ASHEVILLE, NC—Gary Michael Hilton entered a guilty plea today in U.S. District Court for the murders of John D. Bryant and Irene W. Bryant, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Hilton also pled guilty to robbery, kidnapping, and firearms offenses in connection with the October 2007 murders of the elderly victims.
In June 2011, a federal grand jury returned a five-count criminal indictment charging Hilton, 65, with the October 2007 kidnapping, robbery, and murder of John and Irene Bryant on national forest lands. According to the plea agreement, Hilton admitted to killing John Bryant within the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County, North Carolina using a firearm. Hilton also admitted to killing John Bryant’s spouse, Irene Bryant, within the Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County, North Carolina. Hilton’s plea agreement provides that he will receive a sentence of life in prison without any possibility for parole for his crimes.
http://www.fbi.gov/charlotte/press-r...murder-charges