absolutely not. he apparently had no idea. he apologized at length for his past behavior and on the terms of which he left, he said that he was ill and that now he felt better and he realizeed the errors of his ways and he was ready to get back to work. start elled but thinking past, tabor tried to lure hilton to an agreed-upon location with the promise of money. i was trying to play it cool, like i didn t know anything about what was going on. i told him that i would give him a check for $800. we discussed a place to leave the check. were you baiting that place he knew to come and show up? it was certainly my objective to get him to a place where authorities could apprehend him. the trap was set at a building owned by tabor where hilton had lived for a while. the s.w.a.t. team was dispatched. would hilton fall for the pick up some money ruse? and what about the missing woman? in your gut, did you think meredith was still alive? meredith s name was meredith hope emerson
pliers and removed some of his teeth. he said he enjoyed doing that because it frightened people. he seemed to enjoy showing himself in that matter, that ghoulish presentation? yes. he was very animated, very talkative. tabor fired hilton who then turned around and claimed tabor owed him money. by mid-summer 2007, the siding guy said he feared for his safety. he finally threatened to kill me. he made it very clear. tabor took those threats seriously. i immediately armed myself with a glock 9 millimeter and an ar-15 assault rifle. started driving a rental car so he wouldn t know what car i was in. he was your boogieman. absolutely. to not know what was happening, somebody maybe assassinate you. when the former boss went to the police with his story, it seemed to do the trick. within a day or two, he had packed p up all of his belongings and moved on. put all of his stuff in the van and took off. yes. john tabor was relieved to see hilton in his rear-view mirror
good morning, ladies and gentlemen. robert freedman was the defense s lead attorney in the penalty phase. his strategy was to portray hilton as so mentally damaged to be incapable of responsibility for his actions. freedman began with a pet scan expert who testified about traumatic brain injury he had suffered as a 10-year-old. he was taken to st. joseph s hospital in tampa and given 200 stitches. and this is an example of the murphy bed. and jurors that s not all the defense s expert continued. hilton was abused as a child and he he lashed out as a teenager. a defense neuropsychologist tested hilton who it it turns out is as bright as he thinks he is.
he fancies himself a survivalist. well, anyone can see he s a scared little man on the run. the state honored the deal it made with the killer. no death penalty and he was sentenced to life in prison. hilton admitted nothing beyond the emerson murder. this is it the first time you ve ever done anything like this? i ll let my attorney answer. by now, investigators from half a dozen southeastern states as well as fbi profilers were rummaging through hilton s past. by the time he was captured, he wasn t much more than a vagrant in a van, but his past was more complex. as an army veteran, hilton had earned an associate degree, gotten a private pilot license on the gi bill and been married three times before the wheels apparently came off. true crime author fred rosen has written 25 books. his latest is trails of death about hilton. to underestimate him is foolish.
once we had the description, we had tons of witnesses coming forward. and investigators had those home videos of hilton to screen as well. last time it was suwannee that was out here. i don t think so. watching the videos was very educational because i saw him by himself. i saw him with other people. people like this restaurant manager suffering a rant from hilton about his delivery drivers. you tell these guys to quit terror driving. has he received any it driving safety education? sure he has. i saw him with law enforcement. he had many different sides. i m leaving. i m getting out of here.