Wise County Sheriff’s Office.
(Dallas, Texas) – A former FedEx driver has been sentenced to death in Texas for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand.
Tanner Horner pleaded guilty in the case, which began when Athena disappeared from her family’s property in Wise County. What started as a desperate search for a missing child ended in heartbreak when investigators found her body.
The case shocked the country because of Athena’s age, the brutality of the crime and the fact that the suspect had been working as a delivery driver in the area. Prosecutors pushed for the harshest punishment, arguing the crime warranted the death penalty.
Jurors agreed, handing down a death sentence after hearing the details of the case and the impact on Athena’s family.
For her loved ones, the sentence brings a measure of justice, but it cannot undo the loss of a little girl whose death devastated an entire community.
