Tanner Horner Trial Day 7: More DNA evidence expected after testimony of past sexual assaults

FORT WORTH, Texas - Testimony is set to resume Wednesday morning in the capital murder trial of Tanner Horner, as prosecutors continue to build their case for the death penalty in the 2022 killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand.

Horner pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. He admitted to kidnapping 7-year-old Athena Strand while delivering a package to her home on Nov. 30, 2022, and later strangling her.

The trial is scheduled to resume at approximately 9 a.m.

FOX 4 will have gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial on FOX LOCAL.

Live Updates

12 p.m. Lunch break

The trial went on break until 1:15 p.m. for lunch and to give the next witness time to arrive. 

10:50 a.m. Delivery truck video

Velociter Solutions Vice President James Becker took the stand to testify about the dash camera in Horner's FedEx van. His company's software tracks and records video inside company vehicles.

He testified that he ran into some technical issues with the video after being contacted by investigators on Dec. 1, the day after Athena disappeared. However, he was able to pull up part of the video from inside Horner's FedEx truck.

"What did you see when you pulled up the video for that particular time?" prosecutors asked.

"It was a driver of a FedEx delivery truck. There was a small child in the truck as well," Becker said.

Sensing the urgency of the investigation, Becker said he used his cellphone to take a screen recording of what he saw and sent it to Texas Ranger Job Espinoza.

In the following days, Becker continued working to download the video and vehicle location data for investigators. He provided the FBI agents with information about the places the vehicle stopped on the day of Athena's disappearance, including a gas station, a bridge with what he thought was a boat ramp, and on the side of the road.

10:30 a.m. Recess

Jurors were sent back to their waiting room because a witness was running late. It's not yet clear when the trial will resume.

9:30 a.m. DNA testimony

The trial on Wednesday morning started out with testimony from four forensic scientists from the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab providing testimony about their work with the DNA evidence collected in this case. Their findings revealed the high probability of Horner's DNA on Athena's body.

Tanner Horner Trial Day 6 Recap

Following a day of graphic and emotional testimony, jurors are expected to hear further details regarding forensic evidence collected from both the victim and the defendant.

On Tuesday, Jacqueline Ferrara, a former forensic analyst with the Texas Department of Public Safety, testified about DNA recovered during the investigation. Ferrara told the court that male DNA was detected on swabs from the child’s sexual assault kit, though she did not provide specific matches during that portion of her testimony.

Analysts also confirmed the presence of blood under the girl’s fingernails and male DNA on her clothing. However, Ferrara noted the limitations of forensic timing, admitting that the exact age of a stain on the clothing could not be determined.

"It is an estimate. It is not an exact, precise calculation," Ferrara said of the DNA quantification process. "But it is a very close, rough estimate of how much total human DNA is present in that sample and how much male DNA is present as well."

The proceedings took an even more somber turn Tuesday when two women took the stand to testify about alleged prior assaults by Horner. Both women alleged that Horner raped them when they were 16 years old, and he was an adult.

According to testimony, the women did not come forward to law enforcement until after Horner was arrested for Strand’s murder. One of the women is the accuser in two active sexual assault of a child cases currently pending against Horner in Tarrant County.

Horner, a former contract delivery driver, is accused of kidnapping the 7-year-old from her father’s driveway in Paradise, Texas, in November 2022. Investigators say he confessed to hitting the girl with his van and then strangling her to death to prevent her from telling her father about the accident.

Tanner Horner Trial Week 1 Recap

The first week of the punishment phase was dominated by hours of police body camera and interrogation footage. On Thursday, jurors watched video of investigators questioning Horner about the location of the girl's body. Horner, speaking as his alter ego, said he dumped the child's clothes along the highway because he "thought it was funny."

Horner previously told police he did not kill Strand, instead blaming an alter ego he called "Zero." A sergeant with the Texas Rangers testified that he obtained more information about the crime by questioning "Zero" directly. The sergeant noted that Horner would roll his eyes back before switching personalities, displaying a marked change in his physical demeanor.

The jury was also shown photos of Horner’s residence and the locations where the clothing was recovered. In another interview shown to the court, Horner asked investigators to release him from jail for one month so he could spend Christmas with his family, promising to "tell everything" if they agreed.

• Day 1 - Tanner Horner pleads guilty
• Day 2 - Tanner Horner discusses alter ego ‘Zero’
• Day 3 - Tanner Horner interrogation shown to jury
• Day 4 - Investigators share details about FedEx ‘abduction van’
• Day 5 - Phone calls with family members, ME testifies

Athena Strand’s Death

The backstory:

Horner was charged with capital murder for the death of 7-year-old Athena Strand outside her family’s Wise County home on Nov. 30, 2022.

A contract delivery driver working for FedEx at the time, Horner was delivering what was meant to be a Christmas present for the young girl.

Horner told investigators he accidentally hit Athena with his van while delivering a package to her home. She reportedly survived, but Horner told authorities he panicked and kidnapped her, later strangling her to death.

Athena was reported missing, and eventually an Amber Alert was issued, leading to 72 hours of searching. She was found dead in Boyd, Texas, not far from her family's home.

Athena Alert

The Impact:

After Athena Strand's case, Texas Legislators passed a new bill that created a version of an Amber Alert known as the ‘Athena Alert.’

The new law allows authorities to issue an Amber Alert for a missing child that doesn’t have to meet all of the initial criteria.

Under the Athena Alert law, an Amber Alert can still go out even though authorities haven’t confirmed a missing child was kidnapped.

The alert would be able to be sent out to a 100-mile area around the disappearance and adjacent counties.

DPS emphasizes that this is not a new type of alert. All alert messages will still be referenced as an Amber Alert.