Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
Anchor
Google PlayA FedEx driver has been arrested after confessing to the kidnapping and killing of a seven-year-old Texas girl who had disappeared earlier this week.
NBC News reports Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, was arrested Friday on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. The victim, Athena Strand, disappeared on Wednesday evening from her father’s home in Paradise, Texas.
Horner is currently being held at Wise County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.
According to Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin, Horner was delivering a package at Strand’s father’s home at the time she disappeared.
Though a cause of death has not yet been revealed, police believe she “died by his hand,” with Strand’s death coming within an hour of her abduction.
“We knew early on in the investigation that there had been a FedEx driver, made a delivery in front of the house, about the same time that little Athena, 7-year-old Athena, came up missing,” Akin told reporters in a news conference Friday. “The driver abducted Athena, and from the investigative standpoint, digitally as well as interviews, we think Athena died within just the very hour or so after her departure from her home.”
FedEx addressed the news in a statement on Twitter Saturday morning.
“Our thoughts are with the family of Athena Strand during this most difficult time,” the company wrote. “Words cannot describe our shock and sorrow surrounding this tragic event. We continue to cooperate fully with the investigating authorities.”
