Jury sentences Tanner Horner to death penalty

FORT WORTH, Texas — After 20 days of testimony, a Tarrant County jury has sentenced Tanner Horner to the death penalty.

On April 7, just as Horner’s trial was scheduled to begin, the former FedEx delivery driver pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Athena Strand.

Following the sentencing of Tanner Horner to death, Athena Strand’s uncle delivered a powerful victim impact statement in court. He addressed the court after the verdict, sharing the lasting impact of her loss and speaking on behalf of the family during this emotional moment in the case.

In November 2022, according to court documents, Horner told police he struck Strand with his delivery van while backing up. He allegedly kidnapped her and strangled her out of fear that she would tell her father about the incident, documents said. On Dec. 2, 2022, he finally led Texas Rangers to the spot where he had hidden her just off a rural road in a few feet of water in Wise County near Boyd, authorities said.

Horner’s lawyers have asked the Tarrant County court to take the death penalty off the table, saying he has autism.

They argued that Horner’s Autism Spectrum Disorder “reduces his moral blameworthiness, negates the retributive and deterrent purposes of capital punishment and exposes him to the unacceptable risk that he will be wrongfully sentenced to death.” 

Over the 20 days of testimony, the jury heard from dozens of witnesses, including witnesses and loved ones of both Strand and Horner. 

On April 16, the jury was brought to tears as Strand’s mother, Maitlyn Gandy, described the moment she learned her daughter was missing — and the desperate drive from Oklahoma to Texas that followed.

“It felt like I was dying” during the drive, she told jurors. “I couldn’t breathe. But I knew I had to keep going. I almost tapped the brakes because I thought I was having a heart attack. But I just told myself that if I kept going, it would be OK and I would find her.”

She described going to identify her daughter’s body. She wept at the recollection of seeing her daughter nude and cold. She put a hospital gown on her, but later that night, she couldn’t sleep, so she went to Walmart to get her new clothes.

“I got her some bows,” her mom told jurors.

 When asked why she made it a point to attend every hearing held in connection with the case, she testified, “because I had to cover up handprint bruises around my daughter’s neck. And because she no longer has a voice. I want people to know that she’s not just some story. She’s not just some number. She’s not just some picture you see in a headline. She was loved, she is loved. She is missed and she was real. And she had a life. And she wanted to live.” 

Athena Strand’s father, Jacob Strand,  also took the stand. He described how on the evening of Nov. 30, 2022, he was leaving for a hunting trip when Athena came up to give him a hug.  “I gave her a hug and told her I love her.” That was the last time he saw his daughter alive.

When he was told she was missing, initially, he thought she was playing hide and seek. He returned and helped search for her. 

“It made me feel horrible,” he testified. “I wasn’t there to protect them.”

He said he held his emotions in, ate just once a week, leading to a 50-pound weight loss. He also testified that he drank to deal with the loss, which led to his marriage ending. 

When speaking about Athena, he said he will miss “her laugh and her spirit” the most. He said, “she loved everybody.”

“I just hope that the jury and the justice system make the right decision,” he testified.

Two weeks later, on April 30, Horner’s defense called his grandmother to the stand. She testified she ended up largely raising Horner and said he was bullied as a kid, and she tried to protect and support him. She later addressed Athena’s family. “We’re so sorry for Athena’s parents, more than you’ll ever know. We think about you every day, and I pray for you every day.”

“I feel like there’s nothing I can say to make anything better,” she said. “I just want you to know that I’ve not forgotten you or your daughter. Every day we think about her.”

Horner’s mother also took the stand, where, at the end of her testimony, she broke down crying, and also apologized to Athena’s family for what her son did. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry.”

When Tanner was born, she was living in White Settlement with Tanner’s father, Terry, who was jobless. She left Terry when Tanner was about two years old.

She began using drugs again after Tanner was born – meth, cocaine and marijuana with alcohol. “I’ve never been able to stay sober,” she said. “I could never keep a job.” She went to several rehab facilities when Tanner was a child.

One of the most impactful pieces of evidence shown during the trial was video and audio captured in Horner’s FedEx van before, during, and after the killing of Athena Strand. 

Jurors listened to the more than hour-long video depicting the violent murder of Athena. Horner covered up the camera to prevent it from capturing video, but the camera continued capturing the audio from inside the van. WFAA crews on the scene described the video as extremely upsetting and said several jurors were sobbing as they listened. 

The jury also watched surveillance video from inside the truck the day after the attack. 

The video depicting the hours after the murder shows Horner, still in his FedEx shirt, stopping at a gas station, getting out, and returning to the truck with a spray bottle and roll of paper towels. He then goes into the rear of the van and begins scrubbing the floor. Testimony earlier in the trial revealed that Horner later told police Athena threw up in the van during the attack and soiled herself.

He’s seen smoking a cigarette as he drives. He parks the van at FedEx. He puts what appears to be Athena’s clothes, which had been lying on top of his lunch box, on the passenger seat of his van, into his backpack.

Maitlyn Gandy told WFAA that after the trial wraps, her focus will shift to honoring the legacy of Athena through the nonprofit “Athena Strand’s Army.” 

Gandy told WFAA her mission will be to push for faster alert systems for missing children and a change in how Amber Alerts are issued. Some of that has already been accomplished with the Athena Alert, which allows Texas law enforcement to issue regional alerts for missing children within a 100-mile radius without needing immediate proof of abduction.

“Athena Strand’s Army” will also support communities and provide scholarships. 

To watch WFAA’s gavel-to-gavel coverage, click here.