Day 3 trial recap: FBI finds Athena Strand’s clothes at Tanner Horner’s home
At the trial of Tanner Horner on Thursday, jurors watched video footage of an interview with Horner taken five days after he was arrested in 2022 for kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Athena Strand in Wise County.
Prosecutors also showed photos of Athena’s clothing, which a search team found in a pile of trash outside Horner’s home.
Horner, 34, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to capital murder in the course of kidnapping. The jury will decide his punishment. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and the defense is asking for a sentence of life in prison without parole.
The case’s lead investigator, Texas Ranger Job Espinoza, testified again Thursday after spending much of Wednesday on the witness stand. Jurors watched several hours of video on Wednesday, including Espinoza’s first interviews with Horner, during which the ranger said Horner lied repeatedly. The video showed Horner misdirecting law enforcement about where to search for Athena before finally leading Espinoza to her body on the night of Dec. 2, 2022.
Horner, a former FedEx driver who abducted the child while delivering a package to her home, told a false story about hitting the little girl with his truck and then strangling her in a panic, Espinoza testified. Investigators believe Horner actually planned to kidnap and kill Athena.
In interviews, Horner blamed an alter ego called “Zero” for the girl’s death, and he pretended to be Zero when he led Espinoza to Athena’s body, the ranger said.
Watch Thursday’s video of the trial here, and follow Star-Telegram.com for updates.
4:50 p.m. Court recesses for the day
The trial will resume about 9 a.m. on Friday.
4 p.m. FBI finds Athena’s clothes at Horner’s home
FBI Special Agent Kurt Duross, who supervised evidence collection, testified about finding items of Athena’s clothing scattered among trash behind the shed where Horner was living.
Photos of several clothing items were show to the jury, including Athena’s socks and underwear and her blue jeans, which were embroidered with pink flowers on the front pockets.
Crime-scene investigators also collected one of Horner’s FedEx shirts and a hoodie that they believed he may have been wearing at the time of the crime.
3:07 p.m. Search of Horner’s home
Former Texas Ranger Bruce Sherman, who is now an internal affairs lieutenant, testified about how he helped to search for social media accounts that belonged to Tanner Horner and others connected to Horner, and made requests to companies to preserve potential evidence on those accounts.
On Dec. 2, Sherman was among the officers who helped conduct surveillance outside Horner’s home, in west Fort Worth near Lake Worth, before a SWAT team arrived to search the property for Athena, he testified.
At that time, investigators believed Athena could still be alive, and the initial search was conducted under exigent circumstances, without a warrant, only to look for the girl, Sherman said. That search took place around the same time that Horner was detained in Wise County.
Horner and his child’s mother lived in one structure, which another investigator described as a shed, and Horner’s mother, grandmother and brother lived in the main house on the same property, Sherman said. The mother, grandmother and brother were at home at the time the property was searched, and they were escorted outside, he said.
Sherman did not go inside the homes, but he helped conduct informal interviews outside with Horner’s family members, and he obtained their consent to extract data from their cellphones, he said.
Investigators later obtained a search warrant for the property, which allowed them to look for evidence of a crime, he said.
In response to a defense attorney’s questions, Sherman said the SWAT team members were wearing tactical gear, arrived in armored vehicles and broke into the home to conduct the emergency search.
2:20 p.m. FBI agent testifies
FBI Special Agent Taylor Page testified about collecting data that showed cellphones and other devices connected to the internet to determine who was in the area when Athena disappeared.
Once devices, including Horner’s cellphone and another device inside his vehicle, were identified, that helped investigators pinpoint areas to search, Page said. He noted that when a phone is turned off, it stops communicating with cellular towers. But in this case, the other device inside Horner’s FedEx truck was not disabled and its movements could generally be tracked, he said.
Bobo Crossing, where Athena’s body was eventually found in the water, was identified as one area to search on Dec. 2, but investigators were not able to search that area thoroughly earlier in the day, Page said. The prosecution suggested that was because resources were tied up searching another area where Horner had misdirected them.
Court is on a 15-minute break until about 3 p.m.
1:20 p.m. Trial resumes with defense questions
The trial resumed with further testimony from Ranger Espinoza. He speaks about taking evidence to the Texas Department of Public Safety lab for forensics and DNA testing, and obtaining software to play the video from inside Horner’s FedEx vehicle in the months following the killing.
Defense attorney Susan Anderson then began cross-examining Espinoza.
Anderson points out that Espinoza waited about 16 minutes to read Horner his Miranda rights after the suspect was handcuffed and questioned in the back of a police vehicle as they drove around looking for Athena’s body.
She also confirms that Horner asked several questions about an attorney during the first couple of interviews on Dec. 2 but he was not appointed an attorney at the time.
At the beginning of the Dec. 7 interview, Horner said he had an attorney, but investigators did not contact that attorney to be present for the interview, Espinoza confirmed under questioning by Anderson.
The night before the Dec. 7 interview, Horner cut himself at the jail, Espinoza confirmed.
Anderson also confirmed that investigators were aware that Horner previously had attempted suicide and later tried to kill himself in jail in May 2023.
Horner also told investigators that he has Asperger’s, a form of autism spectrum disorder.
Espinoza acknowledged telling Horner that he saw remorse and regret in the suspect’s behavior, but the ranger said that was an interview strategy and he didn’t believe Horner was sorry that he killed Athena.
On redirect, the prosecutor asked Espinoza if he could believe anything Horner said and the ranger replied that the suspect lied repeatedly.
In response to questions from District Attorney James Stainton, Espinoza said he initially questioned Horner under a public safety exception to the Miranda rules, which allowed him to ask about where Athena was because investigators believed she might still be alive. At that point, Horner was detained. When Espinoza read the suspect his rights, he was then under arrest and only then was he questioned about what he did to the little girl, the ranger said.
12 p.m. Trial breaks for lunch
The trial is on a lunch break.
11:45 a.m. Ranger asks about sexual assault
Ranger Espinoza asked Horner again whether he sexually assaulted Athena.
Horner says he “98% sure” that he didn’t and then pauses to say, “I’m halfway thinking about a cigarette now.”
Then he says, “I haven’t seen anything in my dreams or anything like that” about sexual assault.
Espinoza says he believes Horner for now but that investigators will have to wait to see what the doctor conducting the little girl’s autopsy finds.
They again discuss how Athena was killed, and Espinoza asks if Horner took her clothes to humiliate her. Horner doesn’t seem to give a clear answer.
Horner says that his alter ego Zero lied about seeing a green van leaving the Strand family’s driveway to throw off investigators.
When he first talked to FBI agents, “I was in the back seat for that,” Horner says, suggesting that Zero had taken control. “He has access to my memories,” he says, suggesting that the idea for the false description of the van that investigators searched for came from a green Astro van his dad used to have.
“I’m wondering who the hell’s been in my head this whole time,” Horner says.
Horner says that when Zero “drives” his body, sometimes it feels like he’s in the back seat, and sometimes it feels like he’s “in the trunk.” At those times, he says, “I have no idea what’s going on. There’s been times where I wake up and I have no idea how I got there.”
After Athena was killed, that night, “I kind of had a nightmare,” Horner says. “I thought it was a nightmare ... until I found her pants in my backpack.”
Horner also mentions that he wanted to take Athena to a hospital and that he told her to get in the FedEx truck because he was going to take her to the hospital.
He also mentioned that the name Zero came from a tattoo he had for a Christian metal band.
10:15 a.m. Horner wants to spend Christmas with son
Jurors are watching video of the two-hour Dec. 7, 2022, interview.
Horner, who is wearing a striped jail uniform, says, “There’s only one thing in this world that I want. I want a month. ... If you give me a month with my family so I can have Christmas with my son, I’ll tell you everything.”
Horner says he would wear a GPS monitor and agree to have surveillance cameras at his house or whatever else was needed if he could go home.
Espinoza tells Horner that he is not a prosecutor and that the district attorney’s office would need to agree to any deal. The ranger says he does not want to give false hope that such an arrangement would be possible.
Horner says he wants to be able to record video of Christmas celebrations and opening gifts with his family because he wants his then 1-year-old son to have those memories.
Horner says, “I would give up everything. I would say throw me in a jail cell forever. I don’t care. I would give up all my defenses, plead no contest, tell you everything.”
Espinoza says he’ll convey that information to the district attorney’s office.
When the ranger asks Horner is he’s remorseful, Horner says, “I’m a father.”
“As a parent, if Athena’s parents were here, put yourself in their shoes, what would you say to them?” Espinoza asks.
“I don’t know. I’d be speechless,” Horner replies.
Horner says now that’s not taking his medication, he is able to cry again for the first time in months and, “I’ve cried over a squirrel before.” He says he’s never killed anyone before.
Espinoza asks Horner if he’s not a violent person, why did he kill Athena? Horner again blames his alter ego, Zero, saying, “It wasn’t me. Now that I haven’t been on my medication I haven’t heard from Zero in like two days.”
“I’ve never been a violent person,” Horner says. “I’ve never been a bad person.” He says smoking marijuana was the worst thing he had done prior to the kidnapping and murder.
“I’m not some deranged psychopath; I’m not some criminal,” he says. “I’m autistic, weird. I was in a Christian pop band at one point. I’m not going to lie, the vocals weren’t the best.”
“If I were a cold-blooded killer, I’d have been killing people for years,” Horner says. “I have a conscience. I’m just a person.”
Horner says Athena would still be alive if he hadn’t hit her with the FedEx truck.
“It wasn’t my decision,” the suspect says. “I wanted to let her go. There’s other jobs out there. He (Zero) didn’t want to let her go. Now I haven’t heard from him in two days.”
The interview continues with Horner talking extensively about his background, his family, his work, playing in bands, and other aspects of his life. He seems relaxed as he chats, telling investigators stories about dating in his 20s and meeting his fiance.
He says he grew up in Fort Worth and was mostly raised by his grandparents while his parents were in and out of jail. He mentions starting to take medications including Prozac after he suffered from depression.
9 a.m. Athena’s pants were found at Horner’s home
In the final part of an interview from Dec. 2, 2002, it is revealed that Athena’s pants were found in the trash at Horner’s home.
Horner, speaking as his alter ego “Zero,” tells Ranger Espinoza that he threw Athena’s clothes out the window of the FedEx truck while driving along a road because he thought it was “funny.” The investigation found Horner lied about what he did with the clothes, Espinoza testified.
Espinoza also explained what will be shown in the next video, which is a two-hour interview that Horner requested on Dec. 7, 2022, at the Wise County Jail. Horner offered to tell investigators everything about what he did to Athena if they would “cut a deal” that would allow him to go home with an ankle monitor and spend Christmas with his young son, the ranger said.
Espinoza said agreeing to deals with suspects is not part of his job responsibilities and he was forthcoming about not being able to promise anything. He told Horner he didn’t think the deal the suspect suggested was going to happen.
Horner did not seem remorseful in the interview, Espinoza said. When asked if he wanted to apologize or say anything to Athena’s family, Horner said he wanted to give them a hug, the ranger said.
Back at the Sheriff’s Office at the end of the day on Dec. 2, investigators ask Horner for the passcode to his cellphone, which he gives them.
This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 8:22 AM.
