The case began on November 30, 2022, when 7-year-old Athena Strand disappeared from her home in Paradise, Texas. Tanner Lynn Horner, then 31 and working as a contract delivery driver for FedEx, had arrived at the residence to deliver a package containing a Christmas gift for Athena. Horner later confessed to police that he accidentally struck the girl with his van while backing up. Panicked and fearing he would get in trouble, he placed the injured girl into his truck and drove away. He eventually strangled her to death to prevent her from telling her father about the accident, later leading authorities to her body in a wooded area near Boyd, Texas.
Following his arrest, Horner was charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. While the case moved toward trial, prosecutors revealed disturbing evidence suggesting the crime was not merely a tragic accident gone wrong; they alleged that Horner had sexually assaulted Athena and had previously harbored dark fantasies about such an act. After several legal delays, Horner ultimately pleaded guilty to the charges on April 7, 2026, which waived the guilt-innocence phase of the trial and moved the proceedings directly into a high-stakes sentencing phase focused on whether he should face life in prison or the death penalty.
The five-week sentencing trial concluded on May 5, 2026, with emotional testimony from Athena’s family and a look at evidence from inside Horner’s delivery vehicle. The defense argued for mercy, citing Horner’s autism diagnosis and a history of childhood trauma as mitigating factors. However, the prosecution maintained that the cruelty of the crime made Horner a permanent danger to society. After roughly three hours of deliberation, the Tarrant County jury returned a unanimous verdict, sentencing Tanner Horner to death by lethal injection.