Timeline: Two days after Athena Strand disappears from Paradise, Texas, an arrest is made

Authorities on Friday said Tanner Lynn Horner, a FedEx contract driver, has been arrested and accused of kidnapping and killing Athena Strand, 7, of Paradise after making a delivery to her home Wednesday.

Here is the timeline of events:

Wednesday: Athena disappears

4:15 pm: Athena exits the school bus at her father’s rural home in Paradise.

5:45 p.m.: Athena’s stepmother last sees the child. A FedEx driver makes a delivery in front of her house around the time she disappears.

About 6:05 p.m.: The stepmother discovers that Athena is not in her room and begins searching. Her stepmother thought she might have run away and “expected she would come back,” Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin later said.

6:40 p.m.: The stepmother contacts the Wise County Sheriff’s Office. Officers arrive within about 14 minutes and conduct an initial search that lasts until 4:30 a.m. Thursday.

Thursday: Amber Alert issued

7 a.m.: An expanded search begins. Hundreds of volunteers from the community join federal, state and local law officers in “walking shoulder to shoulder through the brush.” Searchers use helicopters with thermal-imaging cameras, drones, horses, dogs and ATVs.

Around 2 p.m: An Amber Alert is issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety. “That doesn’t mean that there was an abduction, but it gets the information out to the citizens,” Akin says.

Friday: Athena’s body found; arrest made

2 p.m.: The search for Athena becomes “an investigation with a search,” authorities say. “Hopefully, we can find Athena and bring her home alive and well, but it’s all about the possibilities and we have to look at everything,” Akin says.

7 p.m.: Law officers clear a scene less than 10 miles from Athena’s home after a search. Akin said Athena’s body was found a few miles from that site, along the Trinity River, one of several sites searched.

Shortly after 10 p.m.: Lane announces that Athena’s body has been found and that Horner, 31, has been arrested and accused of kidnapping and killing her. Authorities later say she was killed within about an hour of her disappearance.

Saturday: “A crime of opportunity”

11 a.m.: Akin tells the Star-Telegram that Horner, who did not know Athena or her family, abducted the 7-year-old because their paths happened to cross that day. “To me, it’s a crime of opportunity,” he says.

This story was originally published December 3, 2022 at 10:29 AM.