Prosecutors in Wise County will seek the death penalty for Tanner Horner, the 31-year-old former FedEx delivery driver accused of killing 7-year-old Athena Strand after a minor accident last year.
Strand, a first grader from Paradise, Texas, was reported missing on Nov. 30, 2022. Her body was found two days later, only after detectives identified Horner as a suspect and after he confessed that he accidentally hit the girl with his FedEx delivery truck.
Horner told police he panicked when she said she was going to tell her dad about the collision and that he killed the girl with his bare hands. Horner eventually told police where he left the girl's body.
Last week a Wise County grand jury indicted Horner on two counts of aggravated kidnapping and of capital murder of a person under 10.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
A capital murder charge in Texas is punishable by either life in prison without parole or the death penalty. On Friday, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty and sent a copy of that document to Horner's attorney, Bill Ray.
Horner is also named in a civil lawsuit filed by the girl's parents that alleges that FedEx Ground and Big TopSpin were negligent in investigating his background during the hiring process as well as in training and supervising him after he'd been hired. The girl's family is seeking at least $1 million in damages.
Horner, it was later learned, on the day of the murder delivered a six-pack of "You Can Be Anything" Barbie dolls that were meant to be a Christmas present for Athena.
Horner remains in the Wise County Jail on six bonds totaling $1,560,000. He is also being held on four charges of sexual assault of a child dating back to 2013 that are unrelated to the Strand case.
