US3 min(s) read
Published 13:01 08 Apr 2026 GMT
The chilling reason the FedEx driver visited the house of a seven-year-old girl just moments before he murdered by her has been revealed as a horrifying image shows her on the way to her brutal death.
Tanner Horner, 31, was delivering a Barbie intended to be Athena Strand's Christmas present when he hit her with his truck then kidnapped and murdered her.
Taken from above the driver's head, the CCTV image shows Athena looking confused while holding onto the sides of the cabin to support herself just inches away from her murderer.
The former FedEx driver pleaded guilty on Tuesday, April 7, to accidentally hitting the child with his truck, abducting her, and then strangling her to death.
He is now facing the possibility of the death sentence after admitting to kidnapping her from outside her dad’s home in Paradise, Texas on November 30, 2022.
A jury is debating whether he deserves capital punishment after the shocking confession at the beginning of his trial.
The court, outside Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, also heard how Horner told cops that the schoolgirl was not seriously injured after he accidentally hit her with his van during a delivery, but he panicked and bundled her into the back of his van.
Disturbingly, he attempted to snap her neck to avoid telling her dad that he had knocked her over.
An arrest warrant states that when that failed to kill her, Horner strangled her to death.
Prosecutors told the jury that the tale was part of a 'pattern and web of lies' told by Horner.
Athena was reported missing by her stepmother at around 6.40pm after she was unable to find the child, but it was two days before she was found.
Her body was discovered about six miles away from Paradise in the nearby town of Boyd on December 2.
The twisted truck driver pleaded guilty to two counts: capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.
After his guilty plea, the jury heard that Horner’s first words to the seven-year-old were: “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you”.
The attack was so disturbing that Wise County District Attorney James Stainton was compelled to warn the jury about the horrors they were about to see and hear.
He told the jury: “Somebody covered up the camera because they don’t want you to see.
“Guess what? Audio is still running, and you’re going to hear it.
“You’re going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child.
"And when I say it’s horrible, I mean it.
“I’ve been doing this [for] 25 years, and I promise you, buckle up.”
