Texas Jury Shown FedEx Driver’s Confession in Athena Strand Killing Sentencing Phase
Jurors in Wise County, Texas, heard interrogation video of former FedEx driver Tanner Lynn Horner describing how he killed 7-year-old Athena Strand in 2022 and "just kind of tossed" her body into the woods, as they weigh whether to sentence him to death or life without parole. Horner, 34, has pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping after abducting Athena while delivering a package to her father’s home in Paradise, Texas; he first claimed he hit her with his truck but later admitted strangling her. Prosecutor James Stainton told jurors that Athena fought fiercely for her life and said DNA evidence, including Horner’s DNA under her fingernails and "in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl," suggests she may have been sexually assaulted. The state is portraying Horner as calculating and remorseless, accusing him of covering a camera, threatening the child, attacking her inside his truck, dumping her body near Boyd, and then going back on route to keep delivering packages while the community searched. Defense attorneys are urging jurors to treat Horner’s reported brain damage, autism, mental illness and heavy lead exposure as mitigating factors against a death sentence, underscoring a broader debate over how capital punishment should apply to defendants with significant cognitive and psychiatric issues.
📌 Key Facts
- Former FedEx driver Tanner Lynn Horner has pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the 2022 killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand in Wise County, Texas.
- In interrogation video played for jurors, Horner told investigators Athena "wasn’t alive" when he put her in the truck and that he "just kind of tossed" her body into the woods.
- Prosecutors say DNA under Athena’s fingernails and on other parts of her body points to a possible sexual assault and are seeking the death penalty, while the defense cites Horner’s brain damage, autism, mental illness and lead exposure as mitigating factors.
📊 Relevant Data
Approximately 9.7% of child homicides in the US are committed by male strangers aged 18 and older.
Perpetrator characteristics and firearm use in pediatric homicides in the United States, 1981–2020 — PMC - NCBI
In the US, family members are the most common perpetrators of child homicides, with male family members accounting for 36.5% and female family members 26.9% of infant and toddler killings from 1981-2020.
UI study examines perpetrators of child homicides in the U.S. and use of guns — University of Iowa
Black individuals comprise 47.3% of inmates on Texas death row, despite making up about 12% of the state's population.
Gender and Racial Statistics of Death Row Inmates — Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Homicide cases with white victims are three times more likely to result in executions than homicides with no white victims in the US.
Surge in U.S. Executions Exhibits Huge White-Victim Preference — Death Penalty Policy Project
📰 Source Timeline (1)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time