A witness called to testify Monday in Tanner Horner’s capital murder trial told jurors he was sexually assaulted by Horner on two occasions while the two were growing up together near Fort Worth.
Horner pleaded guilty last month to capital murder of a child under the age of 10 and aggravated kidnapping for the November 2022 slaying of 7-year-old Athena Strand.
The surprise testimony came on the last day of the punishment phase of Horner’s trial, and over the defense’s objections.
The witness, who was identified only as Billy, said he got to know Horner after his uncle had a baby with Horner’s mother. Billy said he was raised as Horner’s cousin and lived with him and his family for a few years. He continued to maintain contact with Horner for several years after that, he said.
Billy testified he was about 10 years old and Horner was about 13 when the first incident happened. He and Horner had walked to a wooded area near Lake Worth and Horner’s grandmother’s home. Once there, Horner forced him to perform oral sex and attempted to rape him, he said.
The next incident happened a few years later, Billy said. He said he woke up and found Horner performing a sex act while standing above him. A couple of years after that, he said, he heard Horner say that he wondered what it would be like to kill someone.
Billy told the jury he contacted Horner’s defense team and told them about the assaults involving him. He said he asked to be connected to prosecutors and when that didn’t happen, he published a post on Facebook a few weeks ago about what happened to him. He then talked with the lead investigator on the case, he said.
Horner, a 34-year-old former FedEx driver, abducted Athena from her family’s Wise County property after delivering a Christmas package to the house.
He later strangled and beat the girl in the back of his truck, then tossed her body into a river several miles away. He was not charged with sexual assault in the case, but in an audiotape played during the trial he can be heard telling Athena to undress as she pleads with him to stop. The audio came from a camera mounted in the truck that Horner had covered with something.
The trial was moved to Tarrant County after Horner’s attorneys argued he couldn’t get a fair trial in Wise County.
Billy testified he never told his mother about the assaults. When asked why he was coming forward now, he said, “I figured the truth needed to be told.”
Closing arguments in the case are set for Tuesday morning, and it will go to the jury afterward. The panel has two punishment options: the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors plan to ask the jury to sentence Horner to death because of the heinous nature of his crime. The defense argued that his mental health issues and troubled childhood should make him eligible for of life in prison without parole.