FedEx driver accused of kidnapping, murdering 7-year-old Athena Strand in North Texas

The body of 7-year-old Athena Strand was found near Boyd on Friday evening, and a FedEx contract driver has been arrested and accused of kidnapping and killing her, authorities said.

The suspect, Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, is from Fort Worth, according to public records. He’s in the Wise County Jail and faces charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. Authorities said he has confessed to the crime and told them where Athena’s body was. His bond is set at $1.5 million.

Horner was making a delivery at the gate outside Athena’s house at the time she disappeared Wednesday, and law enforcement received a tip which led authorities to investigate him, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said. FedEx has been cooperating with the investigation, which includes the FBI and Texas Rangers.

Akin described it as “a crime of opportunity.” Although Athena’s cause of death hasn’t been determined, “we do believe she died by his hand,” Akin said in an exclusive interview Saturday with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It does not appear that the child was hit by the FedEx truck, he said.

Complete autopsy results could take a couple of weeks, the sheriff said. Investigators believe Athena died within about an hour of her abduction.

How you can help Athena Strand’s family through donations, candlelight vigil

Athena had been missing for about 48 hours when her body was found along the water’s edge of the Trinity River near Boyd on Friday evening.

Horner is expected to be charged by the state of Texas with capital murder of a person under 10 years old and aggravated kidnapping. He isn’t expected to face federal charges, though the FBI provided valuable assistance to the investigation, Akin said.

Investigators have spoken to prosecutors about seeking the death penalty, the sheriff said

“It hurts our hearts to know that that child died, so much so that she is on her way now to the medical examiner’s office and there is a Texas Ranger in front of her and a Texas Ranger behind her,” the sheriff said, getting emotional at times during a news conference shortly after 10 p.m. Friday.

The sheriff said investigators don’t believe that Horner knew Athena or her family. They think he abducted her near the gate at the end of the driveway, about 200 yards from the house.

“I spent quite a bit of time with the family,” Akin said. “They want you to know that … they appreciated the fact that we care so much. They’re devastated. They’re angry because of what happened — a precious child taken from their lives.”

Horner’s social media accounts say he has been an Uber driver, is a musician and graduated from Azle High School. He does not appear to have a criminal record in Tarrant and Wise counties.

Uber said Saturday that Horner has not driven on the app in months and that he has been banned from the platform.

FedEx Ground drivers are subject to criminal history background checks during the application process, the company said Saturday. FedEx Ground is one of many independent operating companies in the FedEx Corp., which includes FedEx Express, FedEx Freight and FedEx Office.

“FedEx Ground contracts with independent businesses that provide package pickup and delivery services using their own employees, vehicles and equipment,” FedEx Ground said in a statement. “The employees of these service provider companies are subject to criminal history background checks as part of the driver eligibility process.”

Who is Tanner Horner, suspect in kidnapping, murder of Texas 7-year-old Athena Strand?

Athena’s disappearance has rocked this rural community 40 miles northwest of Fort Worth. Hundreds of volunteers had assisted with the search over the past two days, and the case has attracted national attention.

Earlier Friday, during an afternoon news conference, the sheriff said authorities had scaled back the search for the child and were focusing more on the investigation. The sheriff remained hopeful that Athena would be found, but the tone of the update sounded grim.

Late in the day, a large number of law enforcement appeared to zero in on County Road 4599 between Boyd and Cottondale, less than 10 miles from Athena’s home on County Road 3573. Officers appeared to be searching in a ditch but authorities cleared the scene and left about 7 p.m. without saying whether they had found anything, WFAA reported.

Athena’s body was found a few miles from that site, the sheriff said. He said that Horner mentioned more than one location during his interview with investigators, and law enforcement searched those sites.

At the press conference at 2 p.m. Friday, Akin said, “Hopefully, we can find Athena and bring her home alive and well, but it’s all about the possibilities and we have to look at everything.”

A thorough search of a five-mile radius on Wednesday and Thursday found no trace of the missing child. The sheriff said earlier Friday that the investigation had not yet turned up evidence of foul play or an abduction.

The girl’s stepmother reported Athena missing to the Wise County Sheriff’s Office at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, after the family had been looking for her for about an hour, Akin said.

Akin said that Athena’s stepmother and father have been cooperative with the investigation, as has her mother, who lives in Oklahoma.

Akin said at Friday’s news conference that Athena arrived home as usual on the school bus about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday. The stepmother told investigators that she and the child “had a little bit of an argument,” which was not unusual and that the girl walked away, the sheriff said.

“Athena got upset and she walked away, as she has done in the past” but her stepmother said that she “expected she would come back,” Akin said.

But Athena’s stepmother told the sheriff’s office that after she fixed dinner, she went to her stepdaughter’s room and she wasn’t there.

The stepmother was the only adult at the house when the girl disappeared, according to the sheriff’s office. Her father was driving to south Texas to go deer hunting and was somewhere south of Fort Worth when his wife called him to say Athena was gone, Akin said.

Deputies and other first responders arrived at the rural property about 14 minutes after the 911 call and conducted an initial search inside and under the house and all over the six acres owned by the family, the sheriff’s office said.

They searched until 4:30 Thursday morning and then returned at 7 a.m. for an expanded search, Akin said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an Amber Alert for Athena on Thursday afternoon, describing her as endangered. The Amber Alert said “law enforcement believes the child’s safety and health are in danger.”

Authorities searched both outdoors and inside all buildings in the immediate area. Athena “wasn’t dressed real warmly,” Akin said Friday afternoon. “... The longer it goes, the more concern we have.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and other area police and fire departments assisted in the search and investigation. Hundreds of volunteers from the community were involved Thursday “walking shoulder to shoulder through the brush” in coordinated patterns, Akin said.

Authorities said volunteers were not needed Friday and that they should not continue to show up unless they were requested by the county’s emergency management office.

The searchers used helicopters with thermal-imaging cameras, drones, horses, dogs and ATVs.

“From the very beginning, it was a search accompanied by an investigation,” Akin said Friday afternoon. “It’s now transitioning to an investigation accompanied by a search.”

After the tragic conclusion of that search, Akin said, “We’re just sad it didn’t end the way that we hoped that it would end.”

“It’s one of the toughest investigations I’ve been involved in because it’s a child,” the sheriff said. “Any time there’s a child that dies, it just hits you in your heart. You compare that child to your own children when they were that age and it just takes the wind out your sails, but at the same time it gives you purpose” to solve the case.