LUMPKIN COUNTY, Ga. — There’s finally some closure for the family of Hannah Bender, the 21-year-old whose body was found in a shallow grave last week. The main suspect, Austin Stryker, was arrested early Wednesday morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after turning himself in to authorities.
“I reached out to the family this morning around 6:30 am, the mother of Miss Bender, and made her aware that Stryker was in custody,” Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said. “Now, she’s on the path of preparing the funeral of her daughter.”
Police searched for Stryker for weeks, after Bender was reported missing in mid-September. Prior to Stryker turning himself in, five others were arrested in Georgia in connection to the murder. The most recent was 21-year-old Bailey Williams, arrested in Lumpkin County Tuesday afternoon on charges of tampering with evidence. Strykers arrest Wednesday brings the total to six arrests.
“In my 31 years of law enforcement, we have had cases of this nature, but not necessarily where there were this many people involved,” Jarrard said, “At this point in time, I’d have to say, in my career, it would be the case that has the most people involved in it.”
Jarrard says none of this would have been possible without the cooperation of outside agencies, all of whom worked together for a common goal.
“It was a joint effort between Lumpkin, Dawson, Forsyth, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the US Marshals Service, and some other task force was involved also from other agencies,” Jarrard said. “So it was a great rally of teamwork with all the law enforcement to have the success that we've had to be able to put this together as fast as we have.”
Stryker will eventually be expedited back to Georgia. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation continues working the case.
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