A former FedEx driver has pleaded guilty to the killing of a 7-year-old girl in Texas after delivering a Christmas package to her home, a case that shocked the small rural community where the crime occurred.
Tanner Horner admitted Tuesday to the 2022 murder of Athena Strand in the town of Paradise, near Fort Worth. A jury will now decide whether Horner receives the death penalty or life in prison.
Athena’s body was discovered two days after she was reported missing from her family’s property in Wise County.
During opening statements, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told jurors that Horner repeatedly lied to investigators about what happened.
“The only truthful thing that Tanner Horner told law enforcement was that he killed her,” Stainton said. “The pattern and web of lies that he put together — it is lie upon lie upon lie.”
Prosecutors challenged Horner’s claim that the incident began when he accidentally struck Athena with his delivery van and panicked.
Stainton told jurors the evidence shows the child was uninjured when Horner put her into the delivery truck.
According to prosecutors, Horner threatened the girl after forcing her into the vehicle.
“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 said.
Jurors were shown an image taken from a video inside the delivery truck that showed Athena alive and kneeling behind the driver’s seat shortly before the killing.
Prosecutors said Athena fought back during the attack and that Horner’s DNA was found under her fingernails. Investigators also discovered his DNA in other locations on the child’s body, which prosecutors described as deeply disturbing evidence.
Authorities say Horner eventually led investigators to the location where he left the child’s body.
According to court documents, Horner told police he strangled Athena after he feared she would tell her father about the incident.
Defense attorney Steven Goble acknowledged that the evidence against Horner was “overwhelming” but urged jurors to consider his client’s mental health and personal history when determining punishment.
Goble told the court that Horner’s mother drank alcohol during pregnancy and said Horner has autism and has suffered from mental illness throughout his life. He also said Horner had been exposed to high levels of lead, which he argued may have affected his neurological development.
The defense is asking the jury to sentence Horner to life in prison rather than death.
Athena’s stepmother, Ashley Strand, testified during the trial that the package Horner delivered to their home that day contained a Christmas present intended for the girl — a box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbie dolls.
Strand told jurors that Athena loved living in the countryside, where she could play freely outdoors.
The case has drawn intense attention in Texas, and the trial was moved from Wise County to Fort Worth after defense attorneys argued that widespread publicity in the rural community could prevent Horner from receiving a fair trial.
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