Day 5 recap: Jury sees letter Tanner Horner wrote to victim Athena Strand’s family
The trial of Tanner Horner resumed Monday with testimony from crime-scene investigators and the medical examiner, and photos of evidence in the killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand.
A photo of Athena’s body taken just after it was lifted from a river was handed directly to jurors and was not shown on a projection screen in the courtroom or on a livestream video feed.
At the start of evidence presentation in the trial on Tuesday, April 7, Horner, 34, pleaded guilty 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.
Horner, a former FedEx driver who abducted and killed the child on Nov. 30, 2022, while delivering a package to her rural Wise County home, told a false story about hitting the little girl with his van and then strangling her in a panic, according to testimony of the case’s lead investigator, Texas Ranger Job Espinoza. Investigators believe Horner 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.
On Thursday, prosecutors showed photos of Athena’s clothing, which a search team found in a pile of trash outside Horner’s home.
Photos displayed on Friday that appeared to be important to the case included bungee cords and straps inside what investigators referred to as the “abduction van.” The significance of those items has not yet been explained. Investigators also photographed patterns on the van’s floorboards and Horner’s shoes to look for a match to markings on the victim’s face.
The trial is being held at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth.
Watch video of the trial here, and follow Star-Telegram.com for updates.
2:30 p.m. Horner’s recorded jail telephone calls
The jury listened to two audio recordings of telephone calls between Horner and relatives he made from Wise County’s jail in the days after his arrest.
In a call with Jacqueline Harvison, the defendant’s maternal grandmother, Horner mused on national news reporting on the case.
“Man, I always wanted to be famous, but not like this,” Horner said.
Earlier in the call, Horner said he may be held apart from other inmates during the entirety of his time at the jail.
“I’m a bit of an introvert anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal,” Horner said.
In a separate call, Melissa Horner, Horner’s mother, asked her son about a possible sexual motivation.
Tanner Horner, who began the call with an account of striking the girl with his delivery van, denied having sexual contact with Athena. As he did in an earlier interview with Ranger Espinoza, Horner said that medication had reduced his libido.
“I didn’t think you were a pervert,” Horner’s mother told him.
The jail’s administrator testified that Tanner Horner had no disciplinary problems while the defendant was held there.
The trial went into recess at 2:50 p.m. and will resume Tuesday morning.
1:55 p.m. Shoe tread pattern photo
The afternoon trial session continued with the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy. Prosecutors displayed to the jury a photo of a shoe’s tread pattern.
Dr. Dwyer’s autopsy found patterned bruises on Athena’s face, neck and chest.
Dwyer did not compare the tread pattern to Athena’s injuries, and on cross-examination said that she is not a footwear impression analyst.
The defense noted during in its questioning of the pathologist that Athena suffered no broken bones and that the examination found no evidence of sexual trauma.
Dr. Dwyer later testified that some type of sexual contact was possible even if trauma is not visible at an autopsy.
12:05 p.m. Trial breaks for lunch
The court is taking an hour lunch. After the break, Dr. Dwyer will continue testifying about the autopsy.
10:40 a.m. Medical examiner testifies about autopsy
Dr. Jessica Dwyer, chief medical examiner for the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences, which conducts autopsies for Dallas County and several neighboring counties, is testifying.
Dr. Dwyer performed Athena’s autopsy on Dec. 3, 2022. She also collected blood and hair samples and fingernail clippings for DNA evidence, and took photos that will be shown directly to the jurors at some point.
Athena was 4 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 67 pounds. Dr. Dwyer described evidence of asphyxiation and blunt force trauma, and numerous injuries to Athena’s face, head, neck, chest and back that occurred before her death. The examination did not find evidence of sexual trauma.
The doctor concluded that Athena died from blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation.
10 a.m. FBI agent recovered Athena’s body
FBI Special Agent David Rogers testified about leading a team to recover Athena’s naked body from the water of a creek along the Trinity River at Bobo Crossing on the night of Dec. 2, 2022.
Rogers was one of two agents who got into the water. He said they climbed down several feet on rocky, uneven ground. Other agents stood on the ground with a rope to guide them back up. The agents placed the little girl on a body bag.
Photos of the site were shown in the courtroom on a projector, and Rogers described a photo of Athena’s body before that image was handed directly to the jurors to view.
Rogers said Athena was cold to the touch and with lights shining on her, “her skin appeared to be glistening, angel-like.”
9 a.m. Letter from Horner to Athena’s family
During the testimony of Sgt. Brett Yaro, a crime-scene investigator with the Wise County Sheriff’s Office, the jury was shown a letter that Horner wrote to Athena’s family when he attempted suicide in the county jail in May 2023.
In the letter labeled “For Athena’s Family,” Horner wrote, “I want to start out saying how sorry I am about Athena.”
Horner wrote that he hoped his death would ease the family’s suffering, but he also placed blame on his autism and his problems at home and work for what he did to Athena.
“Just know I have found God through all of this,” Horner wrote in part.
“I took your little angel away from you. She didn’t deserve it. Y’all didn’t deserve it,” he wrote. “My son didn’t deserve to lose his father.”
Horner asked for forgiveness, and for mercy and grace to be shown to his then 1-year-old son.
“With love & sorrow & remorse,” he wrote. “I love you all & I’m sorry.”
Jurors were also shown a letter that Horner wrote to detectives in the case, in which he blames an unidentified man who he claims forced him at gunpoint to kidnap Athena.
This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 8:04 AM.
