{"id":415275,"date":"2026-05-06T23:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/415275\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T23:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:11:16","slug":"us-fedex-driver-sentenced-to-death-after-murdering-girl-7-after-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/415275\/","title":{"rendered":"US FedEx driver sentenced to death after murdering girl, 7, after delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Texas FedEx driver has been sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old girl he took from her home while delivering a Christmas gift.<\/p>\n

Content warning: This article discusses sexual violence, graphic violence and death.<\/p>\n

Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom decided on Tanner Horner’s punishment after hearing about a month of testimony and evidence that included audio of Athena Strand’s last moments from inside his delivery van. <\/p>\n

Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to capital murder last month in the 2022 killing just as his trial began. Athena’s body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

Horner didn’t visibly react when the judge read the sentence, according to a livestream of the court proceedings.<\/p>\n

\"Maitlyn<\/p>\n

Maitlyn Gandy, Athena Strand’s mother, leaves the courtroom following closing arguments in the punishment phase of Tanner Horner’s capital murder trial (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Jurors found there was a probability Horner would commit criminal violence and be a continuing threat to society. They said there was nothing in the commission of the crime or in Horner’s background to warrant life without parole instead of death.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor James Stainton told jurors in opening statements that Horner had told, \u201clie upon lie upon lie upon lie\u201d in the case, including telling authorities that he accidentally struck Athena with his van while making the delivery and then killed her in a fit of panic.<\/p>\n

Several jurors cried as they were shown video and heard audio from inside the van after Athena was taken. <\/p>\n

He could be seen lifting her into the van, and then driving away, telling her not to scream or he\u2019d hurt her.<\/p>\n

Horner then covered the camera, but the audio continued recording. <\/p>\n

\"Fleet<\/p>\n

Fleet of FedEx delivery trucks in a parking lot (file image). (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

Horner asks Athena questions, including how old she is and where she goes to school, before stopping the van and telling her they are going to \u201chang out.\u201d <\/p>\n

Horner tells her to take off her shirt and she begins crying, asking what he\u2019s doing and whether he\u2019s a kidnapper. She cries no and asks for her mother and to go home.<\/p>\n

She asks him: \u201cWhy are you doing this?\u201d He replies, \u201cBecause you are pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom says I can\u2019t do that to somebody,\u201d she tells him. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you can\u2019t do that to me either.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the recording, which lasts over an hour, continues, Athena\u2019s screams can be heard as well as choking and slamming noises.<\/p>\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

Where to get help for sexual violence. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

At one point he tells her: \u201cIf you don\u2019t shut up, I will hurt you worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

A medical examiner testified that Athena died of blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging during opening statements that the evidence against Horner was \u201coverwhelming\u201d and \u201cterrible,\u201d Horner\u2019s attorney, Steven Goble, told jurors that Horner\u2019s mother drank while she was pregnant, he has autism and suffered from \u201cvarious mental illnesses throughout his life\u201d in addition to being exposed to a \u201cmassive amount of lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goble had asked jurors to sentence Horner to life in prison.<\/p>\n

Athena\u2019s family has said that the package Horner had dropped off was a Christmas present for her \u2014 a box of \u201cYou Can Be Anything\u201d Barbies.<\/p>\n

The trial was moved from rural Wise County to Fort Worth after Horner\u2019s attorneys argued that he would not have received a fair trial. <\/p>\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

Where to get help. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Texas FedEx driver has been sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-415275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}