Mum of girl, 7, killed by FedEx driver begs: ‘Stop sharing moment of her kidnap’

Athena’s parents are still grieving the loss of their little girl as her alleged killer faces trial (Picture: Facebook)

The mother of a seven-year-old girl who was abducted and allegedly killed by a delivery driver has issued a desperate plea on social media.

Athena Strand’s body was found two days after she disappeared from her home in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth, Texas, in 2022, after being abducted by a FedEx driver who was dropping off her Christmas present.

Tanner Horner, now 34, told detectives after his arrest that he bundled the young girl into his van after accidentally hitting her with it and then strangled her to stop her from telling anyone.

Horner has pleaded guilty to the capital murder of a child under 10 as well as aggravated kidnapping. The case has skipped the trial phase as a result and will proceed straight to the punishment phase.

Last week, in court, however, newly released footage showed Athena uninjured and looking over Horner’s shoulder as he drove them away in his truck.

Athena’s mother, Maitlyn Presley Gandy, has now begged people to stop tagging her in posts with the haunting image.

Athena’s Christmas present had been dropped off when she was taken (Picture: Facebook)

‘Please, I am begging, if you have any respect for me at all, please stop tagging me in posts with Tanner Horner in them and especially the van still image of him taking my daughter.

‘It lives in my head without the frequency I’ve been tagged in it. I’ve been looking at him for nearly three years now, and I know exactly what he looks like, whether he loses/gains weight or changes his facial hair.

‘I know no one has meant to do this out of malice, but it hurts all the same.’

Opening the prosecution’s case last week, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said that Horner’s claim that he scooped up the youngster after accidentally running her over is an ‘absolute lie’.

The court heard: ‘The first thing Tanner Horner says to Athena when he picks her up and puts her in that truck, he leans down and he says: “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you”. He says that twice.’

Athena’s mother asked people to stop sending the image to her (Picture: Facebook)

The prosecutor warned jurors that the evidence in the case is ‘rough’. While the truck’s camera was covered when Athena was strangled, the audio kept recording.

‘You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,’ Stainton said.

‘And when I say it’s horrible, I mean it. I’ve been doing this [for] 25 years, and I promise you, buckle up.’

He said Athena fought Horner, and his DNA was found under her fingernails.

Stainton also said Horner’s DNA was found ‘in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a seven-year-old girl’.

The trial was moved from rural Wise County to Fort Worth after Horner’s attorneys argued that he would not have received a fair trial.

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