A FedEx driver was detained and charged on Friday, Dec. 2, for kidnapping and murdering a 7-year-old child in Texas who had vanished from her house’s driveway earlier a few days ago, police said.
7-Year-Old Texas Girl Dies in the Hands of FedEx Driver
U.S. News reported that wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said that Athena Strand’s body was found Friday night.
Authorities started looking for Strand throughout Wise County, northwest of Fort Worth after she was reported missing on Wednesday. The small girl was taken approximately 200 yards from her home, and authorities think she was slain an hour later.
Based on the Wise County jail’s website, as reported by CNN, Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, is being held there on suspicion of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. Akin said that a $1.5 million bond was imposed, and on Friday, it was unclear if Horner had legal representation.
Authorities have identified Horner as a FedEx contract driver who was supposed to deliver something to Strand’s house at the time of her disappearance.
Police claim that an anonymous tip they got earlier on Friday enabled them to identify that Horner kidnapped the youngster from her driveway.
The Bereaved
In a post on Facebook on December 4, Strand’s mother, Maitlyn Presley Gandy, claimed that her daughter had been kidnapped from her by “a sick, vicious monster for absolutely no reason.”
Gandy wrote: “I want the world to know my baby, my first baby, my first true love, the reason I breathe.”
She said Strand should not be remembered as a girl murdered by a monster.
She continued by saying that Athena would be remembered for many things, including her desire to become a Viking princess when she grew up, her love of all things pink, and her desire to get tattoos that resembled those of her father.
Akin claims that the authorities failed to mention any potential motivation and claimed that Horner was unfamiliar with the family and the child.
FedEx’s Statement
According to Akin, Athena’s death is still under investigation, and her body was delivered to the coroner’s office on Friday.
FedEx expressed its sympathies and sent any inquiries to law authorities in a statement to CNN.
FedEx said that words cannot describe the sorrow the company felt following the reports about the tragic event. It added they are cooperating with the investigation of authorities.
