From 13th Judicial District Attorney Bryant Dunaway:

CONVICTION FOR SEXUAL BATTERY BY AN AUTHORITY FIGURE by a Dekalb County Jury.

A Dekalb County Jury returned a GUILTY verdict against William Ryan Hudgins yesterday, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. It took the jury only 30 minutes to deliberate and return their verdict.

The Defendant, William Ryan Hudgins was originally Indicted in April 2023 by a Dekalb County Grand Jury for sexual battery by authority figure. The victim was his 17 year old niece.

While the family was vacationing from Michigan in a rented cabin, the Defendant (the victim’s uncle) creeped into her room to commit the act. They were vacationing as a family here between the week of Christmas and New Year. The offense occurred on early morning hours of New Year’s Day January 1st, 2023.

The lead detective was Stephen Barrett with the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from Chris Isom, a Criminal Investigator with the District Attorney’s Office.

Great appreciation is also shown to Niles Michigan Police Officers Carl Adam Ashley and Jacob Rosin, who responded to the family home the evening of January 1, 2023. The victim disclosed to Michigan officers what happened to her in Tennessee at the hands of her uncle in the basement before they traveled back to Michigan. The Victim’s parents were protective and called police when they learned of the abuse. The Defendant confessed to his sexual battery of the child to law enforcement officers.

This case was procecuted at trial by the Asst. District Attorney’s Jessica Krebs and Randal Gilliam, members of the District Attorney’s Child Abuse Prosecution Team.

Please keep the victim and her parents in your prayers.

Please remember that persons who abuse children are many times persons who hold trusted positions and have access to children. Please maintain open and honest conversations with your children and be watchful.