A FedEx driver involved in a horrifying crime admitted to his mother that he did not sexually assault a seven-year-old girl he had kidnapped and killed—an act he attributed to a low libido. The driver, Tanner Horner, aged 34, was delivering the child’s Christmas gift when the tragedy unfolded in November 2022.
From his jail cell, Horner recounted the grim events to his mother in a recorded conversation, which was played during his sentencing hearing. The mother sought clarity on the incident that took the life of young Athena Strand.
In the recording shared by Fox 4 News, Horner’s mother asked him directly, “What did you do? Did she die on her own?” To this, Horner gave a chilling response: “No.”
Overwhelmed with emotion, his mother gasped, “Oh my God,” before inquiring if any sexual abuse had occurred. Her concern was palpable as she pleaded, “Tanner, I just hope you didn’t do nothing weird to that little girl.” Horner assured her that he had not committed such an act.
‘Oh my God,’ the worried mother responded, before asking him whether he sexually abused the seven year old.
‘Tanner, I just hope you didn’t do nothing weird to that little girl,’ she told her son, who replied that he didn’t.
‘OK. I didn’t think you did, I just know how you get,’ Horner’s mother said.
‘Well, actually, with my medication, I barely even have a libido as it is,’ the FedEx driver then revealed.
The shocking recording was played for jurors, who must now decide whether Horner should be executed for abducting Strand from outside her home in Paradise, Texas, while she played outside unattended.
Tanner Horner, 34, abducted and killed seven-year-old Athena Strand from outside her house in Paradise, Texas in November 2022
The seven-year-old was kidnapped and strangled by Horner when he was delivering gifts to her family home in November 2022
Horner had been delivering a box of Barbies that were due to be Strand’s Christmas present when he abducted and strangled the youngster before dumping her body in a creek.
A now-infamous grab from a video camera inside his delivery van showed a concerned-looking Strand being driven to her death.
In another phone call played in court on Monday, Horner again denied raping Athena to his grandmother.
‘Are you remorseful, Tanner?’ she asked her grandson.
‘How can I not be?’ he replied. ‘I haven’t been on my medication for the last few weeks and I’m getting emotional.’
The FedEx driver then went on to break down on the call, while talking about how he would not be able to spend Christmas with his young son.
By January 2023, Horner decided to send Strand’s heartbroken family a remorseful letter saying he does not ‘do well with changes or things that are unpredictable’ due to his Asperger’s Syndrome – an autism spectrum disorder whose sufferers may struggle to cope if their usual daily routine is disrupted.
‘When I first started out as a driver at FedEx, I was given a singular route and that route wouldn’t change for a while,’ he explained.
‘After a bit, my employer started making random changes to my route, adding stuff from other routes so they could make more money.
‘I don’t do well with change, I can have meltdowns when unexpected changes to my daily routine happens.’
Horner (pictured during the abduction) blamed the murder on the delivery company FedEx changing his driving routes in a self-pitying letter to her family
He moaned about the impact his vile crime would have on his own family in the letter to Strand’s loved ones
Horner said he was extremely stressed by not being able to drive the exact same route in his FedEx truck every day, which he blamed for committing the murder.
He said that his frustration with driving varying routes led him to have a ‘suicidal episode’ shortly before killing the seven-year-old, writing that the ‘only thing that stopped me was thinking of my son growing up without his father.’
‘I got put on medication and a week later I was back at work. I let my employers know I needed to keep a consistent routine and I wouldn’t have any issues, and I was ignored,’ he wrote.
‘When I returned they did the opposite of what was good for someone like me. They put me on a different route every day.’
Horner then claimed his demands to FedEx ‘went in one ear and out the other’, and says ‘in hindsight I think they were trying to get me to quit, which in retrospect was kind of scammy.’
Horner also moaned about the impact his vile crime would have on his own family in the letter to Strand’s loved ones.
‘So many people were affected by my breakdown. Not just your family but mine as well. You’re never going to get to see your baby girl grow up… now my son is going to grow up without his father and protector,’ he wrote.
He claimed the girl was in the ‘wrong place at the wrong time.’
Horner claimed in the letter that Strand was in the ‘wrong place at the wrong time’
At Horner’s trial on Monday, prosecutors also revealed the first images of the creek where Horner dumped Strand’s body
Horner’s letter also included a ‘side note’ continuing his frustrations with FedEx, disregarding his role in Strand’s murder and writing that the delivery company was ‘negligent when it comes to safety’
‘I’m sorry I allowed my mental state to be unstable. I’m sorry I took your little angel away from you. She didn’t deserve it. My son didn’t deserve to lose his father,’ he wrote.
‘My mother didn’t deserve to lose her son. My fiancé didn’t deserve to have her wedding day stripped away from her. I pray my death eases your suffering,’ he concluded.
Horner’s letter also included a ‘side note’ continuing his frustrations with FedEx, disregarding his role in Strand’s murder and writing that the delivery company was ‘negligent when it comes to safety.’
In another letter addressed to detectives, Horner also tried to evade accountability for killing Strand by alluding to another person being responsible.
He said another man was present when he took Strand, alleging that the man pulled a ‘rifle’ on him and told him to murder Strand.
Prosecutors say there is no evidence of anyone else being responsible for Strand’s murder.
Earlier in his trial, it was revealed that Horner also made an audacious request to investigators to be given a month to enjoy Christmas with his son when he was first arrested in November 2022
At Horner’s trial on Monday, prosecutors also revealed the first images of the creek where Horner dumped Strand’s body, as an agent said he waded in waist-deep water to retrieve her remains.
Medical examiner Jessica Dwyer testified that Strand was found naked in the water with her hands covered by plastic bags, though she noted the young girl’s body showed no signs of sexual trauma.
Dwyer said that during the autopsy, it was determined that Strand’s body showed evidence of trauma to her head, neck, chest and back.
A forensics expert previously testified last week that when police found Strand’s body, she had markings pressed into her face that matched the floor of Horner’s FedEx vehicle.
Earlier in his trial, it was revealed that Horner also made an audacious request to investigators to be given a month to enjoy Christmas with his son when he was first arrested in November 2022.
Horner was seen in footage played at his trial on Thursday being questioned after cops arrested him in November 2022, as they pressed him for the location of Strand’s body.
The jury was told that Horner requested to have the interview with investigators, and he began the conversation by telling them: ‘I imagine that you have, basically, a list and bullet points that you want to know from me.’
‘There’s only one thing in this world that I want,’ Horner said. ‘I want a month.’
He continued: ‘You can’t do that, I understand. Even if y’all have to put an ankle monitor on me, GPS monitor, check-ups with you.
‘If you give me a month with my family, so I can have Christmas with my son, I’ll tell you everything.’
Police told the suspect that his entitled request was likely impossible, as he was under arrest for the murder of the child.
‘Either way, that’s basically my price,’ Horner responded. The request was not granted.
