Mark Strand

Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, told investigators he crashed Athena Strand, 7, while backing up his FedEx truck after a delivery. Athena wasn't seriously wounded, but he panicked and pulled her into the vehicle. Athena pleaded with Horner that she was going to tell her father of the accident, so Horner attempted to break her neck to silence and kill her. Horner resorted to strangling Athena's neck when he was unable to break her neck. Horner confessed to the murder after police apprehended him and led them to a body of water where he dumped her body.

Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, who has confessed to kidnapping and killing Athena Strand, a 7-year-old girl from her Paradise, Texas home last Wednesday, is demanding the death penalty, according to Texas prosecutors. The young girl had been visiting her father and step-mother when she stepped outside after an altercation with her stepmother at the same time Horner was reported to be delivering a parcel to the household. It was carrying Barbies that she would have received on Christmas. On Friday, her body was discovered about six miles from the house, with police claiming she was likely killed within an hour of her abduction. As her counsel looks at what more FedEx may have done to prevent the tragedy, the girls' mother is now seeking revenge.

In a series of heart wrenching Facebook posts, the mother of 7-year-old Athena Strand, who was killed after being kidnapped by FedEx driver Tanner Lynn Horner last week is honoring her daughter. Maitlyn Gandy posted a video showing her younger daughter, Rye, screaming for her "sissy," after Strand had left to spend time with her father and stepmother in Paradise, Texas, ahead of the holidays. Athena was due to return to her mother and sister in Comanche, Oklahoma, for Christmas. According to Gandy, the video was shot on November 27, little Athena was first reported missing on November 30, but she was discovered dead on December 2. Rye is seen on the video "begging for her sissy," Gandy says.' "I kept telling her, 'It's okay, we will see sissy shortly." We have no idea how our lives would be turned upside down. I took it because she does it every time she feels like sissy is going somewhere without her.' Rye finally cried herself to sleep, according to Gandy. The bemoaning mother continued: 'This monster has now spread those feelings for my youngest daughter indefinitely.'