FedEx driver Tanner Horner, accused of killing Athena Strand, once drove for Uber

The FedEx contract driver from Fort Worth accused of killing 7-year-old Athena Strand in Wise County previously was a driver for the ride-sharing company Uber.

Uber told the Star-Telegram on Saturday that Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, has not driven on the Uber app “in months.”

He has been banned from the platform, Uber said.

An Uber spokeswoman hadn’t immediately responded to questions of whether Horner was ever the subject of complaints while driving for the company.

Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin told the Star-Telegram on Saturday that Horner did not know Athena or her family. He was delivering a package to their home when he encountered the child, Akin said.

“To me, it’s a crime of opportunity,” Akin said.

Horner is expected to be charged by the state of Texas with capital murder of a person under 10 years old and aggravated kidnapping. He isn’t expected to face federal charges, though the FBI provided valuable assistance to the investigation, Akin said.

This story was originally published December 3, 2022 at 12:09 PM.

Matt Leclercq

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Matt Leclercq is senior managing editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He previously was an editor at USA Today in Washington, national news editor at Gatehouse Media in Austin, and executive editor of The Fayetteville (NC) Observer. He’s a New Orleans native.