Day 2 recap: Jury sees videos; Tanner Horner claims voice told him to kill Athena
The capital murder trial of Tanner Horner entered its second day on Wednesday, and the jury watched several hours of video showing law enforcement interrogation of Horner and the discovery of 7-year-old Athena Strand’s body.
The lead investigator in the case, Texas Ranger Job Espinoza, testified for much of the day and interviewed Horner in the videos.
On Tuesday, just before evidence presentation began in the trial, Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder in the course of kidnapping. The former FedEx driver abducted Athena while delivering a package to her family’s home in rural Wise County on Nov. 30, 2022. He strangled the little girl inside his FedEx vehicle and then dumped her naked body in water near the Trinity River.
Horner was arrested on Dec. 2, 2022, the day Athena’s body was found.
The trial is being held at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth. Defense attorneys requested the change of venue to Tarrant County, arguing that Horner could not get a fair trial in Wise County.
The jury will decide Horner’s punishment. Wise County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Defense attorneys, who said Horner has autism spectrum disorder and various mental illnesses, are asking jurors to sentence Horner to life in prison without parole.
Watch Wednesday’s video of the trial here and follow Star-Telegram.com for updates.
5 p.m. Court wraps up on Wednesday
The attorneys said there is at least one more video for the jury to watch, but the trial has ended for today. Judge George Gallagher said he would confer with the attorneys about what to expect when the trial resumes on Thursday morning.
Thursday is expected to include video of one more law enforcement interview with Horner in the days after Athena’s body was found, as well as discussion of evidence collected by crime-scene investigators.
At some point later in the trial, prosecutors have said they will play audio from inside Horner’s FedEx truck that was recorded immediately after he kidnapped Athena. The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
3:40 p.m. Jury watches video as Horner reveals body’s location
In the video, it is after dark as Horner, who Espinoza says was pretending to be his alter ego “Zero,” leads the ranger to the site where Athena’s body is found.
(The video at this point was not shown on the livestream due to graphic content, but the audio can be heard.)
“There she is,” Espinoza says as he spots the girl’s body. “Thank you, Zero.”
Espinoza asks “Zero” if he sexually assaulted Athena, and the defendant replies no. Horner separately was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 2013 and 2014, according to arrest warrant affidavits, and he was arrested on those charges after Athena’s death.
In the video the ranger asks, “Did you kill this little girl, Zero?” The defendant replies, “Tanner wouldn’t do it.”
“Thank you for bringing me to her,” Espinoza says. “Thank you for letting me get her home.”
“Zero” says in the video that he has been with Tanner for six to eight months, since Tanner started taking medication. He says he had to take control to hide Athena’s body.
Espinoza tells “Zero” that he has been more helpful than Tanner. “You wouldn’t let Tanner tell me where she was,” the ranger says. “I had to talk to you.”
3:10 p.m. Ranger drives with Horner to look for Athena
The video of the interview at the Sheriff’s Office concluded and Ranger Espinoza is testifying again.
After interrogating Horner for about an hour and a half, Espinoza drove Horner from the Sheriff’s Office back to the area with bamboo where they had previously searched for Athena. Horner again directed the ranger to that location.
As investigators searched the area with the bamboo again, Horner smoked cigarettes and seemed relaxed, making small talk about his favorite foods, work schedules and the weather.
At that point, Espinoza said, he decided to ask to speak to “Zero” directly. Horner’s demeanor changed, and he turned his head and rolled his eyes back as he pretended to turn into “Zero,” the ranger testified.
Espinoza then asked Horner as “Zero” to take him to Athena, and Horner said he would. They got into Espinoza’s pickup truck, and Horner directed him to Bobo’s Crossing, where Athena’s body was found in the water, the ranger testified.
Espinoza said when they arrived at the creek, which connects to the Trinity River, he angled his flashlight until he spotted Athena’s nude body in the water.
The ranger called crime-scene investigators to the location.
2:30 p.m. Horner writes message from alter ego
Ranger Espinoza said that when investigators left the interrogation room, Horner wrote a message on the board in red that said, “He’s going to hurt me, please help.”
Horner claimed the message was from his alter ego, “Zero,” the ranger testified.
In the video, Horner says he’s afraid of Zero and asks, “How can you stop me from hurting me?” He says the voice is telling him “this is all a trap.”
Espinoza says, “I want you and Zero to trust me.”
Horner complains that he’s going to miss Christmas with his child and seeing his child grow up “all because I listened to some stupid voice that probably isn’t even there.”
Horner says that he turned off his cellphone for about half an hour while he was moving Athena’s body.
Investigators offer to get Horner some cigarettes and then go out again to try to find Athena. Horner says again that he “tossed” her into the woods. “I tried to make it to where somebody would find her,” he says. “Because I’m a parent. I would want to know.”
1:45 p.m. Horner says ‘little voice’ told him to take, kill Athena
In video of his interrogation, Horner tells investigators that “a little voice” told him to kidnap and kill Athena.
At this point in the interview, he is still claiming that he took her because he hit her with the FedEx delivery truck and he was worried about losing his job and income. Investigators say that wasn’t true — they say Horner did not hit Athena with the truck and he instead intended to kidnap and kill her.
Horner tells the interviewers that Athena “was a sweet kid” and they talked while he drove around and tried to figure out what to do.
As he drove, Horner said he again listened to the “little voice” that told him to hurt Athena. He became emotional and at first refused to go into details when asked how he killed her. Ranger Espinoza tells Horner it is all right to tell him what happened and that Horner should get it off his chest.
Horner later says that he tried to “break her neck and make it as painless as possible but it didn’t work” and “she started crying.” He then choked her with both hands, he said.
In the video, Horner anticipates that investigators will ask him if he sexually assaulted Athena and he denies doing so. “You’re going to ask if I sexually assaulted her, and I did not,” he says.
Horner also talks more about where he left Athena’s body, saying, “I’m a parent. I’d want my kid found.”
Horner mentions that after killing Athena he went home and then got up the next morning and went to work as normal. He says he lives with his fiance and their child and his grandmother, and he asks the investigators about when he can go home.
At one point, Horner asks the investigators, “Can you not just shoot me in my head please? ... I just want to be with my family.” The investigators tell Horner he’ll get a chance to tell his family what happened.
1:10 p.m. Ranger’s testimony resumes with interrogation video
Ranger Job Espinoza said the “wild goose chase” in the bamboo where Tanner Horner directed investigators to search for Athena’s body continued for about two hours on Dec. 2, 2022. They drove up and down the road several times during the search.
About 4 p.m., investigators took Horner to the Wise County Sheriff’s Office to interrogate the suspect for about 90 minutes, and jurors are watching that video.
Horner continuously lied during his interview with Espinoza, the ranger testified. Horner also talked about being concerned about losing his job, wanting to see his child and worrying about what was going to happen to him, Espinoza said.
Horner continued to lie about backing up and hitting Athena with the FedEx truck after delivering a package at her home, the ranger said. At first, Horner said she was dead when he put her in the truck, and later he said she was alive and bruised and he asked her to get inside the vehicle. Horner complained that the delivery truck didn’t have a working backup camera.
Horner said that Athena told him her name and asked him if he was a kidnapper.
When Espinoza asked Horner how he killed Athena, Horner said he first tried unsuccessfully to break the little girl’s neck and then he strangled her with both hands.
Espinoza testified that Horner made up an alter ego for himself called Zero and claimed Zero was responsible for the killing. The ranger believed Horner was playing a game but during the interview, he spoke to “Zero” as he tried to find out the truth.
“All I’m trying to do is find Athena,” Espinoza said. “I played his game and I spoke to Zero. I’d have called him anything as long as I could find Athena.”
Horner seemed calm and articulate and also made inappropriate jokes during the interview, Espinoza said.
12:03 p.m. Court breaks for lunch
The court is taking a break for lunch. The trial will resume shortly after 1 p.m.
10:40 a.m. Texas Ranger introduces bodycam video
Prosecutors have begun playing video of law enforcement interrogations of Tanner Horner, beginning with Texas Ranger Job Espinoza demanding that Horner tell him where Athena is and asking if the child was alive or dead when Horner left her.
The video shows Horner leading investigators to an area of bamboo where he falsely claimed to have left Athena’s body. He said he “tossed” her near the side of a road.
Horner, wearing his FedEx shirt and with his hands cuffed behind his back, watches as investigators search the thick bamboo, finding nothing. “She should be right there,” Horner says in the video.
After the search turned up empty, Espinoza read Horner his Miranda rights and began driving him to the Wise County Sheriff’s Office for further questioning.
Judge George Gallagher has agreed not to play portions of the video that show Athena’s body once she is found.
10:22 a.m. Morning break in trial
The trial took a 15-minute break.
9:30 a.m. Lead investigator testifies
The case’s lead investigator, Texas Ranger Job Espinoza testified that on Dec. 2, 2022, law enforcement received two video clips from the camera inside Horner’s FedEx truck.
The video showed Athena alive at the time that Horner put her into the truck. At that point, Ranger Espinoza believed Athena could still be alive and that investigators needed to find her and bring her home.
On Dec. 2, investigators stopped and arrested Horner, who was driving a different FedEx truck at that time. Simultaneously, a SWAT team searched Horner’s home in Fort Worth to look for Athena, Ranger Espinoza testified.
Investigators also secured and searched the FedEx truck that Horner was driving on the day of the kidnapping.
Ranger Espinoza conducted several interviews with Horner, which were recorded on a body camera.
During his initial interview, Horner lied and said that Athena was dead when he put her in the FedEx truck, the ranger testified. Horner told a false story about hitting Athena with the truck and abducting her in a panic, Espinoza said. Investigators believe Horner actually planned to kidnap and kill the girl.
Espinoza testified that Horner described where he dumped Athena’s body and gave investigators step by step directions of where to look for her. Horner went with investigators as they searched an area of bamboo. They did not find the child’s body there, and Espinoza said that Horner had lied and misdirected the search team. At that point, Espinoza took Horner back to an interrogation room for another interview.
9 a.m. Game warden testifies about arresting Horner
Texas Game Warden Josh Espinoza was the first witness to testify on Wednesday morning. He is the younger brother of the case’s lead investigator, Texas Ranger Job Espinoza.
Warden Espinoza testified that his brother called him on the morning of Dec. 2, 2022, and asked him to find and arrest Horner. A Wise County dispatcher directed game wardens and sheriff’s deputies to the corner of Hope Trail and Faith Trail, where they found Horner, whom FBI agents had been following.
Jurors watched the warden’s body-camera video that shows him stopping Horner’s FedEx truck and handcuffing Horner. At that point, Wise County deputies searched the FedEx truck for Athena but did not find her.
The warden called his brother to inform him he had detained the suspect. When Ranger Espinoza arrived at the scene, he asked to use his brother’s bodycam because he was in a rush and had forgotten his.
Warden Espinoza testified that he was present when Athena’s body was found in the water at Bobo Crossing, near Paradise. He said he had been involved in prior search and rescue operations and seen bodies before, but this “was completely different because this was murder, not just an accident.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2026 at 8:00 AM.
