A man accused of killing a Dahlonega woman whose body was found in a shallow grave faces a new charge, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Austin Todd Stryker has been charged with armed robbery in connection with an incident at a Dollar General store off U.S. 19 and Ga. 60 in Lumpkin County, according to the news station. Details about the armed robbery, which occurred during the summer of 2018, have not been released.
Styker is in custody in Pennsylvania awaiting extradition to Georgia after turning himself in on a warrant accusing him of killing Hannah Bender, according to the GBI. He is one of six people who have been arrested in the 21-year-old woman’s death.
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Bender vanished nearly a week before her body was found off Parks Road near Ga. 306 in Forsyth County, AJC.com previously reported. A report from a tipster led investigators to the ravine where her body was discovered.
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Lumpkin Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said there were crime scenes associated with the case in Lumpkin, Dawson and Forsyth counties. He believes Bender was killed in his county.
Carol Gilreath, Bender’s mother, said the last time she heard from her daughter was in a Sept. 14 text message. She reported her daughter missing five days later, with investigators finding bloody clothing shortly after.
Police encountered Stryker about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 1 at the intersection of Maple Terrace and Virginia Avenue in Pittsburgh, police spokesman Chris Togneri told WPXI-TV. Stryker was sitting outside and said he was wanted on murder charges in Georgia.
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Pittsburgh police took him into custody and confirmed he was wanted on multiple warrants, Togneri said. Stryker was then taken to the Allegheny County Jail.
Credit: Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office
Two hours after the agency announced Stryker’s arrest, officials in Lumpkin County said they charged Bailey Williams, 21, with felony tampering with evidence in the case, Channel 2 reported.
Stryker and Williams were the fifth and sixth people arrested in Bender’s death. Dylan Patrick Reid, 19, and Isaac Huff, 18, both of Dawsonville, were arrested by the GBI on Sept. 30, the agency said. Both suspects face a count of concealing the death of another, while Reid faces an additional charge of tampering with evidence.
Stryker's fiancee, 21-year-old Elizabeth Brooke Donaldson, was previously arrested on a count of tampering with evidence.
Jerry Kyle Harper, 78, was taken into custody in Dawson County on Sept. 26 after being previously wanted on charges of concealing a dead body and tampering with evidence.
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