A former FedEx driver was sentenced to death on Tuesday for the 2022 murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, whom he abducted from her home in the small town of Paradise, Texas, while delivering a Christmas package. Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom deliberated briefly before returning the sentence for Tanner Horner, 34, who had pleaded guilty to capital murder last month as his trial began.
The panel heard weeks of testimony and evidence that included video and audio from inside Horner’s delivery van. The recording showed him lifting the girl into the vehicle and then covering the camera, after which the audio continued for more than an hour. It captured Athena’s screams and her direct questions to her abductor.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, according to audio played in court and reviewed by the Associated Press. “Because you are pretty,” Horner replied.
Athena’s voice is heard telling him, “My mom says I can’t do that to somebody. And you can’t do that to me either.” Later in the recording, Horner says, “If you don’t shut up, I will hurt you worse.” A medical examiner testified that she died of blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation.
Prosecutor James Stainton told jurors that Horner had repeated “lie upon lie” to investigators, including an initial claim that he accidentally struck Athena with his van and killed her in a panic.
Defense attorney Steven Goble argued for a life prison sentence, pointing to evidence that Horner’s mother consumed alcohol while pregnant, that he had autism and a history of mental illness, and that he was exposed to a “massive amount of lead” during childhood. The jury, however, found that Horner was likely to commit future violence and that nothing in his background warranted a sentence less than death.
Athena’s body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home. Her family later said the package Horner had delivered was a Christmas gift — a box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbies.
The trial was moved from Wise County to Fort Worth after Horner’s lawyers successfully argued that he could not receive a fair trial in the small community where the crime occurred. Horner showed no visible reaction when the judge read the death sentence.