Texas Jury Shown FedEx Driver’s Confession and Bodycam Depicting Alter Ego in Athena Strand Killing Sentencing Phase
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During the sentencing phase in the killing of 7‑year‑old Athena Strand, jurors were shown body‑cam footage and a confession from FedEx driver Tanner Horner in which he said he stripped the girl, “kind of tossed” her body into the woods and threw her clothes from his vehicle, later saying discarding her clothes was “funny.” Texas Ranger Job Espinoza testified Horner’s statements contradicted evidence — he initially claimed the girl’s underwear remained on her though her body was recovered nude — and the footage shows officers at times addressing an alternate persona Horner called “Zero,” urging that persona to be “more honest” as they probed whether and when he hit Athena with his truck and how the abduction occurred.