Investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations announced on January 7, 2008 that residents had reported seeing Hilton's van in the Dawson Forest Management Area, and teams had focused their search there. Then, authorities say, Hilton directed them to Meredith's body. She was found about 7:30 p.m.

Local and federal agencies from North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia are now meeting to discuss if there could be a connection between Meredith's case and others, including that of an elderly couple who went missing while hiking in North Carolina.

Searchers found Irene Bryant's body near a trail three weeks after the couple went hiking, and an autopsy showed she had been killed by a blow to her head. Detectives then learned someone wearing a yellow windbreaker used the Bryants' ATM card at a Tennessee bank 130 miles away. Irene's husband, John, is still missing.