A Texas FedEx driver charged with strangling 7-year-old Athena Strand after mistakenly striking her with his delivery truck will face the death penalty.
District Attorney James Stainton told the Wise County Messenger on Tuesday that the decision was based on Athena’s age and the level of violence involved. It comes a week after a grand jury indicted Tanner Horner on two charges of aggravated kidnapping and capital murder of a person under 10 in connection with her death.
“You look at that little girl’s face and you just ask yourself, ‘Why?’ It’s just the brutal nature of what went on, the level of violence that the guy brought to this,” Stainton said. “It’s just unspeakable. I do not comprehend how an individual can do this with that level of violence to a child.”
Athena disappeared from the driveway of her home in the small town of Paradise on Nov. 30, sparking a desperate search effort involving both volunteers and officers from multiple law-enforcement agencies. Her body was found on Dec. 2, two days after she was reported missing by her father and stepmother.
Horner was arrested in connection with her death a short time later and has allegedly confessed to the brutal crime. He told investigators that he mistakenly backed his van into Athena shortly after completing a delivery at her home. He said the girl was not seriously hurt — she was awake and talking — but he panicked and put her in his van, according to an arrest warrant.
Worried at the time about how Athena’s father would react, Horner attempted to break her neck. When that didn’t work, Horner said he decided to strangle her instead, according to the warrant. He later brought authorities to her body.