The murder of Athena Strand | Ep 244

Summary

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Crime and Coffee Couple – True Crime Podcast

Episode 244: The Murder of Athena Strand
Hosts: Allison and Mike
Date: May 10, 2026

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Overview

This powerful episode covers the tragic case of 7-year-old Athena Strand, who was abducted and murdered by a FedEx contract driver, Tanner Horner, in Wise County, Texas in 2022. Allison walks Mike—and the listeners—through the harrowing details of Athena's disappearance, the investigation, the shocking confession, and the emotional trial and sentencing. With real-time reactions and thoughtful discussion, the hosts explore not only the crime but also broader failures and the lasting impact on Athena’s family and the local community.

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Case Background & Disappearance

[04:38 – 08:00]

• Listener Suggestion: The case was recommended by podcast listeners Kenzie, Christian, and Candy.
• Timeline:
  • Nov 30, 2022, 6:41pm: Athena’s stepmother, Ashley Strand, calls 911 after realizing Athena is missing from their Paradise, Texas home.
  • The family lives rurally, temporarily using a converted shed as a bedroom for Athena and her stepsister.
  • Last seen at 5:45pm; by 6:56pm, police are on scene as temperatures drop near freezing.
  • Initial search by family and neighbors turns up nothing. Jacob Strand (father) rushes home upon hearing the news.

Quote:
"First graders, they're freaking precious... They're so innocent and pure at that time."
— Allison [07:33]

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The Investigation & Discovery

[08:00 – 18:01]

• FedEx Clue:

  • Investigators learn a FedEx package (a Barbie set for Athena) was delivered within the 20-30 minute window before Athena disappeared.
  • Contract company Big Topspin identifies Tanner Horner, 31, as the driver.

• Initial Interview:

  • Horner claims he saw a suspicious green Astro van but seems articulate and emotional, noting, "I just couldn’t believe that something like this could have happened."
    — Allison [10:09]

• Break in the Case:

  • Texas Ranger asks about delivery truck video; a third-party vendor (Velocity) provides inside truck footage.
  • Shocking video emerges of Horner placing a girl matching Athena’s description into his truck.

Quote:
"I swear the first time I saw this video I had to just check and see if it was AI... No way can you see a little girl in a delivery truck."
— Mike [12:21]

• Confrontation/Confession:
  • Confronted with footage, Horner first claims to have accidentally struck and killed Athena, then changes his story multiple times.
  • Admits to abduction, refers to an alter ego “Zero”, and ultimately leads authorities to Athena’s remains in a river nine miles away.

Quote:
"He claimed that, although she wasn’t wearing shoes at the time, she had been clothed. Horner was then charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping."
— Allison [18:11]

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Autopsy and Further Charges

[27:45 – 29:47]

• Medical Evidence:
  • Dr. Jessica Dwyer, the medical examiner, details extensive injuries from blunt force, smothering, and strangulation—all inflicted while Athena was alive; only her right arm was not injured.
  • No visible sexual trauma, but male DNA is found with uncertainty as to bodily source.

Quote:
"Other than her right arm, there wasn't a single area on Athena's body that hadn't been injured."
— Allison [28:27]

• Prior Sexual Assault Charges:
  • During the investigation, Horner is also charged with raping two sixteen-year-old girls in separate incidents in 2013 and 2014.
  • Both women testify that Horner assaulted them while they were intoxicated and asleep.

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The Trial and Horner’s Testimony

[20:51 – 45:42]

• Trial Dynamics:
  • Horner switches to a guilty plea just before trial (April 2026), turning jury’s focus to whether he should get life without parole or the death penalty.
  • Jury hears harrowing video/audio from within the FedEx van:
    • Athena repeatedly asks, "Are you a kidnapper?" and "I want my mom," as Horner threatens her and eventually covers the camera with a sticky note [23:06–24:32].
    • During the assault, Horner sings along to "Jingle Bell Rock"—a chilling moment for all, especially for Athena’s family.

Quote:
"She was crying and she told him, I want my mom. Soldiers were sobbing, understandably, as they heard the horrifying sounds... Athena screamed and cried for more than an hour."
— Allison [24:31]

• Efforts to Evade Guilt:
  • Horner invents "Zero," a supposed alter ego, while confessing details. Investigators recognize this as a self-serving lie to avoid accountability [17:05–18:01].
  • In jail, he writes letters blaming autism, mental illness, or imaginary accomplices [31:03–31:56].
  • Childhood diagnoses (autism spectrum, exposure to lead/trauma, severe ADHD from fetal alcohol syndrome) are detailed, but multiple experts and family members agree: none excused or explained the violence.

Quote:
"His diagnosis did not at all excuse or justify this murder, but that he should have never been in that FedEx truck by himself."
— Allison [40:28]

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Victim Impact Statements

[32:00 – 34:49]

• Mother and Father’s Testimony:
  • Maitland Gandy (Athena’s mother): Describes Athena as a joy-filled, outdoorsy, "girly girl," and shares the agony of preparing her daughter for burial. She stresses remembering Athena for her life, not her death.
  • Jacob Strand (Athena’s father): Speaks of crippling guilt and grief leading to alcohol abuse and the breakdown of his marriage.

Quote:
"Maitland did her daughter's makeup for the funeral... Something that a mother should never have to do."
— Allison [33:21]

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Verdict and Sentencing

[45:42 – 47:59]

• Jury Decision:
  • Horner is sentenced to death on May 5, 2026. Texas law mandates an automatic review by the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Quote:
"You didn't just take a life, you destroyed a family. You took a little girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence."
— Athena’s uncle (court statement) [47:22]

• Death Penalty Debate:
  • Hosts agree that Horner should never be free again, but discuss the controversy, cost, and emotional burden of capital punishment.

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Broader Impacts & Legislative Change

[48:14 – 53:14]

• The Athena Alert:

  • Texas passes legislation for an enhanced Amber Alert, the “Athena Alert,” allowing alerts to be issued for children who may not meet traditional abduction criteria, covering a wider area.

• Lawsuits & FedEx’s Role:

  • Both parents file wrongful death lawsuits against both Big Topspin and FedEx, questioning the hiring, training, and background check procedures of delivery drivers using the FedEx brand.
  • Discussion over how gig work and subcontracting can undermine public safety and accountability.

Quote:
"We trust these people to come onto our property, onto our doorsteps, sometimes even inside of our homes."
— Allison [49:18]

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Notable Quotes & Commentary

On Horner’s Lies and Manipulations:

• "He was portraying himself as the victim and showing no accountability whatsoever for what he had done."
  — Allison [16:22]
• "Excuses, excuses, excuses for days. You got your deliveries done, didn't you?"
  — Mike [31:37]

On the Pain for the Family and Community:

• "Hopefully, you know, like her mother Maitland said, at least one kid can be saved. And we'll never know about those kids, which I’m more than happy about."
  — Mike [50:37]

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Reflections and Takeaways

• On Parental Caution:
  • The episode underscores how predators can exploit the trust given to uniformed personnel and contractors—even in safest-seeming places.
• On Systemic Accountability:
  • Both hosts are vocal about how corporate and legislative changes are needed to prevent future tragedies. The Athena Alert is held up as a hard-won step forward.
• On Empathy and Aftermath:
  • Allison and Mike remind listeners of the importance of remembering victims for their lives—urging empathy, vigilance, and legislative action.

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Segment Timestamps

• Intro/Banter: 01:02 – 04:37 (skip for case content)
• Case Background and Disappearance: 04:38 – 08:00
• The Investigation: 08:00 – 18:01
• Confession and Recovery: 18:01 – 20:51
• Trial and Testimony: 20:51 – 47:59
• Legislative Change and Lawsuits: 48:14 – 53:14
• Wrap-up and Reflections: 53:14 – end

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Closing Thoughts

Allison and Mike’s recap is both compassionate and unflinching, providing not only the painful, necessary details of Athena Strand’s murder, but also a critical look at how systemic failures enabled her killer and what changes have come—in her name—to protect other children.
They urge listeners to stay vigilant and advocate for stronger protections, reminding all that, "It could be anybody at our door."

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For more haunting, well-researched true crime discussions with genuine, heartfelt reactions, tune in to Crime and Coffee Couple every Sunday.

Transcript

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[Allison]

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Crime and coffee Couple. My name is Allison.

[Mike]

And my name is Mike.

[Allison]

Hello, Mike.

[Mike]

Hello, gorgeous. How are you?

[Allison]

I am just wonderful. How are you doing?

[Mike]

Good, good. I'm looking at your sparkly little necklace. You're just all bright eyed and bushy tailed, aren't you?

[Allison]

I was wondering what you were looking at. I was like, buddy, move your eyes up a little. My eyes are here.

[Mike]

Eyes are up here, bud. You got to tell me that all the time.

[Allison]

You know, Ali, a cop, who could blame you?

[Mike]

Yeah. Ever since. Yeah, high school, middle school, whatever. Any school really. You've been. Yeah, just enjoying what you have. And that's okay.

[Allison]

That's all I can do.

[Mike]

That's all you can do. So welcome to the show. We really appreciate you coming by every week. Allison tells a brand new story every Sunday and I've never heard it. And this one is no different. Although it's a little bit different.

[Allison]

Yeah, this is brand new. We're actually recording it on the day that the verdict was read. So Mike has heard a few bits and pieces about it because we've had family in town for the past nine days and we are kind of chatting about the case with them a little bit.

[Mike]

So we come at you every Sunday with a free episode and then bonus episodes Wednesday.

[Allison]

Yeah. So thank you guys for being here.

[Mike]

Yeah. I am barely alive. I've gotten like a 12 sleep score out of 100 for like the last three days. I don't know why it's not a 12.

[Allison]

It was like a 50 and then a 60.

[Mike]

I'm being a little facetious, but it's not good. It's not good. I feel good. I feel okay.

[Allison]

I don't know how you feel okay. Because last week I got a 50 sleep score and I was a walking zombie.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

And my anxiety is through the roof when I don't sleep good.

[Mike]

I'm feeling pretty good. I think I've just accepted it. My body's just like, yep, this is the new normal.

[Allison]

I did my workout and then I laid on the floor. It was like 6 o' clock in the morning and I had a rag over my eyes and I did the Huberman non sleep, deep rest. And I was just hoping to survive the day, you know, we're just doing the best that we can around here.

[Mike]

They had a crazy week. Family in town. I went to a K Pop concert, had the time of my freaking life.

[Allison]

It was a very last minute decision cuz we had family flying in that day. And tickets. It was bts.

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[Allison]

They dropped tremendously for Tampa's Sunday show. So our daughter, I had no idea she was such a huge fan of bts.

[Mike]

She likes them. They're like the, the biggest name in the business. They're kind of like the Yankees, you know, the Yankees of baseball. It's like BTS is the BTS of K pop.

[Allison]

Okay. And she's a huger fan of TXT Tomorrow together. Yeah. So they just went and they had the best time ever.

[Mike]

It was amazing. I've been watching ticket prices forever because I wanted to like kind of be like, hey, let's go. But it was like freaking 200 bucks for like nosebleeds. I'm like, no way, man. I'm too frugal for that. And all of a sudden they went down. I saw like 25 bucks to get into the stadium. And I was like, well, if we pay like 50, we can get like maybe a little bit closer. We still had like top level, but we got like middle so we could see everything. It was. They put on a great show, man. Now I'm listening to some of their songs all the time. So it was fun.

[Allison]

Now Mike's in the BTS army.

[Mike]

Yeah. The week before I went to an EDM concert. And then bts, you could say midlife crisis and you'd probably be right.

[Allison]

And then we were telling our bonus listeners that Mike had a lingering cough. And because we had family in town, all of the Bedrooms were taken. So the one morning I come stumbling in the the bathroom. It's 5:30, it's pitch dark and there's a figure lying on the floor.

[Mike]

That figure is me.

[Allison]

I hadn't realized Mike wasn't in bed with me. I'm like, what the heck are doing? He took a yoga mat, some blankets and pillows and made that his bed for the night because he was afraid he was going to keep me up.

[Mike]

I didn't want to do that.

[Allison]

I go, what kind of monster do you think I am that you're sleeping on the bathroom floor? Wait, don't answer.

[Mike]

Yeah, I was just gonna say I think we all know it's okay. But yeah, I couldn't get a blow up bed because we had people over and everything and it wasn't an ideal situation. But you know what, we made it work.

[Allison]

And then for like three other nights he did sleep in the bathroom on a blow up mattress. I was like, this, this is insane.

[Mike]

And we found out we have two broken air mat. They're in the garbage.

[Allison]

Oh Lord. So this is a doozy. So shall we jump into this case?

[Mike]

Absolutely, let's do it.

[Allison]

All right, so this is a listener suggestion from Kenzie Christian and Candy. So thank you guys and I'm sorry if I'm missing anyone else if I got lost in the shuffle. So this is the murder of Athena strand on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 when a 911 call came through the Wise County Sheriff's Office at 6:41pm Ashley Strand told a dispatcher that her 7 year old stepdaughter Athena Strand was missing. So officers arrived at the Strands Rural Paradise, Texas home about 15 minutes later at 6:56pm at a time when temperatures were near freezing. So Ashley was explaining to investigators that she had last seen her stepdaughter at 5:45pm she was inside the converted shed that Athena and her stepsister were temporarily using as a bedroom. While Ashley's husband, who was also Athena's father, this is Jacob Strand, he was in the process of renovating the smaller home on their property. But in the meantime, the girls were staying in the shed. So before heading back to the main home to make dinner, Ashley had asked Athena if she could gather her clothes that needed to be washed. And then she was going to go inside and cook dinner. So Ashley popped back, excuse me, popped back out to the shed about 20 to 30 minutes later to let Athena know that dinner was ready. But she was gone. But she wasn't worried at this point in Time she started looking around for her really just assuming because as a seven year old they're active and they're outside playing that Athena was doing that. And not to mention that her sister and brother in law's house was on the adjacent property. So she also assumed that maybe she had gone over there to play. So she picked up the phone, called over there and they let Ashley know that no, they hadn't seen Athena, but they came over to help her look and then they were unable to find her, which is what prompted Ashley Ashley to call 91 1. So Jacob Strand was actually on his way to a hunting lease near San Antonio with his dad when Ashley called to say that she wasn't able to find Athena. And then when officers called him back confirming that they still hadn't found her, he and his dad immediately turned back around and headed back home.

[Mike]

Yeah, nothing else matters at this point.

[Allison]

Of course not. So an extensive search was conducted through that night into the following day using search dogs. But they were also unable to find Athena. And obviously by this point in time her family was utterly panicked. So according to her obituary, Athena Strand was born in Duncan, Oklahoma on May 23, 2015 to parents Jacob Strand and Maitland Gandy. So at the time of her death, she was a first grade student at Paradise Elementary School. And I mean first graders, they're freaking precious.

[Mike]

They're awesome man. They're some of the best because you can like say anything. They're like still have like wide eyed amazement and like you can talk them into almost like, you know, tricks are a big deal to them. I don't, it's just like their kids are so fun.

[Allison]

Well they're just really innocent and pure at that time. But by the time they get into middle school and high school, forget it. But first grade, I mean they're just so innocent and precious. So her first grade teacher described her as a free spirit who was just really a joy to have in class. She never hesitated to stand up for herself. She was a strong willed young girl and you got to appreciate that.

[Mike]

Love it.

[Allison]

She freely spoke her mind. She loved to socialize with all of her friends. She also adored horseback riding, doing her makeup and dressing up as a princess. So as a search for Athena continued, authorities came to learn that during the time frame of her disappearance, a FedEx package had actually been delivered to the Strand home because like I said, Ashley had gone back to the house for about 20 to 30 minutes. So it was in this period of time that they got this delivery and it was incidentally a You can be anything. Barbie doll set that was actually a Christmas gift for Athena because of course, we're entering the Christmas holiday season at this point. So investigators determined that a contracting company known as Big Topspin had been delivering packages for FedEx. So after big topspin informed authorities that 31 year old Tanner Horner had been the driver to deliver that package in question, they went on to speak with him the following day, which was Thursday, December 1st. So they were talking to him just to hope that maybe he had a little bit of information because if he came to the house in that period of time, maybe he saw something suspicious.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

So Horner was questioned by FBI Special Agent Patrick Maguire on, again, Thursday, December 1st. This is one day after Athena's disappearance. And he indicated that during the time of his delivery he did see something maybe suspicious. He wasn't sure, but it was an older green Astro van and it had a missing panel on the driver's side door and it was looking like it was leaving the Strand property. So throughout their conversation, McGuire indicated that Horner seemed very articulate. He was answering all of their questions properly. There was good back and forth conversation. And he did become emotional toward the end of their conversation because he said that, you know, he has a young child of his, his own, so he was basically putting himself in the strands. Foots or foots. That's a word, right?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

Into their shoes.

[Mike]

And he puts into their shoes like we do every single week. You know, it's like you hear these stories about kids and it's just like, man, I can't like.

[Allison]

Right.

[Mike]

It's so devastating.

[Allison]

And he even said to the FBI agent that he just couldn't believe that something like this could have happened. So as their conversation came to an end and Horner was pulling away in his delivery truck, Maguire did see that he struck a tree as he was leaving. So with the information that he provided, an alert that was detailing the screen van was sent out statewide while authorities analyzed cell phone tower data just to see who might have been in the area at the time.

[Mike]

Yeah, you make a huge list. You try to see if any of them are like known offenders and sexual predators and stuff like that.

[Allison]

Of course. So this information also prompted Texas Ranger Job Espinosa to inquire about a potential surveillance footage that the FedEx truck could potentially have. You know, he wasn't sure about that, so he was asking the, the company, big top spin all about that. And they let them know that the truck was actually equipped with cameras that were run by a third party. Vendor known as Velocity.

[Mike]

A lot of different companies involved here. I will Let you know, FedEx, like FedEx doesn't own any of its trucks. They all have that are doing their trucks and they say FedEx on them, but they're not like FedEx trucks.

[Allison]

Yeah.

[Mike]

So that's why sometimes FedEx can't be as reliable as like UPS. Like UPS owns all their own trucks. That's just kind of like a little side note here.

[Allison]

Right. They're dealing with this other vendor, third parties. Exactly. So then the next day, which was Friday, December 2nd, this is two days after Athena vanished. Velocity provided investigators with video from Horner's truck. And it consisted of one minute clips. So these videos depicted Tanner Horner himself, the driver, placing a young girl who was similar in appearance to 7 year old Athena Strand inside the back of his truck.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Allison]

And I will call it a truck versus a van because it's actually considered a box van. But it kind of looks like a truck.

[Mike]

Yeah, whatever.

[Allison]

It's still interchangeably. So now all of a sudden, the person that they're listening to in hopes that he could provide some, you know, potentially good information and he's pointing them in the direction of this Astro van is the person they see on footage putting little Athena in the back of his truck.

[Mike]

I swear the first time I saw this video I had to just check and see if it was AI because I was like, no way can you see a little girl in a delivery truck. And I think that's the. I mean there's so many pieces about this case that are horrible, but when I saw it on social media, I was just like, oh my God, I can't watch this.

[Allison]

Well, it's just that image just sticks in your brain. So after he was brought into the Wise County Sheriff's office that same day and his Miranda rights were read, investigators hope that they might still find Athena alive. The truck he drove during Athena's abduction was not the same truck he had been driving at that point in time when he was detained. So after law enforcement secured the actual one that he was driving on November 30, hoping that maybe Athena was still alive in the truck, they concern that or they confirmed that that was not the case. So when Texas Ranger Espinosa asked Horner, where is Athena? He responded, I can show you. And he went on to say that when he placed the little girl inside of his truck, she was not alive. He claimed that when he had been backing up in the strands driveway, which was only 200 yards from the actual house Itself, he said that he struck Athena with his truck, killing her. But Espinosa knew immediately that this was a lie, because like Mike was referring to, the dash cam videos within the truck depicted Athena uninjured, and she was kneeling on the floor of his van in the doorway that led to the cargo area as he drove. So when now faced with this information, he changed his story and said although he had hit her, she hadn't been badly injured. So since he was scared that she would tell her father what he had done, he. He placed her into the back of his van, fearful that he would lose his job. So digital extraction of his cell phone proved that one day earlier he had done the Google search. Do FedEx cameras constantly record? So during interviews, Horner claimed that he had this alter ego named Zero who took over and had been responsible for killing Athena.

[Mike]

Whatever. How do you like, sit across from this guy and he's like, just keeps on telling lie. Because they lie.

[Allison]

They have to play his game.

[Mike]

They have to, to get more information out.

[Allison]

So after he hit her with his van, he said that he listened to the little voice and decided to grab her. Describing Athena as a sweet kid, saying that he liked her name because he had this interest in mythology. He said that he drove around for a period of time trying to figure out what he should do. And then he went down this private road once again, listening to this little voice.

[Mike]

The answer is bring the girl back home. That's the answer. That's what you should do.

[Allison]

Yeah, unfortunately, he didn't do that. So he described the attack as feeling like a dream or an out of body experience, as if he was in the back seat or the trunk of a car that was being driven by someone else. So during those times, he said that he had no idea what was going on and claimed that there were times when he would wake up and he would know, have no idea even how he got there. He also claimed that if he said too much, Zero might hurt him. So once down this private road, he pulled over, instructing Athena to turn around. And I will tell you, this is violence against a child. This is sensitive information. I understand if you need to skip ahead. So he then placed his hands around her neck and he tried to break it, saying that he wanted to make her death as quick and painless as possible, but unsuccessful. He then reverted to strangling her to death with his bare hands in the back of this van. And then he said he tossed her remains into a bamboo field.

[Mike]

My God, that's so incredibly sad.

[Allison]

So according to Texas Ranger Espinosa. Horner remained relaxed and calm during the interview, showing very little understanding of the seriousness of what he had done, as he voiced frustration over the direction that his life was taking and the fact that he would miss out on his own son's childhood.

[Mike]

It's like, man, you just murdered a child and now you're worried about where your life's headed? It's nowhere. Hopefully nowhere good.

[Allison]

So he was portraying himself as the victim and showing no accountability whatsoever for what he had done. So Horner mentioned that zero came from a tattoo that he had for a Christian metal band. So Espinosa is just, you know, knowing that he made it up based on this. So when he pretended to be zero, Espinosa indicated that his physical demeanor would change. His head moved into a sideways motion while his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

[Mike]

He was physically doing this?

[Allison]

Yes. In front of him, he's doing this. And obviously detectives are sitting there rolling their eyes like, okay, sure.

[Mike]

Okay, here's the next show. Let's see what he does.

[Allison]

But at the same point, noticing that he gave more information when they would play his game and address him as zero, Espinosa continued to do so. And this is how they eventually got accurate location as to where they could find Athena's remains. So he was leading them on a wild goose chase, and they were searching in other locations, but eventually he did direct them. This happened on Friday night, December 2, to CR4668. It was a location in Boyd, Texas, somewhere around nine miles away from the home where Athena had shared with her dad, her stepmom, her sister. And they found Athena's nude remains in waist deep water within the Trinity River. So despite the fact that she was found naked, Horner told Espinosa that he was 98% sure that he hadn't sexually assaulted her.

[Mike]

98%?

[Allison]

Yeah. Of course he's saying that it's not him that's responsible for everything he's doing, because it's zero. And there's times he'll wake up and not know what's happening. You know, he's using this excuse.

[Mike]

Must be so confusing for him.

[Allison]

So he claimed that although she hadn't been wearing shoes at the time that he disposed of her remains, she had been clothed. Horner was then transported back to the sheriff's office that day, and he was charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. So shortly after these charges, he was also charged with three counts of unrelated sexual assault of a child that dated back to 2013 and 2014. So one week after Athena's body was recovered, investigators continued to interview Horner, trying to get more and more information from this Persona that he called Zero. They were specifically asking him about what happened to the young girl's clothing. So he claimed to have stripped her naked and thrown the clothing from the van's window onto the highway. And since it had been Zero who was responsible for killing Athena, he initially assumed that her death had just been a nightmare. But when he found her jeans in his backpack the next day, he said that this is when he realized it had been real. And he claimed that Zero had removed Athena's clothing in order to throw investigators off. So the story about the clothing being thrown out onto the highway was just another lie, as investigators found the majority of Athena's clothes scattered among trash that was behind the shed where Horner was living on his grandmother's property. So while he is living in this trash strewn shed, he is living there with his child's mother and I assume his own child. His grandmother and his brother were living in the main house on the property. So investigators found Athena's jeans that were embroidered with pink flowers on the front pockets. Her underwear and her socks were there as well, but her shirt has never been found. The FedEx shirt and hoodie that he was believed to have been wearing during the crime was also collected. So on December 7, he told investigators that if they allowed him to go home for a month to spend Christmas with his one year old son, he would tell them everything. So of course Espinosa is like, listen, I'm not a DA I can't make decisions like this. So moving forward to a little more than a year later, during an arraignment hearing in March of 2023, despite his confession to police, Horner pleaded not guilty. So after facing delays in 2025 due to jury selection, his capital murder trial finally began on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. So only moments before the trial was set to begin, Horner pleaded guilty to his charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.

[Mike]

Interesting. Was that expected at all? I mean, that's probably a surprise.

[Allison]

Yeah, it was a surprise. So since Texas carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole or the death sentence, rather than deciding if he was guilty or innocent, the jurors would decide if he would spend the rest of his life in prison or if he would be sentenced to death.

[Mike]

Hey, one of the last great things he ever did, hopefully, just to be able to of time and money trying to figure out and having the pain to go through all these different information. Pieces and videos.

[Allison]

Right. And I mean, what an open and shut case. I mean, we have video and audio of the crime itself. So I mean, I'm sure his lawyers were like, dude, you're not going to get out of this.

[Mike]

Yeah, this is 2025, 2026 now. And it's just like, we got you.

[Allison]

Well, the case happened in 2022.

[Mike]

Oh.

[Allison]

So as the prosecution pursued the death penalty, the jury was able to hear testimony from both of Athena's parents, as well as the graphic audio of Athena's sister final moments that happened in Horner's FedEx van. So before the video was shown and the audio was heard, Wise County D A James Statin warned the jury that they would hear what a 250 pound man did to a 67 pound child.

[Mike]

Oh, my God. I would not be able to. I don't know what I would do. Like, if you're, if you're a juror in there, you have to listen to that. Oh my God. I'd be like, it was awful.

[Allison]

And Athena's parents even apologized to the jury that they had to listen to that.

[Mike]

Oh, God, that's the last thing they need to be sorry about that.

[Allison]

Right. So Judge George Gallagher reiterated this point, warning the courtroom that this would be their last chance to leave before the recording was played for the jury. So jurors watched the video that depicted Horner pulling up to the Strand home on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 5:30pm so before he got out of his van, he looked around, and then a few minutes later, he could be seen walking past the van with Athena following closely behind. And as he stood behind the van looking inside, he whispered something to her and he picked her up and put her inside. And then he shut the door. The video made it clear that the story that he'd concocted about accidentally striking her with his van had just been a complete lie. Just another lie.

[Mike]

Big surprise.

[Allison]

So dash cam footage depicted Athena kneeling on the floor of the van while holding onto the sides of the doorway that again led to the cargo area. While audio heard, Athena repeatedly asking him, are you a kidnapper?

[Mike]

Oh my God, that poor baby.

[Allison]

Man, what her last moments must have been like. It's just horrifying.

[Mike]

The reason I couldn't watch it, it's like you just, again, I say it a bunch of times, you want to like reach out and just help them be like, just come on, come out of there.

[Allison]

So when she asked him where they were going, he responded, it doesn't matter. And Twice he instructed her to sit down and be quiet or else he would hurt her. And at this point, he covered the camera inside the truck with a sticky note, but the audio continued. So as he drove off, he asked her various questions, innocuous questions, including how old she was, as well as what her teacher's name was. She answered these questions and she told him that she had a sister. When the truck stopped, he told her to hang on for a minute. After she asked him twice, what are we doing? So the conversation took a sudden turn when he said to her, you're really pretty, you know that? And when he ordered little Athena to take her shirt off, she refused. She was crying and she told him, I want my mom. Soldiers were sobbing, understandably, as they heard the horrifying sounds of banging and choking as Athena screamed and cried for more than an hour.

[Mike]

Oh my God, an hour.

[Allison]

That's more than an hour. This little girl was tortured in the back of that truck. So during the attack, Horner could be heard singing along to Jingle Bell Rock as it played on the radio in the background while he was continuing to scream at her and attack her. So the day after he disposed of Athena's remains, Horner was seen on surveillance from a Love's gas station. He was cleaning the back of his delivery truck. And this is when he finally uncovered the camera inside his van. So the next day, as he struggled to drive past the extensive amount of cars that were lining Athena street, he could also be seen on the truck's camera asking people, what's going on? And this is when he was told that a seven year old girl had been kidnapped. And he could be heard saying, I was wondering what this was all about. Are you serious?

[Mike]

I saw that too. And like just knowing that, that piece of human garbage, no, it knows exactly what was happening. And he was like a great actor. It was like unbelievable. I would have believed everything. Like he's like, oh, I gotta get through. Come on. Yeah, what's going on?

[Allison]

He was getting frustrated that he couldn't pass through. And then I'm watching him with the footage, singing along to the radio, sucking down his Sigs. So two women testified against Horner in regards to the three unrelated sexual assault charges of a child that dated back to 2013. So a now 29 year old woman testified how Horner had sexually assaulted her twice during the summer of 2013 when she was 16 and he was 22. So during both occasions, he had sex with her without her consent. And of course we know she's a minor, regardless of the situation. She can't give consent.

[Mike]

Well, sex without consent is rape, right?

[Allison]

But regardless, her age itself is, you know, you can't say consent. So she said she was intoxicated and falling asleep when it happened. And another woman testified that he raped her in 2014 when she was 16. She said that she was drunk and asleep during the attack and she was in and out of consciousness. And it wasn't until the next day when he touched her that the incident came flooding back to her.

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[Allison]

so the medical examiner, Dr. Jessica Dwyer, testified that the multiple lacerations and contusions that were inflicted to Athena's body had been done all while she was still alive. There was a tread like pattern on her face as well as a great light pat. Great. Excuse me. Great like pattern of injuries on her jaw that matched the pattern that was on the van's floor. She also had bite marks on her tongue. The injuries occurred from multiple impacts that were consistent with someone pressing down on her body with their foot rather than from a stopping stomping motion. And other than her right arm, there wasn't a single area on Athena's body that hadn't been injured.

[Mike]

What a monster. What a monster. God, if there's anybody out there that ever deserves, like, not to breathe again, it's this guy.

[Allison]

So Dr. Dwyer went on to say that in addition to the injuries to Athena's head, her neck, her trunk and extremities, there was evidence of smothering and strangulation. So her official cause of death was determined to be a result of blunt force injuries as well as Smothering and strangulation. So Dr. Dwyer testified that there were no signs of trauma to the little girl's genital genitalia, while she verified that the lack of visible trauma didn't mean that a sexual assault hadn't occurred. Jacqueline Ferreira, who's a forensic analyst for the Texas Department of Public Safety, Garland Crime Lab, testified about the results of the sexual assault kit that was performed on Athena after her death. Male DNA was found on the vaginal and anal swabs, but it couldn't be determined if it was blood, saliva, skin, or semen.

[Mike]

Gross.

[Allison]

She also testified that blood and semen were detected on Horner's FedEx shirt, while blood was also found on Athena's jeans as well as under her fingernails, which proved that this little girl had fought for her life.

[Mike]

Yeah, what a. Like a possible hero, you know? I mean, just what a queen that she was. What? Just like the princess that she's always been trying to be, right? And just taken away from us. It's just so horrible.

[Allison]

It's devastating. So evidence shown to jurors included photos of the river where Athena's body was recovered, as well as a long hair that was found in Horner's underwear. So the prosecution told the jury that Horner fully intended to kidnap and kill Athena that day. They supported this based on the fact that he had covered the camera lens in his van at least three times during the week of her abduction. Just one day before Athena's abduction, Horner covered the camera before a Nov. 29, 2022, delivery of to a family that had two young daughters that lived on the same road as Athena's family.

[Mike]

So he covered it while he was visiting. So he had some plans.

[Allison]

He had plans, yes. So just one day before Athena was abducted, he knew he was making a delivery to a house that had two young girls. So he preemptively covered his camera.

[Mike]

So it could have been one of them. Had he seen that? Oh, my God.

[Allison]

Had they been out? Yes.

[Mike]

Could you imagine being that family and hearing that be like, our babies could

[Allison]

be gone a hundred percent.

[Mike]

Oh, God.

[Allison]

So during Athena's abduction the following day, Horner covered the front facing camera about an hour before arriving to Athena's home. But he did not cover the camera that showed the inside of the truck until moments after he abducted her.

[Mike]

Thank God he's a complete idiot.

[Allison]

So prosecutors told jurors about the five handwritten letters that had been found in Horner's jail cell after an attempted suicide month. Excuse me. Months after Athena's death, that were written to Athena's family, his own family, his fiance, his church, as well as detectives. So in the note to Athena's family, he apologized that he had allowed his mental state to be unstable, writing that he is on the autism spectrum. And because his route had been different on the day that he kidnapped her, it caused him to have a meltdown.

[Mike]

Yeah, excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses for days. You got your deliveries done, didn't you?

[Allison]

So in a separate letter that was addressed to detectives, here we are with another lie. He blamed a stranger now for Athena's murder. He said that when he pulled onto her property, a man pulled a rifle on him and demanded his wallet.

[Mike]

Right.

[Allison]

And he ordered him to take the girl and to bring her to a specific spot. He went on to write that it seemed like she knew him and it kind of freaked him out. So Athena's mother, Maitland Gandy, had dyed her hair pink in honor of her daughter's favorite color. And when she took the stand, she told jurors about who her daughter had been in life. She really wanted Athena's spirit to be known, not just the description of what happened to her and how her life had come to an end. And she described her daughter as a happy, girly girl who just loved playing outside, spending time with her dad. She was a little girl that truly loved life. She was just full of joy. So Maitland, who lives in Oklahoma, co parented her daughter with Jacob, making it work for the sake of their child's happiness and her stability. She discussed how, after learning that her daughter was missing, she immediately jumped in her car and rushed to Texas, making the normally two hour drive in somewhere around 45 minutes. She also described seeing Athena's body for the first time two days after her remains were found, noticing the handprint bruises around her precious little girl's neck. And it sounds like Maitland did her daughter's makeup for the funeral. And she didn't want Jacob to see his daughter that way. So he got her. She got her ready. Something that a mother should never have to do.

[Mike]

God, no. That's. I don't know how she did that.

[Allison]

I. This is the strength of this woman. So Maitland expressed the importance of people remembering her daughter for who she was, like I said, rather than what happened to her. So when Athena's father, Jacob Strand, took the stand, he spoke about the guilt that weighed him down each and every day since his daughter was taken from them, believing that he failed her because he hadn't been there to protect her. And in the aftermath, he turned to alcohol to cope with the crushing grief, something that ultimately caused his marriage to fall apart. He couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep. He lost about £50. And since her. His daughter's death, Jacob's other daughter attended therapy in order to cope with the loss and to deal with the nightmares that her little sister was taken from their driveway. It's everyone's worst nightmare. So the prosecution rested its case on the eighth day of the trial on Thursday, April 16, 2026. The judge and attorneys on both sides then met without the jury's presence before the defense began presenting its case on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, with the goal of avoiding the death penalty. So the defense began by calling several character witnesses to the stand, including friends, co workers, and a former employee's. You know, they all wanted Horner, you know, his, his character to be brought up about his difficult upbringing and his physical health.

[Mike]

Man, how do you talk? If somebody mentioned him to me and they'd be like, you want to come in defense of this guy? I'd be like, no way in hell. Like, I guess you can just tell the truth. Be like, yeah, I guess he showed up on time, but like, even that, I'd be like, anything to help this guy. I'm out.

[Allison]

They were just being factual about it, man. So they each characterized Horner as a socially awkward, anxious, and emotionally immature mature person, but a generally kind 9 non violent person. So everyone depicted him like they couldn't believe he had done what he did. They said that if anything, he was prone to directing distress inward rather than outward. If he would get upset as a child, he would hit himself in the head, but never was he striking out to anyone else. So during his opening remarks, defense attorney Stephen Goble said that Horner was raised by his grandmother because his parents had severe issues with substance abuse. They had been in and out of prison. I mean, there's no arguing that this guy's childhood was awful.

[Mike]

Yeah, it doesn't give him any kind of excuse.

[Allison]

So when his mother, Melissa, testified she admitted to drinking alcohol heavily and using drugs, any drugs that she could get her hands on. Up until she was eight and a half weeks pregnant with Horner, she said she continued to smoke cigarettes and marijuana throughout her pregnancy.

[Mike]

Congratulations, mom, you raised a murderer.

[Allison]

And there was a expert that testified that the first trimester is crucial in avoiding alcohol and drugs and how that could have affected him.

[Mike]

Sure, that's when they're growing, you know, a lot of things are happening.

[Allison]

So she described her own troubled upbringing that involved ongoing struggles with addiction, saying that she dropped out of high school around ninth grade. And Melissa met Horner's father, Terry, when she was 17 and he was 29. And on the very night that she met him, he raped her after knocking her unconscious.

[Mike]

Jeepers, that's crazy.

[Allison]

And in spite of the beating and the rape, she continued seeing him. And they went on to get married. And I. I mean, his own sister testified about what a horrible human being her brother was. She said that he didn't hit her again until she decided to leave him. But then they divorced, and then they got remarried again, and Terry was killed in a motorcycle accident two years previously. So, noticing early on that her son was different from others, Horner went through a rigorous six week testing period, which was when he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. This is a formerly used diagnosis that is now classified as part of the autism spectrum. He also suffered from other mental illnesses, some of which were ongoing receiving special services throughout his life. So when Horner's paternal aunt took the stand, she described her nephew's family as one that would was plagued by drug addiction, while Horner and his younger brother were raised within filthy living conditions with very little stability whatsoever. Horner's grandmother Jackie, who consistently cared for him during his childhood, was stunned when she learned what her grandson had done. And after hearing about missing Athena, she called Horner because she knew that he drove that route. And she said, you know, you really need to keep an eye out for this little girl. And he gave her some sort of generic response, not involving, you know, admitting to his involvement. And I will tell you, too, his mom was very outspoken about how disgusted and shocked she was about what he did. And she's like, I love my son. I don't love the person who did this. Yeah. So an expert witness testified that when he measured Horner's bones for lead, which I found interesting, that they would even check to see if he had exposed. Been exposed to lead.

[Mike]

Maybe his age. I mean, he wasn't that old, right?

[Allison]

Oh, no, he was 31 when he did this.

[Mike]

I don't know.

[Allison]

So he found them to be 24 times higher than the average person of his age. So this indicated that.

[Mike]

Yeah, okay.

[Allison]

This indicated that he had been exposed to significant lead as a child, which could lead to neurological issues. Family members testified that he had this tendency of swallowing coins as a child. And, you know, current coins don't have lead, but, you know, back in the day.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

So Dr. Amy Fritz, who's a speech language pathologist, she evaluated Horner in jail to analyze how autism impacts his social communication. And when she tested him in social pragmatic communication, she indicated that he, his testing had been one of the worst, if not the worst, evaluation she had ever given. Meaning he struggled deeply with social appropriateness. One example she gave was that while they were interacting, a person in another room could be heard, like kind of quietly sneezing because obviously it's through a wall and he's sitting there and he says, oh, God bless you. You know, typically we wouldn't say God bless you to someone who's not in the same room. But that was just an example she gave.

[Mike]

And you can't hear you, probably, right?

[Allison]

No, this person wouldn't be able to hear him. So he also lacked empathy and he had difficulty expressing his emotions. But she did go on to say that the violence that was captured on the video during Athena's abduction and murder was not at all consistent with the person that she interviewed. Another speech language pathologist, identified as Beth, had worked with Horner on speech and behavioral management 20 years ago. So it sounds like it happened when he was in the six week, rigorous, you know, evaluation process. She described him as a child who struggled significantly with social cues. And I guess he struggled deeply in school. He was often bullied, he had very few friends. He struggled with boundaries as well as changes to his routine, which is what was voiced about this whole FedEx route because it was Christmas time. They did have varying routes and he was struggling with these changes.

[Mike]

It's kind of the business, right?

[Allison]

Right. So he struggled to identify others emotions, and he couldn't differentiate between teasing and bullying. She was, however, emphatic that his diagnosis did not at all excuse or justify this murder, but that he should have never been in that FedEx truck by himself. So when his fifth grade teacher took the stand, she recalled him being newly diagnosed at the time with autism. And she described him as a very pleasant student who had no behavioral issues. And he had been able to remain in standard classes. But his diagnosis required him to spend half of his day in behavioral improvement classes. He did struggle with peer relationship temper tantrums, but he didn't ever display any kind of physical aggression. Psychiatrist Dr. Eileen Ryan, who evaluated Horner while in jail, told the jury that Horner meets the diagnostic criteria for both autism spectrum disorder as well as neurodevelopmental disorder related to fetal alcohol disorder. So he also meets the diagnosis for major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, as well as a severe form of ADHD that could be related to his prenatal exposure to alcohol that affects the fetus's frontal lobe. And this could explain why he had this tendency of, you know, consuming coins as a child. However, she did go on to say that none of these diagnoses would have prevented him from knowing the difference between

[Mike]

right and wrong, which is the important thing here.

[Allison]

Right. So according to Dr. Ryan, at the time of Athena's murder, Horner had been using cocaine as well as bang energy drinks, which contain 300 milligrams of caffeine, in order to stay awake in the midst of his struggles with depression.

[Mike]

Geez, that's a lot of uppers.

[Allison]

Right? And he told her that. Now he's changing his story yet again. So he's telling her that he picked Athena up and put her in the back of his truck after she saw him snorting cocaine.

[Mike]

Sure, Whatever he says, who cares?

[Allison]

And also, a 7 year old wouldn't really know what cocaine was.

[Mike]

Right?

[Allison]

You know, so obviously this is a very different story from what he told investigators. Because he feared that he would lose his job, he abducted and murdered her. However, Dr. Ryan admitted that she didn't have proof that this was the truth. You know, there was no proof that he had cocaine in that van with him.

[Mike]

He's just like pulling things out of thin air.

[Allison]

Take it for what you will. So during her multiple interviews with Horner, he told her about how, as a child, he had been sexually assaulted by a neighbor. He told her that after his attempts to break Athena's neck and strangle her, he punched and kicked her in the head. He initially denied sexually assaulting Athena. I'm giving you a little bit warning here. I go into a little bit of detail about what happened, but he later admitted that he exposed himself to the little girl and he attempted to masturbate, but he hadn't been able to get an erection. There were also questions about him forcing her to perform oral sex on him. Regardless, she concluded that the sexual assault and the murder had not been his original intent, which is in direct contrast to what detectives believe based on the fact that he had been covering cameras before even arriving to various homes.

[Mike]

Well, what are they saying? That he just wanted to take a little girl? Not necessarily anything sexual?

[Allison]

No, they're not saying that at all. They're saying that was his motive, and she's saying, no, he did it because she. He was doing cocaine.

[Mike]

Yeah. Okay.

[Allison]

So Dr. Ryan also testified that although he admitted to sexually assaulting Athena, in addition to these allegations that he raped two 16 year old girls in 2013 and 2014 when he had been over age, in his 20s. It was her opinion that he does not show a pattern required for a diagnosis of pedophilia. She also believes that he was. He would present a low risk of future violence while in prison.

[Mike]

How is that even possible?

[Allison]

About the pedophilia?

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean, he just. Just took a little girl, a first grader, and just did horrible things with her. Something, some. Some kind of 100.

[Allison]

He did something. And I was curious about that myself, so I looked it up. And according to the MSD manual, pedophilic disorder is characterized by recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviors involving prepubescent children who are generally 13 years old or younger. So Dr. Ryan also said that he made up his alternate. Excuse me, alternate identity, zero. Just like the detectives had said. This is all a bunch of crap just to distance himself from the horrificness of what he had done. And Dr. Eric Imhoff, which is a forensic psychologist, he agreed with this. He found absolutely no evidence for multiple personality disorder. So zero is a complete farce. On Monday morning, May 4th, the defense rested their case. And on Tuesday morning, May 5th, sentencing. Excuse me. Closing arguments began at about 9:00am before the jury would start their deliberations. So after about four hours of deliberations, jurors returned with a verdict. On Tuesday, May 5, sentencing, Tanner Horner to death.

[Mike]

Good. The only. The only thing I don't like about death is that it costs taxpayers quite a bit of money. But, man, this guy does not deserve to spend one extra second on earth. Unfortunately. He's probably going to spend years, right?

[Allison]

And I mean, honestly, I would have been fine with either. Either one, Spend the rest of your life in prison or death, whatever. The point is, this man can no longer harm another child.

[Mike]

Yeah, but the quicker the better. Like, let's get rid of him. Like, he is useless. He's just. Just somebody that needs to be wiped off the earth completely. I think if we could just poll and get like, you know, 80 to 90% of people to agree to this, which I'm sure 95% agree, let's just get rid of them.

[Allison]

And I know you had said it cost so much more money because of all the, you know, appeals and things like that, but some, like in a case like this where there is audio and video of everything, like, what is the question here?

[Mike]

Well, it's kind of the same thing as looking at that book. It's like, well, according to the book, he's not a pedophile. It's like, yeah, but what about what just happened. I mean, he just did this to a little girl. So he's a pedophile. Let's throw the book out the window.

[Allison]

I don't care what he is. I don't care if he's a pedophile or not. What he did to Athena, they. He was sentenced to death. So what are we going to wait for? Why is this going to take years?

[Mike]

And similar to the death penalty, like, we know it, like, I get why we want to have appeals for somebody that may not have done it. This guy is on camera.

[Allison]

This is an open and shut camera or camera case that has footage of everything and audio of everything.

[Mike]

So really what you got to do is take him from the courtroom into the back room and just kind of have somebody put a gun to his head and like, just be like, all right, well, next.

[Allison]

And you know, and I know that's controversial. Some people are for it and some people aren't, but I think we can all agree that this man should never, ever walk.

[Mike]

Maybe electricity, maybe in a. Like, drown them. I don't know. Who cares? Like, let's put him in the middle of a thing and let people stone him, you know?

[Allison]

So as Athena's uncle shared his last memories of her and discussed the toll that Horner's actions have taken on her family, after the sentencing was announced, people in the courtroom could be heard crying. He went on to say that he robbed them of their safety, their peace and their trust in this world, forever changing who they are as a family. Saying, you didn't just take a life, you destroyed a family. You took a little girl who trusted the world and repaid that innocence with violence. Horner was then handcuffed and he was taken from the courtroom. And in Texas, a death sentence is automatically reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeals.

[Mike]

Yep, reviewed, approved.

[Allison]

While this, the state of Texas does have the second highest execution rate in the country with more than 165 people that are on death row.

[Mike]

Like, let's get them them done this year. You know, let's. Let's put them in the front of the line.

[Allison]

So after Athena Strand's docs. Excuse me, death. Texas legislators passed a new bill that created a version of an Amber Alert known as the Athena Alert. This will allow authorities to issue an Amber Alert for missing children. That doesn't meet all the initial criteria. And under the new law, an Amber Alert can still go out, even though authorities haven't confirmed that the missing child was kidnapped. Kidnapped. The alert will be sent to a 100 mile radius around the disappearance in adjacent counties. It is not a new type of alert and all alert messages will still be referenced as an Amber alert. So since their daughter's murder, Maitland Gandy and Jacob Strand have each filed wrongful death lawsuits against Big Topspin, who is the contracting company that hired Tanner Horner as well as FedEx himself.

[Mike]

Sure.

[Allison]

So it calls into question how drivers like Horner are hired, trained and supervised. It's about preventing billion dollar organizations from avoiding liability by using contractors rather than acknowledging the responsibility they have. When we trust these people to come onto our property, onto our doorsteps, sometimes even inside of our homes. It's Maitland's mission that what happened to Athena because she knows it's too late for her daughter, but she wants to help other families. And she sets said even if I could save one child from harm, I will have met my mission. 7 year old Athena Strand's abduction and murder is an example of why parents are so scared, why they're unwilling to allow their children to play outside unsupervised. Athena lived on her parents rural property. Just 20 minutes earlier, she was doing a mundane task. Her stepmom asked her to sort through laundry and then she was gone in the blink of an eye. All because a FedEx truck pulled up on her property to drop off her Barbie Christmas present. Ashley Strand left to do something so simple, something parents do all the time to sort laundry. In less than 30 minutes later, little Athena was gone.

[Mike]

Not like she left her in the middle of the mall or something, like at her home.

[Allison]

At her home. Standard stuff on a large rural property. She was taken by a predator in her own driveway while she played outside. And that is a sad and tragic case of the murder of Athena Strand.

[Mike]

So absolutely devastating. And thank you for putting all this research together. And it's just so important for parents and uncles and aunts and just anybody to be able to learn these horrible stories so that hopefully, you know, like her mother Maitland said, at least one kid can be saved. And we'll never know about those kids, which I'm more than happy about. I hope we never have.

[Allison]

We don't want to hear about it because that means nothing's happening. But I'm telling you, I'm looking at FedEx trucks a whole lot differently after doing the research on this case.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

You know, because it's true. These people approach our door, we open our doors to them.

[Mike]

We sign things every single day, man. It's like, you know, like one of our kid. When our kids were young, they got used to like Amazon packages coming I'm like, hold on, hold on. You don't go answer the door to an Amazon because this is some random dude. Like, it's. It's always a dude, you know, Those are the ones we're worried about, obviously, but just.

[Allison]

It could be anybody, you know, Maitland's point is that These trucks have FedEx along the sign. We don't care. The side, I should say. We don't care who. Big top spinners or whatever that is. It's FedEx's face. Like, you know, they need to be reliable or, you know what I'm trying to say.

[Mike]

It's ultimately, they're the corporate owner.

[Allison]

They're the. They're the people running the show. But the point is, it's not just big top spin, but they're, of course, the ones that hired him. Them. But ultimately FedEx is the face. So they both need to be held responsible.

[Mike]

Yeah. Because the only way to make things change in America is by hurt somebody financially. So, yeah, hit FedEx with the largest possible fine, man through 500 million. Who cares?

[Allison]

And obviously, that will never bring little Athena back. But again, what am I saying?

[Mike]

Changing things like proper background checks and things. And somebody who raped the people in 2013 and 2014.

[Allison]

Now, at the time, though, the, these, these women didn't come forward. And they do say that they are so remorseful that they hadn't come forward. But, you know, people who have been sexually assaulted, I can't throw any kind of shade at them for, you know, the trauma that happened in their past.

[Mike]

Well, what, what was, what was FedEx supposed to do in this scenario?

[Allison]

I mean, you know, it's like they're talking to these experts, like the woman who evaluated him when he was a child. And they. She said, you know, this man had no business being in this truck by himself.

[Mike]

Yeah. And I know she said that, but like, we can say that now, obviously. But.

[Allison]

But like, his boss admitted that he would get very frazzled if things got changed on him.

[Mike]

But that's not a reason to, like,

[Allison]

fire, you know, It's. It's. It's difficult.

[Mike]

Yeah. I don't know what they would have done.

[Allison]

But again, every single person that testified against or for him, I should say, they said, never, ever did he display any kind of violent tendencies. If he was ever going to act out, he would hurt himself rather than somebody else. So nobody could believe that he did this.

[Mike]

And I will say, out of the hundreds of horrible, horrible stories that you. You've told us, this doesn't really kind of add up like he didn't have this kind of. I mean he had a horrible upbringing.

[Allison]

Which hor. Horrible upbringing. There's no denying that. But the point is, is that he knew what he was doing when he, he had post it notes and he was putting them on the camera before delivering to houses with young children. He was on the hunt for a child. It just so happened to be little Athena. That was playing out on the driveway when he delivered her Christmas present to her. Her. It's just so, so sad. And if you haven't seen the photo of sweet little Athena alive and well, kneeling in his truck, it's, it's heartbreaking because she's still alive in that picture and you know what's going to happen to her and it's devastating. And our hearts go out to anyone who knew and loved Athena. It's just there's, I mean, what do you say about something so awful?

[Mike]

Yeah. And we'll, we'll have all that stuff in our YouTube video. So. Just horrible. So sorry for Athena and God bless that little baby.

[Allison]

But you know, take it what you will. I know a lot of people don't necessarily agree with the death sentence. All I'm saying is I'm just glad that this man will never be free again.

[Mike]

We can all agree on that.

[Allison]

So thank you guys so much for being here, for listening. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you are looking for additional episodes, I always want to call our episodes recipes. Isn't that weird?

[Mike]

If you want more recipes.

[Allison]

If you want more recipes, we have you covered. It's spicy, it's dark. But every Wednesday we do come out with a new episode and we just thank you and we hope you guys have a great week. And until next time, bye. Honestly, I put off building a website way longer than I should have. Then I tried Wix Harmony and it was way easier than I expected. I just described what I wanted and I had an incredible looking website. The best part, I could change anything myself or ask my AI agent for help. Help. I had everything my business needed right there. So if you've been procrastinating, this is your sign. Start building a website for [e-mail] Harmony

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