It’s something no mother and father should have to experience, hearing the cries of their young child as the man who kidnapped her prepared to commit the most heinous of crimes: taking a human life. During the penalty phase of the capital murder trial of Tanner Horner on Thursday, the members of the jury weighing whether to give a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty were played an audio recording capturing the girl’s last moments on Earth, including her murder.
Some Background
On Apr. 8, Tanner Horner, a Texas man who was working as a FedEx driver in November 2022, pleaded guilty to murdering 7-year-old Athena Strand, after he had delivered a Christmas present to her Paradise, TX, home:
Warning: this story contains graphic descriptions of violent acts against children
As the ABC News report notes, the delivery driver at first told police that “as he was backing out of the driveway, he accidentally hit” the girl, claiming “she did not seem seriously injured”:
Fearing she’d tell her father he panicked and strangled her. But prosecutors tell a different story. They claim Horner plotted the killing for days.
The girl’s body was found in a nearby river two days after she was reported missing.
In an absurd move while being interviewed by police, the man tried to cut a deal with the Wise County Sheriff’s Office in exchange for making his confession, begging them to let him go home and spend a month with his family:
The shocking request a suspect made after he was accused of killing a 7-year-old girl: https://t.co/gSszUzXu57 pic.twitter.com/4556gTmntI
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) April 11, 2026
On Apr. 9, the jury was shown a video of Tanner Horner speaking to police:
After a brief recess, the jury was shown another video of Horner being interviewed at the Wise County Sheriff’s Office, this time in a striped inmate uniform. The jury was told that Horner requested to have the interview with law enforcement.
“I imagine that you have, basically, a list and bullet points that you want to know from me,” Horner said to investigators.
“There’s only one thing in this world that I want,” Horner said. “I want a month.”
“[If y]ou can’t do that, I understand. Even if y’all have to put an ankle monitor on me, GPS monitor, check-ups with you… If you give me a month with my family, so I can have Christmas with my son, I’ll tell you everything.”
Investigators told Horner his request was likely impossible to grant.
“Either way, that’s basically my price,” Horner said.
He wasn’t done whining, though, throwing a tantrum over the possibility of “miss[ing] on all my son’s Christmases, his birthdays, and growing up”:
UPDATE: FedEx driver Tanner Horner, who horribly kidnapped and killed seven-year-old Athena Strand, is now whining that jail will be rough:
“I’m going to miss out on all my son’s Christmases, his birthdays, and growing up. I’m going to miss out on everything.”
Horner then… https://t.co/XWMKbB21X8 pic.twitter.com/dCSKW91ar1
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 9, 2026
UPDATE: FedEx driver Tanner Horner, who horribly kidnapped and killed seven-year-old Athena Strand, is now whining that jail will be rough:
“I’m going to miss out on all my son’s Christmases, his birthdays, and growing up. I’m going to miss out on everything.”
Horner then blamed voices in his head for why he took Athena’s life.
Unbelievable.
According to the NBC Dallas-Fort Worth report linked above, Horner claimed during the same police interview that he was a good person at heart, but after suffering “mental breakdowns” since beginning work with FedEx, he would sometimes slip into an alter ego named Zero:
Horner explained the delivery routes he drove during his time with FedEx. He also told law enforcement that he was under a great deal of stress during the six months he worked at FedEx, detailing mental breakdowns he had while he was employed.
He said it was around the time that he began working at FedEx that he started being his alter ego, Zero.
“It started off as like, almost like a little devil on my shoulder kind of thing, you know what I mean?” Horner said. “But then after a while, it just kind of turned into I was switching back and forth sometimes, like at times where I was stressed out, I would essentially switch, if that makes sense.”
The Trial
Horner eventually made the confession without any conditions. Authorities combed through hours of video recorded by the inside dashboard camera of his FedEx truck. In one part shown to the jury on Thursday, Apr. 16, he can be seen returning in his truck to the crime scene, feigning shock when a woman walking by tells him about Athena’s murder:
ALERT: Jury broke down in tears today while footage of Tanner Horner killing 7-year-old Athena Strand was played.
They were also shown footage of Horner telling his boss that he had “thrown up” in the truck, requesting the same vehicle the next day.
The footage of the abduction… pic.twitter.com/iXx9kgekI1
— zamohappy (@zamohappy) April 17, 2026
Even more disturbing, though, were the images and sounds from the day of the murder, which prosecutors played in the courtroom. One terrifying, still image shows Athena kneeling in the alcove behind the driver’s seat, with Horner driving, according to the story linked above by The NY Post:
Horner was alone in the truck at first, but then he apparently pulled up to Athena’s home and snatched her from the driveway – with the footage showing him walking back to his truck with Athena following behind, and then the truck door sliding open with her standing at his side.
He then lifts her into the truck, gets behind the wheel and drives off as Athena starts asking him if he is a kidnapper.
Instead of answering, Horner began chatting with her about school and her teachers.
It was at this point that the man covered the camera; it continued to record audio.
Jury members could be heard sobbing throughout the horrific presentation.
Soon after the video cut off, the kidnapper stopped his truck, and things took a sickening turn, as he told the 7-year-old girl she was “really pretty.”
Athena could be heard asking if they’d stopped because they had arrived at his house. He told her no, that he lived “far away.” When the girl tried to ask him what they were doing, he made a vague response:
Hang out for a minute.
Just a minute or two later, Horner ordered the girl to remove her shirt. She refused, then told him she wanted her mom and cried. Those cries turned to screams as she tried in vain to fight off Horner’s attempts to strangle her to death.
Understandably, little Athena Strand’s parents, Jacob Strand and Maitlyn Gandy, and other members of the family, couldn’t bear to listen to it. Her mom was shown in an AP photo leaving the courtroom before the recording began playing. The trial continues, but one thing is for certain: Athena’s family won’t get to celebrate her birthdays, see the sparkle of joy in her eyes when she opens Christmas presents, or watch her as she grows up. They will miss out on all of that.
The jury has yet to decide on Tanner Horner’s fate. This is a developing story; we will provide updates as warranted.
