Former FedEx driver Tanner Horner pleaded guilty Tuesday in Texas to the 2022 killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand, setting up a decision by jurors on whether Horner is sentenced to death or life in prison, according to testimony and opening statements. The case centers on what happened after Horner, a FedEx driver, made a delivery to Athena’s home, where he later told authorities that he accidentally struck the girl with his van and then strangled her, in a fit of panic.
Prosecutors in opening statements said Horner’s account to law enforcement was not truthful. Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told jurors that the only truthful part of Horner’s statements was that he killed Athena, while characterizing the rest as a “pattern and web of lies.” Stainton described the scenario Horner presented as an “absolute lie,” and he said jurors would see evidence that contradicted Horner’s explanation of how the girl was hurt and how he carried out the killing.
Stainton told jurors they would watch video from the delivery that day and then hear audio after the camera had been covered, and he urged jurors to consider the physical disparity between Horner and Athena. Stainton said jurors would hear “what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,” and he told jurors that “when I say it’s horrible, I mean it.” He also described DNA evidence prosecutors say was found under Athena’s fingernails and in locations he said should not contain DNA from a 7-year-old child.
According to an arrest warrant described in court, Horner told authorities he strangled Athena after accidentally hitting her with his van while backing up during a delivery. The warrant said Horner told investigators Athena was not seriously hurt after he hit her, but that he then panicked and put her in his van. The warrant also said Horner told investigators he tried to break Athena’s neck first, and when that did not work he strangled her with his hands in the back of the van, and that he later led investigators to where he had left her body.
During opening statements, Athena’s stepmother, Ashley Strand, testified to jurors about what Horner dropped off at the home: she said the package was a Christmas present and included “You Can Be Anything” Barbies. Strand, who has since divorced Athena’s father, told jurors Athena enjoyed living out on their land in the country, where she got to “run wild and free.”
Horner’s attorney, Steven Goble, told jurors that while the evidence against Horner was “overwhelming” and “terrible,” he asked the jury to impose a sentence of life in prison rather than death. Goble argued that Horner’s mother drank while she was pregnant and said Horner has autism and suffered from “various mental illnesses throughout his life” and had been exposed to a “massive amount of lead,” while still acknowledging the prosecution’s presentation of evidence.
As part of the punishment-phase presentation, jurors were also shown an image of Athena taken from a video inside the delivery truck. The court described Athena as still alive and sitting on her knees behind the driver’s seat, with prosecutors presenting the image as evidence of what occurred in the moments after the delivery.