Man accused of Hannah Bender murder will appear in Superior Court Friday

DAWSON COUNTY, Ga. – Austin Stryker, the man indicted for the grisly murder of 21-year-old Hannah Bender of Lumpkin County in 2019, and Jerry Harper, the man indicted for hindering Stryker’s apprehension, will appear for a calendar call in Dawson County Superior Court Friday (April 16).

Stryker, 24, faces charges of malice murder, felony murder, violation of Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, concealing the death of another and tampering with evidence.

Harper, 78, was indicted for violation of the state’s street gang law and hindering the apprehension of a criminal.

Two other defendants, Isaac Thomas Huff, 20, and Dylan Patrick Reid, 21, pleaded guilty in Superior Court to aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, concealing the death of another and violation of the state’s street gang law. Both men accepted a plea deal for a lighter sentence and have testified that Stryker is the man who murdered Bender. The men were all members of a small street gang called “This.”