Athena Strand trial: Murdered 7yo girl’s final words break hearts in courtroom

Jurors were left sobbing and family members fled a Texas courtroom as footage from the last moments of young Athena Strand’s life were played at her murderer’s trial Thursday.

Athena, 7, was heard repeatedly asking “Are you a kidnapper?” of confessed-killer Tanner Horner in sickening and heartbreaking footage from her last moments that was shown to jurors Thursday.

Horner – who pleaded guilty to the girl’s murder last week and is now facing a possible death penalty sentencing – responded by ordering Athena to sit down and be quiet, and threatened to hurt her if she didn’t, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

The footage was filmed from inside his FedEx truck in November 2022, which he’d be driving when delivering a package to Athena’s Texas home that fateful day.

Horner was alone in the truck at first, but then he apparently pulled up to Athena’s home and snatched her from the driveway – with the footage showing him walking back to his truck with Athena following behind, and then the truck door sliding open with her standing at his side.

Maitlyn Gandy, mother of Athena Strand, leaves the courtroom before a video of her daughter’s abduction is played for the jury. Picture: Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool.

He then lifts her into the truck, gets behind the wheel and drives off as Athena starts asking him if he is a kidnapper.

Instead of answering, Horner began chatting with her about school and her teachers.

Horner eventually covered the truck’s camera, leaving the courtroom to only hear audio of the horrors about to unfold.

“You’re really pretty. You know that?” he said at one point, before the truck seemed to have come to a stop.

“Is this your house?” Athena then asked.

“No. I don’t live around here,” he responded, and when she asked where he did live, Horner said “far away.”

“What are we doing?” Athena then asked.

“Hang out for a minute,” he said.

“OK.”

But within moments Horner was heard telling Athena to take her shirt off, with the girl replying “no” and asking for her mum.

She then began to cry and scream while slamming noises filled the truck.

Jurors were overtaken with sobs by the time the video ended, while members of Athena’s family left in successive waves as the clip was played, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

The judge warned the courtroom ahead of the clip that what they were about to witness was extremely disturbing. Live streams of the proceedings were also cut off before the clip was played.

“If you think you cannot watch it or listen to it, leave now. Now’s your time to get out,” Judge George Gallagher said.

Horner faces life in prison or the death penalty, with a jury deciding his fate after his guilty plea.

He claimed to have accidentally hit Athena with his truck while delivering a package, and that he took and killed her — strangling her with his bare hands — out of fear that she would tell on him.

Prosecutors have called his claims about accidentally hitting the little girl outright lies.