The 34-year-old delivered a Christmas present to the girl’s house the day she went missing.

By Phil Helsel

A former FedEx delivery driver who pleaded guilty to killing a seven-year-old girl in Texas has been sentenced to death.

The jury handed down the death penalty for Tanner Horner after a court proceeding that lasted more than two weeks.

Horner, 34, was set to stand trial on April 7 when he pleaded guilty in the kidnapping and killing of Athena Strand in rural Wise County in November 2022.

“There are no words that truly capture the devastation that Tanner Horner caused us and our family,” Athena’s uncle Elijah Strand said in court after the death sentence was delivered on Tuesday, local time.

“It was the best thing to see her running up to me with her arms open, yelling ‘Uncle Elijah,’ and it’s one of my last memories I have of her.

“And now I get to never hear that again.”

Horner stood but showed no outward emotion as state District Judge George Gallagher sentenced him to be executed before sunrise on a date to be determined.

Texas uses lethal injection to carry out executions.

Horner had delivered a Christmas present to the family’s home in the rural town of Paradise on November 30, 2022, the day Athena disappeared.

Her body was found two days later, according to officials.

Horner has said he struck the girl with his van and strangled her in a panic.

Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said Horner killed Athena and called his explanations lies.

Stainton told the jury in closing arguments that the death penalty should be used only in the most extreme cases but that Horner deserved it.

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

“He’s proof of why children are nervous to go play outside.”

Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder of a person under the age of 10 and aggravated kidnapping.

The jury had a choice of sentencing Horner to death or life in prison without parole.

They found two special issues that allow for the death penalty.

The first was a probability Horner would commit acts of violence posing a “continuing threat to society”.

On the second, the jury rejected there were mitigating factors justifying a sentence of life in prison without parole.

An appeal was automatically filed, and a lawyer will be appointed in that appeal, Gallagher said.

Horner’s defence argued for mitigation, saying Horner’s mother drank heavily while she was pregnant and he was diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome disorder which causes emotional and cognitive issues and other problems.

“Tanner’s problems began before he was even born,” defence lawyer Susan Anderson said in closing arguments.

She asked for the jury to be merciful.

Elijah Strand said Athena’s murder left the family with “an emptiness that can never be filled”.

“Athena was more than a headline. She was laughter, curiosity, kindness and innocence,” her uncle said.

“And she had dreams that she will never get to chase, birthdays that she will never celebrate and a life she’ll never get to live because of his actions.”

Horner, seated at his defence table, looked at Strand as he spoke and at times looked down.

“I want you to know,” Strand said, looking at Horner, “that you are nothing. You are a footnote in Athena’s story. Her name will forever be remembered, her name will forever be celebrated, and everyone will forget you.”