Former FedEx Driver Sentenced to Death for Killing 7-Year-Old Girl After Delivery at Her Texas Home

Former FedEx Driver Sentenced to Death for Killing 7-Year-Old Girl After Delivery at Her Texas Home
Defendant Tanner Horner reacts during testimony Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder in the November 2022 strangulation killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand. Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool
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DALLAS—A former FedEx driver was sentenced to death on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old girl he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift.

Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom decided on Tanner Horner’s punishment after hearing about a month of testimony and evidence that included audio of Athena Strand’s last moments from inside his delivery van. Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to capital murder last month in the 2022 killing just as his trial began. Athena’s body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth.