Day 8 trial recap: Athena Strand’s dad testifies; jury hears audio of murder
After powerful testimony by Athena Strand’s mom on Wednesday, the prosecution wrapped up its case in the capital murder trial of Tanner Horner on Thursday with chilling audio and video evidence.
Athena’s dad, Jacob Strand, was the first witness who testified Thursday morning. Next, the case’s lead investigator introduced video evidence from FedEx vans driven by Horner on the day of the murder and four other dates before and after the killing. The jury watched excerpts from those videos, which show that Horner covered up the camera lenses multiple times as he delivered packages on the rural road where 7-year-old Athena lived.
Audio from inside the van that Horner was driving when he abducted and killed Athena was next played for the jury — that part was not shown on the livestream.
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.
The former FedEx driver abducted and killed Athena on Nov. 30, 2022, while delivering a package to her rural Wise County home. Horner 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. With the defense case and jury deliberations still to come, the trial could last into early May.
Watch video of the trial here with analysis from WFAA-TV, and follow Star-Telegram.com for updates.
2:10 p.m. Prosecution rests
The prosecution rested its case, and the judge informed the jurors that they will not be needed in court on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. Attorneys will be questioning expert witnesses for the defense about their qualifications on those days.
Jurors will return on Wednesday for the start of the defense case.
1:35 p.m. Video of Horner cleaning FedEx truck after murder
The livestream resumes and video shows Horner uncovering the camera lens as he drives. He seems calm as he smokes a cigarette. The door between the cabin and the back of the van is closed.
Horner stops at a gas station and opens the door that separates the front and back of the van. He then gets out of the van and comes back with cleaning supplies. Carrying a roll of paper towels and a spray bottle of a liquid cleaning product, he walks from the cabin into the back and begins scrubbing the floor.
The video continues with Horner making a phone call to ask his supervisor if he can drive the same truck the following day. Horner says that he ate something bad and threw up and that he cleaned up the back of the truck with sanitizer spray but that it still smells bad.
Horner says that he feels better and promises that he’ll be at work tomorrow. The manager says that Horner can drive the same truck on his route the next day.
When he arrives back at the FedEx station, the video shows Horner stashing the child’s pants and underwear in his backpack.
10:30 a.m. Livestream off while jury hears audio of murder
Judge George Gallagher ordered the livestream turned off as jurors watched more video and heard about an hour of audio from inside the FedEx van at the time that Horner abducted and killed Athena.
Athena’s family left the courtroom before the audio was played.
The Star-Telegram’s reporter who was inside the courtroom said the video showed that Horner was outside of the van for several minutes as he delivered the package at Athena’s home. The 7-year-old is then seen following Horner toward the back of the van and he lifts her inside and closes the doors.
Athena asks, “Where are you taking me?”
Horner covers up the camera lens, but the audio is still recording. As he drives, Horner asks Athena questions like her age and where she goes to school.
When he stops the van, Horner tells Athena that they’re going to “hang out” for a while.
Horner orders the girl to take off her shirt. Athena is heard crying and asking Horner what he is doing to her and if he is a kidnapper.
Athena says that she wants to go home and she wants her mother.
At one point, Athena asks, “Why are you doing this?”
Horner replies, “Because you are pretty. You know that?”
Athena says, “My mom says I can’t do that to somebody. And you can’t do that to me either.”
Choking and other sounds are heard that make it clear Horner is hurting the child.
At some point, Horner starts driving again and Athena is heard screaming as he sings along with “Jingle Bell Rock” on the radio. He yells at her, telling her to shut up or he will hurt her more.
Prosecutors have said Horner made multiple attempts to kill the girl before he dumped her naked body in the water along the Trinity River.
The medical examiner determined Athena died from blunt force trauma with smothering and strangulation.
10 a.m. Horner honked at search party
Video from Dec. 1, 2022, shows that Horner returned to the area of Paradise, Texas, to deliver packages on the day after the murder.
As he drove past a search party looking for Athena, Horner honked and yelled at them to get out of his way so he could make his deliveries.
Horner has his window rolled down, and a woman outside tells him that there has been a kidnapping of a 7-year-old.
“Are you serious?” Horner says, acting shocked.
9:10 a.m. Jury watches videos from FedEx vans
Texas Ranger Job Espinoza testified to introduce video evidence from the FedEx vans. In total, there is more than 30 hours of video and audio from Nov. 26, 29 and 30 and Dec. 1 and 2. The jury will watch about three and a half hours of the video.
Espinoza said the videos show Horner covering the camera lenses multiple times. Prosecutor James Stainton seemed to suggest that this indicated Horner planned the crime and was looking for an opportunity to take a child. Judge George Gallagher sustained the defense’s objections to questions asking Espinoza to speculate about what that meant.
The vans have a dashcam that shows a forward-facing view and a cabin cam that shows the driver and the inside of the van.
Horner covered the front-facing camera almost an hour and half before he delivered the package to Athena’s home on Nov. 30, Espinoza said. Horner also covered the camera on Nov. 29 when he delivered a package to the Huffman family, who lived on the same rural road and had two young daughters.
After the murder, Horner uncovered the camera while he was at a Love’s truck stop on his way back to a FedEx station, the ranger testified. That video showed Horner cleaning the van, he said.
The video also shows Horner putting Athena’s jeans and underwear in his backpack, Espinoza said. Investigators found the girl’s clothes in a pile of trash outside the shed where Horner was living, on the property of his grandmother’s Fort Worth home.
9 a.m. Athena’s dad, Jacob Strand, testifies
Athena’s father, Jacob Strand, talked about his daughter’s personality and how her death devastated his family.
Sharing a favorite memory, he said, “It was springtime, so the water was still a bit chilly, and I walked outside, and she was filling up the water trough and brought out a bunch of her Barbies and toys and filled up the water trough with them and was sitting in it with her dress and cowgirl boots.”
Athena loved playing outside, and like every little girl at the time, she enjoyed the Disney movie “Frozen” and “unicorns and mermaids and getting dirty,” he said.
The last time Jacob Strand saw his daughter alive was on Nov. 30, 2022, when he left to go on a hunting trip. As he was driving away, she ran up to his truck and asked for another hug. “I gave her another hug and told her I love her,” Jacob Strand said.
Just hours later, he learned Athena was missing, and he returned to search his family’s 10-acre property for his little girl. At first, he thought she might be playing hide and seek.
He said Athena’s death broke him, and he initially held the pain in, turning to alcohol and losing 50 pounds because he only ate once “every seven days.”
“It made me feel horrible,” Jacob Strand said. “You know, like, I should have done something or been there. I wasn’t there to protect them like I should be, like a father’s role.”
He said he misses Athena’s “laugh and her spirit. She loved everybody.” When he wants to talk to her, he visits a pear tree that she used to climb.
The father said he doesn’t believe the apology that Tanner Horner wrote in a letter to his victim’s family when the suspect attempted suicide in the Wise County Jail in 2023.
“I just hope that the jury and the justice system will make the right decision,” Jacob Strand said.
Defense attorneys did not cross-examine either the mother or father and said that they’re sorry for the parents’ loss.
This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 8:26 AM.
