04/08/2026
Heartbreaking Photo Shows Girl with Kidnapper Moments Before Her Murder.
A former FedEx delivery driver surprised a Tarrant County courtroom Tuesday when he pleaded guilty to killing 7-year-old Athena Strand, cutting short what was set to be an emotional capital murder trial.
Tanner Horner admitted to capital murder of a child under 10 and aggravated kidnapping right as opening statements were about to start earlier today. Judge George Gallagher accepted the plea, and the case jumped straight to the sentencing phase. A jury will now weigh whether Horner gets the death penalty or life in prison without parole, according to multiple news outlets covering the proceeding.
The case goes back to November 30, 2022, in Paradise, Texas. Horner was dropping off a package, a Christmas gift with Barbie dolls, at the Strand family home when he accidentally backed his delivery truck into the little girl. Investigators say he panicked, thinking she wasn’t badly hurt but fearing she would tell her dad. He put her in his van and strangled her. Digital tracking from his route helped authorities locate him the same day. Athena’s body turned up two days later in the Trinity River at BoBo Crossing, about nine miles from her house.
Horner had pleaded not guilty after his February 2023 indictment. Wise County District Attorney James Stainton had said he would seek the death penalty. With the guilty plea now on record, prosecutors began laying out evidence Tuesday, including testimony from Athena’s teacher Lindsey Thompson, who called the girl a “true gem” who loved drawing and always spoke her mind, and from stepmother Ashley Strand, who described the frantic search the night she went missing.
Defense lawyers highlighted Horner’s autism, mental health struggles, and tough family background, including exposure to high lead levels, as reasons he should get life without parole instead of death. The judge called a short recess after the plea, and the trial resumes Wednesday for more witnesses in the punishment phase.
