Former FedEx driver pleads guilty to killing 7-year-old girl after making delivery at her Texas home
KSAT • • nation
Key Points:
- Tanner Horner, a former FedEx driver, pleaded guilty to killing 7-year-old Athena Strand in Texas after delivering her a Christmas gift; he claimed he accidentally hit her with his van and strangled her in panic.
- Horner faces either the death penalty or life imprisonment, with jurors now responsible for deciding his punishment in the 2022 case.
- Prosecutors argue Horner’s story is false, presenting evidence that Athena was uninjured when taken into the van and that Horner threatened her to keep silent; his DNA was found under her fingernails and on other parts of her body.
- Horner’s defense cited his autism, mental illnesses, prenatal exposure to alcohol and lead, and requested a life sentence instead of the death penalty.
- The trial was moved from Wise County to Fort Worth for fairness, and testimony included details about Athena’s life and the Christmas gift Horner delivered before the crime.
 { path { fill: %23EEEFE9 } })
