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A Fort Worth jury on Tuesday sentenced Tanner Horner, 34, to death after he pleaded guilty to capital murder in the 2022 killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand, whom he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift, according to testimony and evidence presented at sentencing. Horner pleaded guilty last month as his trial began, and jurors decided his punishment after hearing roughly a month of evidence in a Fort Worth courtroom.
Prosecutor James Stainton told jurors during opening statements that Horner had told authorities a series of false accounts, saying Horner “lie upon lie upon lie” in the case. Stainton described how Horner told investigators he accidentally struck Athena with his van during the delivery, and then killed her during what he characterized as a fit of panic.
Jurors also heard testimony that included audio recorded from inside Horner’s delivery van during the final moments after Athena was taken. Witnesses and evidence shown to the jury included recordings in which Horner was heard asking Athena questions, including how old she is and where she goes to school, before the vehicle stopped and he told her they were going to “hang out.” In the recording, Horner told Athena not to scream or he would hurt her, and Athena was described as asking questions about what he was doing to her.
As the recording continued for more than an hour, prosecutors and jurors were shown and heard details that included audible screams, and at one point Horner told Athena, “If you don’t shut up, I will hurt you worse,” according to the account presented in court. Jurors also watched evidence showing Horner lifting Athena into the van and driving away, and the report said that several jurors cried during parts of the presentation of the video and audio.
A medical examiner testified that Athena died of blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation. Prosecutors argued during the penalty phase that jurors should find there was a probability Horner would commit criminal violence and remain a continuing threat to society, and that there was nothing in the crime’s commission or in Horner’s background warranting a sentence of life without parole instead of death.
During opening statements, Horner did not express visible emotion when the judge read the sentence, according to a livestream of the proceedings, the report said. Horner’s guilty plea meant the case moved into a punishment phase rather than a full retrial of guilt.
Horner’s attorney, Steven Goble, urged jurors to sentence Horner to life in prison and argued that Horner had autism and suffered from “various mental illnesses throughout his life,” in addition to being exposed to a “massive amount of lead.” Goble also told jurors that Horner’s mother drank while she was pregnant. In opening statements, the defense acknowledged that the evidence against Horner was “overwhelming” and “terrible.”
The report said Athena’s family has said the package Horner had dropped off was a Christmas present for her — a box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbies. The case originally was scheduled to be tried in rural Wise County, but it was moved to Fort Worth after Horner’s attorneys argued he would not receive a fair trial there.