Tanner Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder just moments before his Texas trial was set to begin, shifting the case over the killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand from guilt to punishment. Jurors are now deciding whether the former FedEx driver should die or spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The plea came after a case that has stretched on for two weeks and put the family at the center of a grim public record. On Wednesday, Athena's mother, Maitlyn Gandy, testified about the last time she saw her daughter alive and said her final words were, "I told her that I loved her and that I would see her on Friday." Gandy said they had a quick drop-off because Athena's daddy was going to take them to the Christmas lights.
Gandy also told jurors what followed. She drove back to Texas from her home in Oklahoma after learning that her daughter was missing, and she said the trip felt like a collapse in slow motion. "It felt like I was dying," she said. She added, "I couldn't breathe, but I knew I had to keep going. I almost tapped on the brakes because I thought I was having a heart attack. But I just told myself that if I kept going, it would be OK, and I would find her."
The testimony carried the weight of something the jury had already seen in part: video of Horner strangling Athena to death. Gandy said she was only able to watch a few minutes of the footage and apologized to the jurors who were required to see it. "Not anyone in this room besides Tanner Horner asked for what's on that video, and Athena definitely did not," she said. Defense attorney Steven Goble did not cross-examine her.
The punishment phase is the last major step in a case that began with Athena's killing in 2022 and resumed in Texas after Horner's guilty plea. Another witness, Scott Morris, testified Wednesday that Horner had previously searched, "do truck cameras record," a detail that gave jurors a glimpse of what he may have been thinking before the crime. Horner, who had been a FedEx driver, admitted the killing just moments before the trial was set to start, but the guilty plea left the jury to answer the question that now matters most: whether the state will seek his execution or confine him for life without parole.
Gandy said her daughter did not know the full truth for a long time after the killing. "I didn't know how to tell her, and I didn't think I was strong enough to tell her. So I lied to her for a long time. I would tell her that she was just staying with her daddy for a little bit longer. And when she asked to FaceTime or to call her, I would tell her that she was at school or she was sleeping," she said. "Until about a year ago, she didn't know the whole truth." For jurors, the decision now is stark and immediate: death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.