US FedEx driver says he strangled girl after he hit her with van and panicked, arrest warrant shows
- Suspect Tanner Lynn Horner told investigators Athena Strand, 7, was not seriously hurt in the accident, but he panicked and put her in his vehicle
- The driver was arrested and faces charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping
The FedEx driver accused of abducting and killing a seven-year-old girl last week in Texas told authorities that he strangled her after accidentally hitting her with his van while making a delivery at her home, according to an arrest warrant obtained Thursday.
Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, told investigators that Athena Strand was not seriously hurt after he hit her while backing up, but he panicked and put her in his van. He said she was talking to him and told him her name, according the warrant.
The warrant said Horner took investigators to where he had left Athena’s body.
Athena was found dead on December 2, two days after she was reported missing from the home of her father and stepmother in Paradise, a town of fewer than 500 people about 100km (60 miles) northwest of Dallas.
Horner remained jailed on Thursday on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. His bond is set at on US$1.5 million. Jail records did not list a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin has said that they knew early on that a delivery had been made at the girl’s home at about the same time that she disappeared. Akin has said she was killed about “an hour or so” after being kidnapped.
