“The FedEx driver accused of kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl says he strangled her after he accidentally backed into her with his truck.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 5, Tanner Lynn Horner confessed to the crime and told police he accidentally hit 7-year-old Athena Strand while backing up in his marked delivery truck but that young girl was not seriously injured.
He told investigators he panicked and put the girl into his van and that she was talking to him and told him her name was Athena.
When the child said she was going to tell her father about being hit by the truck he said he tried to break her neck. When that didn’t work, Horner told police he strangled the girl with his bare hands.
During the interview with detectives, Horner told police where he put her body.
According to the affidavit, FBI agents investigating the girl’s disappearance learned of a package delivery that had been made to the family’s home at about the time the girl was believed to have disappeared. They worked with FedEx to identify the contracting company, Big Topspin, whose driver made the delivery.