Athena Strand’s killing isn’t first case of FedEx drivers accused of violent crimes
Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said Saturday that it was a “crime of opportunity” when 7-year-old Athena Strand was kidnapped and killed this week.
FedEx driver Tanner Horner was making a delivery to Athena’s home Wednesday when he committed the crime, Akin said.
A FedEx spokeswoman said “words cannot describe our shock and sorrow at the reports surrounding this tragic event,” and “we continue to cooperate fully with the investigating authorities.”
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This is not the first time a FedEx driver has been accused of violent crimes.
Last year, a FedEx deliveryman in New York was accused of rape and sexual abuse involving several teenagers he allegedly scouted while driving his route in Dutchess County.
Joshua Ginyard, 30, of Millbrook was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of criminal sexual act and forcible touching, WABC reported He was accused of picking up the girls in his delivery truck, giving them marijuana and assaulting them.
FedEx said in a statement to WABC: “FedEx Ground is appalled by these disturbing reports and will cooperate fully with law enforcement during their investigation. The individual arrested no longer provides service on behalf of FedEx Ground.”
More recently in August, a FedEx driver in Upstate New York was charged with murder and arson in the death of an elderly woman whose body was discovered after a house fire.
New York State Police said 24-year-old Anthony Dotson of Yorkville drove a route that was in the area of the woman’s home. Sara E. Stinnett, 74, died in the fire in May.
In March, a FedEx driver in Connecticut was accused of breaking into a woman’s home in Bridgeport and holding her and her children at bay. Warrants said Tyrek Herbert, 20, had approached the woman while she was taking a walk and introduced himself as a FedEx driver with some general questions about the neighborhood, reported the Connecticut Post.
The next morning, the woman was making breakfast when Herbert knocked at the door, pointed a gun at her and forced his way inside, authorities said. Herbert ordered the woman to get on the floor in front of her children. She screamed in Spanish for her children to run to a neighbor’s house, and they ran from the room, the Post reported.
Herbert began shaking his head and hugging the victim, telling her, “Ma’am I’m so sorry, I got the wrong person,” before leaving, the Post reported.
Weeks later, Herbert forced his way into a college student’s home and raped her, prosecutors said, calling him a “danger to society.”
A FedEx spokesman said about that case: “FedEx Ground is appalled by these disturbing reports and will cooperate fully with law enforcement during their investigation.”
Nearly a year ago, a FedEx delivery driver in western North Carolina was charged with breaking into at least 11 homes before he was captured on video surveillance.
WSPA reported that Macon County sheriff’s deputies got a break in the case in December 2021 when a homeowner reported the video, showing Gregory Thomas Bufkin in the home for a brief time before seeing the camera and running away.
Investigators found several pieces of jewelry and two guns, some of which were in Bufkin’s FedEx vehicle.
FedEx told WSPA it was “appalled.”
