Jurors Left Sobbing as Heartbreaking Video and Audio Evidence of Athena Strand, 7, Screaming While Being Murdered by FedEx Killer Tanner Horner is Played in Court
Video and audio of Tanner Horner killing Athena Strand
April 17 2026, Published 4:45 p.m. ET
Jurors charged with deciding the fate of child killer Tanner Horner began sobbing as they heard audio from scared 7-year-old Athena Strand's frightening final moments of life, RadarOnline.com can report.
Horner has confessed to kidnapping the little girl in his FedEx truck, before killing her and dumping her naked body in a nearby river.
Intense Emotions as Disturbing Audio Plays in Court
The former FedEx driver snatched the 7-year-old girl in his truck and strangled her.
In the most emotional day of the trial so far, jurors listened to graphic audio of Horner capturing and strangling the child inside his delivery van.
Before the recording was played, Judge George Gallagher warned the courtroom that "If you think you cannot watch it or listen to it, leave now." Athena's parents chose to leave the courtroom before the video was played.
On the video, Athena could be heard asking about items in the truck, saying, "Where are you taking me?" and asking him flatly, "Are you a kidnapper?"
Jurors openly sobbed as the graphic audio was played.
The little girl talked to her captor about her school and her teacher before Horner stopped the van and covered its security camera. However, the audio could still be heard.
At one point, Horner told the child, "You're really pretty, you know that?" Later, he ordered her to "undress," while the frightened girl asked for her mother.
Throughout the video, court attendees openly sobbed and reached for tissues, with many shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
Tanner Horner's Flimsy Excuse
Horner claimed he killed the girl after hitting her with his truck.
Horner was working as a contract driver for FedEx when he delivered a Christmas gift of Barbies to Athena's home on Nov. 30, 2022.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Horner confessed to the crime but tried to convince authorities that he accidentally backed into the young girl with his FedEx truck.
He further told investigators the child wasn’t seriously hurt, but he kidnapped her and strangled her inside the truck so she couldn’t tell her father about the accident.
However, the camera inside his truck told a different story, and a video shared with jurors showed the girl very much alive, quivering in fear behind the driver.
Life or Death Decision
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Prosecutors warned court members about what they were about to hear.
Horner's surprise guilty plea the day the trial was scheduled to begin spared a formal trial and allowed the court to move right into the sentencing phase. However, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton decided to still play the audio of the murder, calling it necessary to hear during the "punishment phase," as jurors decide if Horner will spend the rest of his life in prison or be sentenced to death.
"You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child," Stainton warned. "And when I say it's horrible, I mean it. I've been doing this 25 years, and I promise you, buckle up."
Stainton warned the jury, "I'm going to put you as close as you can be without actually being there that day. We have video of it, and we're going to show it."
The prosecutor said jurors would hear that Athena "fought with the strength of 100 men."
"One thing that you can't unhear is the level of fight in a 7-year-old girl when she’s facing certain death," he said, adding that Horner tried to kill the child "over and over again."
