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Athena Strand, 7, was found dead after being missing since November 30.   Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin announced in Friday’s news conference that the suspect Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, told them where to find the girl’s body.

The suspect confessed to grabbing Athena from her driveway when he delivered a Federal Express package to the family’s home in Paradise, Texas.  And he killed her within an hour of the abduction.

Search for Athena Strand in Texas 

CBS News reported that 7-year-old Athena got into an argument with her stepmother before she disappeared. Her father was not home at the time. The stepmother looked for Athena for “about an hour” and then called the police.

A search has been ongoing since the Amber Alert was issued at 5:30 p.m. on November 30, 2022. 

The Texas Rangers, the FBI, the Sheriff’s office, and hundreds of citizen searchers looked for the missing child, in a massive round-the-clock effort.

Her body was finally located in the Boyd area about 6 miles southeast of Paradise, Texas where she was kidnapped. 

The confession came after the suspect was confronted with “digital evidence, as well as interviews” of the crime.

The Sheriff became emotional claiming the search did not end “the way we hoped it would end.” He also said, “It hurts our hearts to know that child died.” 

The child’s body was on the way to the medical examiner’s office, he added. “There’s a Texas Ranger in front of her, and there’s a Texas Ranger behind her. This community does not like losing our children.”

The suspect was a contract driver for Federal Express. And is being held in the Wise County jail and charged with Capital murder and aggravated kidnapping with a 1.5-million-dollar bond.

The suspect is active on social media

Tanner Horner is active on social media. He’s a former Uber driver and local drummer. In Facebook posts, he describes himself as an “Aspie & Metalhead Musician.”

He shared a drawing of handcuffs and wrote, “Because it's more fun that way \m/ #kinky #bdsm #spank.”

On Facebook, he called himself “non-neurotypical. musician. Metalhead.” And said, “love is stupid and not to mention completely asinine.”

On Instagram, he claimed to be a “Vocalist of commit and conquer. Autistic as ligma.”

In 2019, a woman posted on his Facebook, “friendly reminder that Tanner Horner is a rapist.” In the comment thread, another woman added “a transphobic rapist in a pop punk band, what a shocker.” added another.

Online records show the suspect is from Lake Worth, Texas. And has lived in Fort Worth and Benbrook. A Texas statewide records search found no known criminal history.