News

Hulu series focuses on murder of Horse Shoe retirees

By Lightning Reports, Published: November 28, 2023

An ABC News-produced documentary series that focuses on the murder of a retired Hendersonville couple in 2007 airs on a streaming service this week.

The docuseries focuses on the murders of Jack and Irene Bryant, who crossed paths with serial killer Gary Michael Hilton while on a hike in Pisgah National Forest in the fall of 2007, and on the murders of two young women who were also hiking in the wilderness when Hilton stalked and killed them.
Told from the point of view of the investigators working to solve the case in real time, the story features footage of Hilton’s confession and interviews with those close to the victims, the website The Wrap reported. Hulu premieres Season 3 of “Wild Crime: Blood Mountain” on its streaming service on Thursday.
The Bryants, who retired to the Tamarac subdivision in Horse Shoe, were beloved for their kindness and generosity.
"They were the best neighbors you could ever want," Matt Matteson, the Lightning’s Ask Matt columnist and the couple's across-the-street neighbor, told an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter in June 2011. "They were self-effacing and gracious. They liked the theater and music, and if they had tickets to a show they couldn't attend, they'd call and offer them to us."
In 2012 Hilton pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the October 2007 kidnapping, robbery and murder of Jack Bryant, 79, and Irene Bryant, 84, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. By that time, he had already been sentenced to death for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap near Tallahassee, Florida. Hilton also received a life sentence for the murder in 2008 of Meredith Emerson in Northern Georgia.