A FedEx driver, Tanner Horner, has been sentenced to death for the murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand in Texas, after jurors found him guilty following approximately 3 hours of deliberation. The judge announced that Horner will be executed by lethal injection “before sunrise” on a future date.
Texas: FedEx driver sentenced to death for killing 7-year-old
Tanner Horner listened expressionlessly to the death sentence imposed against him, and remained “frozen” even when he heard the 7-year-old’s uncle shouting “You will face the wrath of God. But I want you to know that you are nothing. You are a footnote in Athena’s story. Her name will live on forever in memory. Her name will be celebrated forever. Everyone will forget you. You wanted your 15 minutes of fame. You got them. And no one will remember you after this.”
After the death sentence was imposed, an automatic appeal was filed, as required in similar cases in Texas, with the killer-driver simply responding with a “yes, sir” when informed of this development by the judge.
Shocking evidence at trial
During the trial, shocking video footage of the minor’s final moments in November 2022 was shown, causing jurors to break down in tears, while the 7-year-old’s relatives left the courtroom unable to bear watching what the child endured at the hands of the FedEx driver before she took her last breath.
According to the New York Post, the 7-year-old was heard repeatedly asking “are you a kidnapper?” to Horner, who ordered her to sit down and be quiet, threatening to harm her if she didn’t comply.
In footage from the camera in the FedEx truck where the crime occurred in November 2022, Horner initially appears alone, but then is recorded loading the 7-year-old into the truck, sitting behind the wheel, and driving away. The little girl began asking him if he was a kidnapper, with the 34-year-old avoiding answering.
Horner then covered the truck’s camera, but those in the courtroom could hear the audio of the horrific events that followed. The 34-year-old was heard saying to the little girl: “You’re very beautiful. Do you know that?” before the truck stopped. “What are we doing?” Athena asked shortly after, with Horner asking her to remove her shirt, and the girl responding “no” and asking for her mother. She then began crying and screaming, followed by sounds of banging in the truck.
What the perpetrator claimed
Horner claimed he accidentally hit Athena with his truck while delivering a package and that he killed her – strangling her with his bare hands – out of fear she might expose him. His claims were dismissed as lies by prosecutors.
In other audio heard by the jury during the trial, Horner was heard singing the well-known Christmas song “Jingle Bell Rock” while murdering the 7-year-old. In the same audio, little Athena could be heard screaming in pain, with the killer heard saying: “Shut up, if you don’t shut up, I’ll hurt you worse.” These sounds were recorded approximately 30 minutes after the start of the video showing little Athena’s final moments in the truck with Horner driving.
What the psychiatrist revealed
According to psychiatrist Eileen Ryan, to whom the perpetrator described the crime he committed in 2022, Horner “did” a line of cocaine when his attempt to strangle the 7-year-old failed, before beating her to death. As she told the jurors: “He tried to kill her by breaking her neck. Then he strangled her. Athena was still alive after he strangled her. He could hear her breathing and ‘did’ another line of cocaine.”
“So he told you he used physical blows, whatever his description was, with his fists and feet?” the prosecutor asked, with the psychiatrist answering “yes.”
Finally, the doctor also described that Horner told her he tried to put a pill in Athena’s mouth during the kidnapping, with the prosecutor asking “to explain the reason why it looks like she’s choking, he tells you he’s trying to put a pill in her mouth. Is that what he tells you?” The psychiatrist said she didn’t believe Horner’s account, stating: “I believe he was trying to force her to perform oral sex.”
