The women hadn’t spoken publicly about what happened to them more than a decade ago. On Monday, they did — and the courtroom heard why they’d waited so long.
Day six of the sentencing phase trial for Tanner Horner, the former FedEx driver who pleaded guilty to the capital murder and aggravated kidnapping of 7-year-old Athena Strand, brought some of the most emotionally raw testimony yet. Two women took the stand to allege that Horner sexually assaulted them as minors in 2013 and earlier — accusations that prosecutors are using to argue he represents a continuing danger to society. Jurors are now weighing a single, irreversible question: death, or life without parole.
Guilt, Shame, and a Decade of Silence
“I felt guilt about not coming forward, shame for not coming forward sooner,” one of the women testified. “I felt pain reliving those moments over and over and over again.” It’s the kind of statement that doesn’t need embellishment. It lands on its own.
The trial’s backdrop, for those just catching up: Horner was delivering a package to Athena’s Wise County, Texas home on November 30, 2022, when investigators say he abducted and killed her. He confessed. He pleaded guilty. There’s no dispute about what happened. The only thing left to decide is what happens to him.
That distinction matters. This isn’t a whodunit. It’s something harder — a jury being asked to weigh the full moral weight of a man’s life and crimes simultaneously.
What His Phone Said He Was Looking For
Digital forensic examiner Scott Morris testified that in the hours and days after the abduction — December 1 and 2, 2022 — Horner was searching for things like “Paradise missing girl,” Athena Strand photos and news posters, and, perhaps most tellingly, “Do FedEx truck cameras constantly record?” He also searched the phrase “My fiance’s family makes me out to be a demon.” A man trying to understand what was coming for him, it seems, while also trying to manage how he’d be perceived.
Forensic analyst Jacqueline Ferrara added another grim layer. Athena’s sexual assault kit returned positive results for male DNA. Horner’s clothing carried blood and other biological evidence. Samples were submitted to the Texas Department of Public Safety lab in early 2023 and confirmed the findings.
‘Zero’ and a Request for One Last Christmas
Earlier in the trial, jurors heard something that’s hard to categorize — even by the standards of a capital murder case. Horner, during interrogation, described an alter ego he called “Zero”, a self-described “little devil on my shoulder” to whom he attributed his actions. “I didn’t do this,” he reportedly said, “but he did.” Whether that reads as a sincere psychological unraveling or a calculated deflection probably depends on who’s listening. His defense team, for their part, has leaned into his diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder as a mitigating factor — arguing it reduces his moral blameworthiness and that executing him would be a grave mistake.
Still, it’s hard to square that argument with what else emerged from those interrogation tapes. Horner asked investigators to release him from jail for one month so he could spend Christmas with his family, promising to “tell everything” if they agreed. One last Christmas with his son, he said. Repeatedly. He had attempted suicide in jail in May 2023, according to testimony from earlier in the week.
What the Jury Must Now Decide
Here’s the core tension the defense can’t escape: the same trial meant to humanize Horner has, day by day, also revealed a pattern. Alleged assaults on minors a decade ago. A child abducted and killed. Searches designed to monitor an investigation he was at the center of. An alter ego. A bargain for freedom. That’s not a portrait of an isolated moment of catastrophic failure — and prosecutors are betting jurors see it the same way.
The sentencing phase is expected to continue into a second week, with both sides still presenting witnesses. Whatever the jury ultimately decides, the women who testified Monday made one thing clear: the damage Horner is accused of leaving behind didn’t begin with Athena Strand — and it didn’t end with her, either.
