Who Is Tanner Lynn Horner? FedEx Driver Admits to Murder of Athena Strand

A FedEx driver has confessed to murdering a little girl after kidnapping her when he visited her home to make a delivery.

Athena Strand, who was 7, disappeared from her driveway at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, sparking a huge search.

Hundreds of police officers, family, and volunteers scoured the area for the missing first-grader. The FBI was drafted in, and thermal-imaging cameras, helicopters, and police sniffer dogs were deployed in the hunt.

However, the search ended in tragedy when her body was discovered two days later, around six miles from her home in Paradise, Texas.

As investigators try to piece together exactly what happened, the suspect and his background have come under scrutiny.

Arrest and Confession of Tanner Lynn Horner

Police arrested the family's FedEx driver, Tanner Lynn Horner, on Friday, and he directed authorities to the location of the child's remains. Detectives charged him with aggravated kidnapping and capital murder of a person under 10 after the discovery of her body.

According to jail records, Horner stands at 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds, while the missing-person posters for Athena Strand described her as being 4 feet tall and weighing 62 pounds.

Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said that Horner had confessed to the crime. "We really can't get into the content of the confession, but I will say that we have a confession," he said. "It's still very, very early, but we wanted to make sure that we got the information out."

Newsweek has reached out to the sheriff's office for further information.

Athena Strand was staying with her father, who was away on a trip, and her stepmother who raised the alarm when she vanished. She was set to return to her mom's home in Oklahoma for Christmas.

Maitlyn Presley Gandy has posted tributes to her little girl online. Sharing photos of her daughter, she wrote on Facebook: "Her name is Athena Presley Monroe Strand. She was perfect from her creation. She was born perfect and too beautiful.

"Daddy and mommy were scared of how beautiful she has always been and we feel like we failed you. No one deserves what happened to you, but especially you. I love you and love doesn't even cover it. Mommy is broken without you."

She also posted Horner's police mugshot on her page with the caption alleging: "This is the monster that took my baby from me and this world. You will know her name, Tanner... I will make damn sure you learn what you took from me and her daddy."

Who Is Tanner Lynn Horner?

Horner is a 31-year-old driver who worked for the FedEx delivery company. FedEx issued a statement late on Friday, saying: "Words cannot describe our shock at the reports surrounding this tragic event. First and foremost, our thoughts are with the family during this most difficult time, and we continue to cooperate fully with the investigating authorities."

Horner, who is from Fort Worth, Texas, attended Azle High School and does not appear to have a criminal record in either Wise or Tarrant counties, according to local newspaper the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Neighbors said they had often seen Horner's FedEx truck parked outside his home, which was swarming with police on Friday afternoon, with the street shut down by investigators.

One neighbor, who did not wish to give her name, told the Star-Telegram that Horner lived with his mother and grandmother. She admitted she hadn't known him well, but added: "I find it just shocking it was him."

Akin did not speak of a possible motive during Friday's press conference, other than to describe the killing as "a crime of opportunity."

Horner does not know Athena Strand's family and has no other connections to them, the sheriff said to the Star-Telegram.

Horner's social-media accounts revealed that he had worked for the Uber ride-sharing app as a driver and been an employee at various stores.

Horner was also an aspiring musician and said he was a vocalist in a band, according to his social-media sites. He also said online that he was engaged to be married, and posts suggest that he became a father for the first time. He also describes himself as "non-neurotypical. "

Where Is Tanner Lynn Horner Now?

Horner is being held in the Wise County Jail on $1.5 million bond. Further details about the case and Horner's trial will be released by the authorities over the coming weeks.