Disturbing details were revealed in connection with the passing of 7-year-old Athena Strand, who was thrown into a Texas river roughly 10 miles away from home.
Former FedEx driver Tanner Horner sat in a Fort Worth courtroom this week, while an image of the child victim inside his delivery truck was displayed.
“You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,” Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said in court.
Disturbing details were revealed in connection with the passing of 7-year-old Athena Strand
Image credits: FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
Athena Strand was last seen at her Paradise, Texas, home in November 2022. The little girl was eagerly waiting for her Christmas gift, but she never got the chance to open it.
Meanwhile, FedEx driver Tanner Horner was driving to her home with a set of “You Can Be Anything” Barbie dolls.
Image credits: WFAA
When Tanner backed into her house, he accidentally struck Athena and panicked.
Even though the child was not hurt, Tanner claimed to the authorities that he was afraid the girl would tell her father about it.
So he tossed her into the back of his delivery truck and drove off.
The little girl was eagerly waiting for a Christmas gift, but never got to open it
Image credits: Maitlyn Presley Gandy
During a courtroom session on Tuesday, April 7, Attorney James Stainton said Tanner’s claim of panicking after hitting Athena was an “absolute lie.”
“She was very much alive and uninjured when he put her in the truck,” James told jurors in court.
After tossing her in the truck, he allegedly leaned down and said, “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you,” two times to the girl.
“That’s the first thing out of his mouth,” the attorney said. “He made good on it.”
Image credits: WFAA
As evidence was displayed in court, jurors saw a picture of Athena from the night she disappeared.
She was still alive, sitting on her knees behind the driver’s seat during the November 30, 2022, kidnapping.
Tanner allegedly covered up a camera in the truck before violently ending the child’s life.
He claimed he strangled her with his bare hands in the back of the van and dumped her body in the Trinity River, not far from her home.
“Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you,” the FedEx driver Tanner Horner told the girl
Image credits: Maitlyn Presley Gandy
The attorney said Athena put up a fight when Tanner tortured her in her final moments.
“You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,” Attorney James Stainton told jurors about the evidence they would be seeing in connection with the case. “When I say it’s horrible, I mean it.”
Image credits: WFAA
Investigators found the kidnapper’s DNA in Athena’s fingernails, which suggested she tried to fight him off at the time.
Tanner’s DNA was also found “in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl.”
The kidnapper’s DNA was found in Athena’s fingernails, suggesting she tried to fight him off in her final moments
The attorney warned the jurors about the audio and described it as “horrible.”
“One thing you can’t unhear is the level of fight in a 7-year-old girl when she’s facing certain de*th,” he said. “This is the level of cold-heartedness that you’re going to see.”
Image credits: Maitlyn Presley Gandy
Image credits: Maitlyn Presley Gandy
Athena’s stepmother, Ashley Strand, also spoke in court this week and said the set of Barbie dolls was meant to be Athena’s Christmas present that year.
The stepmother said the child was enjoying life and got to “run wild and free” on their land in the country ahead of her passing.
Ashley has since divorced Athena’s father.
Tanner pleaded guilty to capital m*rder of a child under 10 and aggravated kidnapping
Image credits: WFAA/Wise County Jail
When Tanner’s attorney Steven Goble gave opening statements on Tuesday, he said the evidence against his client was “overwhelming” and “terrible.”
He also said the alleged kidnapper’s mother used to drink while she was pregnant with him.
Image credits: FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
Tanner also had autism and suffered “various mental illnesses” throughout his life. Additionally, he has been exposed to a “massive amount of lead,” the attorney told jurors.
“When someone’s brain is what’s injured, you don’t see it,” he said, asking the jurors to sentence him to life in prison.
“When someone’s brain is what’s injured, you don’t see it,” Tanner’s attorney said
Tanner had pleaded guilty to capital m*rder of a child under 10 and aggravated kidnapping.
As his trial unfolds, jurors will decide if the violent FedEx driver should be sentenced to de*th or life in prison without parole.
“This is haunting. That innocent, sweet child had no idea,” one commented online
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