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Wednesday, April 27,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
Harper indicted in Forsyth for Bender murder
DCN Regional Staff
A man previously convicted in
Dawson County and sentenced to
20 years in prison and 10 years
of probation for his part in the
death of 21-year-old Hannah
Bender in 2019 has been indicted
in Forsyth County.
In April, Jerry Harper was
indicted by the Forsyth County
Superior Court on counts of con
cealing the death of another and
tampering with evidence of
Bender’s murder.
Per the indictment, Harper
concealed Bender’s death by
burying her body and concealing
a Mazda truck to prevent the
arrest of Austin Stryker, who was
found guilty of all 24 charges
levied against him, including
malice murder, in Bender’s
death.
At the end of October, Harper
pleaded guilty to charges of rack
eteering activity involving a
homicide, a violation of
Georgia’s street gang law; hin
dering the apprehension or pun
ishment of a criminal and a con
nected gang violation. The state
agreed to not prosecute Harper
on charges of theft of a vehicle
and a connected street gang vio
lation.
Despite Harper’s attorney,
John Warr, arguing for leniency
given Harper’s multiple medical
conditions, in December, Harper
received 20 years in prison for
the gang charge involving racke
teering of homicide.
For the hindering count, he
received five years to be run con
currently with the previous sen
tence. Harper received 10 years
of probation for the other gang
violation. This last count will fol
low the prison time consecutive
ly-
Northeastern Judicial Circuit
Judge Kathlene Gosselin
explained that she gave Harper
probation, rather than parole, so
he could be supervised if he
eventually is let out of prison.
She said probation wasn’t
appropriate, given “what he did
and what he knew” and added
that groups like the alleged gang
“THIS” don’t have to be success
ful to then be considered a gang.
“I can’t understand how you
engendered the blind devotion,”
said Gosselin, looking at Harper.
“You had an opportunity...to be
a voice of good [to young
adults], and instead you were
not. You were a voice of frighten
ing evil and scary things.”
Harper offered his plea on Oct.
29, just three days before
Stryker’s murder trial began.
However, documents related to
Harper’s plea hearing were not
released until Nov. 15, where
Senior Assistant District Attorney
Conley Greer clarified that the
state did not have a negotiated
plea agreement nor a plea offer
or pending one with Harper.
“I can look in his eyes and
know he has remorse for every
thing that’s happened...with this
tragedy,” Harper’s sister, Cheryl
Harper Lovett, said during sen
tencing.
Hannah Bender’s mother,
Carol Gilreath, spoke during
Harper’s sentencing and showed
pictures of their family’s match
ing sentimental tattoos to the
courtroom.
“We were robbed,” Gilreath
said. “Everything was taken from
us, from her being able to grow
up to her having kids...when they
took her, they took a piece of me,
too. I’m thankful for y’all (the
court) for fighting so hard for
her.”
During the sentencing, ADA
Greer also admitted into evi
dence Facebook messages
between Bender and Gilreath in
the months leading up to her
daughter’s death. In those mes
sages, Bender said Harper had
raped her.
Multiple witnesses during the
trial said they thought Harper had
raped Bender. However, no
charges have been filed against
Harper for this alleged offense.
Just days after Harper’s sen
tencing, Stryker received a sen
tence of life without the possibil
ity of parole for murdering
Bender.
He was also sentenced to 20
years for aggravated battery, five
years for each of his weapon pos
session counts and another 10
years for concealing the death of
another. Many of his sentences
were concurrent with the malice
murder count.
Bender was killed in the early
morning hours of Sept. 15, 2019,
while riding in a Mazda pickup
truck with Stryker and Isaac
Huff, according to previous court
testimony. As the truck neared
the Sweetwater Juno Road area
of Dawson County, Stryker shot
Bender in the head without warn
ing, according to Huff’s testimo
ny from a plea hearing in April.
Testimony from Stryker and a
GBI medical examiner who testi
fied at his trial suggested that the
gunshot may not have been
immediately fatal. After shooting
her, Stryker reportedly stabbed
Bender at least 32 times. She was
later buried in a shallow grave in
North Forsyth County, where her
remains were found on Sept. 25,
2019.
As part of his testimony during
his plea hearing and Stryker’s
trial, Huff talked about his,
Stryker’s and others’ connection
to the “THIS” gang in the
months leading up to Bender’s
death.
Huff and Dylan Reid, another
alleged gang member, both said
that Stryker’s motive to kill
Bender was tied to his belief that
she might go to police about his
alleged armed robbery of a
Dahlonega store in July 2019.
The lead investigator for
Bender’s murder case, Georgia
Bureau of Investigation agent
Kristin Perry, recounted that
Harper’s statements only had the
appearance of initial cooperation,
given how his words conflicted
with other information and how
he initially withheld some
details.
During interviews, Harper told
GBI agents about seeing
Bender’s body in the toolbox
Stryker had brought over to the
property where his camper was.
So, Perry said she thought
Harper knew more than what he
was initially saying.
Defense and prosecuting attor
neys disagreed about the extent
of Harper’s involvement with the
murder, “THIS” and whether he
was the gang’s leader.
As mentioned in multiple co
defendants’ previous trial testi
mony, the prosecution reiterated
Harper seeing the bloody Mazda
truck where Bender was killed
and telling Stryker to clean it up.
They elaborated that Harper
coordinated taking the vehicle to
a friend’s property to sell.
At that same property, Harper
was said to be present while
Stryker buried Bender’s remains.
“He had no direct knowledge...
yes, it’s horrible for a decent per
son to do. He should’ve known
better,” said Warr of Harper, “but
he chose to help them after the
fact [of the murder].”
Other defendants
Huff and Reid have both
already been sentenced for their
roles in attempting to cover up
Bender’s killing. During a hearing
in April 2021, they both pleaded
guilty to aggravated assault,
aggravated battery, a street gang
violation and concealing the death
of another. At that time, Reid also
pleaded guilty to tampering with
evidence.
Huff will spend 12 years in
prison and 18 years on probation
for his role in Bender’s death.
Reid will spend 20 years in jail
and 15 on probation.
Elizabeth Donaldson, Stryker’s
wife, was arrested in October
2019 and charged with conceal
ing the death of another and tam
pering with evidence.
She allegedly helped move
Bender’s remains to a Blacks
Mill Road residence on Sept. 16
and strip interior parts from the
truck where Bender was mur
dered.
Bailey Diane Williams, also
arrested in October 2019, faces a
tampering with evidence charge
in Lumpkin County for her role
in allegedly helping dispose of
Bender’s belongings after her
murder. She will stand trial on
May 2 starting at 9 a.m. within
the Lumpkin County
Courthouse, according to pub
lished legal notices.
FROM 1A
Council
exceed 220 lots and a den
sity of 1.82 units per acre,
and that the applicant put
funds toward a future
roundabout to be build at
Perimeter Road and
Highway 9 South.
In public hearings held
by both the planning com
mission and the city coun
cil, residents of properties
near the tracts to be
rezoned spoke against the
request, raising several
concerns including
increased traffic, the
impact on the school sys
tem and the effect on the
native flora and fauna in
the area in question.
In response to the public
concerns and to the recom
mendations by the plan
ning commission, the
applicant amended the
application ahead of the
council’s March 21 meet
ing to help reduce the
impact on the area.
Before the council voted
on the request at this
week’s meeting, Corey
Guthrie, the civil engineer
presenting the proposed
layout on behalf of the
applicant, spoke to the
council and described a
few of the amendments
that the applicant has made
since the original proposal
in response to the planning
commission’s suggestions.
These amendments
included increasing the
buffer adjoining Apple
Ridge subdivision to a total
of 100 feet, with a 75-foot
undisturbed buffer and a
25-foot planted buffer, and
increasing the stream buf
fers to a total of 75 feet,
with a 50-foot undisturbed
stream buffer and a 25-foot
impervious setback.
The applicant also
agreed to drop the total
number of lots down from
236 to 220, increase the
open space from 34 acres
to at least 40 acres, and to
build the development in a
phase construction. The
developer would also con
tribute $1000 per lot
towards improvements to
the Perimeter Road and
Highway 9 South intersec
tion as suggested by the
planning commission.
Before voting on the
request, council member
Caleb Phillips read through
the planning commission’s
recommendations and
described the house size
that would be acceptable to
build if the request was
approved.
“A minimum of 20 per
cent of the homes for the
entire development have to
be over 2200 square feet, a
minimum of 45 percent for
the entire development
have to be over 2000
square feet, a maximum of
35 percent of the homes
for the entire development
can be less than 1800 and
20 percent of the homes
can be less than 1600,”
Phillips said.
He added that all houses
should be at least 1500
heated square feet and that
they should all have a brick
or stone water table across
the front and both sides.
Phillips made a motion
to approve the rezoning
request with all of the stip
ulations described, saying
that he feels that this cre
ates a good compromise
between the developer,
existing residents and the
city.
“Some of us have
worked hard on this, talk
ing and trying to make it
fair for the neighbors and
the community, what’s best
for the community, and I
think we’ve done that,”
Phillips said. “In total I
think that’s a good com
promise, and I think that’ll
be a good product.”
Council members voted
to approve the request with
the stipulations discussed,
with council member Mark
French voting against the
request.
Perimeter Road
annexation and
rezoning request
tabled
Council members also
voted to indefinitely table a
request submitted by Allen
Street Properties, LLC and
B & K Turner Family,
LLP, which petitioned the
city to annex 32.937 acres
into the city and rezone it
from County Zoning of
Residential Sub Rural
(RSR) and Restricted
Agriculture (RA) to City
Zoning of Single Family
Residential (R3).
Under the original appli
cation, the developer asked
for almost 75 acres to be
annexed and rezoned, but
amended the application to
include just over 70 acres
to construct a proposed
124-lot subdivision.
Most recently, the appli
cant amended the request
again to include only Tract
2 of the original proposal,
which is 32.937 acres, to
allow for the construction
of 65 units with a residen
tial density of 1.97 units
per acre, and limited to a
maximum number of 75
units at 2.28 units per acre.
The original application
was submitted to the city
in August of 2020 and
addressed in several public
hearings in both the city’s
planning commission and
the council meetings, and
the planning commission
recommended denial of the
request in September of
2021.
The city council was
originally set to make a
decision to approve or
deny the request in
October of 2021, but the
decision has been post
poned several times since
then due to the applicant or
the city still working
through details. Because of
this, City Attorney Kevin
Tallant told the council
members that it would
make more sense to table
the decision indefinitely
rather than keep pushing it
to the next meeting each
time.
“We’ve been having a
situation where we keep
delaying this and keep
delaying this because of
several different issues that
we’re trying to get worked
out,” Tallant said. “Rather
than just keep putting this
back on an agenda over
and over and over again for
it to be tabled over and
over and over again, anoth
er option the city would
have would be to lay this
on the table for an indefi
nite period of time. That
would allow us to get all
these issues worked out
that the city’s been trying
to work out for so long,
and then through a motion
to take it off the table and
put it back on the agenda
the city could give every
body a very clear picture of
when it’s gonna actually be
done.”
Tallant added that the
applicants have come to
every meeting that the
request has been on the
agenda for, so tabling the
request indefinitely would
also keep them from hav
ing to attend every meeting
just to have the decision
postponed.
Once all of the details
have been worked through,
the council can vote again
to take it off the table and
place it on an upcoming
agenda and vote on it at
that time.
Council members voted
unanimously to table the
request indefinitely.
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IBIIHBII
dm mi
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a no kill shelter
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For more information contact the 706-265-9160 | 633 Martin Rd, Dawsonville
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