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Jurors were presented with chilling testimony regarding the final words spoken by former FedEx driver Tanner Horner to Athena Strand before he allegedly committed the tragic murder of the 7-year-old girl.
In court on April 9, police interview footage revealed Horner’s account of instructing the young girl to get into his truck after he arrived at her home in Wise County, Texas, to deliver a package containing Barbie dolls intended as her Christmas gift.
According to The New York Post, Horner recounted telling investigators their final exchange went, “Just get in the back of the van. We’re going to the hospital.”
Horner initially professed that panic set in after accidentally striking Athena with his truck. However, prosecutors challenged this narrative, presenting to the jury a surveillance image from the truck showing Strand unharmed and kneeling behind the driver’s seat.
Wise County District Attorney James Stainton, in his opening statements as noted by The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, asserted, “She was very much alive and very much uninjured when he put her in the truck. The first thing Tanner Horner says to Athena when he picks her up and puts her in his truck, he leans down and says, ‘Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you.’ He says that twice. … That’s the first thing out of his mouth. He made good on it.”
Tanner Horner Allegedly Claims His Alter Ego Zero Killed Athena Strand
While speaking to investigators, Horner allegedly claimed that an alter-ego he referred to as Zero “took over” and killed the young girl.
Sgt. Job Espinoza, the lead investigator in the Texas Rangers’ search for the missing girl, testified April 8, per CBS News, that investigators would often play into the idea of the alter ego, addressing “Zero” directly as they tried to get information on Athena’s whereabouts.
“His demeanor, physical demeanor changes,” Espinoza testified. “His head goes into a sideways motion. His eyes roll into the back of the head, and he pretends to turn it to ‘Zero.’”
Horner told investigators he “listened to a little voice” inside his head when he decided to take Athena, describing it as like a “dream” or out of body experience.
At one point during an interview with investigators, per Court TV, Horner described Athena as a “sweet kid” who had been “worried I was a kidnapper.”
“I tried to break her neck, make it as painless as possible, but it didn’t work. She started crying,” he told them in videos played in court. “I didn’t want her to see it coming. I couldn’t take it if she was sitting there in pain. I wanted to do it as quick as possible but it didn’t work.”
After strangling the child to death, Horner told investigators he “tossed” her into a bamboo field—although her naked body was ultimately found in a river 12 or 13 miles away from her home.
Investigators have said the 7-year-old showed signs of possible sexual assault. Horner, however, denied those claims telling investigators during an interview, “You’re going to ask if I sexually assaulted her, and I did not.”
He was not charged with any sexual-related offenses.
Horner told investigators during the interview that if he said too much to authorities that “Zero is going to hurt me” and tried to shift the blame for the killing onto the alter ego.
“I didn’t do it, but he did, and that’s what f–ks with me,” Horner told police after his arrest, according to The New York Post. “I’m wondering who the hell’s been in my head this whole time.”
Tanner Horner Pleads Guilty to Capital Murder, Aggravated Kidnapping
Horner pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing Athena just as his trial was set to begin on April 7. Jurors are now tasked with determining the 34-year-old’s sentence.
While prosecutors are advocating for the death penalty, Horner’s defense team is asking for a sentence of life in prison.
They told the jury in opening statements that his mother drank while pregnant and alleged that he suffered from multiple mental illnesses during his difficult life that may have played a role in his actions.