Tanner Horner Sentenced to Death for the Murder of 7-Year-Old Athena Strand

On May 5, 2026, a jury in Tarrant County said Tanner Horner should get the death penalty. He kidnapped and murdered Athena Strand. She was 7 years old and lived in Wise County, Texas. She went missing in late November 2022. Everyone in the DFW area looked for her. It was a very sad time.

Case Summary

• Defendant: Tanner Horner
• Victim: Athena Strand, age 7
• Crime Date: November 30, 2022
• Verdict: Death Penalty — May 5, 2026
• Venue: Tarrant County, Fort Worth
• Plea: Guilty (April 2026)

Background: What Happened to Athena Strand

It was November 30, 2022. It was just a normal night at the Strand home in Wise County, near Fort Worth. A FedEx driver named Tanner Horner was 31 years old. He came to the house with a box. It had Barbie dolls and Christmas gifts for Athena.

Horner was backing his van out of the driveway. He hit Athena. The lawyers said he did not report the accident or call for help. He made a choice. He decided to kidnap the girl. She was strangled. Her body was found two days later on December 2, 2022. A lot of police and people from all over searched for her. It was a hard time for the whole country.

Athena Strand was 7 years old.

"No one is going to remember you after this."

— Athena's uncle, reading the family impact statement after the verdict

The Guilty Plea and Sentencing Phase

It took more than three years. In April 2026, Tanner Horner said he was guilty of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. Because he said he was guilty, there was no trial about if he did it. The court went straight to picking his punishment. The jury had to choose between life in prison or death.

The trial moved from Wise County to Tarrant County's Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth. People thought he would not get a fair trial where Athena lived because everyone was so sad.

• 2022: Crime committed — November 30
• April 2026: Guilty plea entered
• May 5, 2026: Death sentence handed down

Key Evidence: Audio from the Delivery Van

The most important proof was from inside Horner's FedEx van. Someone covered the camera, but the sound was still recording. It recorded for over an hour after Athena was hit.

They played the tape in court. It showed what happened inside the van. It helped the lawyers show the timeline and what Horner was thinking.

Prosecution: Additional Allegations

The lawyers said he also did a sexual assault. They had a cousin of Horner talk to the jury. The cousin said Horner sexually assaulted him when he was about 10 years old.

The lawyers wanted to show the jury that Horner was a danger to people. In Texas, juries have to answer two questions in death penalty cases to decide if someone should be spared.

Defense: Mitigating Factors

Horner's lawyers did not say he did not do it. They wanted the jury to think about his life when deciding the punishment.

The lawyers said Horner was on the autism spectrum and had a traumatic childhood. They said this did not make it okay, but they said the jury should think about it instead of giving him the death penalty. They wanted him to go to prison for life with no chance of parole.

The jury did not agree.

The Verdict: Death

On May 5, 2026, the jury said Tanner Horner would be sentenced to death.

After they read the verdict, Athena's uncle talked to Horner. He said something very serious to show how much the family was hurting:

"No one is going to remember you after this."

The judge talked to Horner too. The judge told him that one day he would face God's judgment for what he did.

A Community's Long Grief

For the DFW area, and for people in Wise County, Rockwall County, and North Texas, this has been very hard for more than three years. When they looked for Athena in December 2022, many people helped. You saw her face on the news and on social media everywhere.

The verdict does not take away the pain. It does not bring back a 7-year-old girl who had her whole life to live. But for the people who watched this and knew the Strand family, it is the most serious thing the law can do for something so wrong.

This article is a factual news report covering the sentencing verdict in the Tanner Horner capital murder case. Rockwall Connect extends its deepest sympathies to the Strand family and all those touched by this tragedy.