FedEx Driver Who Killed Athena Strand Sang ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ as He Murdered Her in His Truck

Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping after abducting Strand from her driveway in late 2022

Tanner Horner; Athena Strand.Credit : 

Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via Getty; Wise County Sheriff’s Department

Tanner Horner was heard singing a Christmas song while murdering 7-year-old Athena Strand in late 2022.

Prosecutors played a video from the day of Strand’s abduction and murder on Nov. 30, 2022, in the courtroom on Thursday, April 16, in Fort Worth, Texas. According to ABC-affiliate WFAA, the video, which was captured via the FedEx truck’s surveillance camera, contained audio of the former driver singing “Jingle Bell Rock” as the young girl screamed in pain.

The beginning of the recording showed Horner lifting Strand into the back of the truck and shutting the door, WFAA reported. After he got in the truck, she asked him, “Where are you taking me?” He then covered the camera lens, although the recording still captured the audio.

About 30 minutes into the recording, “Jingle Bell Rock” came on the radio and Horner began to sing along, per WFAA. Strand screamed and moaned in pain while he sang. He proceeded to threaten her, saying, “Shut up. If you don’t shut up, I will hurt you worse.”

Prior to the interaction, Horner told Strand to take off her shirt and she asked for her mother. She also asked if he was a kidnapper. The video contained audio of the girl choking, as well as indistinct banging in the truck.

Strand’s parents left the courtroom before the video was played, per WFAA.

On April 7, Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping after abducting Strand from her driveway while delivering a Christmas package to the home where she was staying with her father and stepmother in the town of Paradise, Texas.

Her body was found two days later about 9 miles away, and jurors are now tasked with deciding whether Horner will be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

Video from inside Horner’s FedEx truck the day after the murder showed him attempting to drive through a residential road lined with vehicles while volunteers and law enforcement searched for Strand, CBS News reported.

The video, also shown in court on April 16, showed him complaining he couldn’t get through before rolling down his window and speaking with a woman nearby.

“Um, you can pull up and try to ask them to get through, but there’s been a kidnapping, so it’s all blocked off … a 7-year-old was taken,” the woman said, according to CBS News.

“Are you serious?” Horner replied.

“That’s what all this is for,” she responded, per the outlet, with Horner asking, “Are you serious?” again.

Horner denied doing anything “weird” to Strand on a jailhouse phone call with his mother that was reviewed in court and shared by Fox affiliate KDFW-TV. His mother responded, “I didn’t think you did, I just know how you get.”

In another exchange played for jurors, Horner’s mother asked, “What did you do? Did she die on her own?” and he replied, “No.”

Horner initially claimed to police that he accidentally struck Strand with his vehicle and then strangled her out of fear, according to an arrest affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE.

Horner’s trial is expected to last for weeks, per WFAA.