A jury in Fort Worth has condemned a former FedEx delivery driver to death row following his guilty plea for the murder of a 7-year-old Texas girl whom he abducted from her family’s home during a package delivery.
The 12-member panel reached their decision Tuesday regarding 34-year-old Tanner Horner’s fate after reviewing approximately one month of testimony and disturbing evidence, including audio recordings capturing Athena Strand’s final moments inside Horner’s delivery vehicle. Horner had entered a guilty plea to capital murder charges last month in connection with the 2022 slaying, just as proceedings were set to begin. Authorities discovered Athena’s remains two days following her disappearance from her residence in Paradise, a small community located near Fort Worth.
Court livestream footage showed Horner displaying no emotional response as the judge announced the verdict.
The jury determined that Horner posed a continued danger to society with a high likelihood of committing future violent crimes. Panel members concluded that neither the circumstances of the offense nor Horner’s personal history provided sufficient grounds to impose life imprisonment without parole rather than execution.
During opening arguments, prosecutor James Stainton accused Horner of telling “lie upon lie upon lie upon lie” throughout the investigation, including his false claim that he accidentally struck Athena with his delivery truck and subsequently killed her in a moment of panic.
Multiple jurors became emotional while viewing video footage and listening to audio from inside the van following Athena’s abduction. The recordings showed Horner placing her in the vehicle before driving away, warning her against screaming or facing harm.
Though Horner later obscured the camera, audio recording continued. The footage captured Horner questioning Athena about her age and school before stopping and announcing they would “hang out.” When he instructed her to remove her shirt, she began weeping, asking what he was doing and whether he was kidnapping her. She pleaded to return home and see her mother.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked him. His response: “Because you are pretty.”
“My mom says I can’t do that to somebody,” she told him. “And you can’t do that to me either.”
The hour-long recording documented Athena’s screams along with sounds of choking and violent impacts.
“If you don’t shut up, I will hurt you worse,” he threatened at one point.
Medical testimony revealed that Athena succumbed to blunt force trauma combined with smothering and strangulation.
Defense attorney Steven Goble acknowledged the evidence against his client was “overwhelming” and “terrible” during his opening remarks, but presented mitigating factors including Horner’s mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy, his autism diagnosis, lifelong mental health struggles, and significant lead exposure.
Goble had urged the jury to impose a life sentence instead of death.
According to Athena’s relatives, the package Horner had delivered contained her Christmas gift — a set of “You Can Be Anything” Barbie dolls.
The proceedings were relocated from rural Wise County to Fort Worth after defense lawyers argued their client could not receive impartial treatment in the original venue.
