A Texas jury has sentenced former FedEx driver Tanner Horner to death for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand. The verdict came after prosecutors laid out a detailed account of the events leading to the child’s death in 2022.
At the beginning of his trial on April 7, Horner, 34, entered a guilty plea to capital murder, promptly moving the case to the penalty phase. After that, the jury had to decide whether to give him the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of release.
Horner was working as a contract delivery driver at the time and was found guilty of abducting Athena from her home in Wise County, Texas.
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What did Tanner Horner do?
According to court testimony cited by prosecutors, Horner confessed to abducting Athena Strand after accidentally striking her with his delivery vehicle. Horner struck and kidnapped Athena Strand after delivering a Christmas gift to her Texas home in November 2022.
Instead of seeking help, he reportedly kidnapped the child in an attempt to conceal the incident. Horner informed investigators that although Athena wasn’t gravely injured when he struck her while backing up, he panicked and placed her in his vehicle.
Athena’s stepmother, Ashley Strand, informed the jury that the box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbies Horner had dropped off was a Christmas gift for Athena.
Athena loved living out on their rural acreage, where she could “run wild and free,” according to Strand, who has since divorced Athena’s father.
Investigators said Horner drove the child for several miles before killing her. According to the warrant, Horner attempted to break the girl’s neck before strangling her with his hands in the back of the van because he didn’t want her to tell her father what had happened.
However, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told the jury that it is a “complete lie” that he struck her with his car and became frightened. He claimed that when Horner loaded her into the car, she was unharmed.
Prosecutors argued that Horner’s actions demonstrated deliberate intent to cover up the initial incident, ultimately leading to the child’s death.
Stainton said, “The first thing Tanner Horner says to Athena when he picks her up and puts her in that truck, he leans down and he says: ‘Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you.’ He says that twice.”
Stainton argued that Athena battled Horner; his DNA was discovered beneath her fingernails. Horner’s DNA was also discovered “in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl,” he added.
Jurors were made to listen to recordings of Strand’s kidnapping and murder, and one piece of evidence proved particularly unsettling: audio taken from inside Horner’s delivery vehicle. Days later, the child’s nude body was discovered in the Trinity River.
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Trial and sentencing
The trial concluded with the jury recommending capital punishment. Texas remains one of the states that actively enforces the death penalty in cases involving aggravated crimes such as child murder.
After weeks of his defense team fighting for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, the Fort Worth jury debated for three hours before arriving at their verdict to sentence Horner to death, according to PEOPLE. On May 5, both parties rested their cases.
According to the AP, jurors concluded that Horner would continue to pose a threat to society and was likely to perpetrate violent crimes.
The court stated that Horner would be assigned an attorney to represent him on direct appeal and that his sentence would be immediately forwarded to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Judge George Gallagher said, “It’s the order of the court that you, Tanner Lynn Horner, has been judged to be guilty of the offense of capital murder as found by the jury. Jury having answered, the special issues make it mandatory that your punishment be death. It is, therefore, the order of this court that your punishment be death.”
