Grisly details revealed in North Georgia murder case as 2 plead guilty

Both men, who were facing up to 60 years each in prison, received shortened sentences as part of a negotiated plea deal with the district attorney’s office. Huff received a 12-year prison sentence, while Reid was given 15, Darragh confirmed.

As part of their deals, each testified for nearly an hour about the circumstances surrounding Bender’s murder. They described how the young woman was lured from her home, killed without warning and buried in a shallow grave in Forsyth County.

Huff and Reid testified that the killing was planned by 24-year-old Austin Todd Stryker with the blessing of 79-year-old Jerry Harper. All four men were members of a small criminal gang known as “THIS,” though Stryker and Harper were higher-ranking members, according to the testimony of Huff and Reid.

Stryker was indicted in December 2019 on a host of charges, including malice murder, three counts of felony murder, violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, concealing the death of another and tampering with evidence.

Harper was indicted on one count each of violating Georgia’s street gang law and hindering the apprehension of a criminal, records show. He is accused of hiding Stryker in the days after Bender’s killing.

Neither Huff nor Reid could provide an exact reason why Stryker wanted to kill Bender, but both shared a rumor that she may have blackmailed Stryker for his involvement in the gang’s illegal activities, including multiple robberies, Darragh confirmed.

According to the two men, Stryker told Bender they would be going on vacation in Florida and picked her up from her home late at night Sept. 14, 2019. She got into the back of a pickup truck with Huff and Stryker carrying a packed bag, according to the two men’s testimony.

As they made their way through Dawson County, Stryker shot Bender in the head without warning — while she was in “mid-sentence,” according to one of the prosecuting attorneys. Bender was critically injured, but not killed, by the gunshot.

The men then took Bender to Huff’s home, where Huff and Reid said they went inside to prepare to dispose of her body, leaving Stryker alone with her outside. While they were inside, Huff and Reid testified that Stryker stabbed Bender dozens of times, ultimately killing her. An autopsy revealed Bender was stabbed 32 times, Darragh confirmed.

After Bender’s death, Huff and Reid said her body was placed in a truck toolbox for several days before she was taken to a location near Parks Road in north Forsyth County, where she was buried in a shallow grave at the bottom of a ravine, the AJC previously reported.

A few days later, Bender was reported missing by her mother and, shortly after, bloody pieces of Bender’s clothing were found by investigators. The evidence led authorities to take out warrants against Stryker, the AJC reported at the time, and her body was discovered just a few days later.

According to investigators, there were crime scenes associated with the case in Lumpkin, Dawson and Forsyth counties. Stryker turned himself in to authorities in Pennsylvania in October 2019 and was extradited to Georgia five months later.

“When I came this morning ... I was very skeptical about whether I would accept this plea, 12 and 15 years in prison does not seem nearly enough for your participation in this horrendous act,” Dawson County Superior Court Judge Kathlene Gosselin said during the proceedings. “But the state has done a great job today of explaining more of the details than I had when we started this, explaining more of the issues that arise by not accepting these pleas.”

Stryker and Harper will appear in Dawson County Superior Court for calendar calls Friday, court records show. The procedure allows both the prosecution and defense to provide the presiding judge with updates on the case.