FORT WORTH, Texas — A former FedEx delivery driver convicted of kidnapping and strangling a 7-year-old after he said he hit her with his van in 2022 was sentenced to death on Tuesday.
Tanner Lynn Horner, 34, was convicted in the November 2022 strangulation killing of Athena Strand. Her naked body was found on Dec. 2, 2022, two days after she was reported missing in the Texas town of Paradise.
The sentencing came after the 17th day of his capital murder trial in Tarrant County, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Jurors took less than three hours of deliberation to come to a decision, according to the newspaper.
Jurors were tasked with deciding whether Horner would receive the death penalty or life in prison, KOCO reported.
BREAKING NEWS: Jury sentences Tanner Horner to death for murder of Athena Strand https://t.co/b0qlKmkK1b
— Fort Worth Star-Telegram (@startelegram) May 5, 2026
Horner stood stoically while Judge George Gallagher read the sentence, according to the Star-Telegram.
Maitlyn Gandy, Strand’s mother, cried and hugged her youngest child after the sentence was announced, the newspaper reported.
The family declined to give a statement after the trial, but Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said they were happy with the sentence.
“They feel like it’s justice,” Stainton told reporters.
Horner, who was working as a contract driver for FedEx, delivered a Christmas gift of Barbies intended for Strand to her father’s home in Paradise on Nov. 30, 2022, the Star-Telegram reported. The child went missing at the time of the delivery.
According to court documents, Horner told police he struck Strand with his FedEx delivery van while backing up, WFAA reported. He said he allegedly kidnapped her and strangled her out of fear that she would tell her father about the incident, according to the television station.
Horner later led authorities to where he left her body in Wise County, WFAA reported.
During the trial, the jury heard an audio recording of Strand’s abduction and murder taken from within Horner’s delivery van, according to KXAS. Horner covered the camera before attacking the girl, but the microphone still recorded approximately an hour of audio.
After prosecutors rested their case in the sentencing trial, Horner’s attorneys attempted to present evidence to prevent the death penalty recommendation, KTVT reported.
They called numerous expert witnesses to testify about Horner’s mental health and medical history. Horner’s mother and grandmother also testified to speak about his childhood, the television station reported.
Horner was indicted on Feb. 16, 2023, for aggravated kidnapping and capital murder of a person under the age of 10, according to KTVT.
Elijah Strand, the child’s uncle, told the court that Horner’s actions devastated their family and left them with an emptiness, the Star-Telegram reported.
“What he took from this world is not just a child,” Strand said. “He took a light, a future and a piece of every single person who loved her.
“You took a little girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence. You chose to cause pain that will last generations.”
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