Athena Strand, 7 , abducted and killed

[Angiebla]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/us/at...uit/index.html

Family is suing FedEx.

I was waiting for this. If he had no criminal history, they wont get far.

[of_corpse_not]

I was waiting for this. If he had no criminal history, they wont get far.

I feel like this particular case has made people lose their minds. I don?t blame the family for trying to sue, they?re bereaved and hurting and they want someone to pay I get it. But im seeing so many videos and posts from people now saying ?I can?t let the kids talk to the delivery guys anymore? or I saw a video of a little girl crying in front of their front door and the mom was like ?she?s upset I won?t let her fist bump the ups driver anymore? all kinds of shit like this. And I get it to a point we all have to be vigilant and watch who we have our kids around and this has made everyone paranoid but murderers and pedophiles come from all occupations and backgrounds. And if your kid has been interacting with the delivery drivers for a long time with your supervision, I think it?s a bit much to put an end to it. I get not letting them outside alone but lots of kids get thrills watching the garbage men, mail men etc. People are acting like FedEx exclusively hires kid killers. I mean if a cashier murders someone are you gonna quit taking your kid to the store? I feel like we need a #notallfedexdrivers hashtag at this point

[of_corpse_not]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...year-rcna62767

Prosecutors charged a FedEx driver who was arrested this month and accused of killing a 7-year-old girl with sexual assault of a minor, jail records in Texas revealed.

Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, had been booked into custody and charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping, and Wise County jail records now show he also faces three counts of sexual assault on a child.

It is not clear whether the new charges are related to the death of Athena Strand.

[Pidge]

Found this -

From court records it appears the charges are related to three separate incidents which all occurred in 2013 in Tarrant County. It?s not clear if all three charges involve the same victim.

https://www.aol.com/news/athena-stra...223845445.html

[Angiebla]

Found this -


https://www.aol.com/news/athena-stra...223845445.html

If he sexually assaulted a kid(s) in 2013 why was his ass not in jail.

[Boston Babe 73]

If he sexually assaulted a kid(s) in 2013 why was his ass not in jail.

Exactly. Same with rapists that just keep getting away with shit. Men that commit domestic violence too.

It's almost as if they target a certain demographic to be in prison and let the rest get away with shit.

[Angiebla]

The family is suing Fedex, and I dont think they will get far with that, but could they sue the state?

[mdcastle]

Retrospective article a year later. A few more pictures and a report that some kerfluffle with Horner's court appointed attorneys has delayed a trial into at least mid 2024.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/cr...5-c9a28eb5e620

[Boston Babe 73]

Retrospective article a year later. A few more pictures and a report that some kerfluffle with Horner's court appointed attorneys has delayed a trial into at least mid 2024.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/cr...5-c9a28eb5e620

Access Denied

I'd really like to know why his past crimes weren't taken seriously enough to avoid this in the first place. You have people in jail for life because of weed, but child molesters? Meh, they can be let go.

[Angiebla]

Retrospective article a year later. A few more pictures and a report that some kerfluffle with Horner's court appointed attorneys has delayed a trial into at least mid 2024.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/cr...5-c9a28eb5e620

I like the fact that there will be an "Athena alert" that will notify people even if there was no proof of abduction.

Her mom seems like a great person getting Mattel to donate 1000's of barbies to children in the hospital. And to get the Athena law passed.

That Texas Ranger was heartbroken. You could really tell this broke him.

I have to ask, are these delays because they are seeking the death penalty?

[mdcastle]

It's not like it's uncommon for trials like this to take years to get underway, but the specific reason things are on hold right now is the judge originally appointed two private attorneys for Horner without realizing that the county already had a contract with the Regional Public Defender's Office for all capital cases. July 13 the judge removed the private attorneys and appointed the office to abide by the terms of the contract, Horner's attorneys both objected to being removed so everything else is on hold now until this issue is sorted out.

The interesting part about the article is tha the local Sheriff doesn't believe the story about accidently backing into her with the truck. If officials don't really believe this line, it makes more sense why they'd seek the death penalty, and I wonder if the truck story was fed to him during his interrogation. It's a standard interrogation technique to give suspects two options about what happended, one that sounds really, really bad, and one that doesn't sound as bad, and give them a choice about which one to latch on too. But both make them equally culpible legally.

Suppose the interrogation went like this "Look Tanner, we know you did this, so we're beyond asking if you did it. What we want to know is why, so we can explain things to your family and to the media. I really don't think you're some monster that went out that day on the prowl, looking to kidnap and murder the first kid you saw to satisfy you're sadistic lust. Maybe what happened instead is you got a little careless and accidently hit her with your truck, then you panicked and scooped her to put her in your truck so you could see if she was OK. But then you panicked and started to drive off to get away from the situation, and then you panicked some more and decided to do what you wound up doing. If something like that happened, you need to tell us, otherwise we're going to have no choice but to tell your family your really are a monster that went out that day looking for a little girl to murder."

In either case the legal cuplability is the same, note the line "you decided to do" which means "premeditation". But you can see why a suspect would admit to it.

[Bewitchingstorm]

It's not like it's uncommon for trials like this to take years to get underway, but the specific reason things are on hold right now is the judge originally appointed two private attorneys for Horner without realizing that the county already had a contract with the Regional Public Defender's Office for all capital cases. July 13 the judge removed the private attorneys and appointed the office to abide by the terms of the contract, Horner's attorneys both objected to being removed so everything else is on hold now until this issue is sorted out.

The interesting part about the article is tha the local Sheriff doesn't believe the story about accidently backing into her with the truck. If officials don't really believe this line, it makes more sense why they'd seek the death penalty, and I wonder if the truck story was fed to him during his interrogation. It's a standard interrogation technique to give suspects two options about what happended, one that sounds really, really bad, and one that doesn't sound as bad, and give them a choice about which one to latch on too. But both make them equally culpible legally.

Suppose the interrogation went like this "Look Tanner, we know you did this, so we're beyond asking if you did it. What we want to know is why, so we can explain things to your family and to the media. I really don't think you're some monster that went out that day on the prowl, looking to kidnap and murder the first kid you saw to satisfy you're sadistic lust. Maybe what happened instead is you got a little careless and accidently hit her with your truck, then you panicked and scooped her to put her in your truck so you could see if she was OK. But then you panicked and started to drive off to get away from the situation, and then you panicked some more and decided to do what you wound up doing. If something like that happened, you need to tell us, otherwise we're going to have no choice but to tell your family your really are a monster that went out that day looking for a little girl to murder."

In either case the legal cuplability is the same, note the line "you decided to do" which means "premeditation". But you can see why a suspect would admit to it.

Good points made. And we have to keep into consideration the shear difficulty of winning a capital murder case. As you stated, the culpability piece determines whether it would be life in prison versus the death penalty.

[raisedbywolves]

https://www.fox4news.com/news/athena...jury-selection

Jury selection begins on Monday for Tanner Horner, the man accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Athena Strand in Wise County in 2022.
The trial is being held in Tarrant County because Horner requested a change of venue.
Testimony is expected to begin on March 17.

[Bewitchingstorm]

I had totally forgotten about this poor little sweet girl. Hopefully her family gets justice.

[Angiebla]

I hope they allow cameras in the courtroom.

[raisedbywolves]

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/ca...urder/3785765/

The capital murder trial for the man accused of killing 7-year-old Athena Strand is being pushed into next year.

Tanner Horner is facing a capital murder charge in the girl's death. Pre-trial hearings were expected to begin in January, jury selection in February, and the trial in March. Now, jury selection is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2026. Final jury selection will be on April 1, 2026, with the trial expected to start on April 7, 2026.

Horner pleaded not guilty during a capital murder arraignment hearing in March 2023, but that was after police said he'd confessed that he killed the girl with his bare hands. According to an arrest document, Horner told police he accidentally hit the girl with his delivery vehicle while in her driveway on Nov. 30, 2022, and that he got scared after she said she was going to tell her father about the collision.

[Angiebla]

Again?!?

[marshmallow]

they keep punting this one down the line. It's not that complicated and this delay must be torture for Athena's family.

[Bewitchingstorm]

Very frustrating for Athena's family.