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2A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, November 17,2021
OBITUARIES
Leon LeDon Bennett, Jr.
Leon LeDon Bennett, Jr., 92, of
Cumming, passed away. Bearden
Funeral Home of Dawsonville is in
charge of the arrangements.
Dawson County News
November 17, 2021
Billy Jarrett Freeland
Mr. Billy Jarrett Freeland, 76 of
Austell, formally of Dahlonega, passed
away on November 7,
2021, following a period
of declining health.
Billy was born on
February 2, 1945, in
Marietta, to the late Joe
Brown Freeland and the
late Ethel Vera
Arrendale Freeland.
Billy was an avid deer hunter and
always enjoyed God’s great outdoors.
He was a Member of Blue Mountain
Lodge in Dahlonega where he made
numerous lifelong friends. He retired
from Lockheed Martin, where he was
employed for 37 years. During his time
there, he worked as an electrician, the
senior mechanic, a painter, a welder, a
structural inspector and a planner. He
also worked a number of years at the
Pine Tree. Although he loved his time
working at both, the most passionate
work that Billy ever did was preaching
the Gospel of his Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. During his time as a preacher, he
pastored many churches in the
Dahlonega area including Oak Grove
Baptist Church, Mt. Sinai Baptist
Church, Bethel Tabernacle Baptist
Church, as well as twice at Enon Baptist
Church. In addition to his parents, he is
preceded in death by his first wife,
Teresa Higgins Freeland and siblings,
Clinton Freeland, Jerry Freeland,
Charles Freeland, Juanita Gilstrap and
Wilburne Freeland. He is survived by
his loving wife of 30 years, Sandra
Robertson Freeland of Austell;
Children, Michele (Todd) Seay of
Dahlonega and Tamara DeAnn Souther
of Dawsonville; Brother, Jeffrey
Freeland; Grandchildren, Ryan (Kristen)
Seay, Heather (Michael) Durney,
Tiffany (Ryan) Cipullo, Kyle Andrew
Souther and Haley Ann Souther. He is
also survived by 9 great-grandchildren,
numerous nieces, nephews, friends and
other relatives. A funeral service was
held at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday,
November 10, at Siloam Baptist Church
with Rev. Fyman Caldwell officiating.
Interment will follow in the church cem
etery. The family received friends from
12:00 p.m., to 1:30 p.m., at the funeral
home. Those who would like to share a
memory or a condolence with the family
may visit Mr. Freeland’s online guest
book at andersonunderwood.com
Dawson County News
November 17, 2021
Greg Eugene McGhee
Greg Eugene McGhee, 56, of Falling
Waters, WV, formerly of Cumming, GA,
FROM 1A
Trial
missing, all three alternates had to be
used for the jury. If any more jurors had
been excused, a mistrial could have
been declared.
The jury began deliberating around
1:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 and met for four
hours before retiring for the day. Jurors
reassembled on Nov. 10 at 9 a.m. and
deliberated for about an hour-and-a-half
before returning Stryker’s guilty verdict.
In a follow-up interview the afternoon
of Nov. 10, Northeastern Judicial Circuit
District Attorney Fee Darragh clarified
that Stryker’s case was not a death pen
alty case.
A calendar date hasn’t been set for
Stryker’s sentencing hearing, which is
expected to occur in the following
weeks.
Other defendants
For their roles in the murder cover-up,
Isaac Huff and Dylan Reid both pleaded
guilty in April to aggravated assault,
aggravated battery, a street gang viola
tion and tampering with evidence. Reid
also pleaded to concealing the death of
another.
He will spend 20 years in jail and 15
on probation, while Huff will spend 12
in jail and 18 on probation.
Elizabeth Donaldson, Stryker’s wife,
has been charged with concealing the
death of another and tampering with
evidence. She allegedly helped move
Bender’s remains to the Blacks Mill
Road residence on Sept. 16 and strip
interior parts from the truck where
Bender was murdered.
Bailey Williams, arrested in October
2019, faces a tampering with evidence
charge in Fumpkin County for her role
in allegedly helping dispose of Bender’s
belongings after her murder. Williams is
also charged in the same 2019
Dahlonega robbery as Stryker in
Fumpkin County.
Prosecution narrative
Court testimony, digital and physical
evidence provided more insight into
what happened before, during and after
Hannah Bender’s death.
Google data from Huff, as well as his
and Stryker’s verbal accounts, laid out
their movement riding in a black Mazda
pickup truck from Dawson County into
the Dahlonega area, where they eventu
ally picked up Bender shortly after 4
a.m. on Sept. 15, 2019. The data and
their accounts confirmed their journey
from the defendant’s home to Huff’s a
few minutes away around 6 a.m.
The prosecution and defense narra
tives diverge around the moment of
Bender’s shooting. Although Huff, one
of the state’s witnesses, said he didn’t
see the moment of the shooting, he and
Reid did provide testimony about
Stryker’s motive leading up to the inci
dent. Through theirs and Bailey
Williams’ testimony, the prosecution
argued that Stryker wanted to kill
Bender out of concerns that she would
go to police about the July 2019 armed
robbery.
In that sense, the testimony about
Stryker’s affinity for mafia movies and
the origins and activities of “THIS” took
on greater significance. Earlier in
October, Judge Gosselin approved a
motion to allow information about the
gang into evidence.
During his Nov. 2 testimony, Huff
elaborated that he was focusing on the
road before the shooting occurred, so he
didn’t recall seeing the shooting happen.
He said it was when Stryker told him to
slow down that the Ruger. 380 handgun
went off and Bender was shot. Huff
described the immediate seconds after
the incident as his ears rang and he
struggled to regain control of the truck.
Defense narrative
Stryker took the stand on Nov. 8 as
the defense’s first witness. He character
ized his motive the night of Sept. 14,
2019, as wanting to gain money by
stealing methamphetamine from a local
drug dealer. For him, the handgun was
backup. He expressed a desire to contact
Williams, then Bender, so either of them
could be in his vicinity and act as bait
for meeting up with the dealer.
Stryker claimed that Bender had
See Trial 13A
Julia Fechter Dawson County News
A Dawson County sheriff's deputy places handcuffs on Austin Todd Stryker,
center right, who was just convicted on murder charges. Overall, Stryker
was found guilty on all 24 charges related to Hannah Bender's 2019 murder.
died Tuesday, November 2, 2021. A
funeral service was held at 11:00 a.m.,
Saturday, November 13, in the chapel of
Ingram Funeral Home. Ingram Funeral
Home & Crematory of Cumming was in
charge of the arrangements.
Dawson County News
November 17, 2021
Kathryn "Kathy" Mote
Kathryn “Kathy” Mote, 78, of
Dawsonville, died Tuesday, November
9, 2021. A funeral service was held at
11:00 a.m., Friday, November 12, at
Bearden Funeral Home Chapel.
Bearden Funeral Home of
Dawsonville was in charge of the
arrangements.
Dawson County News
November 17, 2021
Brooklyn Nichole Nelson
Brooklyn Nichole Nelson, 10, of
Cumming, passed away Monday,
November 8, 2021. A funeral service
was held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday,
November 11, in the chapel of Ingram
Funeral Home. Ingram Funeral Home
& Crematory of Cumming was in
charge of the arrangements.
Dawson County News
November 17, 2021
King Crossword
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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
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