obvious similarities to our case. That combined with Mr. Hilton's sighting in our county during the time span of Ms. Dunlap's disappearance, he is the primary focus of our investigation. You can word that however you choose, he's the primary focus, he's the primary suspect, he is the primary focus of our investigation at this juncture, until evidence proves otherwise."

Leon County authorities say they're comparing evidence and information with investigators in both Georgia and in North Carolina where a couple was murdered in October. That crime also has some of the same similarities with the killings in Georgia and here in the panhandle.

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/13705412.html

Grande

01-11-2008, 11:19 PM

UPDATED: 3:04 p.m. January 11, 2008
Hilton to be charged in Fla. murder, suspect in N.C.
Authorities say Hilton responsible for murder of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, whose body was found in Apalachicola National Forest on Dec. 1
By JEFFRY SCOTT, CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/11/08

Florida officials have enough evidence to charge Meredith Emerson's accused killer with a murder in that state, state attorney William Meggs told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday morning.

Gary Michael Hilton, 61, is being investigated in six murder cases, four of them which are known to have decapitation in common.

Other developments Friday, as Emerson, the 24-year-old Buford resident, was being memorialized at an Athens church:

• Transylvania (N.C.) County Sheriff David Mahoney told the AJC, "At this point, I'm willing to say he's a suspect" in the unsolved October disappearance John and Irene Bryant. Until now, North Carolina authorities only described Hilton as a "person of interest."

• Ormand Beach (Fla.) police confirmed they met with GBI officials on Thursday and are investigating Hilton for the gruesome killing of Michael Scot Louis, 27. His body was found decapitated and spread among three trash bags on Dec. 6 near Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach. Sgt. Doug Diamond said Ormand Beach police are processing DNA evidence from the body to see if it matches Hilton, a Florida native.

• Troup County authorities said they do not, at this time, consider Hilton a suspect in the dismemberment of an unidentified woman found in December outside of LaGrange. The woman's mutilated body was in five black plastic bags left along Stitcher Road near the Alabama line. Earlier this week, Capt. Mike Nixon said there were "obvious coincidences" to be inspected. But Friday, Troup County District Attorney Pete Skandalakis said, "At this point they are not looking at him."

Second case goes forward

Meanwhile, Meggs, the state attorney who presides over Florida's Leon County, said authorities are prepared to charge Hilton for the murder of 46-year-old Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, whose body was found Apalachicola National Forest on Dec. 15.

Around that same time, Hilton was seen in the Florida woods. U.S. Forest rangers reported spotting him there on Nov. 17 and Dec. 28. A hunter also reported seeing Hilton in Apalachicola National Forest on Dec. 7.

Hilton is in the custody of Dawson County and facing a murder charge in the death of Emerson, who went missing on New Year's Day in the North Georgia mountains.

If Hilton were still at large, Meggs said Friday, "I would probably get the warrant today, but since he is not a threat to public safety I am not putting together a sketchy arrest warrant because I don't need to."

Meggs said he had a conversation Thursday with Dawson County district attorney Lee Darragh, who charged Hilton with malice murder on Wednesday. Emerson's body was found in Dawson County on Monday night after Hilton led them to the site.

Hilton is awaiting indictment, which probably won't come until March, Darragh said.

Hilton's phone call

In another development, Forsyth County sheriff Ted Paxton confirmed Friday to the AJC that Hilton made a call to an old girlfriend from a pay phone at the QuikTrip outside of Cumming on the Friday investigators found bloody garments determined to be Emerson's.

"My understanding from the GBI is that he was asking her for money, and she told him 'No way,' " Paxton said. "He was wanted by every law enforcement agency in the state."

Paxton said he did not know the name of the girlfriend, but the call is what alerted Forsyth Sheriff's office investigators that Hilton had been at the QuikTrip, and prompted them to search the dumpster where they found her clothing and wallet and ID, which led to the charges against Hilton the next day.

Paxton also said Hilton is believed to have tried to use Emerson's Visa card at an ATM machine on New Year's night. She was last seen on a Georgia mountain trail, with Hilton, on New Year's Day, but she wasn't reported missing until the next day.

Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.

http://www.ajc.com/cherokee/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/11/missing_0112_web3.html

Pauli

01-11-2008, 11:33 PM

Unreal... I bet they are going to find more and more. I don't think he just started doing this.

Grande

01-11-2008, 11:50 PM

Unreal... I bet they are going to find more and more. I don't think he just started doing this.

I agree. There are a couple they are looking at now. I posted them in the Meredith Emerson thread.

Atleast we can take comfort in knowing they caught him.

RIP Cheryl Hodges Dunlap :1222423:

KittyMom

01-11-2008, 11:55 PM

Unreal... I bet they are going to find more and more. I don't think he just started doing this.

It is unreal. LE may never know just how many people he's murdered. I just don't see him talking. It would be nice for the elderly gentleman's family to known where his remains are.

This case has given me a whole new view of parks and wildlife areas. I always thought the dangers were from the wildlife...snakes, bears, cougars...never thought about two-legged monsters. :71526:

animallady

01-31-2008, 04:38 AM

I just checked in to see if there were any updates on the investigation. I had no idea that LE had linked Hilton to Ms. Dunlap's kidnapping and murder. Does anyone know the condition of Ms. Dunlap's body when it was found. Was it decapitated? These poor families!

I understand the Sheriff's position that he doesn't need to rush into anything, but I would like to see them move quickly. I do hope they have more evidence than that we know about. Well, they must. I'm assuming (never a good idea) that the PA will ask for the DP. If Hilton is the man, Ms. Dunlap's family deserves a speedy resolution of the legal process. It isn't only the trial, but it's also the waiting and waiting with one postponement after another that devastates the survivors. It's virtually impossible for the family members to even begin to heal until after the trial.

:1222423: For Cheryl, Her Sons, and All Who Loved Her

Grande

01-31-2008, 07:46 PM

KittyMom

02-01-2008, 12:05 AM

Hilton plead guilty and was sentenced to life today in GA. Hopefully, Fl will charge him ASAP.

animallady

02-01-2008, 06:02 AM

Thank you Grande, for answering my question. I understand. Asking was very hard. I even felt that it was disrespectful of me to ask. It does go a long way in explaining LE's initial interest in Hilton.

KittyMom,

Thanks for today's news about Hilton's plea in Meredith's case. I hope it gives her family some sense that justice has been done; and with that, peace of mind while they journey through the grieving process.

:1222423:

Pandabear

02-28-2008, 07:36 PM

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/02/28/hilton_0229.html?cxntnid=bn_2008-02-28_18_11_id531_e

Hilton charged with murder of Florida nurse
Man who pleaded guilty to murder of Meredith Emerson will face similar charges in Florida

Nut44x4

04-04-2008, 02:07 PM

Gary Hilton Indicted In Florida Woman's Murder

UPDATED: 7:41 am EDT March 24, 2008

LEON COUNTY, Fla. -- Florida authorities said the man who admitted to murdering 24-year-old Georgia hiker Meredith Emerson has now been indicted in the death of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap.

Hilton was indicted on first degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of theft late Thursday afternoon.

Dunlap disappeared December 1, 2007 and her body was found December 19, 2007 in the Apalachicola National Forest, southwest of Tallahassee. Sheriff's Major Mike Wood said in January that authorities confirmed that Gary Michael Hilton was in the area at the time of Dunlap's disappearance.

A state law enforcement source told WSB-TV that Dunlap also was decapitated, as was Emerson.

Leon County investigators named Hilton the prime suspect in Dunlap's murder in early February and recently brought two truck loads of evidence from Georgia to Tallahassee.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15442083/detail.html

sarahhod

12-14-2008, 04:15 PM

Co-workers of slain nurse Cheryl Dunlap remember her kind heart

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20081214/BREAKINGNEWS/81214015

By Nic Corbett • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER • December 14, 2008

Reminders of slain Crawfordville resident Cheryl Hodges Dunlap linger about Florida State University’s health center, where she worked as a nurse for about five months before her disappearance last year.

Although Dunlap, 46, didn’t work there very long, she made a deep impression on her co-workers.

“I think just knowing her makes you a better person,” said nurse Nancy Hedman, who would grab lunch on occasion with Dunlap from the nearby Pitaria restaurant. “She just was very into her faith, and I am into mine. So, we definitely shared a lot about our faith and lifted each other up in prayer and our kids up in prayer.”

The Thagard Student Health Center’s staff is holding a small, private memorial service in Dunlap’s honor Monday, a year from the date when her body was discovered in the Apalachicola National Forest. A drifter and suspected serial killer, Gary Michael Hilton, has been charged with her abduction and murder. The center commissioned an outdoor plaque that will be placed in an azalea garden outside the center, said director Lesley K. Sacher. The flowers were donated by employees.

Hedman described Dunlap as pure, someone who would never gossip or say ugly things about people. She was active at the River of Life church as a Sunday School teacher and mentor to young women. Dunlap left behind two adult sons, Michael and Jake Dunlap, and two young granddaughters.

At the Health Center, Dunlap was one of four full-time nurses, a close-knit group that sometimes felt like family. On the second floor of the center, a nurse on a weekly basis places fresh flowers in a vase next to a picture of Dunlap in a pink, glass diamond-studded frame.

“We work very closely together on a daily basis, and with her missing, it’s a huge void in all of us and has been,” Hedman said. “It’s just never been replaced. They never replaced her position.”

A receptionist, Renese Johnson, was helping another nurse reorganize the office this summer when they discovered a fitted mask in a plastic bag belonging to Dunlap.

“We both just looked at it,” Johnson said. “We’re going to run into stuff like this for a while. (The nurse) was like, ‘I just can’t get rid of it.’”

Hedman has had similar moments.

“A lot of times, we get a new patient in, and you just open up the chart and the last person was Cheryl that admitted them or gave them their last shot or whatever. Just seeing her name,” Hedman said, her voice trailing off.

After Dunlap disappeared Dec. 1, 2007, the staff members at the health center were a mess.

Hedman said she knew it wasn’t like Dunlap to just leave, but “in my Pollyanna mind, at first, I was hoping that she did find a nice man and took off, just went someplace.”

Johnson recalls Dunlap’s motherly concern for her when she came into work sick. Dunlap offered Johnson cough drops so Johnson could be better in time to sing in a church choir.

“I used to tell her all the time, ‘They taste terrible. They taste like tree bark,’” Johnson said. “And she’d be like, ‘Hey, they’re going to make you feel better. I bet you, after you eat them, you’ll be able to sing tonight.’ And then the next day, I would come back, and I’d be like, ‘You’re right. I was.’ She’d be like, ‘See? Just listen to me. I’m older than you.’”

It hasn’t been easy for the staff to deal with the pain of knowing Dunlap was brutally murdered.

“It’s bad enough she died. It’s just the way she died,” nurse Connie Bruce said.
Hedman said she doesn’t let her mind go in that direction.

“The one thing I do appreciate is that none of the details have come out,” Hedman said. “I don’t want to know any of the details. It would make it a lot harder. And I know that people feel like they have the right to know all this stuff, but --”

Johnson chimed in: “There are some things you shouldn’t know.”

Like others in the community, the staff members said they were fearful not knowing who her killer was. They were afraid to go out at night alone. About 500 women went through a safety course at the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office. About 175 women went through a similar course provided by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

In the six months after Dunlap’s abduction, applications for concealed weapons permits from Wakulla County residents increased by about 100 compared to the previous six months, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Hedman said she believes Dunlap wouldn’t want the 62-year-old Hilton, who is awaiting trial in the Leon County Jail, to get the death penalty.

“She was very much into forgiveness,” Hedman said. “I truly believe she has forgiven him, so who are we to make that decision for her? ... Hopefully, God will take him before the trial does. He’s an old man.”

annalyzer

12-14-2008, 04:19 PM

Thanks for the update, Sarah.

sarahhod

12-14-2008, 05:14 PM

Your most welcome Anna.

I wonder how many more victims there are of Hilton's that have yet to be discovered?

packy

12-14-2008, 06:22 PM

I wonder too, Sarah. He did get around. So sick and so sad.

Thanks for the updates.

KittyMom

12-14-2008, 11:04 PM

Your most welcome Anna.

I wonder how many more victims there are of Hilton's that have yet to be discovered?

I have a feeling that there are many. Maybe one day he'll confess. Otherwise, I just don't think we'll ever know for sure.

sarahhod

01-31-2009, 05:15 PM

Updated: New court documents detail investigators' efforts to find Cheryl Dunlap's killer

By Nic Corbett and Jennifer Portman • Democrat staff writers • January 31, 2009

Updated 1:18 p.m.

Recently released documents show the earnest but futile efforts of law-enforcement officers who investigated Cheryl Dunlap’s disappearance and brutal slaying.

Tips investigators received were all over the place. A heated conversation Dunlap had on the cell phone at work had new significance. Her relationship with her ex-husband -- and a new romantic interest -- were prodded. A boss acting strangely was reason enough to call the police.
A girlfriend was suspicious of her boyfriend’s facial creme, which resembled when hardened the mask of the unknown man who used Dunlap’s ATM card. A Florida State student came under suspicion for having a mask from the 2007 movie “Halloween.”

With no solid leads to follow, officers were led every which way.

The 380-page stack of heavily redacted documents was released late Thursday afternoon after a six-months-long legal battle to open records in the case. More is expected to be released later. The Tallahassee Democrat and WCTV filed motions to open the records to the public in July. But prosecutors and defense attorneys urged Leon Circuit Judge Terry Lewis to keep them sealed, fearing the release of evidence could make it difficult to pick an unbiased jury in Leon County. Lewis took a middle road, closing the evidence temporarily.

The documents hint at Dunlap’s whereabouts the day she disappeared. She did make it to a library to use the Internet, records show. She talked about getting together with a friend that Saturday night, but when she didn’t call later, the friend was unconcerned, thinking something must’ve come up. Friends were worried the next day -- Dec. 2, 2007 -- when Dunlap didn’t show up to teach her Sunday school class at the River of Life church.

She’d call, friends say, if she were going to be a minute late.

A friend reported her missing when she didn’t report to work Monday at Florida State University’s Thagard Student Health Center.

Deputies soon found her 2006 white Toyota abandoned with a flat tire on the south shoulder of U.S. 319 just inside the Leon County line, near Leon Sinks. They discovered a 1.5-inch-wide puncture in the right rear tire, but it’s not clear from the report if it was an accident or an act of vandalism. No prints were lifted from the car, which was covered with rain.

Motorists reported seeing a woman resembling Dunlap and one or two other people near her car and a black Dodge Ram pickup, but the sightings are not consistent. One friend, asked about how Dunlap would react if her car broke down, said Dunlap would have tried to change the tire herself or call friends for help. She’d never get in a car with a stranger.

Deputies went to her Crawfordville home and forced their way in to see if she was inside. Instead, they found her small chihuahua alone. Those who knew her said she would never go anywhere without the dog. Although she was a nurse, Dunlap lived in an apartment that appeared to have been converted from a storage shed with a tin roof.

Deputies were given one of their strongest leads Dec. 4 that Dunlap’s debit card had been used about 7 a.m. at the Hancock Bank ATM on West Tennessee Street and the previous two days by a man wearing a mask, according to a bank surveillance tape. Investigators spent hours that evening staked out in the parking lot and questioned a couple in a tow truck.

But there was no sign of the man.

Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission flew a helicopter over Leon Sinks that day.

Days went by where investigators talked to friends and fielded reports from the public. Someone reported seeing her Saturday morning at the Wal-Mart in Crawfordville. Another tipster said she was at the Target store on Apalachee Parkway in Tallahassee. Law enforcement reviewed surveillance videos but were unable to confirm the tips.

By the ninth day of searching, investigators were following up on any leads. One officer received information that Dunlap had been seen at Leon Sinks reading a book by V.C. Andrews. A detective checked bookstores in Tallahassee, including the Borders on Apalachee Parkway, to see if she had purchased books there.

As leads dwindled, investigators put the call out for the public’s help identifying the unknown man in the bank surveillance tape and the owner of the black Dodge truck. Later, they asked citizens to help find a camouflage-wrapped Nissan Altima also seen in the video. Deputies received a barrage of tips, but the reports indicate neither truck turned up.

A glimmer of hope emerged when a Greyhound bus station employee reported he spoke with a woman Dec. 12 whom he thought resembled Dunlap. The woman had bought a round-trip ticket to Gainesville.

But Dunlap’s body was found Dec. 15 partially covered with palmetto leaves and branches by hunters in the Apalachicola National Forest. They had noticed buzzards after turning onto Forest Service Road 381-E. A report from a U.S. Forest Service employee indicates buzzards were seen flying low over the forest as early as Dec. 7.

It wasn’t until another woman went missing in the Georgia woods on New Year’s Day that investigators fingered Gary Michael Hilton as Dunlap’s killer.

Communicating with Georgia investigators about Jan. 7, local law enforcement noticed similarities between Dunlap’s case and that of 24-year-old hiker Meredith Emerson, according to reports. Hilton was indicted by a Leon County grand jury in February on a charge of first-degree murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

New leads rolled in, after the connection to Emerson was made, about sightings of a tall, thin man who lived out of a white Chevrolet Astro van and had a reddish-colored dog.

A Leon sheriff’s deputy had followed up on a tip Dec. 26 that a man matching Hilton’s description had been seen in the forest west of Joe Thomas Road, but after more than an hour searching, the deputy found nothing. Two days later, Hilton was some 150 miles away in the Osceola National Forest, where he received a ticket from a ranger for having an expired license plate.

Reports show law enforcement believe Hilton had been living in the Leon County area for sometime. Federal officers reported seeing Hilton in the Apalachicola National Forest before Dunlap went missing.

On Nov. 16, a man now thought to be Hilton was seen with a dog walking west on Forest Service Road 324, hiking in a two-piece jogging suit and a tan hat with a large bill and flaps on the sides and back. He used poles to propel himself along like he was speed walking. One officer spoke with him about camping regulations. Another officer advised the man “to be safe because people were driving very fast on the road.”

On Nov. 17, a federal officer discovered Hilton west of Forest Service Road 217. Hilton said he liked to go long-distance hiking and that “if you come to a (Wildlife Management Area) that you would get patted down.” The officer ran Hilton’s driver’s license and then let him go on a warning about driving on closed roads and camping in an unauthorized place.

Investigators learned Hilton was seen Dec. 10 using a pay phone at Glenda’s Country Store, 525 Crawfordville Highway.

A woman reported seeing someone who resembled Hilton at the store at some point. She said they talked about the organized search for Dunlap around Leon Sinks. She told investigators she didn’t think anything of it -- she assumed the man was assisting in the search. She later saw him as she and her aunt were searching for Dunlap a quarter-mile east of Forest Service Road 381 E. They thought he was hunting.

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090131/BREAKINGNEWS/90130022

sarahhod

01-31-2009, 05:17 PM

Gary Hilton case pretrial evidence (http://www.tallahassee.com/assets/pdf/CD127502130.PDF)

sarahhod

02-01-2009, 07:40 AM

Wild tips tangled Dunlap case

By Nic Corbett and Jennifer Portman • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITERS • February 1, 2009

Recently released documents show the earnest but futile efforts of law-enforcement officers who investigated Cheryl Dunlap's disappearance and brutal slaying.
Tips investigators received were all over the place. A heated conversation Dunlap had on the cell phone at work had new significance. Her relationship with her ex-husband — and a new romantic interest — were prodded. A boss acting strangely was reason enough to call the police.
A girlfriend was suspicious of her boyfriend's facial creme, which resembled the mask of the unknown man who used Dunlap's ATM card. A Florida State student came under suspicion for having a mask from the movie "Halloween."
With no solid leads to follow, officers were led every which way.
The 380-page stack of heavily redacted documents was released Thursday, and more is expected to be released later. The Tallahassee Democrat and WCTV filed motions to open the records to the public in July. But prosecutors and defense attorneys urged Leon Circuit Judge Terry Lewis to keep them sealed, fearing their release would make it hard to pick an unbiased jury in Leon County. Lewis took a middle road, closing the evidence temporarily.
The documents hint at Dunlap's whereabouts the day she disappeared. She did make it to a library to use the Internet, records show. She talked about getting together with a friend that Saturday night, but when she didn't call later, the friend was unconcerned, thinking something must've come up. Friends were worried the next day — Dec. 2, 2007 — when Dunlap didn't show up to teach her Sunday school class at the River of Life church.
She'd call, friends said, if she were going to be a minute late.
A friend reported her missing when she didn't report to work Dec. 3, 2007, at Florida State University's Thagard Student Health Center.
Deputies soon found her 2006 white Toyota abandoned with a flat tire on U.S. Highway 319 just inside the Leon County line. They discovered a puncture in a rear tire, but it's not clear whether that was an accident or an act of vandalism. No prints were lifted from the car, which was covered with rain.
Motorists reported seeing a woman resembling Dunlap and one or two other people near her car and a black Dodge Ram pickup, but the sightings are not consistent. One friend said Dunlap would have tried to change the tire herself or call friends for help. She'd never get in a car with a stranger.
Deputies went to her Crawfordville home and forced their way in to see if she was inside. Instead, they found her small chihuahua alone. Those who knew her said she would never go anywhere for an extended period without the dog.
Deputies were given one of their strongest leads Dec. 4, 2007: Dunlap's debit card had been used about 7 a.m. at the Hancock Bank ATM on West Tennessee Street and the previous two days by a man wearing a mask, according to a bank surveillance tape. Investigators spent hours that evening staked out in the parking lot and questioned a couple in a tow truck. But there was no sign of the man.
State wildlife officers flew a helicopter over Leon Sinks that day.
Investigators talked to friends and fielded reports from the public for days. Someone reported seeing her Saturday morning at the Wal-Mart in Crawfordville. Another tipster said she was at the Target store on Apalachee Parkway. Law enforcement reviewed surveillance videos but were unable to confirm the tips.
By the ninth day of searching, investigators were following up on leads. One officer received information that Dunlap had been seen at Leon Sinks reading a book by V.C. Andrews. A detective checked bookstores in Tallahassee, including the Borders on Apalachee Parkway, to see whether she had purchased books there.
As leads dwindled, investigators put the call out for the public's help identifying the man in the bank-surveillance tape and the owner of the black truck. Later, they asked citizens to help find a camouflage-wrapped truck also seen in the video. Deputies received a barrage of tips, but the reports indicate neither truck was found.
A glimmer of hope emerged when a Greyhound bus station employee reported he spoke with a woman Dec. 12, 2007, who he thought resembled Dunlap. The woman had bought a round-trip ticket to Gainesville.
On Dec. 15, 2007, hunters in the Apalachicola National Forest found Dunlap's body partially covered with palmetto leaves and branches. They had noticed buzzards after turning onto Forest Service Road 381-E.
A report from a U.S. Forest Service employee indicates buzzards were seen flying low over the forest as early as Dec. 7, 2007.
It wasn't until another woman went missing in the Georgia woods on New Year's Day that investigators fingered Gary Michael Hilton as Dunlap's killer. Communicating with Georgia investigators about Jan. 7, 2008, local law enforcement noticed similarities between Dunlap's case and that of 24-year-old hiker Meredith Emerson, according to reports. Hilton was indicted by a Leon County grand jury in February on a charge of first-degree murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
After the connection to Emerson was made, new leads rolled in about sightings of a tall, thin man who lived out of a white Chevrolet Astro van and had a reddish-colored dog.
A Leon sheriff's deputy had followed up on a tip Dec. 26, 2007, that a man matching Hilton's description had been seen in the forest, but after more than an hour searching, the deputy found nothing. Two days later, Hilton was some 150 miles away in the Osceola National Forest, where he received a ticket from a ranger for having an expired license plate.
Reports show law enforcement thinks Hilton had been living in the Leon County area for sometime. Federal officers reported seeing Hilton in the Apalachicola National Forest before Dunlap went missing.
On Nov. 16, 2007, a man now thought to be Hilton was seen with a dog walking west on a forest road, hiking in a two-piece jogging suit and a tan hat with a large bill and flaps on the sides and back. Two officers spoke with him about safety and camping regulations.
The next day, a federal officer discovered Hilton west of a forest road. Hilton said he liked to go long-distance hiking and that "if you come to a (Wildlife Management Area) that you would get patted down." The officer ran Hilton's driver's license and then let him go on a warning about driving on closed roads and camping in an unauthorized place.
Investigators learned Hilton was seen Dec. 10, 2007, using a pay phone at Glenda's Country Store, 525 Crawfordville Highway.
A woman reported seeing someone who resembled Hilton at the store. She said they talked about the organized search for Dunlap around Leon Sinks. She told investigators she didn't think anything of it — she assumed the man was assisting in the search. She later saw him as she and her aunt were searching for Dunlap a quarter-mile east of Forest Service Road 381 E. They thought he was hunting.

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090201/NEWS01/902010335/1010

sarahhod

06-18-2009, 09:55 AM

Serial killer experts target Hilton case

By Christian Boone (cboone@ajc.com), Rhonda Cook (%20rcook@ajc.com)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/02/08

Guilty of one murder, charged with another and linked to two more slayings, Gary Michael Hilton (http://g.ajc.com/r/DY/) appears poised for infamy.
While he doesn't yet qualify as a "serial killer," the Atlanta-born transient captured the attention of FBI profilers within a week of his arrest in the decapitation of Buford hiker Meredith Emerson (http://g.ajc.com/r/DY/). They traveled from their headquarters in Quantico, Va., to observe Hilton during questioning and again when he pleaded guilty Jan. 31 to the murder of Emerson, whom he abducted from Blood Mountain in North Georgia on New Year's Day.
If the evidence against Hilton —- he was charged Thursday in the decapitation of Crawfordville, Fla., nurse Cheryl Dunlap —- leads to more convictions, their research has only just begun.
In anonymity, Hilton, 61, existed on the margins, drifting through a series of failed relationships, odd jobs and shiftless scams. The Army veteran never adapted to civilian life, often retreating to his van in the woods.
No longer anonymous, Hilton remains an enigma. His advanced age breaks the profiler mold, as serial murderers typically begin killing between 25 and 35 years of age, experts agree.
"This guy didn't just fall off the turnip truck and start doing this," retired FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt said.
Criminologist Eric Hickey, director of forensic studies at Alliant International University in Fresno, Calif., said he expects Hilton's predatory behavior began well before October 2007, when the erstwhile subcontractor is alleged to have abducted and killed avid hikers John and Irene Bryant. Transylvania (N.C.) County Sheriff David Mahoney said there is "no question" Hilton was responsible for the elderly couple's deaths.
"It's almost unprecedented to see someone go from zero to what he did," Hickey said. "I'd suspect he could be linked to several other crimes."
Officials in Pickens County, S.C., are waiting until North Carolina completes its investigation of Hilton before pursuing him as a possible suspect in the abduction of Clemson University student Jason Knapp, last seen on Easter 10 years ago. Investigators said Knapp's fingerprints were on a ticket admitting him to Table Rock State Park.
Noel Talley, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Justice, confirmed Hilton is a suspect in Rossana Miliani's disappearance but declined to offer more details. Miliani was last seen Dec. 7, 2005, near Bryson City, N.C. Some said she was with a white man in his 60s, and the young woman appeared nervous.
Beyond his age, Hilton fits many of the characteristics shared by serial killers. Renowned criminologist Steven Egger's criteria include no relationship to the victim and a minimum of two killings, though some experts say three killings are a better indicator.
The slayings typically occur at different locales —- Hilton is linked to crimes in three states so far —- though the victims often share characteristics such as gender or age. The motivation is not financial, Egger said, though Hilton told the GBI that's why he killed Emerson.
"Money was a secondary issue," Hickey said. "This was about power. When you consider his comfort in the woods, that is where he felt most powerful, and that's why he killed them where he did."
Why he killed is the greater mystery.
At about the same time the Bryants were killed, Hilton's life was changing dramatically. In September, his longtime employer, John Tabor, succumbed to Hilton's demands for $2,500.
Hilton's behavior had become increasingly erratic, Tabor said, and he paid him off in hopes of severing their already fractured relationship.
"This is systemic behavior with most of these guys," Hickey said. "He feels like the world is against him. There's issues of rejection, abandonment. Killing becomes his focus."
But Hilton got sloppy, especially in disposing of clues linking him to Emerson's death. He was arrested at a Chamblee gas station and convenience store near a busy intersection after being spotted dumping loads of sleeping bags, backpacks, bedrolls and blankets into a Dumpster.
"Narcissism is not uncommon for such anti-social personality disorders," said Joe Davis, a veteran profiler and forensic psychologist based out of San Diego. "He likes the attention he's getting."
While all four of the bodies Hilton could be connected with were left in dense forests, they were still somewhat conspicuous.
Hilton led authorities to Emerson's body on the condition they not seek the death penalty. Hunters in Florida and North Carolina, respectively, discovered Dunlap's and Bryant's corpses mere yards from unpaved hunting trails.
"I suspect he wanted them to be found," Hickey said. "He wants to be heard. He wants to frighten people. He wants to show his power.
"To him, it's really about having a voice."
—————
Gary Michael Hilton (http://g.ajc.com/r/DY/) may be among the oldest suspected serial killers, but he's not the oldest. Missouri grandparents Ray and Faye Copeland were in their 70s when they killed five transient farmhands in the late 1980s, burying the bodies in shallow graves around their property. The victims' clothing was used to fashion a handmade quilt discovered by police. The couple was sentenced to death, though each died before their execution dates.
—————
THE STORY SO FAR
> Previously: Gary Michael Hilton (http://g.ajc.com/r/DY/) pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison Jan. 31 for murdering Meredith Emerson (http://g.ajc.com/r/DY/), a Buford woman he met hiking in the Georgia mountains. Hilton is being assessed for a permanent prison assignment.
> The latest: Leon County, Fla., prosecutors charged Hilton with killing Cheryl Dunlap, a 46-year-old nurse and Sunday schoolteacher, in December in Florida.
> What's next: Local, state and federal law enforcement officers are investigating him in connection with the killings of hikers Irene Bryant, 84, and John Bryant, 79, of North Carolina. They disappeared in October.

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/...iler03021.html (http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/03/02/profiler03021.html)