DAWSONVILLE, Ga. -- A waitress at a Huddle House in Pickens County says murder suspect Gary Michael Hilton stopped there just hours before authorities released his photograph.

Waitress Amanda Peacock -- who lives in Ball Ground -- tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Hilton was agitated and kept asking to use a pay telephone Thursday. She says he was told the restaurant had no pay phone and was allowed to use the restaurant's phone.

A few hours later, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents arrived at the restaurant with photographs of Hilton, asking whether he had been there. Authorities believe within 24 hours, hiker Meredith Emerson was killed by the 61-year-old Hilton. Authorities found her body Monday night in Dawson County -- about 10 miles from the restaurant.

"It kills me to know that," Peacock told the Journal-Constitution. "If we knew what he looked like before that, we could've saved her."

Peacock says Hilton left the restaurant about 5:05 p.m. and thanked her for the use of the phone on his way out. She says he told her "I just got my job back. That phone call helped me out a lot."

Authorities say an autopsy showed that the 24-year-old hiker was alive for three days after she was kidnapped on a hiking trail in north Georgia on New Year's Day. She was decapitated.

Hilton was held without bond yesterday in Dawson County on a charge of murder in Emerson's death. Authorities say he is now the prime suspect in a similar killing in Florida.

Memorial Service For Emerson

The memorial service for Meredith Emerson will be open to the public.

Friends and family will gather at Central Presbyterian Church in Athens Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. Emerson's godparents are members of that church.

Reverand Bob Bohler said they're preparing for a large crowd because so many people loved Meredith. "One of the things we'll do is remember Meredith. We'll talk about things in her we remember that were wonderful and cherished by so many people," said Bohler.

Bohler said Emerson will be cremated. Her parents are also planning a smaller service in Colorado.

Acquaintances: Suspect In Hiker Case Showed An Unsettling Side

There were two sides to Gary Michael Hilton, the man accused of kidnapping and killing a 24-year-old hiker in the north Georgia woods.

To some hikers and joggers who he met in parks, he was talkative, lively and even rather engaging, if strange. To others, he was a loner who seemed to have a dangerous dark side.

His former boss, John Tabor, says "It just depended on what day it was."

Little is known about the wiry 61-year-old charged with the murder of Meredith Emerson, who was bludgeoned to death three days after she disappeared during a New Year's Day hike. Florida authorities also say he is a prime suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found last month in a national forest there.

Hilton had no neighbors and no fixed address, living most recently in a white van that roamed north Georgia. A few details about the man are emerging from court hearings, government records and parkgoers who saw him regularly.

Hilton has said little at the court hearings. He was heard telling court appointed defense attorney Neil A. Smith he finished two years of college. Public records shed more light on his life.

According to state records, Hilton was married -- and divorced -- twice between 1977 and 1979. Court documents also show he has a criminal record that includes drug and theft charges in metro Atlanta.

Tabor says that around 1997, Hilton answered a help wanted ad for Insulated Wall Systems. Tabor, the company's owner, says that for the next 10 years Hilton worked "on and off" to help the suburban Atlanta siding company market its services.

His last listed address was a midtown Atlanta apartment building in 1999. Since then, he appears to have drifted from place to place, moving frequently.