A chilling new picture reveals 7-year-old Athena Strand moments earlier than she was strangled and dumped right into a river by a twisted FedEx driver who allegedly kidnapped her from her Texas residence whereas delivering her Christmas current.
The disturbing picture of the terrified teen at the back of the supply van was revealed in a Fort Price courtroom Tuesday morning after 34-year-old Tanner Horner unexpectedly pleaded responsible to capital homicide of a kid underneath 10 and aggravated kidnapping for the November 2022 slaying.
The stunning plea got here as his homicide trial was set to kick off. Jurors will now determine if the killer FedEx driver might be sentenced to demise or life in jail with out parole.
“Now your sole responsibility might be to take heed to all the proof that’s going to be introduced to you as a result of you’ll be utilizing that proof to find out the right punishment to be assessed,” Decide George Gallagher informed the jury.
Prosecutors revealed the eerie black-and-white safety picture exhibiting Athena alive and on her knees behind the motive force’s seat of the supply truck on the day of the lethal Nov. 30, 2022, kidnapping.
The snap, taken from a digicam contained in the van, confirmed Horner calmly driving and whistling because the petrified little one stared straight forward – a element prosecutors argued debunks the frantic account he gave police.
Horner stated he had grabbed the younger lady and tossed her into his supply van in a second of panic after unintentionally backing into her outdoors her father’s residence in Paradise, Texas, on Nov. 30, 2022, in accordance with an arrest warrant.
Athena was not significantly injured, however Horner allegedly determined to kill her out of worry that she would inform her father in regards to the accident.
“She was very a lot alive and unhurt when he put her within the truck,” Smart County District Lawyer James Stainton informed jurors on the Tim Curry Felony Justice Heart in Fort Price.
“The very first thing he stated to her was, ‘Don’t scream or I’ll harm you.’ That’s the very first thing out of his mouth. He made good on it.”
He informed police he tried unsuccessfully to interrupt her neck earlier than strangling her along with his naked fingers within the FedEx truck and dumping her physique within the Trinity River, roughly 10 miles from her home, the warrant stated.
Police tracked down Horner after they found he had delivered a bundle — a set of “You Can Be Something” Barbie dolls meant as a Christmas present for Athena — to the home shortly earlier than the lady’s disappearance, her devastated household revealed.
The killer FedEx employee led police to Athena’s physique two days after her stepmother reported her lacking.
Prosecutors will reportedly play jurors horrifying audio of the second Horner – who allegedly lined the in-cab digicam – strangled the 67-pound little one to demise inside his supply truck.
“You’re going to listen to what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound little one,” Stainton stated, including that Athena “fought with the power of 100 males.”
“It’s horrible. One factor you possibly can’t unhear is the extent of combat in a 7-year-old lady when she’s going through sure demise. That is the extent of chilly heartedness that you simply’re going to see.”
With Submit wires.
