Tanner Horner, the FedEx driver who pleaded guilty to the 2022 horrific murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand; has been sentenced to death.
Horner was set to go to trial when he decided to plead guilty on April 7th – the court case lasted several weeks before the sentence was delivered. The former FedEx driver had delivered a Christmas present to the Strand’s family home on November 30, 2022. Athena went missing and her body was found two days later. While this occurred several years ago, it’s taken this long for the trial to occur. Since then, the camera footage from inside the FedEx truck has been released, and the transcript of the horrible crime has leaked on the internet. The Jury was subjected to hearing the audio of Athena Strand’s last moments, leaving many visibly shaken afterward.
Horner had previously claimed he had hit Athena with his van and strangled her out of panic, but the audio files within the FedEx truck, where he sang Christmas songs while hurting the 7-year-old, told a very different tale. The jury had the option to sentence Horner to life in prison, without the possibility of parole; but found that this circumstance warranted the death penalty. The state of Texas uses lethal injection when carrying out capital punishment.
Elijah Strand, Athena’s uncle; had the opportunity to make a statement at Horner’s sentencing – punctuating:
“I want you to know,” Strand said, looking at Horner, “that you are nothing. You are a footnote in Athena’s story. Her name will forever be remembered, her name will forever be celebrated, and everyone will forget you.”
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
