A former FedEx driver who murdered 7-year-old Athena Strand told investigators he “kind of tossed” her into the woods after killing her, according to interrogation video shown to jurors as they weigh whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. The footage captured the moment officers pressed Tanner Horner about the missing Texas child’s whereabouts after searching his home for signs of the young blonde-haired girl. “I can show you,” Horner, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to capital murder, told investigators. When one officer asked, “Is she alive?” Horner replied: “She wasn’t alive when I put her in the truck.” After authorities were unable to find her, Horner told police that he “Just kind of tossed her in.” Horner, 34, initially claimed he had accidentally hit Athena with his delivery truck, but he has since admitted to strangling the girl after abducting her while delivering a package to her father’s home in Paradise, Texas.
The hours of evidence shown to jurors Wednesday came as prosecutors used opening statements to paint Horner as calculating, violent and remorseless in the killing of Athena. “First thing Tanner Horner says to Athena when he picks her up, puts her in that truck, leans down, and he says, ‘Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you,’” prosecutor James Stainton told jurors in opening statements Tuesday. “I’m going to tell you right now. One thing you’re going to hear that is something you can’t unhear is the level of fight that a 7-year-old girl has. When she’s facing down a certain death.” Stainton also said that the FedEx driver may have sexually assaulted the young girl. “We have DNA. Not only do we have initial DNA from Athena that has Tanner Horner’s DNA under her fingernails. We also have Tanner Horner’s DNA in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl,” Stainton said in court.
Prosecutors said the evidence would show Horner covered a camera, threatened Athena, and carried out a prolonged attack inside the truck before dumping her body in a rural area near Boyd, Texas. Horner then returned to work, drove the same truck and continued delivering packages as the community searched desperately for the missing child. Defense attorney Lindsay Thompson told jurors Horner had suffered from brain damage.
