{"id":280255,"date":"2026-05-05T20:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/280255\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:57:08","slug":"texas-delivery-driver-sentenced-to-death-for-2022-kidnapping-murder-of-7-year-old-athena-strand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/280255\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas delivery driver sentenced to death for 2022 kidnapping, murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (KTVT<\/a>) \u2014 A Tarrant County jury has sentenced Tanner Horner to death in the 2022 kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Horner pleaded guilty to the crime just moments before his trial began last month. The judge ordered that the trial transition into the sentencing phase, in which the jury had been hearing emotional testimony, watching and listening to graphic video and audio of Strand\u2019s last moments as prosecutors made their case for the death penalty.<\/p>\n

Among heart-wrenching testimony, the jury heard testimony from both of Strand\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n

After prosecutors wrapped their case, the defense presented its case in an effort to keep Horner from being executed. They called numerous expert witnesses to testify about Horner\u2019s mental health and medical history. Horner\u2019s mother and grandmother also took to the stand to speak on his childhood.<\/p>\n

The defense rested its case on Monday.<\/p>\n

In closing arguments on Tuesday morning, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told jurors that the only just outcome of the trial is the death penalty. Horner\u2019s defense attorneys argued that he should be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n

The jury deliberated for over two hours before returning its verdict.<\/p>\n

After the judge read the verdict, he said Horner would remain in the Tarrant County jail until he\u2019s transported to the Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville.<\/p>\n

Athena\u2019s uncle shares impact statement <\/p>\n

Elijah Strand, whose brother is Athena Strand\u2019s father, stood to read an emotional impact statement on behalf of the family. As tears began to stream down his face, he told the courtroom, \u201cThere are no words that truly capture the devastation that Tanner Horner caused us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Horner not only took a daughter from this world, but a granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had dreams she will never get to chase, she\u2019ll have birthdays that she will never celebrate, a life she will never get to live, because of his actions,\u201d Elijah Strand said as he pointed to Horner.<\/p>\n

He said Horner stole a sense of safety from his family and that they had been scared to let their children play outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s robbed of us safety, peace and our trust in the world and forever changed who we are as a family,\u201d Elijah Strand said as Horner stared back at him.<\/p>\n

Then, Elijah Strand had a direct message for Horner:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did not just take a life; you destroyed a family. You took a little girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence. You chose to cause pain that will last generations. You say you found God, but what you did to Athena stands in direct opposition of everything you claim to believe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Elijah ended the impact statement by quoting a scripture, and told Horner he would be judged.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will face the wrath of God,\u201d Elijah Strand continued. \u201cI want you to know you are a footnote in Athena\u2019s story. Her name will forever be remembered. Her name will be forever celebrated, and everyone will forget you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The murder of Athena Strand <\/p>\n

According to an arrest affidavit, Horner was working as a FedEx delivery driver when, on Nov. 30, 2022, he went to Strand\u2019s home to deliver a package containing a Christmas gift. Investigators said Horner accidentally struck the child with his delivery truck while backing out of the driveway.<\/p>\n

Authorities allege Horner told investigators that Strand did not appear seriously injured, but said he panicked, placed her into his van and strangled her out of fear that she would tell her father what had happened.<\/p>\n

Horner was ultimately tracked down through digital evidence.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Strand\u2019s body was found about 9 miles away from her home, southeast of Boyd.<\/p>\n

\t \t \t \t=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this one, be sure to visit https:\/\/www.eastidahonews.com\/ for all of the latest news, community events and more.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”> \t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (KTVT) \u2014 A Tarrant County jury has sentenced Tanner Horner to death in the 2022…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-280255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280255","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=280255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}