A Texas jury is deciding whether a former FedEx driver who pleaded guilty to strangling a seven-year-old girl after accidentally striking her with his delivery truck deserves capital punishment or life imprisonment following his shocking courtroom admission.
Tanner Horner, 31, entered guilty pleas on Tuesday to two capital murder counts and aggravated kidnapping charges related to Athena Strand’s death on 30 November 2022, with prosecutors warning jurors to “buckle up” before presenting harrowing audio evidence of the child’s final moments.
Police bodycam footage captured Horner’s 2 December 2022 arrest as officers handcuffed him against the same FedEx vehicle he used abducting Athena from her Paradise, Texas home—minutes after delivering a Barbie doll intended as her Christmas present.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area courtroom heard how investigators initially approached Horner as a potential witness after realising the delivery driver might have observed the abduction, with Lead Detective Sgt Job Espinoza explaining: “My main objective was: who delivered it? What did they see? More than anything, to me initially, it’s just another set of eyes.”
However, Horner attempted misleading investigators by claiming he witnessed a green van parked at Athena’s residence, before surveillance footage from his own delivery vehicle revealed chilling CCTV imagery showing him placing the living child inside the truck.
The harrowing black-and-white image captured above the driver’s seat shows Athena—mouth open with confused expression—kneeling a foot behind her murderer whilst grabbing the cabin sides for support.
Prosecutors characterised Horner’s subsequent confession as merely “part of a pattern and web of lies,” with the defendant claiming he panicked after accidentally hitting the girl whilst reversing from her driveway, fearing she would inform her father.
According to arrest warrants, Horner attempted breaking Athena’s neck before strangling her when initial efforts failed, with prosecutors alleging his first words to the child were: “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you.”
Wise County District Attorney James Stainton warned jurors they would hear audio from the murder despite someone covering cameras. “You’re going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child. I’ve been doing this 25 years, and I promise you, buckle up,” he stated.
Athena returned from school approximately 4.30pm before heading to her bedroom, with her stepmother reporting her missing around 6.40pm. Her body was discovered two days later approximately six miles away in nearby Boyd.
Wednesday testimony revealed a woman reported Horner sexually assaulted her in 2013 when she was 16 and he was 22, with the victim telling Fort Worth police he made unwanted advances whilst she stayed at his house to avoid her grandmother discovering she had been drinking.
