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2A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, November 3,2021
OBITUARIES
Tayler Ann Adams
Tayler Ann Adams, 28, of Cumming,
died Tuesday, October 26, 2021. A
funeral service was held at 1:00 p.m.,
Saturday, October 30, in the chapel of
Ingram Funeral Home, Cumming.
Ingram Funeral Home & Crematory of
Cumming was in charge of the arrange
ments.
Dawson County News
November 3, 2021
Dolores Mathilda Allen
Dolores Mathilda Allen, of Cumming,
died October 21, 2021. McDonald and
Son Funeral Home and Crematory of
Cumming is in charge of the arrange
ments.
Dawson County News
November 3, 2021
James Tyson Gittens
James Tyson Gittens, 77, of
Gainesville, died Tuesday, October 26,
2021. A funeral service was held at 1:00
p.m., Friday, October 29, at the Bearden
Funeral Home Chapel. Bearden Funeral
Home of Dawsonville was in charge of
the arrangements.
Dawson County News
November 3, 2021
Irene Harben
Irene Harben, 92, of Dawsonville,
died Monday, October 25, 2021. A
funeral service was held Thursday,
October 28, at Bearden Funeral Home
Chapel. Bearden Funeral Home of
Dawsonville was in charge of the
arrangements.
Dawson County News
November 3, 2021
Henry B. Hughes
Henry B. Hughes, 69, of Jefferson, died
Sunday, October 24, 2021. A funeral ser
vice was held at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday,
October 27, at Bethelview United
Methodist Church in Cumming. Ingram
Funeral Home & Crematory of Cumming
was in charge of the arrangements.
Dawson County News
November 3, 2021
FROM 1A
Trial
punishment of a criminal
and theft by receiving sto
len property.
Isaac Huff and Dylan
Reid pleaded guilty for
their roles in Bender’s
murder as part of an
agreement with the state
at an Apr. 7, 2021 hear
ing, as reported in
an Apr. 8 DCN
article.
The two defen
dants both pleaded
guilty to aggravat
ed assault, a street
gang violation and
concealing a
death, with Reid
also pleading
guilty to tampering with
evidence.
Reid will spend 15
years in prison and 20
years on probation and
face banishment from the
Northern Judicial Circuit.
Huff will spend 12 years
in prison and 18 years on
probation.
Per the plea deals, they
both testified as to how
Bender was lured from
her home the night of
Sept. 14, 2019, and killed
before she was buried in
northern Forsyth County.
Huff and Reid alleged
that Stryker planned and
carried out the murder,
while Harper approved of
the actions.
Plea testimonies
Huff alleged that
Stryker was the one to
lure Bender from her
home on the pretense that
they were going on vaca
tion to Florida. Bender
left her residence with a
packed bag and sat in the
back of a Mazda pickup
truck with Huff and
Stryker.
As the truck
approached the area of
Sweetwater Juno and
Duck Thurmond roads in
Dawson County, Stryker
allegedly shot Bender in
the head without warning.
"After she's shot in the
head, we know that she
was alive briefly,” Senior
Assistant District
Attorney Conley Greer
said at the hear
ing.
A critically-
injured Bender
was then taken to
Huff’s residence,
where Stryker
allegedly stabbed
her to death while
she was still lay
ing on the truck’s
back seat. Senior ADA
Shiv Sachdeva detailed an
autopsy report showing
that Bender had been shot
in the head once and
stabbed 32 times.
Huff and Reid denied
stabbing Bender and said
that they were instead
preparing to wrap and
dispose of her body when
the second violent act
occurred.
It was also revealed
then that Bender’s body
had been placed into a
large toolbox after she
was stabbed. Her remains
were transported to the
location off of Parks
Road in northern Forsyth
Co. before being buried.
Possible motive
At the end of July,
Stryker and Harper were
reindicted for their
alleged crimes surround
ing Bender’s murder.
Stryker was charged with
10 more street gang vio
lations, while Harper
received two more
counts. After Judge
Gosselin struck down
each of their initial gang
counts earlier in July,
these additional counts
were upheld due to their
increased specificity.
In the April plea hear
ing, Huff and Reid said
they and others are mem
bers of a small gang
called “THIS” that com
mitted low-level drug
crimes and multiple
armed robberies.
They also alleged that
Stryker and Harper are
top-level members of the
gang.
Both men shared their
recollections of Stryker
voicing his intent to kill
Bender on more than one
occasion. While neither
of them gave a precise
reason for Stryker’s
alleged intent, they both
shared rumors that per
haps Bender had black
mailed Stryker about his
alleged role in the gang’s
robberies or done some
thing else to offend him.
During an Oct. 8 hear
ing, prosecutors Greer
and Sachdeva successful
ly argued for the intro
duction of a pending
Lumpkin County armed
robbery case from 2019
in which Stryker is also a
defendant.
“Each testified saying
the reason [Stryker] want
ed Hannah Bender dead
is because he thought she
would snitch on the
armed robbery,” Sachdeva
said.
Later in that hearing,
the prosecutor clarified
that Huff and Reid’s testi
monies, along with the
pending armed robbery
case, will be used to
prove motive for the mur
der, not that the separate
robbery occurred.
Harper
FROM 1A
NASCAR
of my team for continu
ing to push through and
battle some adversity.
Just keep fighting. I got a
great group. I don’t want
to go to battle with any
body else.”
Elliott led the field to
the start of the final stage
and continued to pace the
field until another cau
tion flag waved on lap
339. While Elliott came
to the attention of his
NAPA team, one driver
remained on the track.
The No. 9 Chevy lined
up second for the restart
and Elliott wasted no
time moving back into
the lead within 10 laps.
The ninth caution of
the race allowed Elliott
to pit for fuel and tires,
but he restarted sixth
after varying pit strate
gies left some cars ahead
of the previous leaders.
Elliott eventually began
rallying back towards the
front as he was up to
third on lap 396.
With 45 laps to go in
the race, Elliott was run
ning third when contact
from a competitor sent
the No. 9 Chevy spinning
in Turn 3. During the
resulting caution, the No.
9 team pitted to make
repairs to the left-rear
fender damage on the
NAPA Camaro. Elliott
dropped down to 21st
when the race resumed,
and he was able to make
it back up to 16th before
the checkered flag
waved.
“It was a great day for
Hendrick Motorsports;
got two cars going to
Phoenix and [Bowman]
getting the win here.
Wish we could have won
it. Hate to be so fast all
day and it not work out,
but obviously next week
is what matters and that
is where our heads are at.
Excited to get out there
and have another shot at
it.”
For a chance to win
back-to-back Cup Series
championships, Elliott
will race against his
teammate Kyle Larsen,
Martin Truex Jr. and
Denny Hamlin. The Cup
Series has not had a
back-to-back winner
since Jimmie Johnson
ended his string of five
championships in a row
in 2010. Elliott and
Truex Jr. are the only two
drivers left who have
won a Cup Series before,
with Truex Jr. winning
the title in 2017.
Sunday’s champion
ship race will be at
Phoenix Raceway and
start at 3 p.m.
Chase Elliott, driver of the
#9 NAPA Auto Parts
Chevrolet, and Kyle Larson,
driver of the #5
HendrickCars.com
Chevrolet, race during the
NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity
500 at Martinsville
Speedway on October 31,
2021 in Martinsville, Virginia.
Jared C. Tilton
Getty images
King Crossword
ACROSS
40
Water tester
10
Division word
1 Landed
41
Love god
11
Casual tops
5 Gearwheel
43
Inherited
16
Notion
tooth
45
Painter's
20
Limp's call
8 Slightly
motion
23
Hit with a ray
12 Sultry Horne
47
Reduces
gun
13"— you seri
51
Nashville's st.
24
Triage ctrs.
ous?"
52
Instrument in a 25
System for
14 Barn roof spin
Dixieland band
linking com
ner
54
Couturier
puters
15 Strict discipli
Cassini
27
Ruby of films
narian
55
Stannum
29
— Paulo, Brazil
17 Noble Italian
56
Pinta's com
30
Away from
family
panion
WSW
18 Swift
57
Favorites
32
Island wraps
19 Sculpted
58
Norm (Abbr.)
34
Queen's
trunks
59
Vortex
domain
21 Old Olds
37
Stir-fry pan
22 Doctor
DOWN
39
Entryway
Zhivago
1
Charitable gift
42
Factions
23 Wye follower
2
Bound
44
Packing string
26 Moreover
3
Concerning
45
Halt
28 On edge
4
Spud
46
Far (Pref.)
31 Sciences' part
5
Big gorges
48
Author
ner
6
Mine yield
Bagnold
33 Observe
7
Oil tycoon J.
49
Tear
35 Campus VIP
Paul —
50
Remain
36 "Hogwash!"
8
Declared
53
Torched
38 Finale
9
Baby's bed
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^ Daws o n C o u nty N e ws
A Metro Market Media Publication
Established in 2015 by the merger of Dawson Community News and Dawson News and Advertiser
30 Shoal Creek Road i PUBLISHER | Stephanie Woody
Dawsonville, GA 30534
PHONE (706) 265-3384 EDITOR | Jacob Smith
FAX (706) 265-3276
usps 018-876 | Updates online at DawsonNews fi:
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