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Hi listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson. Real quick, before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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This is Crime House.
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Good morning everyone. We have multiple breaking true crime cases this morning that you need to know about. And we're starting with the biggest one. The jury that sat through weeks of gut wrenching testimony in the Athena Strand murder trial is now one step closer to deciding whether the man who killed her will live or die. The defense rested its case Monday. This is crime house 24 7, your non stop source for the biggest crime cases developing right now. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Vanessa Richardson and we have quite a lineup for you today. Here's what you need to know. Lately I've been trying to take the stress out of getting dressed. Just focusing on pieces that feel easy, comfortable and still put together without a lot of effort. That's really what's been pulling me toward Quince. Their stuff just fits that effortless everyday vibe. I love their fabrics, linens, cottons, cashmere. They're all the highest quality and they feel so good. 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Quint.com crimehouse24 7 We start in Fort Worth, Texas where a significant milestone was reached on Monday, May 4th in the punishment trial of Tanner Lynn Horner, the 35 year old former contract delivery driver who pleaded guilty to the capital murder of 7 year old Athena Strand back in November of 2022. Monday, the defense rested. That means both sides have now presented their cases and the jury will soon begin deliberating one of the most consequential questions in criminal law, life in prison without parole or death. Let's take a step back for those of you who are just catching up. On November 30, 2022, seven year old Athena Strand was at her home in Wise County, Texas. She'd gone to school that day, had a typical first grade afternoon and came home to sort laundry in a converted storage shed that served as her and her sister' bedroom. At approximately 6:41 that evening, her stepmother, Elizabeth Strand called 911 because she couldn't find her. By the time the search was over, Athena's body had been pulled from a Creek near Bobo's Crossing, roughly 12 to 13 miles from her home. Investigators quickly zeroed in on a FedEx delivery. A package had been dropped at the Strand home that afternoon, delivered by a driver working through a company contracted by FedEx called Big Top Spin. That driver was Tanner Horner. Footage from inside his delivery van showed a small child in the vehicle. When authorities located Horner, he admitted that Athena was dead. According to his initial account to investigators, Horner said he had accidentally struck the girl with his van. She wasn't seriously injured, he said, but he panicked, fearing she would tell her father and he'd lose his job. He then made the decision to kill her. When his first attempt failed, he strangled her with his bare hands in the back of the van. Her body was ultimately found face down and unclothed in the water. Trial began on April 7th of this year when Horner's attorneys expected to stand before a jury and argue the facts of the case. Instead, as jurors took their seats, Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. The trial moved immediately into the punishment phase and it's been running for 16 court days since. What jurors have heard in that time is difficult to overstate. On day eight, the prosecution played audio and video captured inside Horner's FedEx van. According to multiple outlets covering the trial. Jurors could hear Athena talking to Horner about her school and her teacher before the situation turned violent. Screaming and struggling could be heard for over an hour. Multiple jurors were seen openly weeping. Horner reportedly looked away from the screen. The state also presented Athena's mother, Maitland Gandy, who described her daughter's final days and the moment she learned her little girl was gone. Athena's father, Jacob Strand, testified about the Barbie dolls in the FedEx box that had been meant for her as a Christmas gift. Two women also came forward during the guilt phase to testify that Horner had sexually assaulted them as teenagers years before the Strand case. And forensic analysts testified that male DNA was found on Athena following her death. A forensic pathologist determined her cause of death to be blunt force injuries combined with smothering and strangulation. The defense, meanwhile, has spent building an argument that Horner's life should be spared. His attorneys have called family members, mental health experts, educators, neurologists and forensic psychologists to the stand one after another to paint a picture of a man shaped by trauma, poverty and neurological impairment. What emerged from that testimony is a childhood that was, by any measure, deeply troubled. Horner's mother testified that she drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes and used drugs during her pregnancy. Horner's father spent the overwhelming majority of his adult life in prison. Horner was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome as a child, a diagnosis that today falls under the broader category of autism spectrum disorder. He was bullied, socially isolated and struggled to form relationships throughout his school years. Medical experts testified that Horner's lead exposure as a child was 24 times higher than normal levels, a figure that some studies have linked to increased risk of criminal behavior in adulthood due to neurological damage. Experts also ident identified signs of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and Horner Carey's diagnoses of bipolar disorder, PTSD, ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder. A forensic psychiatrist who spent 18 hours interviewing Horner in jail testified that he eventually told her he had made the decision to abduct Athena because he believed she had seen him snorting cocaine during the delivery and feared she would tell her father. She described his thought process as snowballing, one panicked decision leading to an irreversible one. She testified that he knew what he had done was wrong and experienced deep shame, particularly around what happened to Athena in the van. Throughout the trial, jurors also heard about an alter ego Horner called Zero, which he claimed took over during the crime. Investigators were ultimately able to get accurate information about Athena's location by speaking directly to Zero during interrogations. Most experts who testified, however, said they do not believe Horner has multiple personality disorder or dissociative association. They described Zero as a tool, a narrative device, rather than a clinical symptom. Horner's grandmother, Jackie, testified last week offering a raw account of generational family trauma that included addiction, abuse, suicide and poverty. She expressed love for her grandson while simultaneously acknowledging he understands right from wrong and that what he did was unforgivable. She turned to Athena's family during her testimony and apologized directly to them. She On Monday, the final defense witness was Dr. Jolie Brams, a child development expert who testified about how Horner's compounding neurological deficits combined with an unpredictable and neglectful home environment put him on a trajectory that was, in her assessment, preventable with early intervention. During cross examination, the prosecution challenged her on whether any of those factors changed what happened to Athena. She made clear they did not. With the defense resting today, the jury in Fort Worth will soon begin deliberation on punishment. Horner faces either death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Texas law requires jurors to be unanimous in their decision. We'll continue to follow this case as it moves toward a verdict. And while a Texas jury prepares to decide the fate of one man, investigators in Alabama are still trying to piece together the full picture behind a triple murder that left a community shaken and an 18 month old as the only survivor. Inside a home where her mother, her pregnant older sister and her 12 year old uncle were all found dead. A suspect has now been arrested and the details coming out of that case are every bit as disturbing as the crime itself.
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to Wilmer, Alabama, a small community in Mobile county where a suspect is now in custody following one of the most disturbing home invasion murders that area has seen in recent memory. The crime was discovered in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 20, 2026. Mobile County Sheriff's deputies responded to a home in Wilmer just after 2:30 in the morning. What they found inside, in three separate rooms were the bodies of three people all bound with their hands tied behind their backs. The victims were 46 year old Lisa Gail Fields, her 17 year old daughter Keziah Ariana Luker, who was seven or months pregnant at the time of her death, and 12 year old Thomas Cordell Jr. Each victim had been killed in a different manner. Lisa Fields was stabbed. Keziah Luker was shot. Thomas Cordell Jr. Had his throat cut in what authorities described as a near decapitation. Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch publicly called the scene brutal and noted the home had been left in significant disarray. Keziah's unborn child also died as a result of her death. There was, however, one survivor. Keziah's 18 month old child was found alive and unharmed inside the home. The discovery itself came about through an act of concern across distance. Keziah's boyfriend, the father of her unborn baby, works offshore. He noticed activity on her Life360 location sharing app and became alarmed when he couldn't reach her by phone. He asked a family member to go check on the household. That family member is the one who found the three bodies and called for help. In the days after the murders, investigators acknowledged publicly that they believed more than one person had been involved in the killings. The use of zip ties and flex cuffs to restrain three victims simultaneously suggested coordination, the kind of planning that implied multiple perpetrators were present. Then on April 29, nine days after the murders, Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch announced an arrest. William Graham Oliver Oliver, 54, was charged with eight counts of capital murder. He was booked into the Mobile county jail on Tuesday, April 29. According to Sheriff Burch, Oliver had known the family for quite some time. He's believed to have been inside the home the night before the bodies were found, and authorities say they've identified both what he was allegedly looking for and his motive. However, investigators have declined to release those details publicly at this time, citing the ongoing investigation and presumably to protect the integrity of any future prosecution. Burch described the case against Oliver as based on a tight timeline and solid circumstantial evidence and said investigators feel confident they have the right man. Jail records also show that Oliver has a prior criminal history, including a charge of first degree theft of property in 2020 and other arrests dating back to 1990. It's worth noting that at the time of the arrest announcement, investigators had not confirmed whether additional suspects had been identified in connection with the kill. The initial assessment that more than one person was involved has not been fully resolved in public statements, which may mean the investigation remains active on that front. Oliver now faces eight counts of capital murder in Alabama. That charge carries the possibility of a death sentence. He has not yet entered a plea in the case. As for the family left behind, a community is grieving. Three victims across multiple generations. A mother, her daughter and her 12 year old son, all taken from the same home in a single night. Kaziah's baby, found unharmed among the devastation, survived. The investigation continues.
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If you like your true crime, like you like your coffee, Red Handed is the podcast for you. It's dark, intense and might just keep you up all night. I'm Hannah. I'm so and every week on Red Handed, we break down a different fascinating case. From the most recent US Trials everyone is obsessing over, like Brendan Banfield, Karen Reid and Ellen Greenberg, to the most unbelievable stories from around the world. There's nothing we love more than digging into every detail of the cases we cover, getting beyond a basic analysis and cutting to the heart of the story. Red handed has over 400 episodes ready to binge right now. Plus be sure to check out our weekly sister show Shorthand, where we unpack everything from the Black death to Area 51. If you're looking for smart, detailed true crime with personality, check out Red Handed. Wherever you get your podcasts.
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Okay, before I let you go, you know we can't end without giving you a little something extra. Over on America's Most Infamous Crimes. Today, Katie is covering part one of a three part series of Scott and Lacey Peterson. When Scott Peterson met amber fry in November 2002, he told her he was a widower. His wife, Lacey, was eight months pregnant and very much alive. From the earliest red flags in Scott's life to the affairs he hid and the lies he told, this is the story of a marriage that looked perfect from the outside and was already unraveling from within. We grabbed a clip from today's episode. Take a listen and if you like what you hear, don't forget to follow America's Most Infamous Crimes.
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This is the story of Lacy Peterson, her life, her disappearance, and her murder. But to really understand what happened to her, we first need to know the story of the man who came to define both her life and her death. Scott Peterson was born on October 24, 1972, in San Diego, California. He came from a blended family. His dad, Lee, owned a crepe packaging company, and his mom, Jackie, ran a clothing boutique in La Jolla called the Put On On. Between them, Lee and Jackie had six kids from previous marriages. Scott was the only one they had together, the baby of a big family. And in a lot of ways, it showed. Now, there's nothing earth shattering about parents babying the youngest kid. Any older sibling will happily tell you that their little brother or sister had it easier. But with Scott, his home life may have been a little too comfortable. The Petersons weren't exactly swimming in money. They lived in a small two bedroom apartment, and Scott shared a room with his half brother, John. But his parents gave him everything they could. Lee Peterson had grown up poor in Minnesota and was determined to give Scott the kind of childhood he never had. Jackie doted on him as well. So when Scott found a hobby he was into, they let him go all in on it. And for Scott, that hobby was golf. His parents started bringing him along to the Stardust Country Club in San Diego when he was still in elementary school.
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School.
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By the time Scott was 14, he was better than Lee. Golf became his whole identity, to the point where Scott thought he had what it took to go pro. And by the time he graduated from the University of San Diego High School, he was one of the top junior golfers in the area, good enough to land a partial scholarship to Arizona State University. His coach called him a popular teammate and a leader. But at least one of his teammates had a different take. He thought Scott was full of himself and that he bragged constantly about how much better he was than everybody else. One of his high school classmates, by the way, was Phil Mickelson, who actually did become a professional golfer. So maybe Scott's confidence was a little misplaced. And almost immediately at asu, he proved that when Scott got to college, he seemed to like partying more than working on his game. One night, he took a visiting high school golf recruit out to a party and the kid got wasted. His dad found out, called the coach, and just like that, Scott was off of the team before the season even started, scholarship and all. Now, to his credit, he did seem to learn from it. After losing his spot at Arizona State, Scott transferred to Cuesta College, a community college in San Luis Obispo, California, and worked three jobs while playing on their golf team for the next two years. Once he found his footing, he enrolled at California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly, in the same town. He finally seemed ready to leave golf behind and buckled down by majoring in agricultural business. At least one professor described him as a model student. He was studying hard and working at a restaurant about 20 minutes from the campus called Pacific Cafe, a little spot in the coastal town of Morro Bay. And it was there, in 1994, that his life collided with a 19 year old name named Lacey Rocha. Lacey was also a student at Cal Poly. And before I keep going with the story, let me tell you a little more about her. Lacey was born on May 4, 1975, to Sharon and Dennis Rocha. They'd met in high school and owned a dairy farm together just west of Escalon, a small town in California's Central Valley. Lacey had an older brother, Brent, and from a young age, both kids worked the farm. It wasn't glamorous, but it gave Lacey something she'd carry with her the rest of her life. A genuine love of the outdoors, of getting her hands in the dirt, of growing things. Her parents divorced in 1977 when Lacey was just two. Sharon took the kids and moved to the city of Modesto. But Lacey and Brent still spent weekends at their dad's ranch. During the week, Lacey gardened with her mom. That became their thing, this quiet ritual they shared. On weekends, she'd explore the wide open farmland with her dad. It was a split life, but Lacey seemed to draw something good from both sides. Her mom started dating a man named Ron Gransky not long after the divorce, and Ron stepped into a parental role. He helped raise both kids from the time Lacey was a toddler. He even had a nickname for her, Jabberjaws, because this girl never stopped talking. And honestly, that tracks with everything people have to say about her. Her Lacey was charming, outgoing and full of energy. She was a cheerleader in junior high and high school and played softball as well. She was honest, sometimes too honest. And she had this quality where if you were in a room with her, you knew it. She wasn't mean spirited, but she was absolutely her own person. And if you didn't like that, well, Lacey had plenty of other friends who did. Her mom, Sharon would later say that even as a baby, Lacey was like that. That she said. Lacey started sleeping through the night almost right away. And every morning when Sharon went to get her out of the crib, she'd wake up with a smile on her face. By the time she got to Thomas Downey High School in Modesto. Lacey was definitely one of the popular girls. At 15, she got her first serious boyfriend, a guy named Kent Gain. They stayed together even after Kent graduated. And when Lacey enrolled at Cal Poly In 1993, Kent actually picked up and moved to the area so they could be together. Lacey channeled her love of plants and nature into a major in ornamental horticulture, taking classes like landscape design, hothouse, garden production, pest control, and floral design. It was the perfect combination of the gardening she'd done with her mom and the hands on skills she picked up on her dad's farm. She and Kent rented a small place near campus in Morro Bay, right in the same area as the Pacific Cafe where Scott Peterson worked. They spent most of their time cooking at home and working in their garden. It was a quiet, settled little life for two people barely in their 20s. Now, because of Lacey's infectious personality, she made a ton of friends at school. But whenever they invited her out, she'd usually head home to Kent instead. And that rubbed her friends the wrong way. Not because they didn't like Lacey, but because they were not fans of Kent. They thought he was condescending. They didn't think that he appreciated her nearly enough. And there was just something about the dynamic that made them uneasy. So when the two broke up a bit After Lacey's 19th birthday in May of 1994, her friends were thrilled. And Lacey didn't seem all that torn up about it either. She moved on quickly, focusing on school and her job at Cal Poly's plant and floral shop. And here's a dark footnote that's hard to ignore. It turned out to be a very good thing that Lacey left Kent when she did, because five years after they split up, Kent Gaine shot the woman he was dating. He was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. When Lacey vanished in 2002, her family actually thought of Kent first, but he was already locked up in Washington State Prison. So at least one dangerous man from Lacey's life could be accounted for. As for the next one, she was about to meet him.
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That's Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. And that is just a taste. Part one on Scott and Laci Peterson is out right now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Just search America's most infamous crimes and make sure you follow. So you know in parts two and three, you've been listening to Crime House 247 bringing you breaking crime news. I'm Vanessa Richardson. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more developing stories. Stay safe and thanks for listening.
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I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes. Available now wherever you get your podcast. Podcasts.
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Thanks for listening to today's episode. Not sure what to listen to next? Check out America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring. From serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations, each week Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes now wherever you listen to podcasts.