Hundreds mourn former Coloradan slain in Dawson Co.

BOULDER, Colo. - Meredith Emerson once told her mother she was worried she wasn't doing enough to have an impact on the world, her mother said Friday at a memorial for her daughter in Boulder, Colorado.

Looking out at 200 friends and family at a memorial service, Susan Emerson of Longmont, Colo., reflected on all the lives her daughter had touched.

Mourners remembered Meredith Hope Emerson, 24, as a beautiful, witty, clever woman with a contagious laugh.

Emerson was kidnapped while she was taking a New Year's Day hike in the northeast Georgia mountains in Union County with her dog, Ella, authorities say. Police found her body Jan. 7 in Dawson County with the help of a drifter charged in Emerson's beating death and decapitation.

Her friend Laura Lewis and Amy Sorensen recalled decorating cookies with her just this past Christmas.

"She truly was a portrait of someone who was going to make a difference," Sorensen said.

A slide show of Emerson through the years showed her with her parents and her younger brother, posing with the University of Georgia bulldog, in her soccer uniform as a child and making goofy faces with her mom.

Friends and family held a memorial service earlier this month for her in Athens, Ga., where she attended college at the University of Georgia.

Susan Emerson thanked all those who have supported the family. "No gesture is small when you're standing in our shoes," she said.

She mentioned Meredith's attacker only briefly, saying she believes that only a person severely disconnected from God could cause such harm.

Emerson was killed three days after she was kidnapped on a New Year's Day hike in the north Georgia mountains, authorities say. Hundreds of volunteers searched in vain for her body, but tips led police to arrest Gary Michael Hilton, a 61-year-old charged with her murder.

Hilton could also face charges in the death of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, who was found in December in a national forest in Florida, said State Attorney Willie Meggs. He said he probably has enough evidence to pursue charges, but would not say whether he would do so.