FedEx driver pleads guilty to killing Athena Strand

Tanner Horner, the former FedEx driver who pleaded guilty to the capital murder and aggravated kidnapping of seven-year-old Athena Strand, requested "a month" at home to spend Christmas with his son in exchange for a full confession.

This detail emerged from a recorded interview shown to jurors on Monday, 27 April, during the sentencing phase of his trial. The interview was conducted on 7 December 2022, just days after the young girl’s body was recovered.

Horner told investigators, "If you give me a month with my family so I can have Christmas with my son, I’ll give you everything."

The court previously heard harrowing evidence regarding the events of 30 November 2022, when Strand was kidnapped while Horner was delivering Barbie dolls to her home.

Surveillance footage from inside the delivery truck captured the child asking, "Are you a kidnapper?" before Horner covered the camera. Jurors were subjected to distressing audio recordings of the assault, during which Horner reportedly sang along to "Jingle Bell Rock" while strangling the victim.

Horner later attempted to attribute the violence to an alternate persona he named "Zero," claiming he was merely "watching everything happen."

Horner entered his guilty plea on 7 April 2026, leaving the jury to decide between a sentence of death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Medical examiners confirmed that the cause of death was a combination of blunt force trauma, smothering, and strangulation.

The prosecution continues to present evidence of the defendant's lack of remorse following the discovery of the body.

Horner’s defence team is expected to provide mitigating evidence later this week before final deliberations begin.