A father described watching his 7-year-old daughter run back to his truck for one last hug — the final time he’d ever see her alive. That memory now sits at the center of one of the most gut-wrenching murder trials in recent Texas history.
Tanner Horner, a then-30-year-old FedEx delivery driver, admitted to striking Athena Strand with his delivery van on November 30, 2022, outside the family’s home in Paradise, Texas — and then kidnapping and strangling the child because, as he later told investigators, he feared she would tell her father what had happened. He had been delivering a package of Barbie dolls intended as a Christmas gift for Athena herself. The trial’s sentencing phase is now underway, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty and Horner’s defense pushing for life in prison.
A Father’s Last Goodbye
Jacob Strand took the stand and did what no parent should ever have to do — reduce his daughter’s life to testimony. He described Athena as a girl who loved Frozen, unicorns, and getting dirty, reported to be, in his words, “as every little girl was — Frozen, unicorns and getting dirty.” He recalled a favorite memory of her filling a horse trough just so she could splash around in it with her toys, still wearing her dress and cowgirl boots. That was Athena.
The last moment he saw her, he was backing out of the driveway to leave for a camping trip. She came sprinting toward his truck. “As I was backing up, she ran up to the truck because she wanted to give me another hug,” Strand said on the stand. “I told her not to run up on me as I was backing up… I gave her another hug and told her I love her.” He left. He didn’t know it was goodbye.
When Athena went missing later that same day, Strand said he searched the woods around the property relentlessly — he knew them well. But knowing the land and not finding her only deepened the wound. “I just kind of held everything in, and it broke me,” he said. What followed was a collapse: alcohol, a marriage that fell apart, and a body that wasted away — 50 pounds lost, sometimes going as long as seven days without eating.
A Mother’s Words, Measured and Devastating
Athena’s mother, Maitlyn Gandy, described her daughter as free, wild, bright, and loving — a perfect blend of both her parents. She didn’t mince words about the man sitting across the courtroom. “There is no doubt whatsoever that every single person who has ever met Athena absolutely loved Athena,” Gandy said. “[Except] the defendant in this case. I would like to think that he doesn’t love her.” It landed like a verdict of its own.
What Horner Admitted
The facts of what happened, as Horner himself described them, are almost impossible to process. He struck Athena with his van. He said she wasn’t seriously hurt — but he panicked. He put her in the vehicle, attempted to break her neck, failed, and then strangled her with his bare hands. The reason, he explained, was that he was afraid she’d tell her father. A 7-year-old girl. Afraid she’d talk.
That’s the part that defies any framework of logic or mercy.
The Defense’s Argument
Horner’s attorneys aren’t contesting what he did. They’re contesting what he deserves for it. The defense has pointed to a history of mental illness, fetal alcohol exposure from his mother, and significant lead poisoning as factors that, they argue, should spare him from execution. Whether those circumstances constitute mitigation — or simply explanation — is now for the jury to decide. Prosecutors, according to trial coverage, are pressing hard for the death penalty.
Horner apparently sent the Strand family an apologetic letter. Jacob Strand was asked on the stand whether he believed it. “Not at all,” he said. No elaboration needed.
A Civil Case, Too
The criminal trial isn’t the only legal front. Strand has also filed a lawsuit in Wise County District Court against Horner and against FedEx Ground — the contractor that employed him — seeking more than $1 million in damages. The suit raises a broader and uncomfortable question about corporate accountability: who vets the people carrying packages to American front doors? The filing suggests Strand believes the answer, in this case, was not enough people.
What Remains
A horse trough. A cowgirl dress. A little girl who ran back for one more hug. Whatever sentence a jury ultimately hands down, none of it returns what was taken on a Wednesday afternoon in November 2022 in a small Texas town most people had never heard of — and now can’t forget.
As Maitlyn Gandy put it simply: everyone who ever met Athena loved her. Everyone, it seems, except the one person who should never have been anywhere near her.
