Prosecutors in the murder trial of Tanner Horner showed new video Thursday from inside Horner’s FedEx delivery truck that shows him driving by Athena Strand’s home the day after she was murdered.
The video, which shows views from both inside and outside, was captured on surveillance cameras installed in the truck on the afternoon of Dec. 1, 2022.
Horner can be seen driving along a residential country road making deliveries. The road is lined with vehicles on both sides as a massive search operation was underway for the 7-year-old Strand, who at that point had been missing for less than 24 hours.
At one point, the video shows Horner becoming frustrated that a vehicle was blocking the road, forcing him to stop. He honked his horn a few times, then crawled forward, complaining, “I can’t get through, there’s people in the way.”
Horner then rolls down his window and shouts to some people standing nearby to ask the vehicle to move so he can continue on his delivery route. A woman then approaches his window and he tells her he has packages to deliver.
“Um, you can pull up and try to ask them to get through, but there’s been a kidnapping, so it’s all blocked off. So you’ll have to just pull up and ask them if they’ll let you through, but a 7-year-old was taken,” the woman said.
“Are you serious?” Horner replied.
“That’s what all this is for,” the woman said.
“Are you serious?” Horner asked again.
By that point, the vehicle that was blocking the road had moved, and law enforcement allowed Horner to drive past.
The murder of Athena Strand
On Nov. 30, 2022, Horner was working as a delivery driver for a FedEx contractor when he went to the girl’s Wise County home to deliver a package that contained a Christmas gift. He claims he accidentally struck Strand with his truck while backing out of the driveway. She was not seriously injured, but Horner said he panicked, placed her into his van and strangled her out of fear that she would tell her father what had happened.
Two days later, authorities found Strand’s body about 9 miles away from her home, southeast of Boyd.
Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Strand’s death last week, just moments before the trial was to begin. Despite his guilty plea, Horner still faces the death penalty, which prosecutors are pursuing.
Prosecutors showed the video to jurors shortly after Strand’s father, Jacob Strand, testified. Later Thursday, the jury saw video of what happened inside the truck when Horner strangled and killed Athena Strand; the judge did not allow that video to be seen outside of the courtroom. The prosecution also rested its case.
