Jurors in the punishment phase of Tanner Horner’s capital murder trial heard chilling details Wednesday about how the former delivery driver repeatedly invoked an alter ego he called “Zero” while investigators tried to find 7-year-old Athena Strand’s body.
Texas Ranger Sgt. Job Espinoza, the lead investigator in the search for the girl, testified that Horner first mentioned his alter ego during interviews and referred to it multiple times. Espinoza said Horner told investigators he and his wife had discussed “Zero” in the past and that he had made it up. At one point, while investigators stepped out of the room, Horner wrote “Zero” on a whiteboard.
Espinoza said investigators began addressing “Zero” directly as a tactic to obtain information and locate Athena.
“His demeanor, physical demeanor changes,” Espinoza said on the stand, CBS News Texas reported. “His head goes into a sideways motion. His eyes roll into the back of the head, and he pretends to turn it to ‘Zero.’”
In one jail interview played for the jury, Horner claimed he accidentally hit Athena with his delivery truck, panicked about losing his job, and “listened to a little voice” before grabbing her and driving away. He described the girl as “a sweet kid,” said he drove around trying to decide what to do, then went down a private road and again “listened to that little voice.”
Espinoza said Horner became visibly emotional and fidgety, telling investigators, “It’s not okay.” When asked to describe what happened on the private road, Horner said he told Athena to turn around and then tried to kill her.
He described the moment as feeling like a “dream” or out-of-body experience and said he had felt that way “his entire life,” like being in the back seat. He also commented that he liked Athena’s name because of an interest in mythology.
Espinoza told jurors that Horner “showed little understanding of the seriousness of the situation, lacked a clear grasp of the gravity of what had happened,” CBS reported.
Horner continued referencing “Zero,” saying, “If I say too much, Zero is going to hurt me.”
He asked investigators, “How can you stop me from hurting me?” and added, “Zero is telling me this is all a trap.”
Body camera video shown to the jury captured Espinoza asking to speak to “Zero” again. Speaking as the alter ego, Horner said he took over in a bamboo forest because “Tanner couldn’t handle his reality,” Fox 4 KDFW reported.
“What was his reality?” the investigator asked.
“The fact that he let a child die,” Horner answered.
When Espinoza asked if he had sexually assaulted the girl, Horner replied, “No.”
Asked if he killed her, Horner said, “Tanner wouldn’t do it.”
Horner eventually directed investigators to Bobo’s Crossing on the Trinity River, where Athena’s nude body was found.
Earlier, he had repeatedly claimed he left her in a bamboo area near a road and had lied about other details, including telling investigators she was already dead when he put her in the truck. Espinoza said dash camera video from the truck showed Athena alive inside, so “I immediately knew that was a lie.”
In the interrogation, Horner at one point said simply, “I killed her.”
He also asked investigators, “Can ya’ll just shoot me in my head?”
Espinoza described Horner as offering “just a lot of blaming everybody else and no accountability,” citing long work hours, lack of a backup camera, and other circumstances in his life.
Horner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Athena’s death on November 30, 2022. Wise County District Attorney James Stainton is seeking the death penalty. The jury must decide whether Horner receives death or life in prison without parole.
Testimony resumed Thursday morning.
