A Texas jury needed less than three hours to decide the fate of the man who stole a little girl from her front yard and silenced her forever. On Tuesday, May 5, Tanner Horner was sentenced to death.
Horner, 35, had been charged with aggravated kidnapping and capital murder of a person under 10 years old in the death of Athena Strand, who vanished from her home on November 30, 2022.
An arrest affidavit stated that Horner was working as a FedEx delivery driver when he went to the girl’s home to drop off a package containing a Christmas gift. That package was a box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbies — a gift meant for Athena.
Athena was playing outside her home when she was abducted. Horner could be seen on camera lifting her into the van and then driving away, telling her not to scream or he would hurt her. He then covered the van’s camera, but the microphone kept recording.
On the audio, Horner asked Athena questions including her age and where she went to school, before stopping the van and telling her they were going to “hang out.”
He then ordered the child to remove her shirt. She began to cry, asking what he was doing, whether he was a kidnapper, and pleading to go home to her mother.
Horner told investigators he backed into the girl by accident and panicked, leading him to strangle her. Prosecutor James Stainton told jurors that Horner had told “lie upon lie upon lie upon lie” throughout the case.
During closing arguments, Horner’s attorneys suggested that Athena had caught him snorting cocaine in the truck, prompting his panic. Prosecutors rejected that account entirely.
A medical examiner testified that Athena died of blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation. Prosecutors presented evidence that Horner’s DNA was found in the child’s underwear.
Texas Ranger Sgt. Job Espinoza testified that Horner referenced an alternate identity he called “Zero” during interviews with police. “His head goes into a sideways motion. His eyes roll into the back of the head, and he pretends to turn it to ‘Zero,’” Espinoza said.
Horner’s defense attorney acknowledged in opening statements that the evidence against Horner was “overwhelming” and “terrible,” but argued that Horner’s mother drank during pregnancy, that he has autism and suffered from various mental illnesses, and was exposed to a massive amount of lead.
The jury rejected all of it.
Jurors unanimously found there was a probability that Horner would commit further acts of violence, constituting a continuing threat to society, and unanimously found there were no mitigating circumstances that would spare his life.
Horner had no visible reaction as Judge George Gallagher read the verdict aloud. Gallagher stated that Horner would be executed “before the hour of sunrise” at a date yet to be determined, with the sentence carried out at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville.
Wise County District Attorney James Stainton dropped Horner’s shoes onto the table in front of the jury during closing arguments, telling them those were the shoes used to beat the life out of the seven-year-old girl. Stainton declared Horner the very reason Texas still carries the death penalty on its books.
Athena’s father, Jacob Strand, testified that the last evening he saw his daughter, she ran up and hugged him as he was leaving for a hunting trip. “I gave her a hug and told her I love her,” he said. He never saw her alive again.
Jacob Strand testified that in the aftermath of his daughter’s death, he ate just once a week, lost 50 pounds, began drinking to cope, and his marriage eventually ended.
Following the verdict, Athena’s uncle, Elijah Strand, faced Horner directly and delivered his impact statement. “You will face the wrath of God,” Strand said.
“I want you to know you are nothing. You are a footnote in Athena’s story. Her name will forever be remembered. Her name will forever be celebrated, and everyone will forget you.”
Strand continued: “Athena was more than a headline. She was laughter, curiosity, kindness. And she had dreams that she will never get to chase. Birthdays that she will never celebrate in a life she’ll never get to live because of his actions. Our family has been left with an emptiness that can never be filled.”
The judge noted that Horner’s sentence will automatically be sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and that he will be appointed a lawyer to represent him on direct appeal. No execution date has been set.
