Tanner Lynn Horner gets death penalty after killing child during FedEx delivery route

A Texas jury has sentenced former FedEx driver Tanner Lynn Horner to death for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand in a case that shocked the United States.

Horner pled guilty on April 7 to killing Athena in 2022 after delivering what prosecutors said was meant to be her Christmas present.

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The case then moved into the penalty phase, where prosecutors argued for the death sentence.

According to prosecutors, Horner abducted Athena from her home in Paradise, Texas, while working as a delivery driver for FedEx.

Prosecuting attorney James Stainton told jurors that Horner covered the camera inside his delivery truck before attacking the child and later lied repeatedly to investigators.

In closing arguments, Stainton described the crime as among the “worst of the worst”.

Defence lawyers argued Horner should receive a life sentence, citing his difficult childhood, autism diagnosis and exposure to toxic lead levels as mitigating factors.

Jurors rejected those arguments after around four hours of deliberation.

Following the sentencing, Athena’s uncle addressed Horner directly in court.

"He’s robbed us of safety, peace and our trust in the world and forever change who we are as a family," he said.

"You did not just take a life, you destroyed a family. You took a little girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence,” he added.

Texas law requires automatic review of all death penalty cases by the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals.