A FedEx driver, responsible for the heinous murder of seven-year-old Athena Strand, admitted to authorities that he “kind of tossed her” into a wooded area, according to his initial statements during arrest.
The 34-year-old, Tanner Horner, revealed this disturbing detail in bodycam footage presented during his trial on Wednesday. This comes after his guilty plea earlier this week concerning the tragic November 2022 incident in Fort Worth, Texas.
Horner is now undergoing a sentencing phase to decide if he will receive the death penalty.
The footage captured law enforcement officers searching Horner’s residence for any clues about Strand’s location, pressing him for answers on her whereabouts.
“I can show you,” Horner offered to the officers, prompting one to ask, “Is she alive?”
Horner chillingly replied, “She wasn’t alive when I put her in the truck.”
At the time, Horner claimed that he accidentally hit Strand with his truck, however, he has since admitted to strangling the girl.
The bodycam shown in court then revealed how Horner took the officers to search for Strand in a wooded area.
Athena Strand is filmed being driven to her death by kidnapper Tanner Horner. He admitted the November 2022 murder in court Tuesday
Strand was snatched by Horner as he dropped off a package containing a Christmas gift for the youngster – a box of Barbie dolls
After they failed to locate her, Horner told officers he was unsure of her exact location because of the callous way he dumped her remains.
‘I just kind of tossed her in,’ he said.
At Horner’s earlier hearing this week, authorities released a nightmarish image of Strand’s final moments, which showed her standing inside the killer’s FedEx truck before her brutal murder.
The youngster was abducted by Horner as he delivered a box of Barbies to her home, which were meant to be her Christmas present.
The bodycam was shown after prosecutors warned jurors in Horner’s trial that they would be faced with gruesome evidence, including horrific audio of Strand’s killing.
The girl was strangled to death by Horner in his truck, with her tortured last minutes captured by a microphone in his vehicle after he covered a camera inside.
Jurors were cautioned by Wise County prosecutors that they will still be presented with all the evidence in the case for the ‘punishment phase’ of the trial, which will see them decide whether Horner should be sentenced to death.
Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said: ‘You are going to hear what a 250lb man can do to a 67lb child. And when I say it’s horrible, I mean it.’
Strand was abducted by Horner from outside her home in November 2022
Horner was set to go on trial before abruptly pleading guilty this week. He now faces a sentencing trial
Jurors will be watching video and listening to audio files during Wednesday’s hearing.
Horner is said to have warned Strand: ‘Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you,’ as he picked her up and put her in his truck.
‘I’m going to put you as close as you can be without actually being there that day. We have video of it and we’re going to show it now,’ Stainton told the jury.
Police involved in the search for Strand testified they were anguished for days as they hoped to find her alive.
Texas Ranger Job Espinoza said in his testimony that he scoured the area around her home for three days and said images from inside Horner’s truck showing she was alive when she was abducted gave him some hope.
He said officers raided Horner’s home for signs of the child, saying that: ‘If it means preservation of life, it allows us to go in there and make sure someone isn’t in danger.’
Espinoza said in his testimony that after Horner was trying to show them where he ‘just tossed’ Strand’s body, he later understood that the driver had led them to the wrong location.
Horner in court this week after pleading guilty to murdering the girl
At Horner’s trial, jurors were warned they would be presented with gruesome evidence of Strand’s final moments as they determine if Horner should face the death penalty
When Horner was first apprehended by police, he claimed he had accidentally struck Strand with his truck before disposing of her body in a panic.
But the photo prosecutors revealed this week of Strand alive in his truck proved this to be false, with DA Stainton branding Horner’s excuse ‘a web of lies.’
The killer drove seven miles from home and dumped her body where it was found by police just hours later.
Stainton told jurors that Strand was uninjured when Horner put her into the vehicle.
‘The first thing Tanner Horner says to Athena when he picks her up and puts her in that truck, he leans down and he says: “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you.” He says that twice,’ Stainton said.
The prosecutor said Strand fought Horner, and his DNA was found under her fingernails. He also said Horner’s DNA was found ‘in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a seven-year-old girl.’
‘The only truthful thing that Tanner Horner told law enforcement was that he killed her,’ the prosecutor added. ‘The pattern and web of lies that he put together, it’s going to be hard for y’all to keep up with. It is lie upon lie upon lie upon lie.’
Horner pled guilty to capital murder of a child under ten and aggravated kidnapping.
