Burglar Used A.T. for Getaway But Got Caught Anyway

It's an article titled "Burglaries on the Decline in the United States" by Laura Sullivan on the National Public Radio web site that says it was broadcast on the evening news show 'All Things Considered' on 11 March 2008. In it, the reporter says

"Two years ago, Steve Southworth, a private police investigator for the Wintergreen Resort in central Virginia, spent six months tracking the movements of a burglar who traveled along the Appalachian trail.

"'He came in off the trail, which runs really close to Wintergreen. In the course of two days, [he] ended up breaking into four homes,' Southworth says.

"Southworth says he stayed in constant contact with the burglar's family and intercepted an e-mail he sent. 'Through some things that were said on the Internet, we were able to zero in on him a little closer,' he says.

"Southworth ended up catching him in Macon, Ga."

Okay, then, who says there's no such thing as bad publicity?

High Adventure - Low Risk - Make Your Choices

The Times of Trenton (NJ) has a 22 January 2008 article by N.J. DeVico titled "Despite isolated tragedy, lone hikers have little to fear on the trail." Actually, it's more of a personal opinion piece.

She writes that a friend sent her an article about Meredith Emerson's murder "in case you went back on the trail. Do you want to do something that has very low risk but a very high cost if it happened?"

DeVico writes

"I hiked 1,500 miles of the AT and was alone most of the time be cause I was so slow that I couldn't keep up with anyone. I didn't always make it to a shelter before dark or before I was exhausted, so I just set up camp when I found a flat spot. I was alone many nights.

"Was I scared? The first time I did it, yes. Maybe spooked is a better word. It's dark out there. But I was more concerned with bears than people."

She also includes some safety words of wisdom from Laurie Potteiger at ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry.

Meredith Emerson Memorial

Jessica Jordan's article in the Gainesville (GA) Times of 21 January 2008 is titled "Hikers honor murder victim Meredith Emerson." It describes the memorial gathering for Emerson by "roughly 150 hikers ... and about 50 dogs" in Meeks Park in Blairsville on the 20th -- relocated from Blood Mountain both because of the icy roads and because of the large number of people.

"A photo of Emerson and Ella was posted above a memorial stone placed near the covered bridge at Meeks Park. The stone read, 'Remember Meredith Emerson: She hiked the path of life with Ella, love and wonder.'"

Tribute to Jack and Irene Bryant

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of 16 January 2008 contains a long, loving tribute article for Irene and John "Jack" Bryant, written by Mike Williams. Both hikers for years, Irene was murdered and Jack is presumed to have been murdered while on a trail near their North Carolina home in October.

"...the Bryants apparently crossed paths with Gary Michael Hilton. Police suspect the 61-year-old drifter encountered them just 20 miles from their home after the Bryants drove out for a hike in Pisgah National Forest at the peak of the fall color season in October. ...

"Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney says Hilton is a suspect in Irene Bryant's death and Jack Bryant's disappearance, and has scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference today concerning the case. 'I think it will say what everybody's been thinking we're going to say,' Mahoney said. 'He is the suspect.'

"The Atlanta-area suspect, described by many as eccentric and mean-spirited, has been charged with the decapitation killing of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson, who went hiking in the North Georgia mountains on New Year's Day. He also is a suspect in the murder of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, 46, whose body was found in Florida's Apalachicola National Forest on Dec. 15."

Most of the article describes the Bryants and their family and really nice people, "as remarkably generous, adventurous, engaging and unpretentious." Folks you wish you had been able to meet. Jack had section-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail over a period of years.

Darrell Rice References in Charlottesville

Charlottesville, Virginia's "The Hook" of 14 January 2008 has an article by Hawes Spencer titled "Rice might have to keep the GPS". It describes life for recently-released Darrell David Rice on probation.

And it brings up a sad memory for some Appalachian Trail friends. To wit,

"If some Kent Islanders find Rice abhorrent, his new website portrays a family man who goes on outings smiling with friends and family, including children. It’s a far different portrayal from the one offered in 2002 by then-attorney general John Ashcroft when the nation’s top crime-buster accused Rice of capital murder, the “hate crime” killing of two gay women at their campsite near the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park six years earlier.

"The government’s case against Rice collapsed, however, as no physical evidence could be produced tying him to the crime. And the supposed anti-gay statements recorded by a jailhouse snitch? They turned out, on further analysis, not to be anti-gay statements at all.

"In recent days, pressure has begun mounting to reopen the case of the slain hikers for further DNA testing against known serial killers such as Richard Marc Evonitz, who, in 1996 and 1997, killed three girls in Spotsylvania County. And in just the past few days, a 61-year-old man named Gary M. Hilton has been suggested as the perpetrator of multiple Appalachian Trail and other murders in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina."

See a related article for more background.