The GBI found suspected serial killer Gary Hilton's old van at a Habersham County scrap yard Friday, but what evidence they might get from the vehicle, broken down and abandoned since late 2005, remains questionable.

"It was in terrible condition," GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.

The 1996 Chevrolet Astro van, last seen at the end of a wilderness road near Tray Mountain in White County late last month, had been stripped of parts and shot full of holes, Bankhead said.

A tipster who saw a tow truck remove the van from the woods in White County called the GBI after the agency asked for the public's help in finding it this week. The GBI called the tow truck driver, who told agents where he took the van.

The GBI is not naming the business where the van was recovered this afternoon, only saying it was a scrap metal yard in Habersham County. The van was taken to the GBI's Cleveland office, where it is being processed.

Investigators are interested in Hilton's vehicles, and any evidence in them, because they apparently served as his home much of the time.

Hilton, 61, remains in the Dawson County jail, charged with murder in the abduction and bludgeoning death of 24-year-old hiker Meredith Hope Emerson in early January. Hilton remains a suspect in similar slayings in North Carolina and Florida.

The FBI is working with the GBI and its counterparts in North Carolina and Florida to delve into Hilton's background and put together a timeline of his movements in recent years, Bankhead said.