{"id":241704,"date":"2026-04-09T08:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241704\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T08:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:25:14","slug":"texas-fedex-driver-pleads-guilty-to-kidnapping-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241704\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas FedEx driver pleads guilty to kidnapping, murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tanner Horner\u00a0told police at the time<\/a> that he accidentally struck Athena Strand while backing up his delivery van. He said he didn\u2019t want to tell her father what happened and instead decided to kidnap and strangle her. Two days later, he led authorities to her body, which he\u2019d left in Wise County near Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

Horner told investigators that Strand wasn\u2019t seriously injured when he hit her, but he panicked and put her in his van. He said he first tried to break her neck, and when that didn\u2019t work, he strangled her with his hands.<\/p>\n

Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told the jury that Horner\u2019s version of events was an \u201cabsolute lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing Tanner Horner says to Athena when he picks her up and puts her in that truck, he leans down and he says: \u2018Don\u2019t scream or I\u2019ll hurt you.\u2019 He says that twice,\u201d Stainton said.<\/p>\n

Horner now faces the sentencing phase of the trial, which is expected to continue for weeks as the jury is presented evidence that will determine the severity of his punishment. The prosecution is pursuing the death penalty, while\u00a0Horner\u2019s defense seeks life in prison.<\/p>\n

Horner\u2019s defense argues that his autism spectrum disorder \u201creduces his moral blameworthiness, negates the retributive and deterrent purposes of capital punishment and exposes him to the unacceptable risk that he will be wrongfully sentenced to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the first day of testimony, the jury saw a still image of Horner and Strand that appears to have been captured on the van\u2019s interior camera. In the photo, Strand is sitting on her knees behind Horner while he sits in the driver\u2019s seat. She appears alert and unharmed, in contradiction to Horner\u2019s claim that he hit and then\u00a0strangled her in a fit of panic.<\/p>\n

The prosecution said it planned to play four hours of video footage depicting Horner talking to authorities and ultimately leading them to Strand\u2019s body. Former Sheriff Lane Akin testified that Strand was found nude in an area of the Trinity River called the Bobo Crossing, about 13 miles from her home. Prosecutors have indicated that DNA analysis reveals evidence of sexual assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,\u201d\u00a0Stainton added. \u201cAnd when I say it\u2019s horrible, I mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strand\u2019s stepmother told jurors at the trial that the package Horner delivered that day was a box of \u201cYou Can Be Anything\u201d Barbies, intended to be a Christmas present for the girl.<\/p>\n

Lindsey Thompson, Strand\u2019s first grade teacher at Paradise ISD, testified that she was a \u201ctypical 7-year-old girl that loved life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would come in with stickers on her hand,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cShe loved to dress up. She truly was a free spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial was moved from Wise County to Tarrant County after Horner\u2019s attorneys argued he would not receive a fair trial in the rural community where Strand lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tanner Horner\u00a0told police at the time that he accidentally struck Athena Strand while backing up his delivery van.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-241704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}