Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current, November 17, 2021, Image 2
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 ACROSS 41 Narcotic 23 she 1 Up to 45 Volition blows!" 4 Platter 48 Sound of hoof- 24 Skip 8 Scoop holder beats 25 Spacecraft 12 Olympics 50 Tom Joad, for compartments chant one 26 Wife of Jacob 13 Sicilian resort 51 First-rate 27 Intro studio 14 Dryer fuzz 52 Onassis nick class 15 Sandal type name 28 Fall into a soft 17 Pub potables 53 Marries chair 18 Computer whiz 54 A deadly sin 29 Spelldown 19 Dog tags, e.g. 55 Moment 32 Not out of the 21 PC key ordinary 22 Excellent DOWN 33 Wizardry 26 Expire 1 Clump of grass 35 San 29 Present loca 2 Capri, e.g. Francisco's — tion? 3 Secular Hill 30 Med. plan 4 Sully 36 Thing on a option 5 Cove string 31 Perry's creator 6 - -Cat 38 Bagel features 32 - Aviv 7 Domed 39 Unites 33 Hotel worker building in 42 Regrettably 34 From — Z Washington 43 Rent 35 "Science Guy" D.C. 44 Grand tale Bill 8 Purse fastener 45 Dazzle 36 Segments 9 Tin Man's 46 White House 37 Kanye West's need nickname music 10 SSW opposite 47 Cover 39 Moonshine 11 UFO crew 49 Baseball's vessel 16 Stage Gehrig 40 Japanese sash 20 Ten, in Dijon 1 2 3 12 15 18 26 27 28 31 34 37 13 16 r 9 10 11 r 7 45 46 47 1 50 53 52 55 0 3 S 1 1 Id V d 0 1 0 3 1 V 1 0 s 1 H V a 1 V m 0 IAI H d 0 1 d s s 3 1 V 1 N 1 1 3 N 0 3 1 n N n o v o X A O N [T 3 1 O a 3 1 1 1 1 3 1 d 0 1 3 V N N 3 0 s 1 0 s a 3 M 3 i >1 0 h i 1 M O H d 1 H 0 1 V \3 1 Id 3 s d V 1 V H 0 3 1 d i 1 3 1 V s n 3 1 i ^ 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: Display advertising For Wednesday: Retail and Classified deadlines are 3 p.m. Friday Classified liners (help wanted, for sale, etc.) For Wednesday: Deadline is noon Monday Advertising rates available upon request. 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