A former FedEx delivery driver was sentenced to death on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to killing a seven-year-old Texas girl, Athena Strand, in 2022.
A jury gave Tanner Horner a death sentence after a weeks-long court case, during which the court heard an audio recording of the young girl's last moments inside the attacker's delivery vehicle.
"There are no words that truly capture the devastation that Tanner Horner caused us and our family," Elijah Strand, Athena Strand's uncle, said after the sentence was read.
Horner was delivering Athena Strand's Christmas gift - a box of Barbie dolls - to her home when he kidnapped her. She was later found dead not far from the property.
Last month, Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping as his trial began.
