The FedEx driver who kidnapped and killed little Athena Strand will be put to death for his horrific crimes after a jury handed him to the death penalty.
Tanner Horner, 34, was delivering packages to Athena’s family home in Paradise, Texas, in November 2022 before he scooped her up, placed her in his truck and shut the door.
Athena, seven, fought for her life in the back of his truck before he brutally killed her.
He pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping on April 7, hours before his trial was set to start.
The jury, which was made up of an even split between men and women, took two hours and 50 minutes to deliberate on whether Horner deserved to die.
Horner was emotionless as the execution sentence was announced on Tuesday.
After the decision was handed down, Athena’s uncle Elijah Strand faced her killer directly, saying: ‘I want you to know that you are nothing. You are a footnote in Athena’s story.
‘Her name will forever be remembered. Her name will forever be celebrated and everyone will forget you.’
Horner, 34, will be put on death row for murdering and kidnapping seven-year-old Athena Strand (pictured). It took the jury just under three hours to decide on the sentence
Horner had been delivering a box of Barbies that were due to be Strand’s Christmas present when he took the youngster, strangled her and dumped her body in a creek. The two are pictured in his FedEx truck following the kidnapping
Tanner Horner pleaded guilty to the horrendous crime, just before his trial was going to begin. He is pictured on Tuesday, before he found out that he would be sentenced to die
He added that words couldn’t capture the devastation caused to every person who loved Athena when Horner robbed them of their trust in the world, forever changing who they are as a family.
‘Athena was more than a headline. She was laughter, curiosity, kindness,’ Strand said. ‘And she had dreams that she will never get to chase. Birthdays that she will never celebrate in a life she’ll never get to live because of his actions. Our family has been left with an emptiness that can never be filled.
‘We are left to carry grief that never fades. We are left with questions that will still never have answers. And we are left trying to honor the beautiful little girl whose life was taken in the most senseless and horrific way.’
In the closing arguments on Tuesday, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton called seven-year-old Athena a ‘warrior’ for withstanding the traumatic ordeal before her untimely death in the back of the FedEx van.
The DA showed the jury the shoes Horner was wearing on the day of the murder – dropping them onto a table in front of the people who were in charge of determining the killer’s sentence.
Stainton said: ‘This is what it took [pointing at shoes] to beat the life out of her.’
‘If you want mercy, if you want someone to consider giving you life in prison when you gave no life to her, when you gave no mercy here,’ he added.
He said that Horner was the reason why Texas still has the death penalty and ‘proof why there is evil in society and we can never turn back.’
The killer will now be moved to the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas – where inmates on death row are held. His execution date has not yet been set.
Jurors, some of whom were sobbing in court, had to listen to excerpts from more than an hour of video and audio that captured Athena’s final moments.
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Previous evidence showed that Horner called Athena ‘sweetie’ and tried to make small talk by asking her age, where she goes to school, her teacher’s name and whether her teacher was nice when he put her inside his abduction van.
Harrowing audio revealed after the trial showed Athena questioning her kidnapper: ‘Is this your house?’ Horner replied: ‘No, I don’t live around here’.
‘Where are we going? What are you doing?’ the little girl asked a few moments later. Horner answered: ‘We are going to hang out for a while.’
The killer then ordered the child to remove her shirt and shushed her when she questioned why. She started to cry and asked for her mother.
Pictured: Horner’s reaction as he was taken out of the court room after receiving the death penalty on Tuesday for the murder of the seven-year-old
Strand was snatched by Horner as he dropped off a package containing a Christmas gift for the youngster – a box of Barbie dolls
The box of Barbies that Athena was supposed to receive on Christmas
Tanner Horner during questioning by investigators following the murder of Athena Strand
Wise County District Attorney James Stainton holds the shoes Tanner Horner wore when he killed Athena Strand
‘Are you a kidnapper?’ Athena asked through her tears and pleas to go home. ‘Why are you doing this?’
Horner replied: ‘Because you are pretty. You know that?’
Strand’s body was found around nine miles away from her home, two days later.
Jurors also had to listen to heart-wrenching testimony from both of Strand’s parents during the trial, which was fast tracked to the sentencing phase after Horner pleaded guilty.
Medical examiner Dr Jessica Dwyer ruled Athena died because of blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation.
The medical examiner’s report said Athena’s body did not show signs of sexual trauma.
But Jacqueline Ferrara, a former forensic analyst with the Texas Department of Public Safety, testified at Horner’s trial that male DNA had been found on swabs from Athena’s rape kit.
Horner initially told authorities that he accidentally hit Athena with his van and then strangled her in a panic.
Prosecutors called that an ‘absolute lie’ and said Athena was not hurt before he abducted her, with footage showing Athena conscious and seemingly physically unharmed inside the truck.
An arrest warrant said Horner took investigators from the Wise County Sheriff’s Office to where he had left Athena’s body.
Horner also told investigators that an alter ego of his, Zero, ‘kind of took over’ after he failed to calm Athena down.
