Tanner Horner pleaded guilty Tuesday to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the 2022 killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand, abruptly ending the guilt phase of the case and sending it directly to sentencing. Jurors will now decide whether Horner should be sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole.
The plea came as Horner’s capital murder trial was set to begin in Tarrant County. The case had been moved from Wise County to Fort Worth. After the guilty plea, prosecutors and defense attorneys began presenting punishment-phase evidence to the jury.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Horner was indicted in February 2023 on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Athena’s death.
Athena disappeared from her family’s property in Paradise on November 30, 2022. Authorities later connected Horner, then a FedEx contract driver, to a package delivery made to the home that day. Her body was found two days later several miles away.
The underlying facts remain disturbing, but some details have been contested in court. Earlier accounts, including the arrest-affidavit narrative, said Horner told investigators he accidentally struck Athena with his vehicle, panicked, abducted her, and strangled her because he feared she would tell her father. But prosecutors said Tuesday that Horner’s claim that he hit Athena was false and argued the evidence showed she was unharmed when he forced her into the van.
CBS Texas reported that after Horner entered his plea, the case immediately shifted into the sentencing phase. Prosecutors told jurors they would see and hear graphic evidence and argued Horner’s actions were deliberate. Defense attorneys urged the jury to spare his life, citing autism, mental illness, and a troubled upbringing.
Among the first witnesses Tuesday were Athena’s former teacher, her stepmother, former Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin, and an FBI agent involved in the investigation. Their testimony focused on Athena’s life, the search for her after she disappeared, and the evidence trail that led investigators to Horner.
The case is expected to continue Wednesday as jurors weigh whether Horner should receive the death penalty.