FedEx Delivery Driver Tanner Horner Sentenced to Death for Killing 7 Yo Girl

**kellyhound** · #1 ● 05-26-2026, 01:15 PM

Horner was working as a contract FedEx delivery driver on November 30, 2022 when he went to the Strand home in Paradise, Texas, to deliver a Christmas gift (a box of Barbie dolls). He abducted 7 year old Athena Strand from her driveway, forced her into his van and subsequently strangled her to death.

Then he stripped Athena Strand of her clothing and dumped her body face down in the Trinity River. Her body was recovered roughly 12 to 13 miles away from her home in an area of the river known as Bobo’s Crossing near Boyd, Texas.

The medical examiner testified that Athena died from blunt force injuries, smothering and strangulation. Prosecutors also presented DNA evidence indicating she was sexually assaulted prior to her death.

FBI agents and local investigators searched her home after her kidnapping. They discovered a newly delivered package containing a box of Barbie dolls meant as a Christmas gift. Law enforcement contacted FedEx and their third-party delivery contractor, Big Topspin, to identify exactly who delivered that package. The logs pointed directly to Tanner Horner.

Investigators contacted Velociter, the company managing the internal camera software for the delivery vans. They managed to extract two short video clips from Horner's van recorded around the time of the abduction.

The video showed Horner approaching Athena's house, and then minutes later, it visually captured Athena alive inside the back of his FedEx van.

This definitive footage gave the FBI and Texas Rangers immediate exigency to track down and detain Horner on December 2, 2022, hoping the child was still alive.

While looking for Horner, investigators ran cell tower data to verify which mobile devices were active near the Strand property at the time of her disappearance. Horner’s phone data perfectly placed him at the crime scene. Furthermore, digital forensics showed that Horner had actively been using his phone to search the internet for news updates about the case before he was even caught.

When Texas Rangers brought Horner into the interview room, they showed him the camera evidence. Realizing he was trapped, Horner began spinning what prosecutors called a web of lies to minimize his culpability.

He initially claimed he accidentally backed into Athena with his truck and panicked, though physical evidence later proved this was a lie.

He tried blaming an alter-ego named "Zero" for the crime.

When the lead investigator directly asked, "Where's she at?", Horner finally capitulated, stating, "I can show you." He then drove investigators to the Trinity River (Bobo's Crossing), where authorities recovered Athena's body.

In interrogation videos, Horner told investigators that he "just kind of tossed her" into the water. He initially lied, claiming he dropped her body in a bamboo field.

Horner removed Athena's clothing to eliminate forensic evidence. He stuffed her pants and shirt into a backpack, brought them back to his house and hid the backpack inside a trash can.

Law enforcement later recovered the clothing during a SWAT search. Immediately after dumping her body, surveillance footage tracked Horner pulling into a Love's Travel Stop to purchase cleaning supplies, which he used to scrub down the back of his FedEx delivery van.

"Athena’s Alert" (Texas House Bill 3556) is a Texas law enacted to bridge the critical time gap between when a child goes missing and when a statewide AMBER Alert can legally be broadcasted.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law, and it went into effect immediately. The law was heavily championed by Athena Strand's mother, Maitlyn Gandy, following her daughter's tragic murder.

When Athena went missing from her driveway on November 30, 2022, her family immediately requested an AMBER Alert. However, law enforcement could not legally activate one until roughly 24 hours later.

Under standard Texas regulations, a statewide AMBER Alert requires definitive proof of a confirmed kidnapping. Because investigators initially could not prove Athena had been abducted rather than simply wandering off, they were legally blocked from broadcasting her information.

Tanner Horner is currently on death row at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, facing execution by lethal injection.

He is isolated in a single-person, 60-square-foot cell. He spends at least 22 to 23 hours a day entirely alone inside his cell. He is fully restrained, searched, and escorted by multiple guards every single time he leaves his cell for any reason.

Under Texas state law, any sentence of death triggers an automatic direct appeal to the state's highest criminal court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. His defense attorneys formally filed this initial appeal.

The appellate judges will review the case strictly for legal errors, such as whether evidence was improperly admitted or if the judge gave flawed instructions to the jury.

Separate from the direct appeal, Horner has requested a second team of state-funded lawyers to file a writ of habeas corpus. This separate process allows his defense to introduce outside factors not captured in the original trial record, such as claims of ineffective trial counsel.

Because the case must exhaust multiple layers of both state and federal appellate courts, no execution date has been set yet. Legal experts note that this mandatory post-conviction process is incredibly slow. It typically takes 10 to 15 years of legal battles before a final execution date is officially scheduled and carried out at the Huntsville Unit.

Courtroom proceedings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...mE54N2Xxhv0DaE

Mr.NoCredit · #2 ● 05-26-2026, 01:48 PM

Too bad he isn’t in general population. He wouldn’t live to meet his execution date. This guy is the worst of the worst and should be put down yesterday. I can’t imagine the grief of her parents.