Punishment Phase Continues in Athena Strand Trial

The punishment phase of the trial for Tanner Horner, a 34-year-old former FedEx delivery driver, continued in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 15, 2024, as jurors weighed whether to sentence him to death or life in prison without parole for the capital murder and aggravated kidnapping of 7-year-old Athena Strand. Horner pleaded guilty to the charges on April 7, the first day of the trial, admitting he abducted and strangled the girl on November 30, 2022, outside her father's home in the rural community of Paradise, Wise County, about 60 miles northwest of Dallas.

Athena, who was staying with her father, Jacob Strand, and stepmother, Ashley Strand, had been playing unattended when Horner, making a delivery of Barbie dolls intended as her Christmas present, took her from the property. Authorities recovered her body two days later in a creek near Boyd, Texas, less than 10 miles away. An Amber Alert had prompted a widespread search after her stepmother reported her missing. The medical examiner, Dr. Jessica Dwyer, testified that Athena died from blunt force injuries, smothering, and strangulation, noting signs of trauma to her head, neck, chest, and back. Dwyer added that while no...