Athena Strand murder suspect Tanner Horner faces sex assault charges in Tarrant County

Tanner Horner has been charged with three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 in Tarrant County, according to court records.

Horner, the FedEx contract driver who was arrested Dec. 2 on charges of murder and kidnapping in the death of 7-year-old Athena Strand, is in the Wise County Jail with a $1 million bond for capital murder and a $500,000 bond for aggravated kidnapping.

The three new charges are out of Tarrant County and are not related to Athena’s case, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin confirmed to the Wise County Messenger.

The sexual assault charges were filed Wednesday after an investigation by the Fort Worth Police Department.

From court records it appears the charges are related to three separate incidents which all occurred in 2013 in Tarrant County. It’s not clear if all three charges involve the same victim.

Horner’s first court appearance related to these charges is set for Jan. 5, 2023.

A woman posted on Facebook immediately after Horner’s Dec. 2 arrest that he had sexually assaulted her about eight years ago, when she was 16 years old, and that she had reached out to investigators to tell her story. It’s unclear if she is the victim involved in the new charges.

Horner is accused of murdering Athena Strand after making a delivery at her father’s rural home in Paradise on Nov. 30.

According to the arrest warrant and supporting affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram on Dec. 8, Horner told investigators he accidentally backed into the 7-year-old with his delivery van. According to Horner, Athena was not seriously hurt, but he grabbed her and put her in the van because he thought she would tell her father about the incident.

Authorities believe Horner killed Athena within an hour of her abduction. He told investigators he strangled her and left her body in the water by the edge of the Trinity River near Boyd, where it was recovered Dec. 2.

Akin told the Star-Telegram that investigators have talked to the district attorney’s office about seeking the death penalty for Horner in the Athena Strand case. Autopsy results are still pending.

Horner, 31, is from Fort Worth, and he doesn’t appear to have a prior criminal record in Wise or Tarrant counties.