“If you give me a month with my family so I can have Christmas with my son, I’ll give you everything.”
Those were the words of Tanner Horner, captured in a recorded interview played for a silent courtroom this week. The footage, dated December 7, 2022, offers a harrowing glimpse into the mindset of the former FedEx driver shortly after his arrest for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand.
Requesting the meeting from behind bars at the Wise County Jail, Horner attempted to strike a bargain with lead investigator Job Espinoza. According to reports from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Horner’s primary motivation was a final window of liberty.
“There’s only one thing in this world that I want… I want a month,” Horner told investigators. He promised that in exchange for thirty days at home, he would surrender his legal rights entirely. “I would give up everything,” he said. “I would say throw me in a jail cell forever. I don’t care. I would give up all my defenses, plead no contest, tell you everything.”
A Delivery Turned Deadly
The trial has revisited the grim details of late 2022, when Athena Strand disappeared from her family’s property on November 30. Horner was at the residence that day to deliver a box of Barbie dolls. Instead of leaving the package, he took the child. Her body was recovered two days later—just weeks before the holiday Horner would later beg to celebrate with his own son.
The prosecution’s evidence has been nothing short of haunting. Jurors were presented with surveillance footage from inside Horner’s delivery van. In the recording, Athena can be heard asking her captor a devastatingly direct question: “Are you a kidnapper?”
While Horner eventually covered the internal camera, the audio continued to roll. The court heard Horner asking the young girl about her age and her school before telling her, “You’re really pretty, you know that?”
Details of the Assault
The evidence took an even darker turn as the van stopped. Horner was heard ordering the 7-year-old to remove her shirt; Athena’s voice was clear as she refused, crying out for her mother. What followed, according to the Star-Telegram and NBC DFW, were the sounds of a violent struggle—banging, choking, and the child’s screams.
As Horner beat and strangled the girl in the back of the vehicle, the van’s radio continued to play. Previous reporting indicated that Horner could be heard singing along to the holiday classic “Jingle Bell Rock” while the life was being taken from the 7-year-old.
The medical examiner confirmed that Athena’s death was the result of blunt force trauma, smothering, and strangulation.
The Defense of ‘Zero’
Despite his initial offers to confess “everything,” Horner also attempted to distance himself from the physical act of the murder during his interviews. He claimed an alternate persona he named “Zero” was the one responsible.
“I was in the back seat watching everything happen, and I’m kind of freaking out,” Horner claimed, according to NBC DFW. “I wouldn’t have the heart to do that.”
The Sentencing Phase
On April 7, Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. The proceedings have now moved into the sentencing phase, where the emotional toll of the evidence has been visible. Several jurors reportedly wept as the audio of Athena’s final moments was played. Her parents had opted to leave the courtroom before the recordings began.
The jury is now tasked with a singular, gravity-weighted decision: whether Tanner Horner will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, or if he will face the death penalty.