Live updates: Final witnesses in Tanner Horner trial for murder of Athena Strand
Tanner Horner’s defense attorneys are expected to call their final witnesses Monday in the trial of the former FedEx driver who has pleaded guilty to killing 7-year-old Athena Strand.
Closings arguments in the case are expected on Tuesday.
Horner’s lawyers are trying to convince the jury that the 34-year-old should be sentenced to life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty. Witnesses have focused on Horner’s childhood and mental conditions, including discussion of autism, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, bullying, sexual abuse, and lead exposure after he ate coins as a toddler.
At the start of the prosecution’s case on April 7, Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder in the course of kidnapping. The jury will decide his punishment.
The former FedEx driver abducted and killed Athena on Nov. 30, 2022, after 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 murder Athena.
The prosecution showed the jurors chilling video and audio evidence that included Athena’s last moments after Horner lured her inside the FedEx van. She died from blunt force trauma, smothering and strangulation, and Horner dumped her naked body in the water along the Trinity River.
The prosecution told the jury that Horner sexually assaulted Athena before killing her, and a DNA analyst testified that Horner could not be excluded as the source of male DNA found on swabs in the victim’s sexual assault kit.
In interviews with investigators, Horner blamed an alter ego called “Zero” for the girl’s death.
The trial is being held at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth.
Watch live video of the trial here with analysis from WFAA-TV, and follow Star-Telegram.com for updates.
