New testimony in a Texas courtroom is shedding light on the disturbing explanations offered by a delivery driver accused of killing a young girl, with jurors hearing conflicting accounts of what led to the crime.
The New York Post reported that Tanner Horner, who has confessed to the killing of Athena Strand, told a psychiatrist that he acted out of fear after the child allegedly witnessed him using drugs, according to testimony presented Tuesday.
Dr. Eileen Ryan, speaking for the defense, told jurors that Horner claimed the 7-year-old saw him “snorting cocaine,” prompting him to panic about the consequences.
The fear, she said, spiraled quickly.
“He made the ‘jump from Point A to Point Z’ that was ‘completely unreasonable,’” Ryan testified in court in Fort Worth, explaining that Horner worried he could lose his job and contact with his son if the incident were reported.
Ryan said Horner admitted to forcing the girl into his vehicle after the encounter, describing his reaction as an extreme overreach fueled by anxiety over potential fallout.
The testimony also revealed that Horner later acknowledged additional actions after initially denying them, with Ryan noting a visible shift in his demeanor during those admissions.
“The only other time that he had a similar demeanor was talking about his own rape when he was 10,” she told jurors, describing what she characterized as deep shame.
Another expert witness, Dr. Amy Fritz, challenged the reasoning behind Horner’s explanation, pointing to what she described as a failure to understand how others think.
“If your cause to action is to abduct a child and kill them because you think that they may have seen you do cocaine, you are definitely not understanding their perspective,” Fritz testified.
She added that a young child may not even recognize what they are seeing in such a situation.
“First of all, a young child may not have any idea of what cocaine is or what it looks like to use it, or that it’s against the law,” she said.
The account presented in court differs sharply from Horner’s earlier statements to investigators, where he initially claimed the incident began as an accident involving his delivery vehicle.
At another point, he reportedly blamed an alternate persona, referred to as “Zero,” for the killing.
Strand was reported missing from her family’s driveway in Paradise on Nov. 30, 2022, while Horner was delivering a package to the home.
Her body was discovered two days later in a rural creek.
According to testimony, a medical examiner determined that she died from multiple causes, including blunt force trauma, smothering, and strangulation.
Horner is expected to learn this week whether he will face the death penalty, as the trial continues to examine the events and explanations surrounding the case.