Athena Strand’s mom wore all black because the 7-year-old’s heartless killer was sentenced to loss of life — one of many uncommon instances throughout the disturbing case that she didn’t put on pink, her late daughter’s favourite shade.
Maitlyn Gandy donned the somber outfit as Tanner Horner was sentenced to loss of life in a Texas courtroom Tuesday and sobbed because the court docket discovered he would die by deadly injection at a later date.
Gandy’s hair was nonetheless dyed the identical vibrant pink it’s been since her daughter was brutally murdered in Nov. 2022, however the all-black outfit stood in stark distinction to the recent pink fits she’s been seen sporting within the gallery throughout almost each listening to since Horner was arrested and charged 4 years in the past.
The bubbly woman had a fantastic love for pink, and beloved to put on the colour each time she may — with pink garments, bows and different equipment a mainstay throughout her pleased life.
Athena beloved pink a lot that her household even buried her in a pink casket, full with a grey furred inside.
The woman’s household made the colour an emblem of her joyful life after her homicide, and a number of other witnesses for the prosecution adorned their outfits with the colour whereas they took the stand to testify at Horner’s sentencing trial — with Gandy herself donning her regular vivid swimsuit when she testified.
Gandy’s black outfit Tuesday gave the impression to be a deliberate departure, nonetheless, and paired along with her pink hair was a transferring image to mark the conclusion of the heartbreaking saga.
Horner discovered his terminal destiny almost a month after he confessed to strangling Athena to loss of life behind his FedEx truck, which he’d been driving whereas delivering Christmas items to the woman’s Paradise residence.
He claimed he hit the woman with the truck — after which drove off along with her and killed her in a panic that she would inform what occurred.
Video from the cab of his truck proven on the trial appeared to inform a unique story, nonetheless, with Athena seen in Horner’s truck in apparently excellent well being earlier than he strangled her to loss of life whereas stripping her garments off.
Horner insisted he didn’t rape the woman, however DNA proof — and audio from the homicide — steered he could have.
However Athena’s household refused to let Horner’s monstrosity overshadow the woman’s life — along with her uncle closing out the trial with a strong assertion reminding everybody who she was.
“Athena was greater than a headline. She was laughter, curiosity, kindness,” the uncle, Elijah Strand, mentioned. “She had desires she is going to by no means get to chase. Birthdays she is going to by no means have a good time. And a life she is going to by no means get to reside due to his actions.”
“There are not any phrases that really seize the devastation that Tanner Horner precipitated us and our household,” he mentioned. “What he took from this world was not only a baby – he took a life, a future, and a bit of each single one who beloved her. He took a granddaughter, a daughter, a niece, a cousin, and a good friend.”
“She would name me ‘Uncle Lijah,’ as a result of she for the longest time she couldn’t say the Elijah a part of my title,” he added. “It was the most effective factor to see her operating as much as me yelling ‘Uncle Lijah.’ And that’s considered one of my final reminiscences I’ve of her. And now I get to by no means hear that once more.”
“We’re left making an attempt to honor a fantastic little woman, whose life was taken in a mindless and horrific manner.”
