After Tanner Horner, a former FedEx driver, was sentenced to death on Tuesday, May 5, after pleading guilty to killing seven-year-old Athena Strand, the slain girl’s uncle delivered a powerful victim impact statement in court. Elijah Strand addressed the court after the verdict, describing how Horner’s horrific crime left a lasting impact on the family.
“There are no words that truly capture the devastation that Tanner Horner caused us and our family,” Elijah said, per WFAA. “What he took from this world is not just a child … he took a light, a future, and a piece of every single person who loved her. He took a granddaughter, a daughter, a niece, a cousin and a friend. She would call me Uncle Li-jah for the longest time because she couldn’t say the E-li-Jah part of my name… it was the best thing to see her running up to me with her arms open, screaming Uncle Li-jah. And it’s one of my last memories I have of her. And now I never get to hear that again.”
Elijah later turned his statement to Horner.
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“You did not just take a life, you destroyed a family,” Elijah said to his niece’s killer as Horner looked back at him. “You took a girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence. You chose to cause pain that will last generations … I want you to know that you are nothing. You are a footnote in Athena’s story. Her name will forever be remembered. Her name will forever be celebrated, and everyone will forget you. You wanted your 15 minutes of fame … you got it, but no one is going to remember you after this.”
Tanner Horner sentenced to death
Horner was sentenced to death for killing Strand, who he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift. Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom decided on Horner’s punishment after hearing days of testimony and evidence, which included audio of Strand’s last moments from inside his delivery van.
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Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to capital murder last month. He killed Strand in 2022, and her body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth. She died from blunt-force trauma and strangulation.
Wise County District Attorney James Stainton spoke about the toll the horrific case has taken.
“I think that the evidence in this case was some of the most absolutely brutal evidence that I think anybody could ever, ever hear or see, and I think that’s going to haunt me forever,” Stainton said, adding that this was his first death penalty case.
Horner will now be transferred to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility in Livingston. A judge will be setting an execution date, though appeals of the death sentence will be automatic.
