Killer FedEx driver Tanner Horner claimed he had made a “deal with the devil” by slaying 7-year-old Athena Strand, the jury at his murder trial was told.
The confessed child murderer compared his crimes to the 2017 movie “American Satan,” in which a rock band commits human sacrifices as part of a pact with a demonic entity to achieve fame and success, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Eileen Ryan told the jury in a Fort Worth, Texas, courtroom on Wednesday.
“He [Horner] spoke quite specifically about the movie ‘American Satan.’ He described a belief that he had entered into a ‘deal with the devil’ — not necessarily in a supernatural sense, but as a catastrophic moral trade,” Ryan said.
“In his mind, he believed that by taking Athena’s life, he was ‘saving’ his own life and career,” she added.
“He felt that if he didn’t do this, his world would end, his job would be gone, and he would be ruined,” Ryan said.
The psychiatrist noted that, while Horner has diagnoses of Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD, and bipolar disorder, these were not the cause of his heinous crimes.
Rather, she said they contributed to his “rigid, black-and-white thinking,” where the only two options were Athena’s death or his life being ruined.
Under cross-examination, she admitted that, despite Horner’s diagnoses, he still had the capacity to plan, hide evidence, and lie to investigators to cover his tracks.
Horner is awaiting sentencing for the November 2022 murder of Athena, after kidnapping her from outside her home in Paradise, Texas, and before dumping her naked body in a rural creek.
He will learn whether he will face the death penalty or life in prison.
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