FedEx Driver Accused in Athena Strand Case Makes Surprising Request

The trial of Tanner Horner, a FedEx driver accused of kidnapping and murdering seven-year-old Athena Strand, has revealed a surprising request he made upon his arrest: he wanted to spend Christmas with his son. This revelation emerged during court proceedings.

During the trial on Thursday, jurors were shown footage of Horner, 34, being interrogated by police shortly after his arrest in November 2022. The focus of the questioning was to locate the missing child’s body.

The jury learned that Horner voluntarily engaged in a discussion with investigators. He initiated the dialogue by acknowledging their intentions, saying, “I imagine that you have, basically, a list and bullet points that you want to know from me.”

In a startling declaration, Horner expressed, “There’s only one thing in this world that I want,” and stated his desire for “a month.”

Horner added, “I understand that you can’t do that. Even if y’all have to put an ankle monitor on me, GPS monitor, check-ups with you.”

‘If you give me a month with my family, so I can have Christmas with my son, I’ll tell you everything.’

Police told the suspect that his entitled request was likely impossible, as he was under arrest for the murder of the child. 

‘Either way, that’s basically my price,’ Horner responded. The request was not granted.

Tanner Horner, 34, the FedEx driver who abducted and murdered seven-year-old Athena Strand, made an audacious request to investigators to be given a month to enjoy Christmas with his son when he was first arrested in November 2022

The seven-year-old was kidnapped and strangled by Horner when he was delivering gifts to her family home in North Texas in November 2022 

Horner abducted Strand from her family’s home in Paradise, Texas on November 30, 2022, as he delivered a box of Barbies to the residence. The toys were meant to be her Christmas present.

Strand was strangled to death by Horner in his truck, with her tortured last minutes captured by a microphone in his vehicle after he covered a camera inside.

Horner initially told police that he unintentionally hit the child with his truck before ‘accidentally’ killing her in a panic. 

But his story soon unraveled when police found an image from his truck camera that showed Strand alive in the vehicle as Horner drove her away. 

Horner was set to go on trial on murder charges this week and had pleaded not guilty, but he reversed his plea and admitted to the murder before the trial began.  

Jurors are now hearing gruesome evidence as they decide if the FedEx driver will face the death penalty. 

In separate footage from Horner’s interrogations shown on Thursday, it was revealed that the killer told police that his alter ego, named Zero, was the one who murdered Strand. 

Strand is filmed being driven to her death by Horner. He admitted the November 2022 murder in court on Tuesday, with jurors warned they must still endure graphic evidence of the little girl’s final moments so they can decide if he should face the death penalty 

Strand was abducted from her family’s home in Paradise, Texas, on November 30, 2022

He described feeling detached from his actions as he strangled her to death, saying he was ‘in the back seat watching everything happen, and I’m kind of freaking out.’ 

Horner said he was under heavy stress for the six months that he worked as a FedEx driver and was suffering repeat mental breakdowns, and said it was around this time in the summer of 2022 when he started being his alter ego, ‘Zero’. 

‘It started off as like, almost like a little devil on my shoulder kind of thing, you know what I mean?’ Horner told police following his arrest. 

‘But then after a while, it just kind of turned into I was switching back and forth sometimes, like at times where I was stressed out, I would essentially switch, if that makes sense.’ 

He said he would often wake up in strange places and not remember how he got there, and said when ‘Zero’ took over he was ‘in the back seat.’ 

Horner said that when he first encountered Strand, ‘Zero kind of took over’, and he began referring to his alter ego in the third person. 

‘He told her, ‘Just get in the back of the van, we’re going to go to the hospital,” Horner said in his police interview. 

He said he didn’t kill Strand, but his alter ego did, saying: ‘I didn’t do it, but he did, and that’s what fucks with me… I’m wondering who the hell’s been in my head this whole time.’ 

Bodycam footage shown in court then revealed how Horner took the officers to search for Strand in a wooded area.

The jury was shown footage of Horner’s arrest in Texas on December 30, 2022

Body camera footage showed how Horner led police to the wooded area where he tossed the little girl’s body

Horner’s alter ego ‘Zero’ directed officers to a cliff near a guardrail where they found Strand’s naked body lying beneath the water, the court heard

Horner was set to go on trial before abruptly pleading guilty to capital murder this week. He now faces a sentencing trial

After they failed to locate her, Horner told officers he was unsure of her exact location because of the callous way he dumped her remains.

‘I just kind of tossed her in,’ he said, adding, ‘I don’t know why y’all haven’t found her yet.’

Horner, whose lawyers cited mental illnesses during their opening statements, only told officers the exact location of her body after they spoke directly to his ‘alter ego’. 

The killer presented as Zero multiple times throughout his two-hour-long interrogation at the jail.

‘His demeanor, physical demeanor changes,’ Texas Ranger Joshua Espinoza said on the stand. ‘His head goes into a sideways motion. His eyes roll into the back of the head, and he pretends to turn it to Zero.’

Espinoza said that he knew to find Strand’s body, he would have to ‘play his game’ and ‘address him as Zero.’

Once the ranger spoke to ‘Zero,’ Horner directed them to a cliff near a guardrail and showed them where he had placed Strand’s body.

Espinoza testified that he saw her naked body lying beneath the water.

Horner in court on Tuesday. His lawyers tried to blame his autism and exposure to lead as a child for Strand’s murder  

The ranger then addressed Zero directly: ‘I know Tanner didn’t sexually assault this girl. I know Tanner didn’t hurt this girl, but I know you did. Did you sexually assault this girl?’

‘No,’ Horner replied.

‘Did you kill this little girl, Zero?’ the detective asked.

‘Tanner wouldn’t do it,’ Horner replied.

‘Thank you for bringing me to her. Thank you for letting me get her home,’ the detective said.