Killer Is Sentenced To Lethal Injection In Texas For Killing First-Grader

Killer Is Sentenced To Lethal Injection In Texas For Killing First-Grader

Author: The Crime Desk May 13, 2026 Duration: 31:55

Justice for a joyful little girl who was abducted outside her rural Texas home and murdered by a stranger driving a delivery truck.

MaryAnn Martinez, the Daily Mail’s Texas bureau chief, was in the courtroom as a jury sealed the fate of 7-year-old Athena Strand’s killer, Tanner Horner.

Athena, a first-grader with an affinity for the outdoors and the color pink, was abused and tortured by Horner, a FedEx driver, before he killed her and callously discarded her tiny frame in a nearby creek on Nov. 30, 2022.

A frantic, multi-day search for Athena ensued. The child’s death traumatized her rural community.

Horner pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping in April but a jury still had to determine his fate, which in Texas included the possibility of the death penalty. After a five-week trial,

Athena’s family watched as the panel found that Horner should be executed by lethal injection.

On this episode, Martinez discusses the case with host Kayla Brantley and takes us inside the courtroom for the dramatic last moments of the proceeding.

We also learn what is expected to happen next as Horner waits on death row.


  • Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com 
  • WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial
  • Presenter: Kayla Brantley
  • Producers: Shayna Jacobs and Lucy Robson
  • Editor: Chelsey Ranore
  • Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
  • Executive Producer: Jamie East




Help shape the Crime Desk by taking our quick, listener survey. It takes just five minutes, and you could win a £50 Amazon voucher.


Terms and conditions


  • Open to UK residents aged 18 or over.
  • Enter between 00:01 BST on 23rd April 2026 and 23:59 BST on 23rd May 2026, inclusive
  • The Promotion is free to enter by visiting, completing the online survey and providing your contact details (including email address).
  • There will be one (1) winner.
  • The winner will win £50 Amazon Voucher
  • Amazon Vouchers are subject to Amazon’s T&Cs found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/
  • Full T&Cs apply, click here to read them.



Follow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrime

Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com

WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial


Presenter: Kayla Brantley

Producer: Lucy Robson

Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham

Executive Producer: Jamie East


Click here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter.

It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


From its award-winning origins in the UK, The Trial: USA now turns its exacting focus to American courtrooms. This podcast, produced by The Crime Desk, moves far beyond the sensational headlines to place you inside the tense, often unpredictable theater of the nation's most consequential legal battles. Each episode is built from the ground up, meticulously reconstructing proceedings as the evidence unfolds in real time. You'll hear the pivotal testimony, the surprising objections, and the strategic maneuvers that define a case, all presented with a narrative drive that makes complex testimony accessible and utterly compelling. The series is distinguished by its exclusive access, featuring interviews with the detectives who built the investigation, the experts who dissected the facts, and the victims whose lives were changed. To ensure absolute fidelity to the record, The Trial: USA occasionally employs actors and generated voices to deliver verbatim quotes from court transcripts and documents, a method that underscores its commitment to factual storytelling over speculation. It’s for anyone who wants to understand the true weight of a verdict, feeling the courtroom atmosphere and grasping the human stories behind the gavel's fall.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 88

The Trial: USA
Podcast Episodes
Lively vs. Baldoni: The Real Reason the Feuding Stars Settled [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:31
After two years of legal mudslinging between “Gossip Girl” actress Blake Lively and actor-director Justin Baldoni, a civil trial was set to unfold in New York.The “It Ends With Us” co-stars instead capped their bitter di…
D4vd Charged With Murder: A Career Worth Killing For? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:51
A rising music star is now facing one of the most serious charges in the US justice system.D4vd (real name David Anthony Burke) has been charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.Prosecutors allege t…
Guilty: Our Inside Account of the Gilgo Beach Killer’s Confession [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:13
After decades of silence, the man accused of the Gilgo Beach murders has finally spoken — and what he said inside that courtroom stunned everyone.Rex Heuermann has pleaded guilty to killing eight women, bringing a chilli…
The Ted Bundy Murder That Took 50 Years to Prove [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:07
A 17-year-old girl disappears on Halloween. And for more than half a century - no definitive answers.In 1974, Laura Ann Aime vanished after leaving a party in Utah. Weeks later, her body was found in the mountains. Inves…
Is Rex Heuermann going to plead guilty to the Gilgo Beach Murders? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:33
For more than a decade, the murders at Gilgo Beach haunted Long Island - a string of victims, discovered along a remote stretch of coastline, with no arrests and few answers. Until 2023.Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan archite…
Suburban Mom Accused in 15-Year Cold Case Killing of Realtor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:09
For nearly 15 years, the murder of Iowa realtor Ashley Okland remained unsolved.Shot twice in broad daylight inside a model home she was showing, the 27-year-old’s killing shocked her community - but left investigators w…
Farrah Fawcett’s Son in Court Over Bloody LA Crime Spree [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:18
In this episode of The Trial: USA, we take you inside the case of Redmond O’Neal, son of Hollywood icon Farrah Fawcett, whose long history of addiction, mental illness, and arrests has culminated in a shocking series of…
The ‘Moscow Mule Murder’: Inside the Trial of Kouri Richins [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:30
On this week's episode of The Trial USA, we bring you up to date on the trial of former real estate agent Kouri Richins. She’s accused of murdering her millionaire husband, Eric Richins, with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule…