FedEx driver sentenced to death for 2022 kidnapping, murder of 7-year-old Texas girl

A Texas jury on Tuesday sentenced a former FedEx delivery driver to death for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, whose body was found in a river days after she vanished from her father’s rural home in late 2022.

Tanner Lynn Horner had been charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Athena, who disappeared Nov. 30, 2022, from outside her father’s home in Paradise, Texas, a small community of fewer than 500 people roughly 60 miles northwest of Dallas. Mr. Horner pleaded guilty to both charges on April 7 as his trial was set to begin, sending the case directly into the penalty phase. After weeks of testimony, jurors deliberated for less than three hours before returning a death sentence.

On the afternoon of the abduction, Horner had delivered a package to the Strand home — a box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbies intended as Athena’s Christmas gift, according to her mother, Maitlyn Gandy. Athena’s stepmother later reported her missing, and her body was found two days later in the Trinity River at Bobo Crossing, several miles from her father’s home.

Prosecutors said Horner covered the camera in his delivery truck before attacking Athena and repeatedly lied to investigators about what occurred and where her body was. Wise County District Attorney James Stainton, in his closing argument, told jurors the case was among the “worst of the worst” and precisely the kind for which Texas reserves capital punishment.

Horner initially told investigators he had accidentally struck Athena with his van as he backed out of the driveway, panicked and placed her in the vehicle out of fear she would tell her father. According to an arrest warrant, he then attempted to break the child’s neck and, when that failed, strangled her with his hands. During closing arguments, defense attorneys offered a different account, suggesting Athena had witnessed Horner snorting cocaine in the truck. The van’s microphone, investigators said, recorded audio of the attack.

The jury unanimously found that Horner would pose a continuing threat to society and that no mitigating circumstances warranted a life sentence. Defense attorneys had called expert witnesses who testified about Mr. Horner’s difficult upbringing, an autism diagnosis, and exposure to toxic levels of lead. His mother testified that she had struggled with drug use and multiple arrests during his childhood. A neuroscientist also presented MRI evidence the defense argued showed abnormalities in Horner’s brain.

Following the verdict, Athena’s uncle, Elijah Strand, addressed the court and directly confronted Horner, who turned to face him. “You did not just take a life, you destroyed a family,” Mr. Strand said. “You took a little girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence.”

Ms. Gandy, who wore pink — Athena’s favorite color — to court, had earlier described her daughter as a free-spirited girl who played outside in princess dresses and “wanted to live.” Testifying about the moment she learned of Athena’s death, Ms. Gandy said, “She’s not just some story. She’s not just some number. She was loved. She is loved, and she is missed.”

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Horner was not employed directly by FedEx. He worked for Big Topspin Inc., a Fort Worth-based independent contractor that had held FedEx delivery routes in Wise County for only seven months at the time of the murder. Athena’s father, Jacob Strand, and Ms. Gandy have each filed lawsuits against Horner, FedEx and Big Topspin, alleging negligent hiring, failure to investigate Horner’s background and mental health history and failure to supervise. FedEx has maintained that its drivers are employed by independent service providers rather than by the company directly.

In the aftermath of Athena’s death, Texas passed legislation informally known as the Athena Alert law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June 2023. The measure amended AMBER Alert procedures to allow law enforcement to issue a regional missing-child alert without first confirming a kidnapping has occurred; state officials have noted it does not create a separate alert system, and all messages continue to go out as AMBER Alerts.

Under Texas law, Horner’s death sentence is subject to automatic review by the Court of Criminal Appeals. He will be transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

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