FedEx driver strangled 7-year-old Athena Strand after hitting her with van, warrant says

Amy McDaniel
·1 min read
6

An arrest warrant affidavit for FedEx contract driver Tanner Horner reveals that video from inside his delivery van confirmed that he kidnapped 7-year-old Athena Strand, who he is accused of murdering on Nov. 30.

The warrant obtained Thursday by the Star-Telegram says that Horner confessed to investigators that he strangled the child to death.

Tanner Horner, 31, faces charges of capital murder of a person under 10 years old and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Athena Strand, whose body was found Dec. 2, 2022, in Wise County, Texas.
Tanner Horner, 31, faces charges of capital murder of a person under 10 years old and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Athena Strand, whose body was found Dec. 2, 2022, in Wise County, Texas.

The Wise County Sheriff’s Office investigator who wrote the affidavit supporting the arrest warrant said that Horner told investigators he panicked after accidentally backing into Athena with the delivery van. She was not seriously injured, Horner said, but he grabbed her and put her in the van because he was afraid she would tell her father what happened, according to the warrant.

Horner told the investigators that he first tried unsuccessfully to break the child’s neck and then strangled her and left her body on the water’s edge of the Trinity River near Boyd.

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