Tanner Horner FedEx murderer was delivering Athena Strand her barbie dolls Christmas presents when he abducted her and strangled her after ‘accidentally’ hitting her with his van. Death penalty now sought.
The Texas FedEx driver accused of abducting and murdering 7-year-old Athena Strand was dropping off her Christmas present — a set of Barbie dolls, her mother revealed as prosecutors seek to now explore calling for the death penalty.
Tanner Lynn Horner allegedly dropped off the box containing six Barbies of different races and statures when he kidnapped Athena from her father’s home in Paradise, Texas, Nov. 30, mother Maitlyn Gandy said at a Thursday news conference.
‘Athena was robbed of the opportunity to grow up to be anything she wanted to be. And this present ordered out of innocence and love is one she will never receive,’ Gandy said, adding that it was the first time she was seeing the gift the family had been looking forward to watching her daughter open Christmas morning.
‘Athena’s favorite holiday was Christmas as it is for many children everywhere. The joy Athena gave her family, and the joy she felt on Christmas is something we will never feel with here again.’
Athena was found dead two days after she was reported missing from her home in Paradise, approximately 40 miles northwest of Fort Worth, by her stepmother.
7 year old Texas girl was strangled out of fear
Horner confessed to the crime, police said, and led authorities to the young girl’s body approximately 10 miles from her home. The 31-year-old FedEx driver did not know the family.
Police believe she was killed within the very hour she was abducted. The driver has since confessed to strangling Athena, while insisting her death was an accident. The FedEx driver said he strangled the girl out of fear she would tell her father he hit her with his delivery van, according to an arrest warrant cited by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Athena was not seriously injured in the Nov. 30 accident, but Horner, afraid of the consequences, allegedly decided to kill her. He told police he tried unsuccessfully to break her neck before strangling her to death with his bare hands in the FedEx truck, according to the arrest warrant.
Horner disposed of her body in the water on the edge of the Trinity River near Boyd, approximately 10 miles from her Paradise home.
Police tracked down Horner after they discovered he had delivered a package to the house shortly before the girl’s disappearance.
The young girl was staying with her father and stepmother in Paradise for the holiday and was expected to return to Gandy’s Oklahoma home after the Christmas break and had been expected to return to her mother, who was living out of state.
‘Now, instead, Athena will be cremated and she will come home in an urn because I’m not even, I’m not anywhere close to being ready to let my baby go,’ Maitlyn Gandy said during Thursday’s press conference.
Death penalty sought
Gandy dyed her hair hot pink in honor of Athena, according to Fox.
The grieving mother remembered her daughter as a sweet and friendly girl who ‘loved dancing, singing and all animals: dogs, cats, horses, lizards and chinchillas.’
‘I will never see her bright blue eyes or her ornery smile again,’ Gandy said. ‘I will never be able to hear her say, ‘I love you, Mommy.’ I will never be able to do her hair again or to hold her while she sleeps.’
‘I was robbed of watching her grow up by a man everyone was supposed to be able to trust. To do just one simple task: deliver a Christmas present and leave.’
In latest developments, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin told Fox News that his office is seeking the death penalty in the case of Taryn Horner.
Told Akin, ‘We are pursuing the death penalty because of the serious nature of the case… and because the child is 7.’
‘There may be some hurdles we may or may not be able to cross – I’ll leave that to the district attorney,’ Akin added.
Horner has been charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping and is being held on a $1.5 million bail.
