The mother of killer FedEx driver Tanner Horner hauntingly told her son, “I know how you get,” after asking him whether he had sexually abused his 7-year-old murder victim, Athena Strand.
On Monday, a jury in Fort Worth, Texas, was played chilling audio from phone calls Horner made to his loved ones as he confessed to his evil crimes.
In one call made from the Wise County Jail, Horner’s mother asked him what had happened when he murdered Athena after accidentally bumping into her with his truck.
“Tanner, I just hope you didn’t do nothing weird to that little girl,” she said, after asking whether her son had sexually abused his victim, FOX 4 reported.
When Horner insisted he hadn’t, his mother responded, “I just know how you get.”
“Well, actually, with my medication, I barely even have a libido as it is,” Horner responded.
In a separate phone call with his grandmother, the killer again denied raping Athena and insisted he was “remorseful” for his crimes.
“How can I not be? I haven’t been on my medication for the last few weeks, and I’m feeling emotional,” he said.
He also cried as he complained about not being able to spend Christmas with his young son.
A jury is hearing its second week of evidence as it decides whether the former delivery driver — who has already pleaded guilty to murdering Athena in 2022 — should face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Horner pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.
On Monday, the medical examiner, Dr. Jessica Dwyer, said under cross-examination that Athena’s body showed no signs of sexual trauma, but added that that does not mean no sexual assault took place.
“Lack of injuries does not mean that there’s a possibility that a sexual assault did or did not occur,” she said.
Athena’s naked body was found in a creek several miles from home.
She had suffered injuries to her back, chest, face, head, and neck, and there was evidence of asphyxiation and blunt force trauma consisted with multiple blows, Dwyer said.
A zigzag or tread-like pattern consistent with tire tracks was found on Athena’s face and chest, the medical examiner said.
The jury was also shown several suicide notes Horner reportedly wrote to police, his own family, and Athena’s family, before he attempted to take his life in jail in 2023.
“You’ll never get to see your baby girl grow up. And I’m sorry,” Horner wrote in the letter to Athena’s family.
Horner also blamed FedEx for switching his routes and disrupting his daily routine before he murdered Athena.
He claimed he doesn’t “do well with changes or things that are unpredictable” due to his Asperger’s syndrome.
“When I first started out as a driver at FedEx, I was given a singular route, and that route wouldn’t change for a while,” he said in the note to Athena’s family.
“After a bit, my employer started making random changes to my route, adding stuff from other routes so they could make more money,” he added.
“I don’t do well with change, I can have meltdowns when unexpected changes to my daily routine happen,” Horner said, claiming he had a “suicidal episode” shortly before murdering Athena due to his frustration with having his routes changed.
Horner’s mental state has been the central pillar of his defense’s case, as they look to avoid the death penalty.
The jury is expected to reach its verdict by the end of this week.
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