‘Buckle up.' FedEx driver pleads guilty to Athena Strand's murder, DA warns of gruesome trial

Tanner Horner is charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of the Wise County 7-year-old. He faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted.

Click here to see the coverage from the trial on Wednesday.

What to Know

• The trial will be livestreamed and live blogged in this article. The judge has warned that the trial will include graphic testimony and video. NBC 5 has decided to cut away from particularly graphic parts of the testimony. We will return to the trial as soon as we are able. Viewer discretion is advised.
• Defendant Tanner Horner pled guilty Tuesday morning. Judge George Gallagher said even with guilt decided, the trial will continue so that the jury can decide his sentence of death or life in prison.

The capital murder trial is underway for Tanner Horner, a former FedEx delivery driver who pleaded guilty Tuesday in the death of 7-year-old Athena Strand. In 2022, Horner told investigators he panicked and strangled the girl after she threatened to tell her father he hit her with his delivery vehicle.

Horner is charged with capital murder of a person under the age of 10 and aggravated kidnapping.

Horner told presiding Judge George Gallagher on Tuesday morning that he intended to plead guilty at the start of the trial. The jury heard Horner's official plea at approximately 9:30 a.m. According to Gallagher, the trial will continue as normal; however, the guilt-innocence phase will be skipped, and the jury will decide Horner's sentence. A conviction of capital murder in Texas carries an automatic sentence of either life in prison without parole or death.

While the crime occurred in Wise County, the case is being heard in Tarrant County over concerns that Horner would not receive a fair trial in the county in which the girl lived.

After facing delays in 2025 due to jury selection, the capital murder trial for Horner began Tuesday at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in downtown Fort Worth.

Horner pleaded not guilty during an arraignment hearing in March 2023, after he confessed to police he'd killed the girl. According to an arrest document, Horner told police he hit her with his delivery vehicle accidentally, panicked, put her in his van, and eventually strangled her in November 2022.

Strand was reported missing by her parents, and her body was found two days later, not far from the family home. The package Horner delivered to the family was one of her Christmas presents.

Public defenders representing Horner have filed numerous motions in his defense. Most recently, a motion to remove eligibility for the death penalty was made, saying Horner is on the autism spectrum.