Killer FedEx driver Tanner Horner claimed to police that 7-year-old Athena Strand was dead when he stuffed her in his truck, chilling bodycam video shows.
On Wednesday, Horner’s murder trial was shown video of the confessed killer callously claiming that he “tossed” her body into the woods after hitting her with his vehicle near her house in Lake Worth, Texas.
In the video, Horner replies, “I can show you,” when he is asked where Athena is during his arrest on Dec. 2, 2022, NBC 5 reported.
“Is she alive?” an officer asks Horner, who says, “She wasn’t alive when I put her in the truck.”
Texas Ranger Job Espinoza told the jury they believe that was a lie, and that Horner strangled the girl when she said she would tell her father after he bumped into her in his delivery van.
Little Athena can be seen alive and kneeling in the FedEx truck in a devastating photo shown in court Tuesday.
In the bodycam video, Horner is seen walking through a wooded area, repeatedly saying that he is sure Athena’s body is there.
At one point, he tells officers they’re going too far and that he “kind of tossed her in.”
Ranger Espinoza later told the jury on Wednesday that Athena wasn’t there, and that her body was in an area of the Trinity River called BoBo Crossing several miles away.
Horner’s defense team has said he suffers from mental illness and lead poisoning, as they look to have him avoid the death penalty and face life in prison without parole instead.
