Community mourns loss
The grieving community of Wise County, Texas, gathered to pay tribute to slain seven-year-old Athena Strand at a candlelight vigil on Tuesday night, days after she was abducted and murdered.
In her first public remarks since the horror killing, Athena’s mother Maitlyn Presley Gandy vowed to keep her daughter’s story alive.
“I want everyone to know Athena for Athena, not what someone tried to make her out to be. Because she was the best little girl,” she said.
Not mentioned during the vigil was suspect Tanner Horner, the FedEx driver accused of kidnapping and killing Athena on 30 November.
After Athena was reported missing, hundreds of volunteers joined the search before the little girl’s body was found six miles away from her Paradise home on Friday.
Police said that Mr Horner confessed to snatching the little girl before killing her within an hour of her abduction. He faces charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.
No motive has been given for what police branded a “crime of opportunity”.
