WISE COUNTY, Texas (TCN) — Tanner Horner, the former FedEx driver who pleaded guilty to the 2022 kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, has been sentenced to death.
Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to the charges on April 7. The victim was last seen alive outside her family’s home in Paradise, Texas, on Nov. 30, 2022. Her body was found naked in a river the following day and following his arrest, Horner told authorities he had accidentally hit Strand with his truck. He had been at Strand’s home to deliver a box of You Can Be Anything Barbie dolls when he spotted her.
Horner said he had brought the child inside the truck and then attempted to break her neck before strangling her because he was afraid that she would tell her father what happened, but at trial, jurors heard audio from inside the truck in which it was clear that Horner had not hit Strand with the vehicle. Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told the jury, “You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child. And when I say it’s horrible, I mean it.”
Following a 19-day trial, 34-year-old Horner was sentenced to death on May 5, People reports. The jury deliberated for about three hours on whether Horner should die by lethal injection or be sentenced to life behind bars.
After the sentence was read, People reports that Strand’s uncle, Elijah Strand, said, “You did not just take a life, you destroyed a family…You are nothing, you are a footnote in Athena’s story. You wanted your 15 minutes of fame and you got it, and no one’s gonna remember you after this.”
According to KWTX, a relative said to Horner, “You will face the wrath of God.”
NBC Dallas Fort Worth reports Horner will be transferred to the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas, where death row inmates are housed. His execution date has not yet been set.
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