Tanner Horner sentenced to death for kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand
(Athena Strand was abducted by Tanner Horner when he dropped off a package containing a Christmas gift for her – a box of Barbie dolls)
(May 6, 2026) Yesterday, a jury in Texas sentenced former FedEx driver Tanner Horner to death for the 2022 kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, bringing a high-profile and deeply emotional case to a close.
Horner, 34, pleaded guilty last month to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the killing of the child, who was taken from her home in Paradise, a rural community northwest of Fort Worth, while he was delivering a Christmas package. Her body was discovered two days after she was reported missing.
After weeks of testimony, jurors in Tarrant County deliberated for less than three hours before handing down the death sentence on May 5, 2026. They determined Horner posed a continuing threat to society and found no mitigating factors sufficient to warrant a sentence of life without parole.
Prosecutors presented extensive and often disturbing evidence, including video and audio recorded inside Horner’s delivery van that captured the child’s final moments. Medical testimony revealed Athena died from blunt force injuries, smothering, and strangulation.
During the trial, prosecutors argued Horner fabricated multiple versions of events, including claims that he accidentally struck the girl with his van and killed her in panic. Instead, they said the evidence showed a deliberate abduction and killing.
Defense attorneys acknowledged the severity of the crime but urged jurors to consider Horner’s troubled background, citing claims of autism, mental illness, prenatal alcohol exposure, and a traumatic upbringing. They asked for a life sentence without parole, but jurors rejected that request.
Horner showed little visible reaction as the sentence was read in court.
Athena’s family, devastated by the loss, listened as the verdict was delivered. The package Horner had delivered that day was reportedly a Christmas gift for the child — a box of Barbie dolls.
The case drew national attention and was moved out of Wise County due to concerns about pretrial publicity. It has since become one of the most closely watched capital punishment cases in Texas in recent years.Top of Form
For more on Horner’s death sentence in the shocking, senseless and tragic murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, see the video below.
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(Sources: The Associated Press, Fox News, CBS News)
(Cover photo of Tanner Horner: Image credit, Wise Couty Sheriff’s Office)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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