A Dawsonville man convicted last month in the brutal murder of Hannah Bender of Lumpkin County has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Austin Todd Stryker, 24, was sentenced Wednesday in Dawson County Superior Court by Judge Kathlene Gosselin. In addition to the life sentence for the murder charges, Stryker also was sentenced to a consecutive 20 years on other charges related to the murder. Stryker was convicted Nov. 10 on all 24 criminal charges related to Bender's murder.
"The State is thankful that Judge Gosselin gave the maximum sentence in Stryker's murder conviction, the only one which would accomplish justice for Hannah Bender's family," said Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh in an email statement. "All murder cases are horrible, of course, but the actions of this defendant were especially heinous."
According to testimony presented in court from witnesses and co-defendants, Stryker shot Bender in the head and then stabbed her 32 times in 2019. The 21-year-old woman was reported missing by her mother on Sept. 14 and her body was found in a shallow grave in Forsyth County on Sept. 25. Stryker turned himself in to authorities in Pennsylvania on Oct. 2, 2019.
