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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, May 31,2023
Legal fates decided in robbery case tied to Bender slaying
Julia Hansen Dawson County News
Hearings for the armed robbery case linked to Hannah Bender's
murder have been held at the Lumpkin County Courthouse.
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
Another part of the saga sur
rounding 21-year-old Hannah
Bender’s 2019 murder in Dawson
County has reached its conclu
sion.
Proceedings have ended for
two defendants in the Lumpkin
County armed robbery case tied
to the motive for Bender’s mur
der.
Austin Todd Stryker, 26, will
not be prosecuted for the 2019
armed robbery since he is already
serving a sentence of life without
parole for his role in Bender’s
death, according to a document
filed May 18 in Lumpkin County
Superior Court.
Stryker and two others, Isaac
Thomas Huff and Bailey Diane
Williams, were accused in the
armed robbery case in a June
2022 indictment.
Huff and Williams were
charged with being present while
Stryker allegedly committed
armed robbery and aggravated
assault at the South Chestatee
Street Dollar General on July 7,
2019.
“The Stryker robbery case is
not being prosecuted out of judi
cial economy. In other words, it
would be a waste of the court’s
resources and the taxpayers’
money to further sentence Mr.
Stryker, who is currently serving
a sentence of life without parole
for [the] murder out of Dawson
County,” Enotah Judicial Circuit
District Attorney Jeff Langley
said in an email to DCN.
Lumpkin County is part of the
Enotah Judicial Circuit, which
also includes Town, Union and
White counties.
The decision not to prosecute
Stryker also follows the other two
co-defendants associated with the
armed robbery entering guilty
pleas, Stryker’s May 18 docu
ment stated.
During a May 18 hearing,
Huff, 21, entered a negotiated
plea of guilty for being present
while Stryker allegedly commit
ted the armed robbery.
Huff was sentenced to 20
years, with the first 10 years to be
Stryker
Huff Reid
Harper Donaldson
served in prison and the rest to be
served on probation. This sen
tence will run concurrent with
Huff’s ongoing sentence out of
Dawson County for participating
in the cover-up of Hannah
Bender’s killing.
Huff will receive credit for time
served since his 2019 arrest by
the Dawson County Sheriff’s
Office.
Williams pleaded guilty in
February to being the getaway
driver in the Lumpkin County
armed robbery.
She was sentenced under the
First Offender Act to five years of
probation, with time deemed
served, along with a number of
other fines, community service,
restitution and health-related pro
bation requirements.
Motive
An updated July 2021 indict
ment accused Stryker of killing
Bender in the early morning of
Sept. 15, 2019, by shooting and
stabbing her.
Before Stryker’s November
2021 trial, prosecutors success
fully entered evidence alleging
his motive to kill Hannah Bender
was tied to his belief that she
might go to police about the
Lumpkin County robbery.
Huff and another co-defendant
in the Dawson County case,
Dylan Reid, testified about their
involvement in a small gang
called “THIS” during a joint plea
and sentencing hearing in April
2021.
During his testimony at
Stryker’s trial, Huff said the gang
members committed armed rob
beries at Dollar Generals in
Dawsonville and Dahlonega dur
ing the summer of 2019.
Currently, charges have only
been filed in Lumpkin County for
the alleged armed robbery there.
During Williams’ Feb. 8 hear
ing, her defense attorney, Zack
Tumlin, said there were no leads
on the Dahlonega robbery until a
few months later, after Hannah
Bender’s September 2019 mur
der.
During that investigation, the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
contacted Williams, who admit
ted Stryker’s and the others’
alleged involvement in the loose-
knit group or gang.
“One of the group’s criminal
activities was this armed rob
bery,” Tumlin said. “Her involve
ment in the [robbery] case didn’t
come to light until the investiga
tion of the murder.”
Williams was accused of tam
pering with evidence in Lumpkin
County as part of the murder cov
er-up, according to a separate
indictment for that case.
She took the stand as one of the
state’s main witnesses during
Stryker’s trial. She similarly testi
fied that she was the getaway
driver for the Dahlonega robbery,
something both she and Reid
mentioned, and that Stryker was
the alleged robber.
Sentences
During the April 2021 hearing,
Huff received a sentence of 12
years in prison and 18 years on
probation for his role in covering
up Bender’s death.
Reid got 20 years with 15 years
on probation for the additional
culpability of tampering with evi
dence.
At the end of his November
2021 trial, a Dawson County jury
found Stryker guilty and convict
ed him on all 24 charges tied to
Bender’s murder.
Then in December, Stryker was
sentenced to life in prison without
the possibility of parole. His law
yers filed a motion for a new trial
in January 2022. A hearing for
that motion has been continued.
At the end of October 2021,
just before Stryker’s trial, co
defendant Jerry Harper pleaded
guilty in Dawson County to mul
tiple gang-related charges for
helping him evade police and
approving of Bender’s murder.
That December, Harper
received a sentence of 20 years in
prison, with 10 years of probation
to follow the prison time consec
utively.
In April 2022, Harper was
indicted in Forsyth County on
one count each of concealing the
death of another and tampering
with evidence of Bender’s mur
der.
He pleaded guilty and was sen
tenced to another 20 years in
Forsyth County for his role in
concealing Bender’s death there.
During a hearing on July 29,
2022, Stryker’s wife, Elizabeth
Donaldson, entered a negotiated
plea of guilty for her role in the
cover-up of Bender’s killing.
Donaldson was sentenced to 12
months of local custody and two
years of house arrest for conceal
ing a body and 10 years of proba
tion for the tampering charge, to
run concurrent with the first
count.
Williams’ evidence tampering
case has been moved to the dead
docket, according to a notice filed
in Lumpkin County Superior
Court.
This comes after she previous
ly entered a plea of not guilty, and
a trial date was continued multi
ple times.
“In light of her guilty plea in
the robbery case, we elected not
to further prosecute the tampering
case,” Langley added in his
email. “While we had made no
promises to her in connection
with it, she fully cooperated and
testified in the Dawson murder
case, providing important testi
mony in the conviction of Mr.
Stryker for the murder in Dawson
County.”
As of May 26, Northeastern
Judicial Circuit Chief Judge
Kathlene Gosselin has not yet
filed a decision regarding
Stryker’s motion for a new trial in
Dawson County.
During a virtual hearing in
March, one of Stryker’s defense
attorneys expressed concerns
about not being able to fully
address Huff’s and Reid’s plea
deals during closing arguments,
as those two defendants were also
facing murder charges before
they entered guilty pleas.
“The only one that I’m going
to take my time and [reserve] a
ruling on today is the first issue
about the Huff and Reid plea
deals,” Gosselin said in the call,
according to transcripts.
Dawson man’s chance of reversing
Alford plea in theft case quashed
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NORTH GEORGIA TRAVEL AND LEISURE GUIDE
Kunkel III
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
A man who previously
pleaded guilty for his
alleged role in a jewelry
theft-by-conversion scheme
will no longer have a
chance to reverse his deci
sion, according to an order
filed May 16 in Dawson
County Superior Court.
Frank Robert Kunkel, in,
39, previously asked to
withdraw his previous
Alford plea in a case where
he and his father, Frank
Robert Kunkel, Jr., 67, were
accused of
stealing
jewelry
through
their busi
ness.
In her
order dis-
missing
Kunkel,
m’s motion to withdraw his
plea, Judge Lindsay Burton
noted that she had previous
ly granted him a continu
ance from the April 18 to
the May 16 calendar call.
“At the call of the court’s
calendar on May 16, 2023,
representation for the state
of Georgia was present,
while the defendant, nor
counsel, were present,”
Burton’s order stated. “Due
to the defendant’s failure to
appear before this court
after receiving notice of
such hearing, the court
hereby dismisses the defen
dant’s motion to withdraw
[his] guilty plea.”
On Jan. 13, 2023,
Kunkel, III entered an
Alford plea to one misde
meanor count of theft by
conversion and was sen
tenced to 12 months of pro
bation and ordered to pay
one victim back $497.50 in
restitution, court documents
stated.
An Alford plea lets a
defendant plead guilty but
uphold their innocence,
while admitting that the
case could result in a guilty
verdict if brought to trial.
Just 10 days later, on Jan.
23, a motion was filed to
reverse Kunkel, Ill’s deci
sion to enter the Alford
plea.
If his withdrawal request
had been granted, his case
would have been returned
to the open docket for pros
ecution and trial.
Background
Kunkel, III and Kunkel,
Jr. ran the now-closed
Kunkel & Son Jewelers
based at the Dawson 400
shopping center.
Over their two-plus
decades in business, the
men were known for their
friendliness, high-quality
craftsmanship and reason
able prices, according to
reviews on their business’
Facebook page. By the end
of 2020, however, the store
had closed.
The Dawson County
Sheriff’s Office arrested the
father and son on Aug. 31,
2021. Kunkel, III was sub
sequently accused of one
count of theft by conver
sion, while Kunkel, Jr. was
accused of two felony and
four misdemeanor counts
of the offense, stated a June
2022 indictment.
Instead of repairing or
altering items, the two men
allegedly stole customers’
jewelry by converting the
pieces to be their own prop
erty, the indictment stated.
Kunkel, in is accused of
taking one customer’s nine
brand-name watches “on
and about April 14, 2020”
or on Feb. 1 of that year and
converting those items to be
his own property, as shown
by his case filings.
In five other counts,
Kunkel, Jr. is charged with
taking five other victims’
rings, a bracelet and stones
and converting the items to
his own use “on and about
April 14, 2020” or on July
1 and Aug. 16, 2019 and
Feb. 1,2020.
The Kunkels’ indictment
references the state’s
COVID-19 emergency,
which extended court dead
lines and filing require
ments.
Previously, Kunkel. Jr.
was charged with commit
ting five counts of unlawful
alteration of precious met
als and gems in 2011. In
that case, he was accused of
unlawfully cutting up a vic
tim’s two pairs of earrings
and a pearl brooch pin, pen
dant and diamond ring
within a week of acquiring
the jewelry.
Kunkel, Jr. pleaded guilty
as a first offender in 2013
and was sentenced to a sus
pended probation of 12
months.
Per his first offender des
ignation, Kunkel Jr. was
released from that sentence
in April 2014 and is not
considered to have a crimi
nal conviction, according to
court documents.
There have been no fil
ings for Kunkel, Jr. in the
2022 case since a lawyer
filed a motion for a mental
evaluation to determine his
competency to stand trial.
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a no kill shelter
706-265-9160
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706-216-2362
2390 Thompson Rd • Ste 100
Dawsonville
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706-265-8381
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103 Industrial Park Road,
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