Tanner Horner: FedEx driver reveals chilling new details in murder of Texas girl Athena Strand
Warning: Disturbing content
More chilling details have emerged in the trial of the delivery driver who confessed to kidnapping and murdering seven-year-old Athena Strand, as jurors were shown new evidence revealing the moments after the crime.
A court in Fort Worth heard Tanner Horner, 34, was recorded on video methodically cleaning the van in which he said he committed the murder in November 2022. Footage shown to the jury showed Horner using paper towels and a cleaning agent to wipe the interior of the vehicle for several minutes and then calmly drive away.
The court was also shown the image of Athena inside the van shortly before she was killed.
Prosecutors allege Horner abducted the child from outside her Paradise, Texas, home while delivering a package containing Barbies purchased as Christmas gifts.
Horner pleaded guilty to murder on April 7, shortly before the trial began. The jury will now decide whether he should be sentenced to death.
Prosecutors had rejected Horner’s earlier claim that Athena’s death was caused by an accidental collision, calling that claim an “absolute lie” and maintaining that the child was not injured before she was abducted. Fox4 reported.
Investigators told the court that items, including ropes, were seized from what prosecutors called the “kidnapping van”. Crime scene investigator Alise Amey stated that the marks on Athena’s face were consistent with the floor of the van.
Medical examiner Dr Jessica Dwyer said Athena died from asphyxiation and strangulation, as well as blunt force injuries. Dr Dwyer told the court the wounds showed a distinctive zigzag pattern and the boy probably suffered pain before dying.
“The absence of injury does not mean that sexual assault did or did not occur,” Dr Dwyer said.
The hearing featured emotional testimony, including the playing of footage showing the moments after Horner encountered Athena while delivering packages. Jurors heard the boy repeatedly ask, “Are you the kidnapper?” he heard himself ask. after being placed inside the van.
Horner was heard telling the girl to sit down and saying he would hurt her if she screamed. During registration, he asked her her age, school and teacher, and then said: “You are really beautiful. Do you know that?”
When the vehicle stopped and started again, Athena asked her mother where they were going. At one point, Horner asked the boy to take off his shirt, but he refused to do so before Horner became upset.
Athena’s parents, Jacob Strand and Maitlyn Gandy, testified earlier in the trial but were not in court when the footage was played.
Prosecutors said Horner was honest only when he admitted killing the boy, suggesting the evidence showed a pattern of deception.
“It will be difficult for you to keep up with the pattern and web of lies that he has put together,” Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said.
“Lies upon lies, lies upon lies,” he added.
Horner had previously told investigators that he panicked after encountering Athena and later tried to attribute the murder to an alter ego he referred to as “Zero.”
“This is what bothers me,” he told investigators, according to reports. ‘I wonder who’s been inside my head all this time.’
The jury will now decide whether Horner should be sentenced to death.
