Day 7 recap: Athena Strand’s mother testifies in Tanner Horner capital murder case
The trial of Tanner Horner resumed Wednesday, April 15, with the jury hearing about DNA and video evidence in the killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand and the day concluded with emotional testimony from Athena’s mother, Maitlyn Gandy.
At the start of evidence presentation in the trial on April 7, Horner 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 Athena 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.
The trial is being held at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth. Prosecutors likely will rest their case on Thursday, when Athena’s father may testify and audio from the FedEx van is expected to be played for the jury. With the defense case and jury deliberations, the trial could last into early May.
Watch Wednesday’s video of the trial here, and follow Star-Telegram.com for updates.
2:50 p.m. Athena’s mom, Maitlyn Gandy, testifies
Maitlyn Gandy, the mother of 7-year-old Athena Strand, was the last witness to speak on Wednesday.
A photo of Athena wearing Christmas pajamas and a red bow was taken four days before she was murdered, Gandy said. The mother now carries that red bow with her almost everywhere.
“I had a little bit more than 24 hours left with her. I just didn’t know it at the time,” Gandy said.
The next day, on Nov. 27, Gandy drove from her home in Oklahoma to take Athena to Wise County, Texas, to stay with the girl’s father, Jacob Strand.
Asked about the last thing she said to her oldest daughter, Gandy said, “I told her that I loved her and that I would see her on Friday.” It wasn’t the goodbye the mother would have wanted.
She described Athena as free, wild, bright, loving and independent, saying that the 7-year-old was the best parts of her mother and father combined.
“She loved to wear her pretty princess dresses,” Gandy said. “But she would play in the dirt in that pretty princess dress.”
Gandy has worn pink in court and dyed her hair pink because it was Athena’s favorite color.
Gandy was 19 when Athena was born, and Jacob Strand was 23. They didn’t stay together, but they prioritized co-parenting and making sure Athena was happy.
“Every single person who has ever met Athena besides maybe one absolutely loved Athena,” Gandy said.
She said the only person who didn’t love Athena is “the defendant in this case,” Tanner Horner.
When Gandy found out her daughter was missing, she made the normally two-hour drive to Texas in 45 minutes. She couldn’t breathe and felt like she was dying, but “I told myself if I kept going, it would be OK and I would find her,” she said.
After days of searching by law enforcement, the family and hundreds of volunteers, Athena’s body was found on Dec. 2, 2022. Gandy said she wasn’t allowed to see her daughter until Dec. 6. Gandy arrived about an hour before she told Jacob to be there because, “I didn’t want him to see our daughter like that.”
She put makeup on Athena to cover up the discoloration and clothed her body in a hospital gown. She later went to Walmart to buy new clothes for her daughter’s funeral, including Athena’s signature bows.
The funeral was on Dec. 9, and Gandy got Athena’s ashes back on Dec. 10, which was her younger daughter’s 3rd birthday.
Athena had begged for a sibling before her little sister was born. After Athena was killed, Gandy didn’t know how to tell her younger daughter, “so I lied to her for a long time,” she said. She told the girl that Athena was still staying with her father and couldn’t talk on FaceTime because she was sleeping or at school.
“Until about a year ago, she didn’t know the whole truth,” Gandy said. “I didn’t tell her that Athena was dead and she had been killed until what should have been Athena’s eighth birthday.”
Athena would have been 11 years old on May 23 of this year and would now be in the fourth grade.
Gandy said she has only ever missed one hearing in her daughter’s case. She felt she needed to be in court to be Athena’s voice.
“I had to cover up handprint bruises around my daughter’s neck,” she said. “... She was loved. She is loved. And she is missed. And she was real. And she had a life and she wanted to live. And no one can take that from her. … I will be her face and I will be her voice. And I will make sure that every person in this world knows that she was loved and that she wanted to live and we want her in our lives.”
Gandy said she has only been able to watch a minute or two of the video evidence in the case. It’s expected that on Thursday, jurors will hear an audio recording of what happened after Horner covered the video camera in his FedEx van.
Gandy cried as she said, “I’m very sorry to all of the innocent people who do have to watch that.”
Asked what she wants to know from Horner, the mother said she wants to know what he did with Athena’s shirt, which hasn’t been found. She said she was there for her daughter’s first breath and first steps. “I highly doubt that he cared enough to pay attention to when my daughter took her last breath.”
Gandy said she still talks to Athena every day. “I tell her that I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to protect her and to stop him. I tell her that I love her.”
1 p.m. Analysis of male DNA in sexual assault kit
Kristen Cossota, supervisor of the DNA analysis team at the Texas DPS lab in Garland, is testifying about her interpretation of male DNA found on swabs in the victim’s sexual assault kit.
Y-STR testing, which compared a known sample of Horner’s DNA with the Y chromosome profile found in the sexual assault kit, found that Horner could not be excluded as a contributor of the male DNA, Cossota said.
Answering a question from Wise County District Attorney James Stainton, Cossota said DNA analysis reports use statistics about the likelihood of someone’s DNA being present and analysts would never call a result “a match.”
“We don’t call it a match,” she said. “But if it’s not consistent with the person being compared, then they will be excluded.”
She noted that all male members of a family have the same Y chromosome profile, so relatives of Horner also would not be excluded.
Horner’s DNA also could not be excluded from a sample found under Athena’s fingernails, Cossota testified.
Under cross-examination by the defense, Cossota said the lab does not examine samples under a microscope to determine the presence of semen. The DNA testing process separates possible sperm cells but she could not definitively say whether the DNA samples included sperm.
11:45 a.m. Trial breaks for lunch
Court will be back in session at 1 p.m. Another DNA analyst is expected to testify after lunch, followed by testimony from Athena’s mom.
10:50 a.m. Testimony about video from FedEx van
James Becker, vice president of product with Velocitor Solutions, which makes the software used to record video in FedEx vehicles, is testifying.
Becker said the software is used in FedEx vehicles including those belonging to subcontractors like Big Topspin, which is the company Horner worked for. He said the cameras begin recording when a vehicle is turned on, and they record forward-facing video and video facing toward the driver. The devices connect to GPS and cellular networks to communicate location information.
The systems also include a panic button the driver can push to notify management if there’s an incident — for example if a driver is involved in a crash — and that will send the relevant video to the manager in real-time.
When contacted by the FBI about Athena’s abduction, Becker used his cellphone to record a portion of the video from Horner’s van that showed the girl inside the vehicle, he said.
As the search for the missing child continued, Becker checked GPS data and told the FBI about some locations where Horner had stopped, including a bridge, a gas station and the side of a road.
The case’s lead investigator, Texas Ranger Job Espinoza, later traveled to meet with Becker to obtain the software to download the full video from Horner’s van on the day of the abduction. Prosecutors have said that Horner covered the camera but audio was still recorded when Horner killed the child.
That audio likely will be played for the jury on Thursday but will not be shown on the livestream.
9 a.m. Testimony about DNA evidence
Several DNA analysts have testified Wednesday morning about how DNA evidence was handled in the case to establish the chain of custody.
Ruby Kelly, a forensic scientist with the DNA section of the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab in Garland, testified that she performed autosomal STR testing, which is used to identify whose DNA is found on an object. Kelly conducted that testing on Horner’s FedEx polo shirt, sweatshirt, jeans and underwear; Athena’s jeans and socks; bungee cords that were found in the FedEx van that Horner was driving when he killed the child, and parts of the van.
Kelly also performed Y-STR testing to compare a known sample of Horner’s DNA with male DNA found on swabs from Athena’s sexual assault kit.
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 8:07 AM.
