Tragic Incident: FedEx Driver Confesses to Killing 7-Year-Old Girl After Package Delivery

A 34-year-old delivery driver has confessed to the murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, bringing an abrupt halt to what was already a deeply emotional trial unfolding in a Texas courtroom.

Tanner Horner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count each of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping, leaving jurors to now decide whether to give him life in prison or the death penalty. Horner had been set to stand trial for the child’s murder, but moments before proceedings began, he entered the guilty plea, immediately shifting the case into the penalty phase.

Despite the confession, the jury’s role remains crucial, as prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty, leaving them to decide Tanner Horner’s fate.

During the opening statements of the sentencing phase, prosecutor Patrick Berry prepared jurors for the graphic and unsettling evidence they would encounter, including audio recordings from the delivery van where the tragic event occurred.

“You will hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,” Berry stated. “And when I say it’s horrific, I mean it. I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I assure you: brace yourselves.”

Though the visual evidence of the crime was obscured, Berry noted that jurors would be exposed to audio that captures the harrowing final moments of the young girl’s life.

“The one thing you’re gonna hear — that is something you can’t unhear — is the level of fight that a 7-year-old girl has when she’s facing down certain death,” he said. “We talk about warriors in America. I’ll tell you, that little girl right there is a warrior. She fought with the strength of 100 men.”

Elizabeth “Ashley” Strand, Athena’s stepmother who reported her missing, testified about the lasting trauma on the family, saying her other daughter now runs and hides at the sight of delivery drivers and suffers from nightmares.

Investigators also took the stand, including then-Sheriff Lane Akin, who became emotional recalling the moment he informed the family that Athena’s body had been found in a body of water miles from her home.

“It was heartbreaking, and they were just devastated,” Akin said. “I wish I could have done something to make it better. We were hoping, right to the last minute, that she was alive and well.”

Testimony further showed that Horner initially gave investigators inconsistent accounts of his actions, at first claiming he did not remember being at the home before later saying he stopped deliveries because he felt sick.

The case stems from Athena’s disappearance on Nov. 30, when authorities learned a FedEx package had been delivered to her home around the same time she vanished, according to a previously reported arrest warrant affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.

Investigators identified the delivery truck and reviewed interior camera footage, which allegedly showed that the driver — later identified as Horner — “had taken a young girl who was visually similar to Athena in his van.” The footage also showed Horner speaking with her in the vehicle.

After being located by authorities, Horner allegedly confessed to striking Athena with his truck before abducting and killing her.

“[Horner] stated when he was backing up in his FedEx truck he accidentally hit Athena with the truck, but she was not seriously injured, [and he] panicked and put her in the van,” the affidavit states. “[Horner] stated Athena was alive at that time, talking to him, and told him her name was Athena.”

He allegedly told investigators he then decided to kill the child.

“[Horner] stated he attempted to break Athena’s neck to kill her,” the affidavit says. “[Horner] stated, when he attempted to break Athena’s neck it did not work so he strangled her with his bare hands in the back of the FedEx van.”

Horner allegedly said he killed the child because he believed “she was going to tell her father about being hit by the FedEx truck,” according to the affidavit.

Authorities later said Horner led investigators to a location near the Trinity River in Boyd, Texas, where Athena’s body was found roughly 10 miles from her home.

At the time, Athena’s mother, Maitlyn Gandy, said the package Horner delivered contained a Christmas gift for her daughter — a “You Can Be Anything” Barbie — and noted the girl had been planning to return home to Oklahoma after the holiday break.

Jurors will now hear additional evidence before deciding whether Horner will spend the rest of his life in prison or be sentenced to death.