CLEVELAND, Ga. -- The search got underway Thursday for 80-year-old John Bryant. Officials said they do not believe they will find Bryant alive but are hoping for evidence in the growing case against accused killer Gary Michael Hilton.

Law authorities plan to search in northeast Georgia for any sign of a missing North Carolina man who is presumed dead in a case that has been linked to Hilton.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead says local, state and federal oficials will search Thursday and Friday in an area that includes Towns and Union counties for the body of 80-year-old John Bryant.

He and his wife, 84-year-old Irene Bryant went missing in October after setting out for a hike in western North Carolina.

Irene Bryant was later found dead from multiple blows to her head. North Carolina authorities have said there is a "positive link" between Hilton and her death.

Bankhead says numerous sources have said Hilton was in northeast Georgia in late October.

Hilton, 61, has been charged in the beating death and decapitation of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson, whose body police found Jan. 7 in a Georgia state forest with Hilton's help.

Authorities also are looking at whether Hilton was involved in two murders in Florida.