​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.  

​A Florida college student, Anne Mae Demegillo, 20, is behind bars after allegedly watching her newborn drown following an unplanned birth in a toilet, police said, and they reported finding photos of “America’s most hated mom” Casey Anthony on her phone. A grand jury indicted Demegillo on Monday on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and failure to report the death of a person with the intent to conceal the death or alter the evidence or circumstances surrounding such death, according to FOX 13.

Police said Demegillo’s phone contained images of Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in 2011 of killing her two-year-old daughter, Caylee, in a case that remains unsolved. Demegillo was initially arrested in March on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child stemming from the death of her newborn daughter, the State Attorney for Florida’s 7th Circuit said in a statement.

Prosecutors allege Demegillo gave birth on a toilet inside her home and allowed the baby to drown while she cleaned up the blood. Demegillo reportedly claimed she did not know she was pregnant when she delivered the child. Immediately after the birth, she allegedly hid the baby inside a duffle bag in her closet and “went about her normal daily routine,” the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a previous statement. She reportedly returned later in the day to bury the remains in a shallow grave, authorities allege.

Following a monthlong investigation, authorities said Demegillo had searched terms such as “newborn premature babies,” “Palm Coast OBGYN,” and “foods to decrease fertility,” according to the sheriff’s office.

“This is one of those tragic cases that shock you to your core that a mother would allow a newborn to die because the newborn was a distraction to her life,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. “It’s hard to comprehend how a mother would choose to watch their infant drown instead of lifting the baby out of the toilet.” Authorities were initially called to Demegillo’s home on March 6 regarding a welfare check on an adult female later identified as Demegillo; the caller said she had secretly been pregnant and unexpectedly delivered the child at home, according to police. The messages allegedly revealed the baby was “born alive and crying, but Demegillo had done something to the incident,” authorities added. Upon speaking with Demegillo, she allegedly told officers she was “not sure she was pregnant but began experiencing severe abdominal pain” in the early hours of March 5 and later delivered the child.  

​NEW Now you can listen to Fox News articles! Court documents recently released indicate that Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, the man accused of fatally stabbing 23-year-old Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina light-rail train, has been ruled incompetent to stand trial after a mental evaluation. The incident occurred aboard the Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte on Aug. 2025. A report from Brown’s stint as a patient at Central Regional Hospital deemed him “incapable to proceed” with his impending criminal trial, per court records obtained by Fox News. The homeless man, diagnosed with schizophrenia, remains in federal custody on unrelated charges tied to the alleged murder. CHARLOTTE RAIL MURDER SUSPECT CONNECTED TO INMATE RELEASE OK’D BY FORMER DEM GOVERNOR, CLAIMS GOP. Brown’s lawyers have requested that the court postpone a hearing set for April 30, arguing that his mental competency cannot be determined while he is held in federal custody. The move will ultimately postpone Brown’s case pending a psychiatric assessment. Brown, a parolee with a long record of legal troubles, has a reported history of mental health issues, per family statements. IRYNA’S LAW LABELED ‘POLITICAL AGENDA’ AS SHERIFF FLAGS JAIL OVERCROWDING. By March 2024, officials had recorded six encounters with Brown, including multiple welfare checks prompted by his repeated 911 calls, per The New York Times. One year later, Brown called 911 from Novant Presbyterian Hospital, claiming he needed assistance removing a “man-made” substance controlling him, according to the Charlotte Observer. Responding officers reportedly informed him they couldn’t assist. IRYNA ZARUTSKA’S FAMILY DEMANDS JUSTICE IN FIRST STATEMENT SINCE ‘HORRIFIC’ STABBING. Brown made comparable statements in a jailhouse call to his sister mere days after Zarutska’s alleged killing. GOT A TIP? In a call obtained by the Daily Mail, Brown claimed he didn’t understand why he stabbed the 23-year-old refugee, asserting that the government had implanted “materials” in his brain that were “controlling” his actions. “They just lashed out on her, that’s what happened,” Brown said. Whoever handled the materials lashed out at her.  

​A North Carolina man charged in connection with his wife’s 2018 death has entered a not guilty plea to newly added charges after prosecutors say he staged his own kidnapping. Joshua Hunsucker, 41, a former paramedic, is accused of killing his wife, Stacy Robinson Hunsucker, with eyedrops containing tetrahydrozoline and lying about her cause of death to obtain a $250,000 life insurance policy in September 2018. In Gaston County, his defense attorney entered the not guilty plea to counts including first-degree murder, insurance fraud, and obtaining property by false pretenses.

Prosecutors allege that Hunsucker repeatedly added eyedrops to Stacy’s drinks over an extended period, ultimately causing her death in the couple’s Mount Holly home. Investigators say he told people she died of a heart attack and filed paperwork with the insurance company. Stacy’s body was cremated within two days of her death, but suspicion grew when her mother observed that Hunsucker appeared unusually unfazed by the death and had moved in with a girlfriend shortly thereafter. Authorities say the case was built, in part, on a single blood sample taken by the hospital, tied to Stacy’s status as an organ donor.

Hunsucker was arrested in December 2019 and released on $1.5 million bond while awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges. While out on bond in 2023, authorities allege he staged his own kidnapping and harassed his late wife’s parents, using zip ties in the staged abduction and claiming they had injected him with an unknown substance. He was brought back to court in August 2024 to face new allegations that he also attempted to poison his daughter, who was then 10, using the same method. Prosecutors demanded the revocation of his bail package, and a judge granted it. Hunsucker has requested that the murder trial be moved out of Gaston County due to intense media coverage, and a trial date for the case is still being finalized.  

​Top House lawmakers are pressing Treasury and the IRS to investigate U.S. tax-exempt nonprofits they say have been co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in American elections and politics. The nonprofits described as “hometown” organizations are formed by immigrants from the same towns or provinces in China to welcome new arrivals, organize parades, and help members maintain social and cultural ties.

In recent years, the FBI investigated the American Changle Association in New York City, alleging it housed an illegal “secret police station” run by China’s Ministry of Public Security. Two people were arrested for acting as unregistered foreign agents, with the police station used to harass dissidents and monitor citizens abroad. Chen Jinping, of New York, pled guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China. The other man’s case is navigating through the courts.

House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS Commissioner-designate Frank Bisignano raising grave concerns that hometown entities linked to the CCP are exploiting the U.S. nonprofit system. The lawmakers warned that the groups are part of a CCP United Front strategy, described in a prior congressional memo as a blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations used to shape political environments and advance Beijing’s interests abroad. They noted that some of these groups are created under the guise of Chinese expatriates forming overseas friendship networks.

Citing a New York Times investigation published last year, the letter states that at least 53 organizations endorsed or raised money for political candidates, likely in violation of the rules, with at least 19 in clear violation of federal restrictions. The letter also touches on broader concerns about a so-called far-left network that promotes Iran’s interests and has mobilized activities that the authors describe as a national outreach in opposition to U.S. policy.

The letter follows a February hearing by the Ways and Means Committee examining malign foreign influence in the U.S. nonprofit sector, including organizations linked to a tech entrepreneur, Neville Roy Singham, who was born in the United States and lives in Shanghai, promoting the CCP’s strategic interests. A Fox News Digital investigation tracked $278 million that Singham poured into a network of groups that fuel anti-American protests, support China, and now back Iran, according to the report. Singham and the groups he has funded did not respond to requests for comment. The new letter from Moolenaar and Smith targeted another set of organizations formed in the Chinese diaspora, but the scope of the inquiry remains wide.