Killer FedEx driver’s shockingly callous words to cops about what he did with Athena Strand, 7, after abducting and murdering her

The FedEx driver who brutally killed seven-year-old Athena Strand told police that when he was first captured by investigators, he “kind of threw her into the woods.”

After pleading guilty earlier this week to the November 2022 murder, 34-year-old Tanner Horner made the chilling confession to cops in body camera footage shown at his hearing on Wednesday.

Horner now faces a criminal trial to determine whether he will be sentenced to death.

Body camera footage shows police searching Horner’s home for signs of Strand and then demanding he tell them where Strand is.

‘I can show you,’ he told the officers, and someone asked: ‘Is he alive?’ before asking.

Horner responded: ‘He wasn’t alive when I put him in the truck.’

Horner claimed at the time that he accidentally hit Strand with his truck, but later admitted to strangling the girl.

Body camera footage shown in court revealed how Horner led officers to search for Strand in a wooded area.

Strand was kidnapped by Horner as he was dropping off a package containing a box of Barbie dolls, a Christmas gift to young people.

When Horner was unable to locate the woman, he told the police that he did not know her exact location because he had so callously disposed of her remains.

‘I kind of threw him in,’ he said.

At Horner’s trial earlier this week, authorities released nightmarish footage of Strand’s final moments before his brutal murder, showing the killer standing in a FedEx truck.

The teenager was kidnapped by Horner while delivering a box of Barbies to her home that was supposed to be a Christmas present.

That body camera was shown after prosecutors warned jurors in Horner’s trial that they would be faced with horrific evidence of Strand’s killing, including the gruesome audio recording.

The girl was strangled to death by Horner in his truck, and the last minutes of her torture were recorded by a microphone in the vehicle after he turned off the camera inside.

Wise County prosecutors warned jurors that all evidence in the case will continue to be presented to them for the ‘penalty phase’ of the trial, during which they will decide whether Horner should be sentenced to death.

Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said: ‘You’ll hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 180-pound kid. And I mean it when I say it’s terrible.’

Strand was abducted from outside his home by Horner in November 2022.

Horner was due to appear in court before suddenly pleading guilty this week. Now facing a criminal case

Jurors will watch video and listen to audio files during Wednesday’s trial.

Horner is said to have warned Strand, “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you,” as he picked him up and put him in his truck.

‘I’ll put you as close as I can without being there that day. “There’s a video of this and we’re going to show it now,” Stainton told the jury.

Police involved in the search for Strand said they agonized for days hoping to find him alive.

Texas Ranger Job Espinoza testified that he spent three days searching the area around his home and that footage from inside Horner’s truck showing he was alive when he was kidnapped gave him some hope.

The officer said officers raided Horner’s home looking for signs of a child and said: ‘It allows us to get in there and make sure someone is not in danger if it means preserving life.’

Espinoza testified that after Horner tried to point out where he dumped Strand’s body, he realized the driver had taken them to the wrong place.

Horner appeared in court this week after pleading guilty to girl’s murder

Jurors at Horner’s trial were warned they would face chilling evidence of Strand’s final moments when deciding whether Horner should face the death penalty.

When Horner was first captured by police, he claimed that he had accidentally hit Strand with his truck and then dumped his body in a panic.

But the photo prosecutors released this week of Strand alive in his truck proved that wrong; Prosecutor Stainton branded Horner’s alibi a ‘web of lies’.

The killer drove seven miles from home and dumped her body, where police found it a few hours later.

Strand was not injured when Horner put him in the vehicle, Stainton told jurors.

‘When Tanner Horner picks up Athena and puts her in the truck, the first thing he says to her is he leans over and says: “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you.” He says that twice,” Stainton said.

The prosecutor said Strand fought Horner and Horner’s DNA was found under the woman’s fingernails. He also said Horner’s DNA was found ‘in places where DNA should not be found on a seven-year-old girl’.

“The only true thing Tanner Horner said to law enforcement was that he killed her,” the prosecutor added. ‘It will be difficult for you to keep up with the network and order of lies he has created. Lie after lie after lie after lie.’

Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder of a child under 10 and aggravated kidnapping.