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In a haunting letter written from his jail cell, former FedEx driver Tanner Horner expressed remorse to the family of Athena Strand, the young girl whose life he tragically ended. Addressing the parents, he apologized for the loss of their “little angel.”
“I’ve done a terrible thing to your family and I’m sorry,” he wrote, according to court proceedings captured by WFAA. “I can’t tell you how many countless nights I’ve stayed awake unable to sleep. I pray for all of you.”
The letter, along with four others, was discovered following a suicide attempt by Horner in 2023. Its contents were made public during court proceedings on April 13, as part of Horner’s sentencing trial. The trial follows the harrowing events of November 2022, when Horner abducted 7-year-old Athena from her home in rural Wise County, Texas while making deliveries for FedEx.
On April 7, Horner entered a guilty plea for the murder of Strand, just as his trial was set to begin. In the two-page note, which was read aloud to jurors, Horner expressed deep regret, acknowledging the irreversible impact of his actions. “You’ll never get to see your baby girl grow up & I’m sorry,” he wrote, adding, “Now my son is going to grow up without his father & protector.”
Horner pleaded guilty to killing Strand April 7 on what was expected to be his first day of the murder trial.
What Was in Tanner Horner’s Letter to Athena Strand’s Family?
“You’ll never get to see your baby girl grow up & I’m sorry,” he wrote in the two-page letter read in court. “Now my son is going to grow up without his father & protector.”
Horner went on to tell her family that he wanted to “explain where my mind was at” at the time of kidnapping, placing blame for his actions on his Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis and FedEx, who he complained failed to give him a consistent route despite his need for stability.
Horner wrote that his employer allegedly kept making “random changes” to his route, “so they could make more money,” causing him to have a “suicidal episode” and begin to take medication.
The problems only got worse, he said, when FedEx allegedly made him a floater who had a different route each day and then transferred him to a third-party employer, causing him to have “multiple (minor) meltdowns.”
reached out to FedEx about the allegations, but did not receive an immediate response.
Horner noted that certain aspects of his home life “started to fall apart as well,” further adding to the deterioration of his mental state, all leading to Strand’s kidnapping and killing.
“I’m sorry I took your little angel away from you. She didn’t deserve it,” he wrote. “Y’all didn’t deserve it. My son didn’t deserve to lose his father.”
He concluded the letter by telling her family that he hoped his death would ease their suffering.
“The only thing I ask for is forgiveness,” he wrote, “& for you to remember my son & show him some grace & mercy, he no longer has a father.”
Tanner Horner Blames Killing on Stranger in Letter to Detectives
In a second letter, addressed to “detectives only,” Horner attempted to absolve himself of the killing, claiming that an armed stranger had been outside Strand’s house that day and told him to kidnap the girl.
“He told me to take the girl and bring her to a specific spot (the area with the tall grass bamboo,)” he wrote. “He gave me a change of clothes for the girl & told me to have her change into them before handing her over to him.”
Horner claimed he left Strand with the stranger, who she seemed to know.
“He had threatened my family & I didn’t know what to do so I just went along with it,” he wrote. “Don’t tell the media BTW. IDK if he’s going to do something.”
Horner wrote that he followed the man with his headlights off to a creek, then returned to the same spot the next day after work and found the girl’s body, admitting that he did “put her body in the water.”
Prosecutors told the jury it was all part of Horner’s attempt to blame someone else for the killing, NBC DFW reported.
Horner initially told investigators that he’d struck Strand with his truck and panicked—but that claim was seemingly disputed by a picture captured from a camera inside the truck which was introduced in court and showed a seemingly uninjured Strand kneeling beside the driver’s seat.
“She was very much alive and very much uninjured when he put her in the truck,” Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told jurors at the start of the trial, according to The Fort Worth Star-Telgram. “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.”
Medical Examiner Testifies That Athena Strand Likely Suffered Before Death
Jurors also heard testimony April 13 from the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the 7-year-old’s body. Dallas County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jessica Dwyer testified that Strand had multiple lacerations and contusions and had either been smothered or strangled to death, NBC DFW reported.
When asked whether she suffered before her death, Dwyer replied, “Yes, I think she did.”
The sentencing trial will continue this week. Jurors are tasked with determining whether to sentence Horner to death or life in prison for the killing.
Strand’s defense attorneys have argued that he his mother drank during the pregnancy and said that his life was plagued by multiple mental health issues.