DALLAS — The FedEx delivery driver who authorities say kidnapped and killed 7-year-old Athena Strand in Wise County allegedly told investigators she was alive after he accidentally hit her with his truck, but he panicked, put her in the vehicle and then killed her, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit released Thursday.
Wise County authorities say 31-year-old Tanner Lynn Horner, a FedEx contract driver, delivered a package to Athena’s father’s home about the time she went missing. Her body was found a few days later.
Horner, of Fort Worth, is being held on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping, and his bail was set at $1.5 million. He could face the death penalty if convicted. It is unclear whether he has an attorney.
According to an affidavit obtained by KTVT-TV, Elizabeth Strand called 911 about 7 p.m. Nov. 30 and reported that her 7-year-old stepdaughter, Athena, was missing from her home in the 200 block of County Road 3573 in Paradise.
The affidavit said the stepmother told deputies that she had left Athena in her bedroom and went to make dinner. When the stepmother returned to the room, she said Athena was gone and she did not notice anything suspicious. Athena’s father, who had left on a hunting trip, turned around when he heard she was missing, the affidavit said.
There was an extensive search of the area that night and the next day, and authorities discovered a driver had delivered a package to the home at about the time Athena went missing, according to the affidavit.
Horner was identified as the driver of a FedEx truck at a contracting company that was equipped with video recording by a third-party vendor, which provided one-minute clips. An FBI employee viewed these videos and saw the driver had taken a girl who looked like Athena in his van, the affidavit said.
When investigators found Horner, he told investigators that he had taken Athena and she was dead, according to the affidavit.
Authorities say Horner told them he accidentally hit Athena while reversing his vehicle, but she was not seriously injured, the document said. Horner told investigators that he then panicked and put Athena in the van. She was talking to him, and told him her name was Athena, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Horner told authorities he strangled her in the back of the FedEx truck because he feared she would tell her father about being hit by the truck he was operating.
When asked by investigators, Horner directed them to County Road 4668 in Boyd, where investigators found a body, the affidavit said.
In a statement shared after Athena’s body was found last week, a spokesperson for FedEx said “words cannot describe our shock and sorrow surrounding this tragic event.”
“We continue to cooperate fully with the investigating authorities,” the FedEx statement said.
Benson Varghese, an attorney representing Athena’s family, said his firm continues to investigate any potential culpability in Athena’s death.
“We’re investigating not just what FedEx’s responsibility might have been, but anyone else who was involved in the decisions that were made that led to this tragic loss,” Varghese said.
Maitlyn Gandy, Athena’s mother, spoke in front of the Wise County courthouse on Thursday next to the package she said the driver delivered before her daughter was abducted: a Christmas present for Athena. Gandy said she wanted to tell the world about what was lost with Athena’s death and demanded accountability to ensure no mother will have to experience what she is going through.
“Athena was robbed of the opportunity to grow up to be anything she wanted,” Gandy said. “And this present, ordered out of innocence and love, is one she will never receive.”
On Tuesday, thousands attended a vigil for Athena, who Gandy described Thursday as an animal lover with bright, blue eyes and an ornery smile who loved Christmas. Part tomboy, part girlie-girl, Athena simultaneously loved flowers and playing in the mud, her mother said.
