Jurors listened for hours to the disturbing audio from inside the FedEx van where the driver, Tanner Horner, strangled 7-year-old Athena Strand. He can be heard singing along to the Christmas classic, “Jingle Bell Rock,” as he murders the innocent little girl.
Disturbing Footage From Murder
Strand is heard in the bone-chilling audio screaming in pain after the grown 34-year-old man slammed her against the truck floor, and continues to moan in discomfort after. “Shut up,” Horner tells her. “If you don’t shut up, I will hurt you worse.”
Strand’s parents left the courtroom before the video was played, as they could not bear to hear their little girl fighting for her life at the hands of a man sitting right in front of them. The media was also instructed to turn off their cameras as the sensitive evidence was played.
WFAA reporters who were present inside the courtroom described the footage as pure “torture” and said that the jurors were either sobbing or glaring at the defendant.
30 minutes into the recording, it only became worse for those in the Fort Worth, Texas, courtroom. Jurors openly wept as they watched the beginning moments of Athena’s abduction from her rural home. The audio revealed that she was being choked, and an indistinct banging could be heard in the truck.
The terrified little girl asked Horner, “Where are you taking me?” before he covered the van’s camera lens. She asked him if he was a kidnapper and if she could see her mother.
Murder of Athena Strand
Horner pleaded guilty on April 7, 2026, to the kidnapping and murder of Athena Strand on November 30, 2022. He was delivering the little girl and her sister’s Christmas presents to their door when he stumbled upon her in the driveway.
He admitted to strangling Strand and dumping her naked body near a body of water. It was not found until days after she vanished from her Paradise home. In a phone call to his mother from jail that was presented in court, he said he did not do anything “weird” to Strand. However, the audio is clear when he tells her to take off her shirt.
A DNA analyst testified last week on behalf of the state, presenting forensic evidence that counters Horner’s “weird” statement. According to forensics expert Jacqueline Ferrara, Male DNA was found in Strand’s private areas, and her sweatshirt also tested positive for semen. Later footage also showed Horner cleaning the delivery truck.
Possible Death Sentence
After eight days of troubling testimony, Horner awaits his fate. The trial has been placed on a brief pause until Wednesday while the court conducts Daubert hearings without the jury present. These hearings are pre-trial proceedings in which a judge acts as a “gatekeeper” to determine if the expert witness’s testimony is admissible in court.
Horner was initially charged with aggravated kidnapping and capital murder of a person under 10 years old, which he pleaded guilty to after the first day of trial. This led to the focus of his trial being on the jury to decide if he should face Capital Punishment or be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Death Row
Texas law requires a unanimous decision from the jury to grant the death penalty. Considering the jurors’ reactions in the courtroom, it could be a quick deliberation. Horner will more than likely face death at the end of his trial on Wednesday.
Nearly 200 people are currently sitting on Texas’s death row, but this is the smallest population of inmates since 1985. However, they still rank lower than other states such as California and Florida, which currently hold the top two spots in the number of inmates set to be executed.
