A LITTLE girl’s haunting cries from inside a delivery truck became some of the most unbearable evidence jurors heard before sending her killer to death row.

Seven-year-old Athena Strand’s final moments left jurors sobbing in court as prosecutors laid out how the child was kidnapped, threatened, stripped, and killed.

FedEx driver accused of killing 5, Taylor Parker, in court.
Former FedEx driver Tanner Horner was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering seven-year-old Athena StrandCredit: AP
 

A young girl standing outside the driver's side door of a vehicle, looking at the driver.
Seven-year-old Athena Strand was kidnapped from her home in Paradise, TexasCredit: FOX 4
In Fort Worth, Texas, former FedEx driver Tanner Horner, 34, was sentenced to death after a three-week punishment trial.

He had pleaded guilty on April 7 to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Athena’s 2022 killing.

The jury had only one decision left to make – life in prison without parole or death by lethal injection.

They chose death.

FedEx driver who killed Athena Strand ‘should never have been alone in truck’

Girl with a red bow headband and red-sleeved shirt.
Horner had been delivering a Christmas package to the home when he took StrandCredit: Family Handout
 

A man in a FedEx uniform stealing packages from the back of a delivery truck.
Chilling footage shows Tanner Horner wipe down his FedEx truck after killing Athena Strand in the backCredit: FOX 4
Horner stared straight ahead and showed no visible reaction as the sentence was read.

He only replied “yes, sir” when the judge told him about his right to a lawyer if he appeals.

The brutal case began on November 30, 2022, when Athena vanished from her family’s property in Paradise, Texas.

Horner had been delivering a Christmas package to the home when he took the little girl.

Epstein’s scrawled ‘suicide note’ revealed saying it was ‘time to say goodbye’

His first story to police was that he accidentally hit Athena with his truck and panicked.

Prosecutors later blasted that claim as one of many lies.

They said video showed Athena was alive inside the delivery vehicle after Horner picked her up and placed her in the truck.

The child could be heard asking him, “Are you a kidnapper?” more than once.

Horner told her: “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you.”

At one point, he covered the camera inside the truck, leaving only audio of what happened next.

A woman with pink hair, wearing a black shirt and jacket, looks down as she walks in a room.
Athena’s mom, Maitlyn Gandy said she had to view her daughter’s body first to spare Athena’s dad the horrorCredit: AP
 

A young girl wearing a floral dress, pink backpack, and clogs, smiling in front of a wooden door.
Horner admitted to strangling the seven-year-old after he struck her with his vehicleCredit: WFAA TV
The recording became one of the most horrific pieces of evidence in the trial.

Judge George Gallagher warned the courtroom before it was played.

“If you think you cannot watch it or listen to it, leave now. Now’s your time to get out,” he said.

Athena was heard crying, screaming, banging, and asking for her mom.

Horner was heard telling her to remove her shirt as she repeatedly said “no.”

Juror sobbed as the audio continued. Reporters said some pulled tissues from a box while other sniffled and cried.

The footage also showed Horner making small talk with Athena before the attack.

He asked her age, where she went to school, and her teacher’s name.

Then he told her: “You’re really pretty. You know that?”

Prosecutors said Athena was later strangled in the back of the truck.

Jurors were told Horner sang Jingle Bell Rock as he killed her.

Medical examiner Dr Jessica Dwyer testified that Athena died from blunt force injuries, smothering, and strangulation.

She described injuries to the child’s head, face, neck, chest, and back.

The medical examiner also said Athena had a zigzag or tread-like pattern on her face and chest.

Dwyer said there was no sign of sexual trauma, but warned that did not rule out assault.

Prosecutors said DNA evidence showed Horner’s DNA was found in “places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl.”

Investigators later questioned Horner about Athena’s missing clothing.

“Are you saying you stripped her naked and threw her clothes out the window on the highway?” a Wise County deputy asked him.

“I thought it was funny,” Horner replied.

“Did you take all her clothes off her? Shirts, pants, panties – everything?” the officer asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Horner answered.

Texas Ranger Job Espinoza, the lead investigator, also testified about asking Horner if Athena screamed.

Horner said she “wasn’t able to.”

He claimed an alter ego called “Zero” had taken over.

Horner told investigators he first tried to snap Athena’s neck.

When that did not work, he strangled her.

Her body was found two days after she vanished.

It had been dumped miles from her home in the Trinity River.

Prosecutors also played bodycam footage showing Horner talking about disposing of Athena’s clothing.

They said his story about hitting her with the truck was “a web of lies.”

Jail calls later revealed Horner’s own family questioning what he had done.

“What did you do? Did she die on her own?” his mother asked him in one call.

Horner answered: “No.”

“Oh my God,” she replied.

“Tanner, I just hope you didn’t do nothing weird to that little girl,” she then said.

Horner denied it and told her, “Well, actually with my medication, I barely even have a libido as it is.”

In another call, his grandmother asked if he felt remorse.

“How can I not be? I haven’t been on my medication for the last few weeks, and I am feeling emotional,” he said.

Jurors also heard about letter Horner wrote in jail before a 2023 suicide attempt.

In one note to Athena’s family, he wrote: “I’ve done a terrible thing to your family, and I’m sorry.”

He said they would never get to see their “baby girl grow up.”

But in another letter to detectives, Horner changed his story again.

He claimed a mystery gunman forced him to take Athena and threatened his family.

Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told jurors Horner was exactly why Texas still has the death penalty.

“Tanner Horner is proof why parents hug their children a little tighter,” Stainton said.

Athena’s mom, Maitlyn Gandy, also faced Horner in court.

She said she had to view her daughter’s body first to spare Athena’s dad the horror.

“When I got to her, she was so cold, and she didn’t like the cold, so I wanted to make sure that she was dressed,” Maitlyn said.

“I wanted to make sure she had one of her bows. So I got her some bows.”

She said she would keep fighting so Athena would not be remembered only as a headline.

After the verdict, Athena’s uncle Elijah Strand, looked directly at Horner.

“What he took from this world, not just a child, he took a light, a future and a piece of every single person who loved her,” he said.

“You are a footnote in Athena’s story. Her name will forever be celebrated. Everyone will forget you,” he added.

Horner was then handcuffed and led out of the courtroom.

Texas Roadhouse enforces strict hair style rule in seven US states

Under Texas law, a death sentence is automatically reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeals.

No execution date has been set.