After violently taking 7-year-old Athena Strand’s life, former FedEx driver Tanner Horner tried to make a disturbing bargain if they wanted to know what exactly happened to the child.
Tanner pleaded guilty to Athena’s kidnapping and homicide earlier this month, and now, jurors are weighing whether he should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole.
FedEx driver Tanner Horner tried to make a disturbing bargain with law enforcement officials
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
7-year-old Athena Strand was abducted from the driveway of her home in Paradise, Texas, in November 2022.
FedEx driver Tanner Horner was delivering her Christmas gift, a set of “You Can Be Anything” Barbie dolls, when he found the little girl eagerly waiting in the driveway.
It is believed Tanner tossed her into the back of his delivery truck and drove off. He then tortured the child and strangled her till her last breath.
Her body was found days later in the Trinity River, not far from her home.
As the trial continued this month, Texas Ranger Job Espinoza told jurors about how Tanner led the investigators on a wild goose chase for several hours before finally showing them where he dumped Athena’s body.
Days after his arrest on December 2, 2022, Tanner tried to strike up a bargain while investigators were trying to piece together what happened to Athena.
“There’s only one thing in this world that I want. I want a month,” he told Job in a December 7, 2022, interview.
The video recording of an interview showed Tanner pleading to spend one last Christmas with his son
The guilty father, who reportedly has a son named Chester, said he would wear a GPS monitor if allowed to spend Christmas with his family. He even agreed to have surveillance cameras in his house.
“I would give up everything,” he said in the two-hour interview. “I would say throw me in a jail cell forever. I don’t care. I would give up all my defenses, plead no contest, tell you everything.”
In footage of the interview, Tanner was heard dodging questions about why he took Athena’s life, prompting Job to say: “You got to give me some good faith and answer that question for me.”
“You’ve got to answer the why, right? Because that’s what’s weighing on me,” the ranger continued.
The former FedEx driver claimed his alleged alter ego “Zero” was responsible for Athena’s homicide
Tanner, who was diagnosed with ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome when he was young, claimed in the interview that his alleged alter ego “Zero” was responsible for Athena’s homicide.
“I was in the back seat watching everything happen, and I’m kind of freaking out,” he said while explaining how “Zero” committed the horrific crime. “I wouldn’t have the heart to do that.”
Tanner claimed he thought the whole incident was a nightmare until he found the child’s pants in his backpack.
“I’m in trouble for something I don’t even remember,” he said.
When the ranger asked Tanner if he s*xually ass*ulted the victim, he said he was “98% sure” that he did not.
On the same night investigators found Athena’s body, Tanner reportedly told them he had thrown her clothes out the window of his truck because it was “funny.”
Earlier this month, jurors were shown photos, videos, and audio clips as evidence of the torture Athena endured in the final moments of her life.
“Are you a kidnapper?” the child repeatedly asked him, as per the audio retrieved from the FedEx truck.
Each time she asked the question, Tanner ordered her to sit down and not scream. He also threatened to hurt her if she didn’t.
Tanner said he threw the child’s clothes out the window of his truck because he thought it was “funny”
After Athena asked where they were going, the driver covered the camera inside the truck, but their conversation continued being recorded.
Tanner engaged in small talk with his victim, asking her about her school, her teacher’s name, and more.
“You’re really pretty. You know that?” he then said.
Tanner is believed to have stopped the truck at some point and asked the child to remove her shirt.
Jurors sobbed in court as Athena was heard saying “no” and begging for her mother.
Repeated sounds of crying, screaming, and slamming noises were captured in the audio clip.
At some point, “Jingle Bell Rock” was playing on the radio in the truck. And Tanner was heard singing along to the popular Christmas track as he beat Athena up and strangled her in the back of the van.
The driver was heard singing to “Jingle Bell Rock” while beating and strangling the 7-year-old victim in the van
Prosecutors told jurors earlier this month that Athena put up a fight during the final moments of her life.
“You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,” Attorney James Stainton told jurors.
He said the kidnapper’s DNA was found under Athena’s fingernails, which suggested she tried to fight him off at the time.
There was DNA “in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl,” prosecutors said.
Tanner is expected to receive his sentence soon, as just about a week is left in the capital m*rder trial.
Netizens have been heartbroken with every chilling update from the ongoing trial
